Schooling – Where to Send Your Kids?

August 2009
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Schooling – Where to Send Your Kids?

11 August 2009

George Rebane

Here are some local school ratings done within the context of California. Not sure how these can be interpreted in a national context. And here is a compilation of state public school rankings. So at 46 out of 50, California is pretty much near the bottom of the pile. Does that mean that when California ‘educators’ (love that term) rate our state’s schools, those ratings should be taken in the ‘bottom of the barrel’ context? I don’t know. Our public educators nationwide play these things fairly close to the vest, job security and all that. Would love some illumination from the more informed readers.

But given the data, what information can I make out of it? (Recall that ‘data’ is facts and beliefs about the real world, and ‘information’ is data formatted to support specific decisions. Example – white pages are data, yellow pages attempt to be information in the sense that they support your decision to choose a specific plumber. Data and information are NOT the same thing.)

So, looking at the intra-state ratings, I don’t know. It seems that our local Nevada County schools score pretty high, relatively speaking – but we have to remember where we’re located in the big pile. And these ratings are probably because we’re out of the metropolitan area crapola mills with a lot of gangs and drugs and … . But if you talk to local educators, and then talk to LA educators (our experience), you find out that our teachers are no smarter or motivated than the city teachers. And if you look at their skill sets, they can and mostly will motivate youngsters to go into fields supported by public (read political) funding. The teaching of wealth creation skills, and motivating such careers is hard to find in our politically informed and directed age.

Given this, where today would I send my kids (who are now in their forties)? If I could afford it, I would never let them set foot in a 2009 ‘normal’ public school. It would be a private school, a parochial school, or even home schooling. I wouldn’t want them graduating high school not knowing the elements of history – the unique meaning of America (note flag in the figure), the impact of WW2 on our world, the history of socialism vs capitalism, etc. I wouldn’t want them speaking in sentences like ‘Mom gave those tickets to Pat and I.’ I wouldn’t want them to unabashedly tell their friends that ‘I don’t do numbers.’

A mind is a terrible thing to waste, especially if it also sports a part of your own double helix.

(Full disclosure – I come from a poor and lower middle-class background, and am a product of only public schooling, albeit of a different age.)

Posted in Culture Comments, Nevada County, Our Country

16 responses to “Schooling – Where to Send Your Kids?”

Mikey McD

11 August 2009

I think the VALUES taught to our youth are as important as API scores. How do the few private schools rank?

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George Rebane

11 August 2009

Agreed Mikey. Today’s public schools emphasize an anti-western cultural outlook or, at best, are mostly ‘value neutral’, teaching that all cultures are of equal worth. With a non-public school, you may have a choice.

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Steve Enos

12 August 2009

Goods news is our local schools here in western Nevada County are doing a real good job, including a number of award winning charter schools. The quality of our local schools is one reason some move here.
Non-public schools? Well the schools run by the main stream religions/churches teach the Lord’s teachings that all of us are of equal worth, as does the Bible.
A question for George, you say the public schools are “teaching that all cultures are of equal worth”, so is that a bad thing?
Do you have a ranking list of which cultures are of less worth than others?

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George Rebane

12 August 2009

Steve, I am a child, student, and defender of western culture. Very definitely I believe that equating the worth of all cultures in how they inform, enrich, and promote the homo sapien species is an error, and therefore wrong to teach to our children. As to the rating (instead of ranking) of cultures, that I can do only with respect to a utility metric the adoption of which is always subjective. Yours may be markedly different than mine. However, I continue in the comfort that, at least since the Renaissance, western culture has done more to advance the species along almost all dimensions that you care to identify. This does not mean that other cultures were not in such leadership positions in ages past. And, as with all my belief tenets, I stand ready to be proven wrong.

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Steve Enos

20 August 2009

The story below was just posted on the KNCO website. It provides information about our local public schools and students here in Nevada County.
We have a long track record of good schools and good stundents here in Nevada County, it’s one reason folks say they move here or stay here to raise a family.
It was sad to see our elected County Supervisor John Spencer recently blog that he would not use our public schools if he had school aged children.
Supervisor Spencer made some unfounded and factless snide comments about our public schools and then failed to respond to quesitons about his statements. County Supervisor Spencer failed to respond to the questions asked him about his attack on our public schools.
Here’s the latest basic information about our local schools. They are performing well, show increased and upward performance and our local students are doing a good job.
Maybe County Supervisor Spencer will review the facts and the data about our local public schools and say that he is sorry for his baseless rant.
I’ll bet Supervisor Spencer doesn’t respond as he has a history of bloging insults and rants and then refuses to take accountability for his statements. So much for accountability by our elected representative.
Here’s the story about our local public schools and student performance:
Nevada County Schools, once again, have performed well above the state average on the 2009 California Standards Test. County Superintendent of Schools, Holly Hermanson, says there has been a steady increase over the years in student performance in the Standardized Testing and Reporting Program.
“They continue to increase each year in their percent of students who are scoring proficient and above, and that’s the level that the state has set to demonstrate the levels that they want the students to reach. And they also reach the accountability standards of no child left behind. So students in Nevada County continue to improve and are still scoring well above the state average.”
Hermanson points out that Nevada County schools have consistently been above the state average in all areas of performance. The test measures performance in English Language Arts, Matehmatics, History and science. The county’s students performed ten percent higher in that the state average in both English and History. They scored more than two percentage points above the state average in math, and nearly thirteen points above the state average in science for grades five, eight and ten, while scoring more than ten percentage points above the state average on the end of course science test.

