I think I've told this story before but it looks like it may be appropriate to repeat it. My Dad has always said, "Figures lie and liars figure."
Now it took years for me to beat him at the game of chess and I considered myself a pretty hotshot in Junior High. None of the other kids could beat me. Not that I remember anyway.
His education left him with initials after his name too, just like those people with MD's, PhD's, and EdD's. They were GED.
Last night at the LSC meeting, I listened to DR. LATHAM go over the NEW accountability data. She had an impressive POWERPOINT presentation with one of those fancy SMART BOARDS. We were told the new way of configuring the data blatantly underrepresented our progress. Long story, short, these figures LIE.
We were treated to some calculations that showed we were the victims of statistical manipulation. LYNN, LYNN, WE CAN'T WIN. They stacked the cards against us.
What was CPI is now PPI though it seems to be a broader measure, we don't measure up so well. Not to worry, we were treated not to a lesson in revisionist history but we were urged to discount history. Why? Because we look better if we do.
I didn't think I heard anything last night about how the NEW way was a wrong way to figure, just wrong for us.
Let's look at who was doing the figuring. It was the same person who asked us to believe a school was an INNOVATION school because she, not the state said it was. It was the same person who says that homeschooling wasn't told that if they didn't show up at the last LSC meeting that they wouldn't be able to home school. Of course, the parents who happened to be disabled insisted that they were. HISTORY MATTERS.
Am I confused, or did Dr. Latham and her administration (including most school committee members) claim that the old way was also "not fair" and that it also underrepresented our progress? In fact, I thought I heard them say they were looking forward to the changes that the state was going to make....Maybe I didn't?? Did Dr. Latham, Charlie Gallo, Patti Capano, John Ford or anyone else who has openly bragged in the past that Lynn was "the best of the worst" have anything to say about the fact that Lynn NO LONGER is? Oh wait, they probably will still proclaim that Lynn is merely because they consider us to be and because the "new way" is not fair. Give me a break!! When is Dr. Latham, her administration and our school committee going to stop all the excuses and just admit that Lynn IS a failing school district riddled with under-performing and failing schools and that we need a complete change in leadership and representation if expect this change!!
ReplyDeleteAnother question - assuming that this ranking system is not fair across the board, what does that mean for the Level 1 schools (Aborn, Sisson, and Shoemaker)? Are they accepting those rankings as accurate but not the Level 3s and 4s or did those schools 'luck out' with this new system?
ReplyDeleteThat my DEAR is a VERY GOOD point!
DeleteGreat Point!!!
Delete