Morning Shots

Here at Edspresso, we’ve grown tired of this complaining that high-stakes testing is responsible for the cheating done by teachers and administrators.

It almost seems that because as a society we demand and expect positive results – our children to be educated – we’re being unfair. It’s not their fault, they say, it’s the requirements. The stakes are too high.

But what exactly are these high stakes we hear about? We’re talking about children’s futures – it’s highly important that they are educated, right?

Well, no.

To teachers and administrators, high stakes means earning more money, accolades, getting tenure and ultimately keeping their job. But, don’t most people need to produce solid outcomes in their job to keep it?

Do we accept cheating elsewhere? Is it okay for the bank teller to shortchange you, so her daily numbers look higher? Is it okay for your doctor to cut corners so she can get you out of the office faster and see more patients? Was it okay when Wall Street put personal profits over the financial security of the public?

Why should we give teachers and administrators a pass? There are many quality teachers that produce high results without resorting to fraud. Because there are some that can’t, we’re supposed to turn a blind eye.

Now, we don’t only have to worry that our children are not getting the educational background they need to be prepared to succeed.

We’ve got to be concerned that those teaching them may feel that the end justifies the means at any cost, the line between right and wrong is a shade of grey and if you get caught blame someone else.

Princeton International Academy Charter School is suing three school districts to stop what they say is the spending of “public funds and using their governmental positions to oppose the opening of the charter school.”

Bravo!

All too often, traditional school districts fight dirty to protect their territory and thwart charter school competition – much to the detriment of parents and students.

But PIACS and parents are calling them out on it.

They want to stop the misuse of public funds, seek repayment of said funds, initiate a full accounting report of monies spent and see a monitor appointed to oversee spending.

This could set a new tone in the fight for charter schools where school districts will be held accountable for unfair practices. If successful, we could see charters in districts across the nation following suit.

Reason.tv did a fantastic job of capturing footage and conducting interviews with supporters, teachers and even Matt Damon at the recent Save Our Schools Status Quo rally in D.C.

The comments may shock you – and no, I’m not talking about Matt Damon’s potty mouth. You can catch his interview at the 0:38 mark. But, you really have to see the teacher at 3:05 who thinks we should be spending a BILLION dollars per student.

Her comments get me thinking about one of Matt Damon’s movies – Rounders. In the film, he plays some uber-smart poker player. I’m sure even Matt Damon can explain what it means to be drawing dead. This is when, no matter how much money you put into the pot, you’re never going to win the hand because your opponent has better cards.

It’s kind of like the battle over education reform. The unions want to put more and more money into the pot, but they’re holding a losing hand. As a nation, we’ve put more money into education than ever before, while test scores and student performance have remained flat.

The unions are drawing dead. And no amount of money can change that.