Got fluff?

Ugh. Test scores. It saddens me that state API scores create such a frenzy in the media, especially when, even as a teacher, the breakdown of scores into subgroups and sub-subgroups baffles me. Yet these are the numbers that up real estate values, printed in the newspaper as three digits that for the masses simply signify whether a school is 'good' or 'bad'. Paul Ecke Central School teachers should be commended on their hard work every day and that the school is no longer designated by the state as 'Program Improvement' is even more cause for celebration.

What is serendipitous about reading all the news about North County test scores this year is that the first school I ever taught at was also just taken off the PI list and, far away in the 900's, the school where I currently teach received the second highest scores in the county. I thought I'd have some valuable insight from being at two schools so far apart on the API spectrum, but I don't. Walk by any classroom in either school, and you are going to see dedicated and enthusiastic teachers delivering the best instruction they can with the resources they have to students who are eager to learn. One school is older than the other, but physically there is really no difference between the two. All the rest that would effect standardized testing (and pan out in subgroups) is out of the hands of teachers.

What you will see at both schools I have taught at are enrichment activities going on every day at every grade level. The same is true for Paul Ecke Central. The PTA at all of the schools in the EUSD work hard to enusre that students are receiving enrichment istruction in art, music, and ideally, science and technology. That is why it pains me to read in the North County Times today that principal Anjelica Lopez credits their jump in scores to eliminating the 'fluff' of enrichment during the school day. Assuming she was not misquoted, this shows a misguided vision of education. Sitting at the last school board meeting as test scores were looked over with a fine tooth comb, superitendents and board members fawned over Ocean Knoll's improvement. I can't help but wonder if we can look forward to a cutback on 'fluff' just as our PEC PTA has raised the money to hire technology and science consultants. As always, keep an eye on the school board agenda for upcoming meetings. Make your voice heard.