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Rauner: "State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders recently proposed that Illinois lower its state assessment standards to 'provide us with more accurate data.'
Lowering the standards doesn’t make the scores more accurate. It sends the wrong signal to students and creates misinformation for parents and educators that results in more students falling through the cracks. "
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Let’s not forget, CTU pushing to end WY and other ‘selective enrollment schools’
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/chicago-teachers-union-attacks-successful-schools-to-push-failing-schools/
Pretty sure those students would have been successful no matter where they went. You keep believing the name of building also staffed with CTU members is the cause of this outcome. The students no doubt benefited from being with like minded students but they would have succeeded either way as education is important to these students and their families.
I agree wholeheartedly. While it’s no guarantee for success dedication to the cause is what’s essential for most to have an expectation of being truly successful. Seldom does that occur without superior ongoing dedication, and that’s true in most of life’s pursuits.
60% of the students at WY who scored perfect on the ACT were Asian, and took numerous prep courses. Not much to do with CTU.
What does being “Asian” have to do with it??? Are Asians guaranteed higher test scores? Or are you saying their culture values education so those students perform better? Couldn’t other cultures adopt that same mind set? Also, I have no doubt most if not all these kids took prep courses. So what. Are you advociating for more money for student education in the form of test prep programs for all? Students that care about their education will do well in school. Students that don’t won’t. It’s up to the students to succeed. The schools merely provide a place to learn… Read more »
I hate to be so literally repetitive here, but maybe for my 5th time “you can lead a horse to water, but …..”. To all the teacher haters out there please let that sink in. Truer words were never spoken.
Have you been leading them to water? Or wandering in the desert expecting them to drink sand?
He has continually provided you with information to help educate you. It’s on you PP as you continue to just stare at the water. You refuse to learn and just want to post comments that hate on teachers.
Those teacher haters are much like some of those students, no matter how many times you try to educate them, they refuse to learn.
As I’ve gone through life I’ve come to understand something of another universal truth that applies to nearly everyone at various times. It’s this: the job someone is tasked to do generally seems easier, faster and cheaper to the novice than reality inevitably shows it to be.
I just saw Randi Weingarten on TV, screeching a rant at an anti-ICE rally. ICE is evil! These people deserve to stay! They are the backbone of our communities!
Teachers: How can we be expected to teach all these children with limited language ability and a totally different culture? You just don’t understand how hard we have it! Give us more money!
And that’s why you hate teachers. They have a different political view than you so all the students that fail is the fault of the teachers. While I don’t agree with Randi, she certainly has a right to her opinion. Even if that included needing more money for education.
Humility is fast becoming an outdated expectation in matters of political concern especially and has been replaced by unearned bravado in far too many. You can’t hope to educate a person who always thinks he knows the right answers even as a novice. It’s a waste of time, energy and resources to engage with any realistic hope to change such people’s perspective. All you’ll get for your effort is non-productive aggravation.
Your disdain for public school students, the majority of whom cannot read or do math at grade level, drips through your comments. According to you, they are all stupid and shiftless. And their parents, who pay the teachers’ salaries and benefits, are even worse in your estimation. They are all just lazy whiners.
We don’t hate teachers. We expect them to do the job they are paid to do. But if your attitude is indicative of how teachers think, we might be justified in hating them.
I’m not a teacher nor have I ever been. It’s not teachers saying kids are a failure but rather just me. I expect people to be responsible for their decisions. In this case, students and their families are failing. Since I don’t jump on the teacher hate bandwagon, you and others here of low intellect assume I am or was a teacher. Now you are judging ALL teachers based on a comment on the internet from a non-teacher.
You are proving once again that some people can’t or won’t learn.
Sigh, thought we went through the “all teachers” point already. The school problems have been going on for decades, but somehow it’s always the kids and parents who are at fault. Class 1: These kids suck. They can’t be taught. Next year class: These kids suck, and so do their parents. How can we be expected to teach them? Year 3 (contract year): These kids and their parents are impossible. How dare you expect us to teach them? Give us more money. How many more years do we listen to this before we say the school system and teachers may… Read more »
I don’t think they are all stupid. Just yesterday I posted comments about the stellar results of students at Whitney Young. I just don’t think the students that are failing are doing so because of the teachers. No data has been presented that shows that.
Wow, very magnanimous of you. .
It’s not magnanimous. I’m just fair in my assessment. You should try it.
