This link is to another blog describing how a major Dallas law firm was forced out if business because of its weak moral principles.
This yahoo link discusses the importance of moral principle in education.
We should find a way to bring morality back into the school curriculum. The Winding Spring Process of Education works towards this end by helping children work towards a sincere heart.
Robert
Friday, March 30, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
New TAKS Ratings Blow Smoke
An iteresting article in the Dallas Morning News by Joshua Benton says there is a plan to replace the relative simple system of ratings with a more complicated system.
We now have 4 ratings: exemplary, recognized, acceptable, and unacceptable. The TEA is considering adding 3 more ratings: exemplary-commended, recognized-commended, and acceptable-commended.
Huh? So is recognized-commended better or worse than commended? This is nonsense. This seems to be an effort to make the ratings so nonsensical that people quit paying attention to them.
Have you heard the expression, "If you cannot dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS" ? They are trying to baffle us with BS.
Instead of focusing on fixing broken schools, the efforts now are to throw out the test results by making the results obsolete, either by replacing them with new test scores or by replacing the ratings with BS.
Failing districts are squirming like worms on hooks. They are going to the State Legislature and the TEA and doing everything they can think of to avoid fixing their problems.
Plano is stuck with testing because many districts do not educate their children. As long as these districts are allowed to continue failing, we will be stuck taking the same tests they take. If they would fix their problems so all districts provided a decent education, then testing would become either unnecessary or trivial.
We must be vigilant in stopping the failing districts from getting off the hook.
We now have 4 ratings: exemplary, recognized, acceptable, and unacceptable. The TEA is considering adding 3 more ratings: exemplary-commended, recognized-commended, and acceptable-commended.
Huh? So is recognized-commended better or worse than commended? This is nonsense. This seems to be an effort to make the ratings so nonsensical that people quit paying attention to them.
Have you heard the expression, "If you cannot dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS" ? They are trying to baffle us with BS.
Instead of focusing on fixing broken schools, the efforts now are to throw out the test results by making the results obsolete, either by replacing them with new test scores or by replacing the ratings with BS.
Failing districts are squirming like worms on hooks. They are going to the State Legislature and the TEA and doing everything they can think of to avoid fixing their problems.
Plano is stuck with testing because many districts do not educate their children. As long as these districts are allowed to continue failing, we will be stuck taking the same tests they take. If they would fix their problems so all districts provided a decent education, then testing would become either unnecessary or trivial.
We must be vigilant in stopping the failing districts from getting off the hook.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Elementary School Math is Important
Math skills build upon each other, year after year. Once a child falls behind in math during elementary school, that child can fall farther and farther behind. Go to the Texas Education Agency (T.E.A) website and look up the TAKS scores. You will see there are weak schools. You will see patterns of weak schools. Why worry about a weak elementary school math program? Look at the ratings and your will see weak elementary schools lead to weak middle schools, which lead to a weak high schools, which lead to a weak senior high. Yes, one of our senior high schools is not doing well.
I am going to be focusing on third grade math, but first and second grade are also weak. Third grade is where a significant gap occurs in math skills. If a child falls behind in third grade and cannot catch up during 4th and 5th, that child will have trouble in middle school because the math program takes a step up in middle school. It is too late to catch up in middle school and high school compounds the problem. I'll say more later.
Go here, click on "District Name", type in "Plano", click on continue and see how many of our schools are only acceptable.
More later.
Robert
I am going to be focusing on third grade math, but first and second grade are also weak. Third grade is where a significant gap occurs in math skills. If a child falls behind in third grade and cannot catch up during 4th and 5th, that child will have trouble in middle school because the math program takes a step up in middle school. It is too late to catch up in middle school and high school compounds the problem. I'll say more later.
Go here, click on "District Name", type in "Plano", click on continue and see how many of our schools are only acceptable.
More later.
Robert
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
End of Course Exams
I've learned that voters need to go beyond newspapers to understand issues. I was interviewed recently by a local newpaper and I was misquoted twice.
Here's what I said: "I know the TAKS test intimately because I've administered them and and looked at them." The newspaper said I "... looked at time."
I believe many people who are against the TAKS tests have never looked at them. Most of the complaints I have heard about the TAKS tests are inaccurate or untrue. For a middle class suburb like Plano the TAKS test is no big deal. It's a given that the pass rate in most schools is close to 100 percent. The TAKS tests do not diminish our children's education.
The TAKS tests are good for Plano because they are objective measures demonstrating achievement. We like to achieve. If your kids are in sports you know they want to win and do not want to lose. Even when the children are very young and there are no official scores, the children keep score. There is absolutely no good reason for parents in Plano to have a negative attitude towards the TAKS tests.
When you hear your principal say "100 percent of your kids passed, 70 percent were commended, and 40 percent had perfect scores," that gives you a good feeling.
It is the parents and administrators in failing districts who have a legitimate reason to eliminate the test, but to replace the TAKS with yet another state mandated test is absurd. New tests only postpone dealing with failure.
There is nothing wrong with the TAKS tests. They are doing what they are supposed to be doing, measuring the progess schools make in teaching the TEKS, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, which are the state mandated curriculum.