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George Rebane

20 August 2009

Steve, since California is near the bottom of the pile nationwide, and since all the Hermanson cited student performance reports are relative to California using the California Standards Test (as opposed to national performance tests), and since it has long been reported that poorly performing states play games with their own testing programs, I wonder how we are doing nationwide and how that should figure into a parent’s decision on where to send their kids. Thoughts?

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Steve Enos

20 August 2009

George, I’m focused on our local, public schools, as it is critical to our local future. Our local schools and students have been doing a real good job compared to other schools in the state. I think this is a good thing and it does impact the decision of folks to stay here or to move here. It impacts the future of our kids and our community on so many levels.
I’m sure the County Superintendent of Schools office can supply much information about how our local schools stack up nationally under whatever testing system(s) you think should be used.
California schools have lots of issues, for many, many reasons, but our local public schools and students are doing a good job here in Nevada County, as are local home school kids and local charter schools. They should get credit for that, something more than just being bashed.
I wonder if it’s possible for some to recognize the schools and students efforts and results in the discussion about local schools vs. only beating them up.
County Supervisor John Spencer made a very bold statement and it would be nice if he had the ability to back up and explain his position as our local schools are doing a good job.
Supervisor Spencer also failed to respond with any information about what he, an elected representative has done to help our local schools. It’s one thing to just complain, it’s another to help.
It would be nice if Supervisor Spencer was accountable for his statements and responded, but that might be asking too much.

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Steve Enos

20 August 2009

George, a side note. The KNCO story states “And they also reach the accountability standards of no child left behind”.
Who was it that brought forward the “no child left behind” effort?

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Steve Enos

20 August 2009

Things that help…
Here’s one local effort to help education and our local students. George has worked with the SESF merit scholarship TechTest effort for our local high schools. The program helps fund continued education for our local students.
A big thank you to SESF, George and all involved in this program. Working on a local effort matters.

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George Rebane

20 August 2009

Thank you for the kind words Steve.
We recall that ‘no child left behind’ (NCLB)is a bi-partisan measure promoted by W but received wide bi-partisan support in Congress (Ted Kennedy was one of its co-sponsors). NCLB is the legislation that gave rise to states writing their own standard tests, but provided for no national standards. So even though NCLB was a goad for Calif to write its own tests, it doesn’t help us assess our schools on a broader national (or absolute?) scale. So we’re still looking at things in the framework of a state that ranks 46 out of 50.
I hope that no one interprets my remarks or this discussion as “beating up” on local schools. I think all parents would want to know (and influence) how their school system will prepare their children for life and jobs, the competition for which is not limited either by local or even state boundaries.

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Steve Enos

21 August 2009

George, the point I wanted to make is NCLB was a federal effort that set up national testing and performace standards in response to your post that you “wonder how we are doing nationwide”.
Our local schools have done a good job of meeting and exceeding NCLB, a national standard.
I also believe the federal government needs to get out of the public school business, that it’s a state and local issue.

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George Rebane

21 August 2009

Steve, I’m not sure you read my response. By “but provided no national standards”, I specifically meant that NCLB did NOT set “national testing and performance standards” as you claim. So my puzzle as to our county’s nationwide standing remains until you are able to show where in the NCLB legislation national standards and tests are prescribed, and in which of those our students did well.
And I fully agree with you on the role of the feds in our kids’ education. Having said this, I do believe that the feds can have a role in the development of a national standard (along with testing) to which local jurisdictions can or not subscribe. But no federal funding of schools or schooling.

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Steve Enos

21 August 2009

George, some good news is our State Governor is pushing new legislation to require teacher’s performance reviews to include and consider the performance of their students. This is a way to measure the performance of the teachers, by measuring the performance of their students. I think this would be a good thing. The Bee had a story on this today.
California has not allowed this and Washington is requiring this if the state wants some federal education funding. This is an additional way to determine the effectiveness and ability of teachers, but some big California teachers unions don’t want teachers performance reviews to include student performance.
This legislative reform would be good for a number of reasons. Too bad our County Supervisor John Spencer recently posted on your blog that his position is “just say NO to any new legislation of any kind”.
Talk about a failure to keep an open mind and consider options to make things better. Supervisor Spencer’s position is not logical and precludes efforts that can make things better, things like holding teachers accountable for their results.

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Steve Enos

21 August 2009

George, some NCLB info via the internet:
NCLB provided federal legislation that enacted the theories of standards-based education reform, based on the belief that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education.
The Act requires states to develop assessments in basic skills to be given to all students in certain grades, if those states are to receive federal funding for schools. The Act does not assert a national achievement standard, standards are set by each individual state.

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George Rebane

21 August 2009

Steve, I presume we now agree on NCLB and would both like to know how our kids/schools stack up nationally.

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Steve Enos

21 August 2009

George, Yes, and so would I. The good news is our local schools and students are doing well when compared to the rest of the state, now we need to know how our local schools and students stack up against the rest of the country. Good, local performing schools are a great value to our community and can provide a competitive edge to other communities.

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