There's no such thing as a free lunch, or a school miracle

Thank you, Diane Ravitch, for pointing out one obvious problem about measuring a school's (or teacher's) performance based on test scores and graduation rates: you can always manipulate the data. About a Colorado school praised by President Obama in his State of the Union address, Ravitch notes:

True, Randolph (originally a middle school, to which a high school was added) had a high graduation rate, but its ACT scores were far below the state average, indicating that students are not well prepared for college. In its middle school, only 21 percent were proficient or advanced in math, placing Randolph in the fifth percentile in the state (meaning that 95 percent of schools performed better). Only 10 percent met the state science standards. In writing and reading, the school was in the first percentile.

So, where should we start our educational reform (besides following the Finnish model)? Simple. In our homes:

Families are children’s most important educators. Our society must invest in parental education, prenatal care and preschool. Of course, schools must improve; every one should have a stable, experienced staff, adequate resources and a balanced curriculum including the arts, foreign languages, history and science.

If every child arrived in school well-nourished, healthy and ready to learn, from a family with a stable home and a steady income, many of our educational problems would be solved. And that would be a miracle.

If you are the LEAST bit interested in the future of America's schools, read Ravitch's The Death and Life of the Great American School System. Buy a few copies for your school board. Assign it to them as summer reading.