There is much wrong, however, with spending excessive time and resources preparing teachers and children to well on the TAKS tests because the TAKS are a measure of failure, not a measure of success. There is much wrong with thinking good TAKS scores indicate a good education. There is much wrong with reducing cultural content in education, like Shakespeare or Roman history, to make more time for TAKS preparation.
The TAKS test in itself is not bad, but its impact on education is likely to be bad or ineffective, ineffective because the State of Texas has no idea how to fix schools that consistently fail the TAKS test.
If Texas cannot fix the problems associated with the TAKS test, changing to "end of course" exams will change the test, put money into the pockets of testing companies, but will bring along all the unsolved problems from TAKS testing to end of course exam testing -- a futile waste of money.
Did you know that when the British company Pearson purchased an American testing company they paid billions of dollars? Companies are getting rich writing tests. The only purpose to replace the TAKS with yet another test is to further enrich the test writing companies.
Consider our history of testing. First we had end of course exams. They were considered inadequate. Next came the TAAS tests. They were considered too easy. Next came the TAKS test. I have not heard any complaint against them that sounds accurate. The state legislature wants to return to end of course exams. That's going full circle!!!!
Have you heard of the myth of Sisyphus? As soon as he seems done with a chore, everything becomes undone and he has to do it again, in an unending cycle of futile labor. If we replace the TAKS with yet another test, that is what we are signing up for: unending cycle of futile testing.
I say, "Keep the TAKS or get the testing off our backs!"
If you want to get rid of the TAKS, then get rid of state mandated testing!!
I believe we should keep the TAKS and focus on efforts to help failing schools. We should also look forward to a new Texas rennaissance fueled by better education. Education is not only about measuring and punishing failure.
The newspaper misquoted me on this, saying "We should stick with the TAKS or change the broken schools." Does this misquote convey my views? No. This is why voters need to go beyond newspapers to understand what's going on around them.
Robert
Here's what I said: "I know the TAKS test intimately because I've administered them and and looked at them." The newspaper said I "... looked at time."
I believe many people who are against the TAKS tests have never looked at them. Most of the complaints I have heard about the TAKS tests are inaccurate or untrue. For a middle class suburb like Plano the TAKS test is no big deal. It's a given that the pass rate in most schools is close to 100 percent. The TAKS tests do not diminish our children's education.
The TAKS tests are good for Plano because they are objective measures demonstrating achievement. We like to achieve. If your kids are in sports you know they want to win and do not want to lose. Even when the children are very young and there are no official scores, the children keep score. There is absolutely no good reason for parents in Plano to have a negative attitude towards the TAKS tests.
When you hear your principal say "100 percent of your kids passed, 70 percent were commended, and 40 percent had perfect scores," that gives you a good feeling.
It is the parents and administrators in failing districts who have a legitimate reason to eliminate the test, but to replace the TAKS with yet another state mandated test is absurd. New tests only postpone dealing with failure.
There is nothing wrong with the TAKS tests. They are doing what they are supposed to be doing, measuring the progess schools make in teaching the TEKS, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, which are the state mandated curriculum.
There is much wrong, however, with spending excessive time and resources preparing teachers and children to well on the TAKS tests because the TAKS are a measure of failure, not a measure of success. There is much wrong with thinking good TAKS scores indicate a good education. There is much wrong with reducing cultural content in education, like Shakespeare or Roman history, to make more time for TAKS preparation.
The TAKS test in itself is not bad, but its impact on education is likely to be bad or ineffective, ineffective because the State of Texas has no idea how to fix schools that consistently fail the TAKS test.
If Texas cannot fix the problems associated with the TAKS test, changing to "end of course" exams will change the test, put money into the pockets of testing companies, but will bring along all the unsolved problems from TAKS testing to end of course exam testing -- a futile waste of money.
Did you know that when the British company Pearson purchased an American testing company they paid billions of dollars? Companies are getting rich writing tests. The only purpose to replace the TAKS with yet another test is to further enrich the test writing companies.
Consider our history of testing. First we had end of course exams. They were considered inadequate. Next came the TAAS tests. They were considered too easy. Next came the TAKS test. I have not heard any complaint against them that sounds accurate. The state legislature wants to return to end of course exams. That's going full circle!!!!
Have you heard of the myth of Sisyphus? As soon as he seems done with a chore, everything becomes undone and he has to do it again, in an unending cycle of futile labor. If we replace the TAKS with yet another test, that is what we are signing up for: unending cycle of futile testing.
I say, "Keep the TAKS or get the testing off our backs!"
If you want to get rid of the TAKS, then get rid of state mandated testing!!
I believe we should keep the TAKS and focus on efforts to help failing schools. We should also look forward to a new Texas rennaissance fueled by better education. Education is not only about measuring and punishing failure.
The newspaper misquoted me on this, saying "We should stick with the TAKS or change the broken schools." Does this misquote convey my views? No. This is why voters need to go beyond newspapers to understand what's going on around them.
Robert
Friday, March 16, 2007
I am Running for Plano ISD Trustee
I am Robert Canright and I am running for Plano ISD Trustee.
I hope to communicate with the people of Plano through this blog.
Please contribute comments (you have to have a free Blogger account).
Robert
I hope to communicate with the people of Plano through this blog.
Please contribute comments (you have to have a free Blogger account).
Robert
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