No Child Left Behind

That is, as long as you aren't learning English as a 2nd language, poor or otherwise disenfranchised, or disabled in some way. In that case - whatever.

I promise the political posts are simply coincidence and will stop as soon as it ceases to peeve me royally. In California we employ a little testing system called the Academic Performance Index. All the students in all the public schools (K-12) are given a standardized test for each grade level and the state comes up with a score that they use to measure a school's performance against the rest of the public schools in California. A score of at least 800 is considered passing. Also, they publish these scores in the local paper so you can read about and feel better than everyone else or worse than everyone else. Or good enough, I guess.

Now, this is great for (and I read through the detailed scores on their website for all the schools in our district) the schools with the highest number of wealthy white kids. For example, the desired school in our town for elementary students is Mound. Mound scored 960 (which is very,very high) - but of 377 kids who tested there less than 50 were non-white, poor, ESL, and/or disabled. None of these statistics were considered numerically significant enough to even separate them out of the main score. They did consider the white students score of 962 worthy of noting on the website. Nice!

Next, Serra Elementary - school to my niece and nephew. They tested 361 kids for a total score of 854. But here they have 120 non-white students who scored 805 as a group, 97 poor kids who scored 793, and nearly 60 ESL or disabled kids who were not considered numerically significant. (Notice, it's not about kids or learning - but about the math) The white students (238), as a group, scored 874.

So, between 2 schools with comparable attendance - a school where about 30% of kids are either non-native English speakers, economically disadvantaged, and/or disabled (kids who need assistance taking the test are counted as a failing score and this is added into the total, seriously) - and a school with 15% of kids in these categories (Mound was counted as having 1 ESL student) - are lumped together under one number and printed up in the paper like a competition. It's ridiculous.

G's school is such a mishmash of badly gathered data - hardly worth repeating. Loma Vista is the district magnet school for any students along the spectrum of hearing or sight disabilities. Therefore, 15% of 247 kids tested at G's school are disabled and counted as failing because the assistance they needed to take the test. That 15% doesn't even include another 25-30% of the students who are poor or ESL. They had a total of 834 and 879 among the 170 white students.

What's my problem? I guess it's the way schools with higher percentages of wealthy white kids are being advertised as the strongest academically - when this is not necessarily the case - and stronger students, with more involved parents are being driven to the same school. Then what?

He Was Dull in a New Way

and that made many people think him great. Samuel Johnson (1709-84)

"I don't care what people say. I like George Bush as President. I do, I like him. At least he has conviction.
People always want to blame things that go wrong on one person, but it can't be that simple. All this is Bush's fault? I couldn't even look at that slimy Bill Clinton."

Tuesday mornings I volunteer in childcare at our church's Womens' Bible Study. Perhaps it is seeing me in a church setting that indicates I would commiserate with such a sentiment - as expressed by one of the mothers this morning during pick-up. I nodded slightly, more of a reflex than a response. This conversation seems years old, tired, moot even. (If we could agree on moot, which I doubt considering neither of us see the topic as having a final assessment as uncertain.) I did find it difficult to believe that she could think this, so strongly, after everything that has happened. In the moment I discovered only one thing, I am so weary of politics. I am so tired of the circular discussion around liberation, deception, conviction, religion... on and on. When I didn't respond at first she pressed me further. "I am afraid for any minority Democrat (by this I am guessing she meant woman or black?) who might be elected, you know, because of assassination." Our pastor's 19 year old daughter works with me and here she piped up, "Yeah, I guess, considering Republicans are more likely to have guns." To this the mother replied, (to this teenager directly) "Well, are gang-bangers more likely to be Republican or Democrat?" She looked puzzled, I barely managed to stifle my guffaw. Oh, the list of problems with that question, line of thinking, ugh. It is so long my brain practically imploded on the spot and I could muster only a weak, "They probably don't vote." This is the problem with these discussions. Not to sound too condescending, although I do, it is a bit like trying to reason with a young child. Reason and logic and facts have no home here - only party lines, feelings, self-protection, and a very limited grasp of truth. Nowhere to go but another dead end where we end up debating whether the liberation of Iraq as an end (if we can say that anymore) justifies whatever brought us there in the first place.