AMERICA\’S MODEL SCHOOL SYSTEMS

Have you ever had one or more children who attend public schools?  Maybe have one or more right now?

What would you do to get your children into a school system in which 80% of the teachers – four out of every five – are given the highest possible evaluative rating?  Just about anything, right?

Well, if I\’m right, there is a way to get that great education.  Move to Detroit.

Stop rubbing your eyes in disbelief.  Move to Detroit.  Because 80% of Detroit\’s public school teachers get the highest possible evaluative rating.

Excerpted from Tom Gantert\’s article at michigancapitolconfidential.com:

When Gov. Rick Snyder recently proposed creating a new school district organization to serve Detroit schoolchildren, he cited a “lack of educational success” and “failing academics” and pointed out that Detroit is the “nation\’s lowest performing urban school area.”

However, the Detroit Public School district\’s most recent evaluations of its own teachers paint a picture of success in 2013-14. The district gave 8 out of 10 teachers the highest evaluation possible – “highly effective.”

According to data filed with the Michigan Department of Education, 2,542 DPS teachers (79 percent) were rated “highly effective,” 541 teachers (17 percent) were rated “effective,” 73 teachers (2 percent) were rated “minimally effective,” and 52 teachers (2 percent) were rated “ineffective.”

The percentage of teachers rated highly effective by DPS was twice the state average of 38 percent in 2013-14, the latest year statewide data is available. 

Can someone explain to me how it is possible for the “nation\’s lowest performing urban school area” to have 96% of its teachers rated “highly effective” (79%) or “effective” (17%)?

Don\’t bother trying.  You can\’t.  Nobody can.

One month ago, in Atlanta, 10 public school employees were sentenced to terms ranging from probation to 7 years in jail for systematically faking test results to make it appear that children were doing better in school than they really were.

If anything, Detroit is worse. 

And, now that we have seen this in two major cities, is there any good reason to believe it is not going on in other major cities as well?

It seems to me there has to be an intensive investigation of just how much educational success there is in school systems around the country and how much fraudulent “good news” there is about it. 

Education, let\’s understand, is the province of individual states, not the federal government.  This leads to the question that has been asked for years:  why is there a federal Department of Education?

Well, given that Atlanta and Detroit are in different states, and given the prospect that they are not the only school systems lying about children\’s educations, we finally have a solid reason for the Department of Investigation (along with the FBI, if you\’re asking me) to get cracking.

But do you expect the Department of Education to do a thing about this?  To investigate what a disaster public school education is in those two cites and who knows how many more?  For a Democrat administration to call the teachers\’ unions into account – unions that give virtually everything they\’ve got – money, organizing, propaganda – to Democrats?  To call the boards of education in two Democrat-dominated cities into question?

If the Department of Education is not doing this (remember, again, Atlanta\’s sentencing was a full month ago) I say it should be summarily shut down.  Because it was useless before these scandals were uncovered…and, if it does nothing about them, will have gone beyond useless to intentionally obstructionist.

I won\’t hold my breath waiting for any of this to happen…or for mainstream media to give it anywhere near the attention which it should be getting.  Heck, it\’s only our children\’s educations.  Who cares about that?

Keep \’em ignorant and you own \’em.