You’ll notice that though this is Sunday, I had no column today. I thought Warren’s topic was more relevant than anything I was prepared to write at the end of the week. And it let me get to some administrative work that was due Friday — you know, TPS reports and the like. Such fun.
However, I do have something I’d like to add to today’s lead editorial. It makes a passing reference to the recent release of South Carolina’s SAT scores and comparative ranking. That reminds me of something I never got around to commenting on at the time — this press release, which is probably the most gratuitous, reflexive and pointless bit of partisanship I’ve seen in quite a while. And it really surprised me coming from a nice, reasonable guy like Katon Dawson.
OK, let’s look at the facts: South Carolina is tied for 49th in the nation, but is catching up on the herd by improving faster than anyone. No state that has as many students taking the test as we do has improved by as many points as we have in recent years (and we’re talking actual, raw score, here, not percentages). I have to ask, how in the world can anyone expect a state as far behind as South Carolina has historically been to do better than to improve at a faster rate than any competitor — in fact, at three times the national rate? Any fair observer would think such progress was remarkable.
So what does Mr. Dawson do in the face of this news? Well, basically, he doesn’t deal with the facts at all. First, in a statement that could have been drafted by a PR man on the Bizarro World, he says, "this is sad and disappointing day for South Carolina’s students and parents." I mean, how much more insulting to students and parents (and teachers) can you get than to call their achievement of leading the nation in improvement "disappointing?"
But that wasn’t his point at all, of course. That was just knee-jerk public school bashing. He gets right away to his true objective, which is to "blame" Inez Tenenbaum for this progress.
Set aside for a moment the strange disconnect between Mrs. Tenenbaum’s actual character and abilities and the way Republicans love to paint her. The really twisted thing about this release is that it doesn’t even make any sense by the "logic" of political partisans.
Did no one clue Katon in on the fact that Mrs. Tenenbaum is in no way his political opponent? The woman isn’t running for office. Why go to the trouble of twisting the truth 180 degrees, making SAT progress out to be failure and insulting the majority of people out there who value our public schools, to attack an "enemy" who has retired from the field? This would be like the United States firing a volley of nukes at Moscow to celebrate the fact that the Cold War was over.
Yes, I know Mrs. Tenenbaum could decide to run for office later. But why not save your ammo until then? Or better yet, wait until you actually have some ammo, instead of attacking her for "failure" that is actually an achievement — something you would think a partisan would do only in the desperate last gasps of a losing fight.
You know, it’s never mattered to me which party occupies which office. In fact, we endorsed Mrs. Tenenbaum’s predecessor, Republican Barbara Nielsen. But it does matter to Katon, so I think I’d better point out that South Carolina slipped in SAT improvement during Mrs. Nielsen’s time in office, and only assumed its present rate of forward movement after Mrs. Tenenbaum took office.
So if I were a Republican Party leader, I wouldn’t try to use SAT scores for partisan advantage. But then, thank the Lord, I’ll never be a party leader of any kind.
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Brad, The SAT score improvement is certainly a plus. What is pertinent is that while we improved, so did many of the other states. I also wonder if this could be a case of “harvesting the low fruit”. These kind of improvement percents are not likely to be sustained year to year. So, where does that leave us? Are we happy with being closer to state number 48? I don’t think most people would be.
I would add that you do come across as being very defensive about Inez Tenenbaum. She is a public figure in a high profile position so that speaks for itself. Question – or suggestion – why don’t you schedule some tete a tetes with the Governor, lunch perhaps, and gain some personal insights about his programs and policies.
Since he entered office, I’ve had as many meetings and talks with the governor as with the superintendent, including lunches.
And during that same time, I’ve had several extended talks with the governor at his office. I don’t think I’ve been in the superintendent’s office — or even in that building — since Barbara Nielsen occupied it.
And speaking of the governor, read my next posting — which should be up shortly.
Brad
What is really insulting to students, parents, and teachers is that we can have the education performance that we have and someone of Warren’s position can still state that, “This year’s scores underline one fact: There’s no reason to change course now.”
The United States as a whole is falling behind peers across the world, and South Carolina is at the bottom of the heap in the US. Even if SC continues to make the gains we have over the past several years, it will be decades before public education this state reaches an acceptable level that equips all children to compete in a global economy. How bad does it have to be before we decide something different ought to be done?
I agree with you that it is unfair to lay this at the feet of one person. As long as a majority in this state remains in denial that we really don’t need to do anything fundamentally different, we deserve to remain stuck in the cellar we are in.
It’s easiest to show the greatest percentage improvement if you are at the bottom of the category. Richland 2 didn’t even report their 2004 SAT scores in the annual report because they dropped… and now this year we’ll probably see all sorts of press releases heralding the “gains” made from last year
while ignoring the fact that only one school in the district barely reached the AVERAGE U.S. scores.
And when the 2004 state SAT scores showed
a -2 point verbal drop and -1 drop over
the 2003 scores, where were the press releases. Oh wait, I think the superintendent was running for some office at that time, right?
Rather than relying on misleading statistics, just ask parents who’ve
had multiple children go through our school systems over the past decade whether the schools are better. With three kids
in grades 11, 9, and 5, I can tell you what I’ve seen — more teaching to the test,
less discipline in the classroom, a
greater separation between the haves and
have nots, a school system focused more
on public relations than public education,
and teachers who are burnt out from trying to control children who don’t have any
ability to control themselves. And this is at what is supposedly one of the top districts in the state. I shudder to think what some of the rural school systems are like. But we’ll solve all their problems by throwing more money at them without burdening them with any real accountability. I mean, really, if we don’t fix the schools this decade, we’ll get ’em in 2010.
Go ahead and take comfort in the PACT scores and SAT scores rather than talking
to parents and teachers…
It’s laughable to think that
I hadn’t seen this press release, but after reading it I have to wonder what spurred you to write something 20 days after the Republicans said it? I mean, what took so long?
Which is more telling about the
current state of education in SC –
the slight increase in SAT scores
or today’s news about the huge drop
in the number of students who passed
the exit exam?
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/13077748.htm
The kids taking those tests have been
im-PACT-ed for at least eight years.
And to what end?
Dump the PACT… start teaching again.