by Diane Benjamin (continued from previous post)
From the Illinois State Board of Education website: http://www.isbe.net/
See the chart below:
Close to 50% of all 11th graders in the state are BELOW average in all 3 subjects
Dist 87:
- 52.5% below standards in reading
- 57% below standards in math
- 58.6% below standards in science
- If your kids go to school in Dist 87 – why? Are you asking questions?
Tri-Valley is the obvious winner.
Leroy has a high graduation rate, but close to 50% tested below standards in all 3 subjects
For the cost, shouldn’t taxpayers DEMAND higher results?
How would your boss feel if these were your results?
Also See: http://blnnews.com/2012/11/12/more-on-school-districts/
Also See: http://blnnews.com/2012/11/12/school-district-comparisons/
The education problem nationwide is multifaceted. I believe a huge part of it is cultural. We do not demonstrate that we value learning as much as everything else in pop culture. Parents need to be pro active in communicating the importance of education to their children, but we also need society sending the same message. Only then will students see the need to learn everything they can because they have no idea what skills they will need in the future.
Today, we are still telling kids that they can be whatever they want to be. They choose careers that they think will be cool and make lots of money, but reality hits when they get to college. They find they do not have a good foundation and struggle to learn even basic concepts for a given subject. The universities then have to lower standards, in some cases, to get students through. College degrees are not for everyone.
We need also to make children understand that working and earning your way in the world is where it’s at. We need to tell them that being a janitor, a farm laborer, a trash collector, is as important as any other job. We do not do that, so we have only illegal immigrants to work on farms.
When you are talking with children, what messages do you send?
Have you seen the movie “The Cartel”? Very interesting look at education.