The Best and Brightest
No, the title does not refer to the high school students who are being featured in the Gazette recently. It refers to the high paid leadership in School District 11, and it indicates that the district is in deep trouble, as if honest people did not already know that to be the case.
Third grade reading scores have recently been released, and the average third grade reading results in D11 have changed slightly from 70% advanced and proficient (PA) to 71% PA. In other words, there has been no change at all. This should not be surprising since there has been no change at all from the status quo in D11.
The change from 70% PA to 71% PA in D11 mirrors the same result at the state level. Once again, D11 leaders are just happy to be along for the ride. Nothing innovative, nothing forward looking, nothing to improve the performance of the school district. Here is how the Gazette described the reading results in the D11:
Some schools in D-11 increased the percentage of third-graders scoring proficient or advanced at a quick pace. Queen Palmer, for example, went from 32 percent to 57 percent, an increase of almost 80 percent.
On the other hand, D-11 also has schools where the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced is decreasing dramatically.
Lincoln Elementary School dropped from 77 percent to 51 percent.
What you see, as we have always seen, is some dramatic ups and some dramatic downs. There is no consistency in any particular school in the district. This indicates that there has been no plan in place to improve reading across D11. It is important to understand that at the 3rd grade level, 70% PA is an appalling figure. The time from Kindergarten to 3rd grade is the time where tremendous effort needs to be made to ensure that all kids are able to read. A child who is not able to read after 3rd grade is on his or her way to failure throughout the remainder of school, and then potentially life. If the district leadership cannot take the time to develop any sort of reading strategy for the early years, then they most certainly will not be able to develop a strategy for helping these kids in their later years.
Mary Thurman is the Deputy Superintendent for Instruction in D11. She earns over $120,000 per year. Here is what the Gazette reported as to her response to the crisis in the district:
Mary Thurman, deputy superintendent of instruction, said district officials will work to find the causes of increases and decreases and then create plans specific to the needs of a school.
Thurman noted the district's scores overall increased - from 70 percent to 71 percent, but "that still to me is flat." "We can't keep doing the same thing and getting the same results," she said.
Look back over the years since Thurman has been in this position in D11 (2002) and you will see the exact quote each year after CSAP results are released. Since Thurman and all other D11 leaders in central administration have "PhD" assigned to their names, you would suspect that there would be a deeper response to a crisis than, "We will look at the results and develop a plan to address them." Where is the plan from last year, or the prior years? What are the results of these plans? Where is the documentation for these plans? How many years will it take for these plans to take effect?
Based on the random increases and decreases across the district, it is obvious that there is no plan in place to improve the academic performance of the district. As another school year comes to a close, the D11 administration and their proxies on the school board leave the community with empty promises of plans to do better next year.
Thurman's final comment above is rather confusing. What does it men to say that we can't keep doing the same thing and getting the same result? By doing the same things over again, you are guaranteed to get the same results. If Thurman does not want the same results, what has she proposed to get different results? What has the board proposed to get different results? Notice that the Gazette did not quote any board members in the article. Where is the leadership on the school board?
The obvious answer to those questions is that there is no educational leadership in D11. Neither the paid staff nor the board members have any ideas on improving education. Their answers will be as always - poor and minority kids cannot learn and there is nothing that can change that. With reform board members safely out of the way, there is no incentive for the D11 administration to do anything that might be mistaken for hard work. Where are the quotes from End the Chaos on the performance of their board members? Where are the Friends of D11 now that the district continues to be mired in mediocrity? Those questions are obviously very easy to answer. It was never about improving D11 for these aristocrats. Rather, it was always about protecting administrtors from having to do the hard work that is necessary to ensure a quality education for all kids.
Third grade reading scores have recently been released, and the average third grade reading results in D11 have changed slightly from 70% advanced and proficient (PA) to 71% PA. In other words, there has been no change at all. This should not be surprising since there has been no change at all from the status quo in D11.
The change from 70% PA to 71% PA in D11 mirrors the same result at the state level. Once again, D11 leaders are just happy to be along for the ride. Nothing innovative, nothing forward looking, nothing to improve the performance of the school district. Here is how the Gazette described the reading results in the D11:
Some schools in D-11 increased the percentage of third-graders scoring proficient or advanced at a quick pace. Queen Palmer, for example, went from 32 percent to 57 percent, an increase of almost 80 percent.
On the other hand, D-11 also has schools where the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced is decreasing dramatically.
Lincoln Elementary School dropped from 77 percent to 51 percent.
What you see, as we have always seen, is some dramatic ups and some dramatic downs. There is no consistency in any particular school in the district. This indicates that there has been no plan in place to improve reading across D11. It is important to understand that at the 3rd grade level, 70% PA is an appalling figure. The time from Kindergarten to 3rd grade is the time where tremendous effort needs to be made to ensure that all kids are able to read. A child who is not able to read after 3rd grade is on his or her way to failure throughout the remainder of school, and then potentially life. If the district leadership cannot take the time to develop any sort of reading strategy for the early years, then they most certainly will not be able to develop a strategy for helping these kids in their later years.
Mary Thurman is the Deputy Superintendent for Instruction in D11. She earns over $120,000 per year. Here is what the Gazette reported as to her response to the crisis in the district:
Mary Thurman, deputy superintendent of instruction, said district officials will work to find the causes of increases and decreases and then create plans specific to the needs of a school.
Thurman noted the district's scores overall increased - from 70 percent to 71 percent, but "that still to me is flat." "We can't keep doing the same thing and getting the same results," she said.
Look back over the years since Thurman has been in this position in D11 (2002) and you will see the exact quote each year after CSAP results are released. Since Thurman and all other D11 leaders in central administration have "PhD" assigned to their names, you would suspect that there would be a deeper response to a crisis than, "We will look at the results and develop a plan to address them." Where is the plan from last year, or the prior years? What are the results of these plans? Where is the documentation for these plans? How many years will it take for these plans to take effect?
Based on the random increases and decreases across the district, it is obvious that there is no plan in place to improve the academic performance of the district. As another school year comes to a close, the D11 administration and their proxies on the school board leave the community with empty promises of plans to do better next year.
Thurman's final comment above is rather confusing. What does it men to say that we can't keep doing the same thing and getting the same result? By doing the same things over again, you are guaranteed to get the same results. If Thurman does not want the same results, what has she proposed to get different results? What has the board proposed to get different results? Notice that the Gazette did not quote any board members in the article. Where is the leadership on the school board?
The obvious answer to those questions is that there is no educational leadership in D11. Neither the paid staff nor the board members have any ideas on improving education. Their answers will be as always - poor and minority kids cannot learn and there is nothing that can change that. With reform board members safely out of the way, there is no incentive for the D11 administration to do anything that might be mistaken for hard work. Where are the quotes from End the Chaos on the performance of their board members? Where are the Friends of D11 now that the district continues to be mired in mediocrity? Those questions are obviously very easy to answer. It was never about improving D11 for these aristocrats. Rather, it was always about protecting administrtors from having to do the hard work that is necessary to ensure a quality education for all kids.
posted by Craig Cox | 8:41 AM
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