Submitted by John Arbeeny.
As mentioned in my previous Suburban Times article “To debate or not to debate: that is the question” I reviewed the Clover Park School Board candidates’ comments during the League of Women Voters forum conducted 23 September 2021. Current Board President Schafer dropped another bomb (besides disowning debate) during this forum, twice, regarding the value of attendance, test scores and grade completion in defining student success. Here are the direct quotes from the League of Women Voters school board candidate forum held on 23 September 2021.
“The reality of it is that test scores, are indicators of how the student is navigating through our educational institution.”
“Even attendance, test scores, grade completion, those are indicators but they do not define whether a student is successful.”
Let’s deal with the first quote first. “……navigating through our educational institution”? Sounds like navigating through the “maze” of high school: in one end and out the other. It has less to do with education than making it to graduation day and getting a “participation trophy” in the form of a diploma that for many is meaningless. I thought the objective was to actually get an education rather than just going through the motions of getting one. It may be just a poor choice of words on Schafer’s part but it is supported by the fact that Schafer crows about the District going from 60% graduation rate to 88%+ during his 16 year tenure on the Board. Yet during his tenure the District has fallen from about 46% to 35% academically and once as low as 32%! Too bad that the 88%+ graduation rate fails to account for grade level skills of 50% English language Arts; 38.4% for Math; 39.8% for Science with only 85.4% of students attending class regularly. Sadly, Clover Park School District has become something of a diploma mill instead of an educational institution.
The second quote is equally concerning as it goes to the heart of student, and I might add Board, definitions and measures of success. Attendance, test scores and grade completion are objective measures of student success academically not just subjective indicators. The flip side is that they are also objective measures of Board and District success as citizen representatives and an educational institution charged with educating our children. Attendance, test scores and grade completion are the best determinants of potential student success. When students fail to attend school, fail to demonstrate their knowledge on tests, and fail to advance through their grades, these too are measures of Board and District failure. Perhaps that’s the reason Schafer downplays the importance of attendance, test scores and grade completion: the Board apparently doesn’t like looking in the mirror of student academic performance!
It is revealing that Schafer never mentions what defines success either as more valid measures in school or those in post high school adult life. Assessing Board, Superintendent, administration and staff accountability without objective standards and metrics for success is next to impossible. No one can be held accountable to a standard that doesn’t exist or can’t be measured. This is a significant problem with the District’s “equity policy”. What are its definitions of success and how are they objectively measured? Unfortunately the District’s “equity policy” deals with poorly defined subjective theoretical concepts that are more psychological than academic. So what would Schafer propose? All students to pass a psychological exam to as an “indicator” that they have been properly indoctrinated in “diversity, inclusion and equity” before they get their diploma? How would that work and how would it address attendance, test scores, grade completion as part of academic performance? It wouldn’t!
Downplaying the importance of attendance, test scores and grade completion is a ruse to sidestep the very real failure of Board and District in providing students with a solid academic education. Ultimately it’s about sidestepping responsibility and accountability as an educational institution by establishing what amounts to a political indoctrination camp. Want to change this? Then you need new people on the Clover Park School District Board. Sending the incumbents back to the Board only perpetuates the current District academic malaise. David Anderson and Jeff Brown both understand the importance of attendance, test scores and grade completion as measures of academic performance. They will create a District that defines success academically for students and District and is accountable for the education of students to ensure that a diploma at graduation means something more than just a scrap of paper.
Huzzah!
AMEN!!!
Education should be about teaching, not radicalizing. Diversity-Equity-Inclusion is a sham. It indoctrinates kids to hate themselves and their country. They market guilt and shame to corporations, schools, entertainers, sports figures, and even some churches are getting in on the act. Each is coming under enormous pressure to comply, shunning anyone who refuses to agree or questions their goals or propaganda. Schools and businesses are desperate to check the Diversity Box for all to see. They may hire some random “DEI expert” from the internet.
It is corrosive and divisive. Hard work and effort no longer count.
Over 50 years ago The Dean of the Medical School in Utah published a paper showing that “A” students did not turn out to be the best doctors. So academic success did not indicate the same success rate in providing medical care. To extrapolate, the best grades in high school don’t indicate success afterwards. A personal example: a friend of mine from 5th grade on was always very happy with a “C” In college he was phi beta kappa and entered medical school the same year I did. Anyone who has taught others knows that grades don’t tell the teacher anything not already known. Grades or the act of graduation allows others concerned about the students’ success to feel involved or in control of the process. The task of the School Board and the Legislature should be to enable the teacher and student; then get out of the way!
There is a big difference between ruling by exception and letting the exception rule. Certainly there are instances where a C student suddenly blossoms into an A student or very successful adult but I think that the exception to the rule. That later success can often be attributed to the growth of maturity and/or relevance of education. My best friend from grade school was at best a B student and he had to try hard at that. What made him a very successful business man wasn’t his grades, education or even his wits: it was his drive. Test scores, attendance and grade completion are measures of success in the absence of actual application of an education in adulthood endeavors. I’ve found that students who don’t score well on tests, don’t attend class and don’t complete their grades generally wind up less successful than those who do.