old school players to new school fools, ‘kast keep it jumpin like kangaroos but skew it on the bar-b we aint tryin to lose, say ill be god dammit they done changed the rules (Skew It on the Bar-B, Outkast)

That’s exactly what came to mind when I realized that although my county of residence can claim victory in local student’s recent achievements on standardized testing, I live in the metropolitan area of a city with the U.S.’s second highest crime rating, and a state where high school graduation rates are among the worst in the nation.

Whether you called it ITBS as a child or CRCT as a parent, standardized testing is a major component of our educational system.  The fact that funding, supplies, and teacher qualifications, however, are not nationally standardized won’t be addressed in this post (due to likelihood of digression). Test results indicating gains in improvement, small or large, are met with resounding applause for teachers and students alike:

The improvements are a testimony to teachers and students who “are embracing the rigor and are making tremendous progress,” state School Superintendent Kathy Cox said.

This is great news, especially after last year’s shenanigans: area children scored so poorly that Cox actually threw out 6th/7th grade social studies results, with the excuse that the standardized testing questions weren’t accounted for in Georgia curriculum.  Hmmm, makes me wonder who was responsible for making sure Georgia’s curriculum was on par for test preparation…but, I digress.  Last year, 41% of 8th graders failed the social studies portion. So, Cox had the curriculum changed to better prep the students and wa-la: it worked.  Kinda.  This year, 37% of 8th graders failed the social studies portion.

According to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution (an actual printed newspaper, imagine that!):

The Georgia Department of Education provided classroom teachers with more lessons plans and other instructional aides during the school year.

Now some are wondering if that’s all classroom teachers were provided.  Apparently, Georgia performed a little “too well” and now 4 schools are being investigated for CRCT cheating.  The cause for suspicion: students that failed the math portion were required to re-test for passage to the next grade, and guess what?  They actually did better than they did the 1st time around.  No parades, no pizza parties, no shiny pencils with gold stars touting “Congratulations!”.  Instead, officials are attempting to prove cheating based on the number of erasure marks.  WTF?! Kids+paper+pencils = erasure marks. (*ahem, gaining composure).

The n*gga numerator:

The preliminary results of the audit by the Office of Student Achievement shows the schools had lax security during administration of the tests and the students had unqualified educators teaching their summer school classes.

PLEASE tell me you caught that: all four schools have lax security and unqualified educators.  If you had to guess, what would you say is the racial majority of these schools in question?  Lax security & unqualified teachers tend to exist where there is a lack of funding, lack of funding exists in neighborhoods with low property values, people occupying property with low values tend to be…you know the rest.  We rise up…you this part too.

The investigation into any wrongdoing continues.  No announcement yet on any investigation as to why the schools were not adequately prepared prior to the testing…

TEACHER: So, class, what did we learn today?

CLASS: (singing in unison) If we don’t like test results, we throw them out! If you want us to succeed, throw some cash around!  If you really want student success, provide us with the VERY best!

TEACHER: Very good!!! (Now, can someone let me borrow their MARTA card?)

next: high school graduation rates and crime stats