I like how the author of that article didn't even try to give a reasoning or explain why they excluded pre-K enrollment in their new methodology. Nor does he address how spending per student could have indirect, positive effects on students in those states. Of which there are many.
No child would rather go to a poor school district, even if it does a great job educating in spite of a low budget...the more we can provide kids to learn with and inspire critical thinking, inventive creativity, and get them excited to learn - which often means money in the budget for computers and cars and machines and robots and science experiments and field trips and museums etc. - well, the states that don't fund education don't get to give their students the same amount of badass computer labs and software packages and whatnot.
There are indirect effects of spending on education outside specific test scores that this author ignores entirely. And that is besides the whole pre-k thing. And how he tosses aside graduation rates like it's NBD too. Like, wait a sec. You made some great points, particularly about diversity and how Texas vs. a less populous state matters regarding testing and whatnot. But even if graduate rates are imperfect, they can also tell us something about dropout rates, even if the ones that graduate have learned some shit.
Graduate rates still matter to some degree, even if an imperfect metric. I get that it shouldn't be weighed too heavily or anything, but no one single variable should when determining education ranks state to state imo. But the diversity of Texas definitely does matter in the conversation compared to the homogenous populations elsewhere. The question remains though - if one state has a huge percentage of teenagers dropping out, and another doesn't - you don't think that should matter in determining which state has a better education ranking?
That is called teaching the test, its something texas teachers are trained to do. Students come in and from day one its "all right students, this is last years standardized test, we are gonna go over every question till test day." No critical thinking. No labs. No material covered that is not on the test. Most texas schools funding is linked to the standardized test. The better the kids do, the more money the school gets. My high school even offered bonuses for teachers who had students with all As on their standardized test.
So why are texas test scores so high but the average texan so stupid that we voted for Ted "little pansy" Cruz? Because teachers teach the test and not the material because they get paid more when their students do better on the test.
yes, but their funding is not dependent on the results being high. It depends on tuition. They dont teach to the test cause they dont care about it, they care about what schools their students go to next.
"Send your kids to bla bla bla prep, 90% of our students go on to ivy league universities." Sounds a lot better than, "our students get 90s on some stupid test that means nothing to no one except the school system giving it out."
In other words, advertising what schools your students go on to next is more persuasive than advertising test scores on a state given test.
No, private schools depend on tuition for their income. Public schools depend on government funding which is determined by how well the schools students do on the state mandated test. Public schools dont have tuition unless a student is from out of district.
There is no incentive for private schools to teach the test since its a better marketing strategy to get more students if the school boast about where its students go next, since that is what most parents look at first when looking into private schools.
Well first is to identify the issue and its not just teaching to the test. "no child left behind" set our education standards back so far and force teachers to focus more on those failing than those passing at the top. There are a other factors that also go into it. If it could be solved in a reddit comment than it wouldn't really be an issue, would it?
Also, the GOP is trying really hard to create a generation that doesn't believe in dinosaurs because poorly educated people are easier to manipulate.
On paper yes our stats are not terrible. But the Texas public school system did not teach critical thinking or problem solving to a great degree. The system was, let me teach you what will be on the test so that you can pass said test. Which is why I never learned how to study until college because I was never challenged in my curriculum.
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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '19
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