School testing

To be sure, we need testing. I think we should have a voluntary federal high school graduation exam that produces a federal high school diploma--that states your grade level of achievement in English, math, social studies, biology, and so forth. High schools can give diplomas based on attendance and grades. Then the graduate would be providing two diplomas to colleges and prospective employers. If there's a big disparity between them, and that disparity is statistically significant--that is, across lots of students--it will certainly draw attention to the teacher/school/district that has such a disparity.

Schools that don't buy into the voluntary federal test would be marked, even without financial sanctions from the feds.

That is, what really bothers me is former students with high school diplomas who can't really read or do arithmetic, or figure out a contract or a ballot. This cheats both the student and the college/employer.

Suppose the federal and state government do nothing about teachers/schools/districts where there is a big disparity. I bet the voters in that district will--especially when colleges and employers start telling them their kids' high school diplomas are worthless. That is, the world will revoke those schools' credentials even if the credentialing authorities don't.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

At the same time, a given teacher's students could do well or poorly for reasons outside the teacher's control. The real solution is principals who can and will get rid of poor teachers, based on the teacher's in-person knowledge--and holding principals responsible for their teachers' performance, since, unlike the teachers, they would be able to choose their teachers, while teachers can't choose their students.

This would mean treating schools by business standards--no tenure for anyone, and using the personal knowledge of your managers onsite to determine who's doing a good job. Teachers are not managers of their students, so the analogy applies to principals where you don't have tenure, but not to teachers.

With or without abolishing tenure, though, my federal voluntary system has the advantages of being relatively cheap and relatively doable. State and local rights are in no way infringed, especially since the testing wouldn't be tied to federal aid.

Let's have a national high school diploma

The main result of "No child left behind" has been schools faking kids' test results and reorienting the curriculum around teaching to the test. How about this instead:

A national high school graduation exam. Take it and you get a national diploma for graduating high school, if your local school says you kept your seat warm enough days to qualify. But the national diploma says what your grade level accomplishment actually was in each major academic area, as a result of that test. So the schools can teach whatever they want, and they can give their own diplomas however they wish, but the national diploma tells colleges and employers what they're actually getting.

It should require that you show an understand of how old the Earth and the universe is and how we evolved from one celled microorganisms over the last 3.7 billion years BTW.

High school exit exams--a better idea

Here in California, self-appointed minority student advocates demand an end to exit exams because many black and Latino students are failing, despite having stayed in class and got passing grades.

They say the tests are biased because of this. It never occurs to them to blame the students or the cultures the students come from, where, for example, black kids who study are viciously harassed by other black kids for "acting white."

But I have a solution that might placate the Al Sharptons of the world and still provide high school diplomas that prospective employers and colleges would find meaningful:

Give a diploma to every single student who kept his seat warm for four years. Give an exit exam to every student. Then, on the diploma, show the grade level achievement of the student in match, English, science, social studies, and particular vocational areas (such as auto shop).

That way no one gets off the hook, while those who don't know much but at least showed up are duly rew3arded and get to march down the aisle.

And by the way, what a waste of money to have every state reinventing the wheel. We need a national exit exam, if for no other reason than cost containment. Well, and to have the sorts of national standards every other civilized country has.

Exit exams have had the lamentable effect of reorienting entire educational curricula around teaching to the test. I hope that this proposal would mitigate that, st least somewhat. But even if it doesn't, and even though teaching to the test is honestly terrible...today's alternative may be even worse: dumbed-down courses aimed to make kids feel accomplished without the actual accomplishment.

Oh, and as for the ideologues whose comments blame them dayum lib-er-uls for the mess or those awful right wing bigots--you're both equally to blame.

Both sides have conspired to make school textbooks so contentless that reading them is like eating tasteless hospital food: everything that might offend anyone about anything has been removed. And this is exactly as true for the right wing as for the left wing. Both extremes put their cause ahead of our country, and they should hang their heads in shame.