The Observation Deck

Try http://www.schooldigger.com/, sort until your hearts content.

I have never been a big believer that numbers tell all because numbers alone tell lies and liars tell numbers, what is left, but a reality check since the school district has such a narcissistic attitude towards property owners.

School Districts probably have the worse accountability attitude of all the government bodies except Congress and that has to be a close second. If the taxpayers don't continue to throw good money after bad, they threaten to halt and/or reduce sports, the arts, and supplies simply to show if they didn't get the funding they will punish the students. They use their students to promote their request for additional funding instead of marketing performance because they continue to operate in a fat and bloated budget that was established when economic conditions allowed it.

Common sense like cursive writing has disappeared from our education system and it’s time we make them accountable for their performance. Someone wrote “the way the schools go so does the community” but what about vacant property, empty store fronts, weak employment in the private sector, section 8 housing, etc., etc. In fact, economic factors killed a lot more communities then an over-funded school district not getting additional monies to squander.

I was just quickly checking the deck and I'll look at your site later but I wanted to comment on the cursive comment. Just the other day I wrote a note to my 3rd grade daughter's teacher letting her know how impressed I am with my daughter's cursive writing skills. Something that her teacher taught her, it is part of the 3rd grade curriculum in Lakewood. Just wanted you to know in fact that it is being taught in Lakewood.

That site looks like the information available on the state report card. Am I missing something?

What exactly is a "schooldigger rating"?

If you'd like real information, information brought about with just the type of accountability you keep calling for in mind, I think this would be a good start.

http://www.ode.state.oh.us/reportcardfi ... 019687.pdf

This document shows that our students' scores met or exceeded every section of the Ohio Graduation Test. You might also note that we have some work to do with closing the achievement gap. We also failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). If you look into any critique of No Child Left Behind, you will readily find that the AYP score is consistently singled out as a flawed indicator of student and school progress.

In research, a subject I teach as part of the State of Ohio Language Arts (English) curriculum, it is crucial to try to get primary source documents when quoting figures. The report card provided above is an example of such a primary source.

This site doesn't even know if schools offer free or reduced lunch. Considering that info is easy to get via the state this site doesn't seem to offer much info. I'm done with it but hey thanks anyhow.

I'm not convinced a report from the Ohio Department of Education is a reliable primary source. In essence, it is a report prepared by people who have a vested interest in the outcome. After NCLB was enacted, an unfortunately large number of states lowered their standards, which of course made the new results look much better. I.e., (and I make these numbers up just for explanation) a mark of 30 percent on a test, which had been evaluated as failing, was reevaluated as passing, so the same student performance that had been failing in past years was now passing, or the tests were rewritten so that performance that had been considered failing in the past was now considered passing.

I haven't seen Ohio on the list of states that were found cheating, but certainly the incentive is there, which is important to understand because the Ohio Department of Education has a tremendous amount of control over our schools; when they say jump, the BoE jumps.

I think the current movement to establish countrywide standards is a positive. But I think it is also essential that evaluation of student performance be done by someone or something outside the control of the classroom teacher and even the administration, as there is too much incentive to cheat when your job is on the line. When I taught, the final examination was always given by another teacher or a supervisor, and I think that is a minimum.

One of my complaints about the NCLB act is that it seems to assume that all students are equally capable, and humans are just not built that way. Some have a lot of academic talent; some have almost none. I've often thought that too often we laud the teachers who handle the academically talented. I think those kids can virtually teach themselves; my greatest respect is for the teacher who deals with the academically untalented, and causes them to improve.

But I think it is also essential that evaluation of student performance be done by someone or something outside the control of the classroom teacher and even the administration

- Will Brown

So the evaluation of student performance should come from someone OTHER than the teacher? I'm just trying to follow this....

How, as a classroom teacher, should I go about doing this? A class robot? Have parents vote via webcam? Would you like to grade the essays?

I don't know why I bothered to become a professional educator if I shouldn't be the one evaluating my students' performance. Following this logic, we probably shouldn't even have teachers. We should just hire someone to read the script that also has a great background in babysitting.

I'm sorry, but comments like the one quoted at the top of this post really show the devaluation (even at $45, 532) of my worth as a career professional. Should outside evaluators also substitute for a doctor's evaluation? Doctors DO have a vested interest in any medical procedure, as they will be able to bill for the procedure.

And, just so that we are clear, neither Ohio teachers nor administrators grade the Ohio Graduation Test. They are, in fact, graded by people outside of the school district's control, at both the local and state levels.

If we can't use the State Report Card as a measuring stick, what would you have us use, Will? If we can't even trust the standardized test, so championed by those clamoring for more accountability despite the obvious weakness of the method, what would you have us use?

I agree with you, Will, on one point. I think national standards are a step in the right direction. I am also a strong proponent of performance pay and a better teacher performance assessment model. All of the above put me outside the views of my union, at least at a national (NEA) level.

Please let me know how I can work to satisfy your accountability needs. I will do anything that I can to ensure you and others that our students are passing muster.

Will, I'm confused if you can't trust the state report card which shows the results from the OATs and OGT's do you think a site that uses that same data somehow better? In fact I saw more information on the state report card. It showed mean ACT and SAT scores and showed how many students took and passed their AP exams. That info was not on the school digger site, plus the school digger site had incomplete information unlike the ohio report card. I guarantee you school digger go their test score data directly from the state of Ohio so I fail to see how an a site with incomplete data is somehow more reliable that the state.

And Richard no offense but you made a comment about kids not learning cursive when that was incorrect. I would suggest that if you haven't spent some time in a classroom recently you give it a try. Most of the elementary schools love having volunteers (you'll need a background check) come in and read with the kids. It is so rewarding to have a child look up and you and smile and tell you how great it is to have someone read with them.