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Education's Budget Crunch- The Good News and The Bad News KHSD's Shameful Shell Game So what's the problem? October 06 November 06 December 06 January 07 February 07 March 07 April 07 May 07 June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 
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KHSD's Shameful Shell Game
So, to make a long story short... The Kern High School District has decided to reclassify the lowest-performing sophmores as freshmen for their 10th grade year. After that, they jump directly to being juniors, then seniors... completely skipping their "sophomore" year. It is not a 5 year program, it does not change ANYTHING about their class schedules or their graduation prospects. Why would they do such a seemingly ridiculous thing? Because if they are never sophomores, they never take the "census" CAHSEE, one of the main factors in calculating the district's API. In other words, it's a shell game. It masqurades as a hard-line approach to slacking teens but it's really about hiding them when test day comes. The students have figured it out, they laugh about it in class. The public backs it because like many of us educators, it fools them at first. On the surface it sounds like something it is not. Fortunately, the public is not stupid and they will figure this sham out eventually. Tell a friend. Tell two. 13 comments from 8 users
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posted by
johnburnssucks
on May 15, 2007 at 07:43 PM
This is nothing new. The "Houston Miracle" shysters used this very same tactic. Florida does it for FCAT, so does Virginia. Teachers are given bonuses for reaching a certain goal, and punished if they don't make it. Lies, cheating, falsifying data - you name it - the name of the game is numbers. Not education. Numbers.
posted by
ronmexico
on May 15, 2007 at 08:11 PM
WHy again is the government involved in edjucation??
posted by
Googolplex
on May 15, 2007 at 09:36 PM
John: I have to agree with you that this is not a new tactic, just a new one for the KHSD. I have to say I'm disappointed in our leaders. So our many of their students. Ron: Government is involved in edumacation because without it we would not have the universal, free access that we currently enjoy. Unfortunately all of the other bureaucratic garbage comes along with it. Agreed? posted by
ronmexico
on May 15, 2007 at 10:18 PM
Education is free?? I just thought the condoms that were passed out were free... posted by
anonymous
on May 16, 2007 at 12:02 AM
/approves of hiding students on "test day" posted by
possummomma
on May 16, 2007 at 12:07 AM
Government is involved in public education because the education is available to all and is subsidized by tax payer monies. However, I think this procedure is ridiculous. You can monkey the kid's grade level all you want... it doesn't change the fact that our education system, and parents, is - in these cases (of kids who are held back and then promoted directly to Juniors), failing. Painting a structurally unsound house doesn't fix the structural flaws...it just makes it a "nice looking" structure that is structurally unsound. I wonder if Bush is proud of the No Child Left Behind crap that bred this disaster waiting to happen? posted by
samheath
on May 16, 2007 at 06:42 AM
Let's not underestimate the success of this decades long shell game. The hoax was used to eventually make Bush President. There is a moral here, but not one either politicians or society is prepared to deal with.
posted by
johnburnssucks
on May 16, 2007 at 07:43 AM
Sam is right. Rod Page was the head guy in the Houston school district when the "Houston Myth" made headlines. Soon after, he was Bush's Secretary of Education.
posted by
samheath
on May 16, 2007 at 08:19 AM
I wrote extensively about this hoax at the time but to no avail. It was obvious to insiders like me the Paige "success" was the same used by schools across America to cook the books. But it made Bush the President and also resulted in the fantasy No Child Left Behind disaster.
posted by
Googolplex
on May 16, 2007 at 05:42 PM
I had heard the legends of the Bakersfield Blog where no matter what the subject was someone would quickly turn it into a Bush-bashing fest. I could really care less who anyone voted for in the last presidential election. Our LOCAL school district is implementing transparently unethical policies designed to put API scores ahead of student achievement... and the public is overwhelmingly in favor of it.
I would hate to see this turn into another tired Republicans vs. Democrats debate. We should all be upset by this and be informing those who did not have the time to research it.
Ronmex: Where are they distributing these free condoms? My class is doing a water balloon experiment next week and there is no budget for balloons. This could save me a bundle!
posted by
anonymous
on May 16, 2007 at 06:14 PM
This just more fuzzy Christian thinking.
posted by
NancyII
on May 16, 2007 at 09:34 PM
Christian thinking? Where did that come from and what are you talking about? I have to agree that it would be nice to see a discussion about local issues where neither party was brought into the discussion. Whatever you think about political parties on either side, you really should care about education. Why not try talking about THAT for a change? Try putting together one entire post where Bush, or any party, isn't mentioned. posted by
Googolplex
on May 16, 2007 at 09:45 PM
I try not to think about fuzzy Christians. It's not appealing to me.
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