Where's the Education?

Stefanie Nelkens has left a new comment on your post "It's the Economy Stupid":

Dempsey's latest message to the community on the school district website is about the importance of filling out the census. Another March 2010 message asks the community to write to our local legislators asking for educational funding.

While both are important topics for sure, personally I'm more concerned with more educational-type issues such as my child's ability to read, write and do math. I find it disappointing that the administration and BOE do not focus more of their discussions on the sorely needed improvement of these and other scholastic areas.

There are articles in national newspapers almost on a daily basis about concern of the state of education in America which support my concerns.

In a March 31, 2010 Daily News opinion piece, entitled “NY is lying to their schoolkids” Diane Ravitch, a educational expert and once strong supporter of state assessments, talks about how the standard of NYS state tests are so low that the public is regularly misinformed about student progress. 3s and 4s that children score on elementary state assessments are indicators of something but not necessarily the mastery and proficiency our kids needs for later success. She says “Now is the time for honesty, integrity and transparency.”

I agree and I’d like to see the same for our school district. But for this to happen, the conversation and focus needs to shift to math, ELA, science and social studies, and away from the census, Albany and the swine flu.