From Salem public school parent Sherry Croft:
"I
think we all need to take a step back and change the conversation
surrounding education here. We all want good schools, right? But what is
a good school? If your answer is "high test scores" then likely you're
pretty happy here in Salem. But my definition of a good school is one in
which my children are challenged to think. I'm not talking the one-dimensional
thinking that can be quantified on a state test, but multi-dimensional,
higher-order thinking. Where instead of being given multitudes of
information to digest and regurgitate, they're asked to create
something. They're given a problem and asked to solve it. They're given
projects that can hone other skills such as collaboration, teamwork,
critical thinking geared towards real world experiences, etc. You want
kids to "take ownership of their learning"??? Then make it mean
something to them! I've seen very little turnarounds and very little
MCAS score jumps in a year that didn't have some sort of narrowing of
the curriculum behind it. So yeah, we might see test scores go up, but
was there really anything meaningful behind it? I'm more concerned about
what is being lost in the quest for high test scores than I am about
what level school they're attending - since the levels are based on that
one, single-minded thing.
We say we value diversity in this
country. "The Melting Pot." We say we value creativity. We don't. If we
did, we wouldn't be subjecting kids to one-size-fits-all standards of
learning. We wouldn't be stigmatizing them with these test scores. I
didn't receive this type of education. Likely no one commenting on this
thread did. Yet we want it for our kids? It isn't progression. If
anything, it's regression back to a time when public schooling was
designed to create factory workers. Employees. Compliancy. Direct
instruction. Rote memorization. No thank you. I'd send my kids to a
level 3 school that values more than test scores and offers a
well-rounded curriculum than I would a level 1 school that spends a
majority of its day on drill and kill direct-instruction for one sole
purpose."
How do you define a 'good school'? Does being Level 1 or Level 3 really mean what we think it means?
