Monday, December 9, 2013

THE TEACHER'S UNION CAUSES POOR TEST SCORES

The Milton Friedman Foundation and others have been advocating school choice for years.   Many of us believe that the funding that now goes to the union controlled government school systems should go to the students.   The parents should choose the school (or home school) that they deem best for their child.   This means that the parent will select the best curriculum.   If the school they choose does not cost the total of the funds they are allowed; the surplus could be saved for the child's college or trade designed education.    It is time to admit that our outrageously expensive and over-priced government schools too often fail most of the children.    
When Common Core is fully implemented those schools will be failing even more of our children.  It is fully exposed that Common Core IS designed to dumb down our population.
The following article is from EAG network.   Please take the time to read this information.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – There are a lot of folks in public education, particularly union apologists, who claim poverty is the root cause of the nation’s declining academic achievement.

Education poverty arrowBut recently released international test data, and several nonunion schools across the country, are demonstrating that poverty isn’t insurmountable when schools have the right focus. Education reform advocates believe high student expectations, combined with quality schools and teachers who are willing to put in a lot of hard work, can not only change students’ life trajectory, it’s likely the key to breaking the cycle of poverty,
Test results from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment released last week showed U.S. teenagers “slipped from 25th to 31st in math since 2009; from 20th to 24th in science; and from 11th to 21st in reading,” Dow Jones Newswires reports.
“While some blamed the stagnant scores on poverty, others point out that impoverished Vietnam outscored many wealthier countries, including the United States, in math and science,” according to Watchdog.org.
That shoots one hole in the “poor kids can’t learn” theory.
There’s even more compelling evidence found in public charter schools that cater to low income students in many large cities across America. Watchdog cites D.C. Prep in Washington, D.C. as a prime example.
The public charter school network educates more than 1,200 students in grades 3 through 8, about 82 percent of which are from low income families. Students enrolled in D.C. Prep from age 4 through the 4th grade are testing as well as or better than wealthier students in other parts of D.C., Watchdog.org reports.
About 95 percent of D.C. Prep students graduate high school, 80 percent go to college, and about 72 percent get their degrees, according to the news site.
“We have closed the so-called achievement gap, which says to me, ‘Of course you can educate low-income kids. You just need to get them a great school. You have to believe in them and focus on what they need,’” Ibby Jeppson, director of resource development for D.C. Prep, told Watchdog.org.

“Many of the things we do are things you’d see in any high performing urban environment. Kids wear uniforms. We have a longer school day. We have very high expectations. We do a tremendous amount of assessing kids, continuous assessment to make sure they’re understanding and mastering the material, and we have A-plus … teachers. They’re amazing.”
In other words, most of the reforms that are helping poor students are very basic, but unfortunately they run counter to the interests of teachers unions, which have fought bitterly to prevent similar reforms in traditional government schools.
Teachers unions don’t want their members to work more without substantially more pay, they’re opposed to student testing, and they don’t want teachers held accountable for their students’ performance. Union contract provisions in most public school districts also restrict the ability of school officials to hire and retain the best educators.
It’s not poverty that’s the biggest barrier to a better education for most students – it’s teachers unions.
Kevin Chavous, executive counsel with the American Federation of Children, told Watchdog.org that while poverty makes a convenient excuse for poor performing schools, charter schools in D.C., New Orleans and other cities are showing that academic success is infectious, and likely the key to breaking the cycle of poverty many children face.
“In nearly every case, if you get one kid in poverty educated, that starts to break the cycle,” Chavous told the news site. He mentioned a recent scholarship reception in Louisiana at which several mothers of scholarship recipients admitted they dropped out of school and couldn’t read.
“One by one, these mothers stood up and started talking about how seeing their kids be excited about school has changed their view of school and excited possibilities for them,” Chavous said. “Four or five of them said they signed up to get their GED.
“Once you break that cycle and you can see how education can be transformative, it can be positively infectious.

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