tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post7546654299697721640..comments2024-03-26T14:44:37.985-04:00Comments on D-Ed Reckoning: Some Things Don't ChangeKDeRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06853211164976890091noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post-30584161509545396192007-07-19T07:42:00.000-04:002007-07-19T07:42:00.000-04:00"I'm too lazy to check for myself on this Sunday m..."I'm too lazy to check for myself on this Sunday morning, but I'll bet that student performance in North Carolina schools increased by a similar margin state-wide and failed to make the same gains in the NAEP."\<BR/><BR/>You don't have to check... <A HREF="http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh092605.shtml" REL="nofollow">The Daily Howler already did it for you.</A><BR/><BR/><I>Have Wake’s black passing rates doubled in the past decade? Almost—but then, the same thing has happened all over the state! (Data below. Any chance that the current tests are just easier?) Did 80 percent of Wake’s black kids pass last year? Yes—but so did black kids all over the state! In short, Finder is the latest illiterate making a joke of our educational discourse. If we actually care about school kids, he and his editor won’t be allowed within a hundred miles of this topic again.<BR/><BR/>...<BR/><BR/>THOSE TEN-YEAR SCORE GAINS: More details, this time about those ten-year gains in reading. In 1994-95, 52 percent of Wake’s black kids passed the statewide reading tests (grades 3-8). By this year, that had jumped to 80 percent. But uh-oh! The same thing has happened all over the state! In 1994-95, 47 percent of all black kids passed the reading test statewide. By this year, that number had jumped to 76 percent. Finder only mentions Wake’s gains—and attributes the gains to Wake’s program.</I><BR/><BR/>I do think integration would improve achievement for low SES children. I am been playing around with NAEP scores, and determined that there are small differences in achievement for blacks and low income students as the proportion of middle class white kids increases. The increase peaks out at a 5-10% mass. Funny enough, schools with that have less black and or low SES students actually have a dip in scores after they go below 5%.<BR/><BR/>Even at this peak ratio, there is still a significant achievement gap. There is also the matter of finding enough white middle class students to delute the huge numbers of poor and minority students concentrated in Urban areas. To be successful we would need to take every poor and minority student in the country and randomly sprinkle them across the country.TurbineGuyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09781298806992944235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25541994.post-50026195168797601712007-07-15T14:05:00.000-04:002007-07-15T14:05:00.000-04:00The NEA asserted in its Seattle amicus brief a "co...The NEA asserted in its Seattle amicus brief a "compelling governmental interest in educating all of our children to function effectively in a multiracial, democratic society and realize their full intellectual and academic potential." Given current math and reading curricula, don't you wonder if professional development and classroom practice support the declared "compelling interest?" Wonder if the presidential candidates who appeared at the NEA convention will hold NEA members responsible for focussing on the nation's compelling interest or will the NEA's self-interest prevail? Could it be the NEA is engaged in thinly veiled partisan politics at the expense of the nation and the schoolchildren whose interests the allege to support?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com