How can you not love the demands for more comp and benefits, the election of CTU’s firebrand leader with kids in private school, the work stoppages and the strikes and the absenteeism?
It doesn’t bother me. That’s for the voters of Chicago that choose the school board and mayor.
I agree. I cannot imagine what it’s like teaching in some of those inner-city schools. My kids have had fantastic teachers. Obviously, at some point in our lives, everyone gets a bad teacher. But coming from a high performing suburban school, we’ve been very fortunate. I detest CTU, but I certainly value good teachers. They should be respected and rewarded. “…Or are you saying their culture values education, so those students perform better?” Yes! Absolutely. It’s the culture. We’ve also had an influx of Indians in my area over the last 10 years. Largely, the value they put on education… Read more »
Maybe the shame of having 5 of your children still in first grade may make somebody care. Whether parents or tax payers , we should expect more than lower standards.When schools and teachers pass children up to the next grade level without meeting requirements, it hurts society in general.
I was in a Southside HS district working where there was fight among two large groups of girls. After the fight between each other and then the Police ended, the parents were called to get the kids. The administration and teachers are at a loss of what to do with these kids. None of them attend class regularly, when they do fights happen, none of them are passing any of their classes and they are seniors. These kids like many others there will likely graduate to get them out of the school system…because the District can’t really solve the problem.… Read more »
“ I think tax payers want their tax dollars used effectively for good and not thrown away on more salary, benefits and pensions for less results. Putting more cash into an education system trying to solve a huge social problem, that frankly school districts cannot solve is just a waste.” I don’t disagree with your sentiment but it would be a very tough sell politically to the residents of the CPS district. Try getting elected to the mayors office or the school board based on the premise that some kids are just unwilling to learn so let’s stop wasting money on… Read more »
The standards have nothing to do with passing kids on to the next grade level. That’s the problem. Also, teachers are not the ones passing or holding students back. That decision is well beyond their authority. So don’t blame teachers for an administrators decision.
Agreed! It’s been years since I learned from a teacher friend that K-12 really cannot hold kids back anymore. It’s a controversial and complex discussion.
Well state Sand. I don’t read many comments here that admit the issue is controversial and complex. Usually you just get shoot from the hip suggestions with no possibility of success.
CTU and CPS should not be allowed to lower standards for students. Maybe instead raise the bar for teachers and schools is a better idea. Hold both accountable for outcomes. Make them do their jobs. And remember many CPS parents are the product of CPS and also weren’t taught, so they can’t help their kids.
It does not matter if it is federal, state, county or city governments. If they have a standard they cannot meet they will lower it and declare success!
Sorry Bruce, but your efforts to pull IL out of its perpetual Dem quagmire were soundly defeated by the guilty white/ gimmie, gimmie, gimmie/ unions crowd. You gave it a good try though.
By lowering the bar for students to pass, you’re accepting the fact that teachers are failing in their jobs. Hello CTU .
I agree with Bruce that “lowering the bar sends the wrong signal to students and creates misinformation for parents and educators that results in more students falling through the cracks.” It also justifies more and more spending – that is not needed. The suggestion that they would fall through the cracks, suggests that there is any structure for them at all…and in many districts and schools…unfortunately, there is little structure there at home or school for them to fall through.
Just have the CPS graduates go online to print their Diplomas and register any grades they want. Anyone that knows anything about CPS does not value a HS graduate degree from the CPS as anything but toilet paper.
23 students from Whitney Young earned perfect scores on their ACT. I think the kids that value education will be just fine.
That’s generally the crux of the matter, isn’t it? Cream rises to the top and all else does not.
Whitney Young and other magnet schools within the CPS system provide evidence that low performace is not the cause of the teachers or the building but the students and their parents. Does anyone honestly believe you could take all those kids in schools that WP loves to write about (failing students), place them at WY and get different results? As you said, cream rises to the top.
To the extent that a more ambitious peer group would be attained at another school that tends to help, but ultimately we all need to feel and be responsible for where our life will lead us. Blaming others is a popular go-to response but mostly unproductive. It’s a lesson a good many adults have yet to learn as well.
this is called classic projection
Not sure 23 students would even fill a school bus. There are 323,000 students in the CPS. Billions of dollars spent, and you are bragging about 23 students. This must be a joke.
Average ACT test score at Whitney Young is 31. So it’s not just 23 students. You’re also missing the point. Good students with good grades and test scores will be judged on their own merit not some ridiculous claim that a HS diploma from CPS is “toilet paper”.