Jon
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On the Blog Post Remembering things past in Proustian public education debates
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On the Blog Post Remembering things past in Proustian public education debates
Jon
8:13 am on Tuesday, May 21, 2013
The median income in Bloomfield township is $150,783 (http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/moneymag/1108/gallery.best_places_top_earning_towns.moneymag/21.html).
Please explain why teachers should be pay less than the median income. How does this square with the fact that Finland, with top FISA scores, pays its teachers very well and gives them very high social standing.
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On the Blog Post Remembering things past in Proustian public education debates
Jon
7:03 am on Tuesday, May 21, 2013
This piece has the word "Opinion" written at the top of it, and is published in a Rupert Murdoch paper.
Our 8th graders are taught media literacy and critical thinking skills.
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On the Blog Post "Don't forget your lunch, honey! And keep it away from the skunks!"
Jon
10:07 pm on Wednesday, April 24, 2013
There is no reason to think the skunk works options are fiscally responsible. The money just goes into private hands. Change for change's sake is not an inherent good.
And it's hard to see how moving educational authority to the state level puts more control in taxpayer's hands at the local level. Why would any of us prefer state control of local education? We certainly don't want Birmingham/Bloomfield/Troy education to be executed at a statewide common denominator. As far as I've seen, the state is the least competent level of government we have.
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On the article Bloomfield's International Academy Ranks No. 1 in Michigan
Jon
9:58 pm on Wednesday, April 24, 2013
IA also has a self-selecting student body, which no other local public school can have. There is no valid comparison.
Mr. Barr, I am confident you would not concoct or endorse the US News and World Report method of ranking. Even the principal of IA downplayed it as a useful ranking system when she spoke to prospective families (while pointing out IA's high ranking by another publication's more sensible measures).
The US News ranking system is only slightly modified from its original form, which reflected one reporter's (Jay Mathews) idea of an achievement measure. He felt that knowing what percentage of kids in the school took AP and IB classes said something about the school...HE didn't even claim that it made one school "better" than other, only that it was something worth measuring. I've discussed it with him by email, and he didn't even mean for it to be used as it is today.
IA is a wonderful school, but the fact that it ranks highly in a measure built to rank how much schools are like IA isn't a great surprise.
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On the article Bloomfield's International Academy Ranks No. 1 in Michigan
Jon
10:10 pm on Tuesday, April 23, 2013
ReplyMay we all be educated enough to understand school rankings, and what they do and don't mean. Stats 101.
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On the article Bloomfield's International Academy Ranks No. 1 in Michigan
Jon
9:36 pm on Tuesday, April 23, 2013
ReplyPlease read how the U.S. News rankings are calculated, and decide whether the measure means anything at all for your student:
Basically, the math and reading "numbers" have something to do with comparison to state averages, for minority and low income students. Then the final ranking is based on the percentage of students taking AP and IB courses. Since IB only keeps the most motivated students, and they all take IB, it will always be highly ranked. If you feel your student at Andover is getting a lesser education because some calculation of achievement for a particular cohort your child is not in comes out a certain way, or because other kids don't take AP courses, I guess that's something to think about.
Go ahead and apply some critical thinking skills to the rankings.
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On the Blog Post Oh No – Not Again!
Jon
2:58 pm on Monday, April 22, 2013
No, the funding for local schools has not increased. Post proposal A, more of your tax money is going to Lansing, but not coming back to your local schools.
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On the Blog Post Oh No – Not Again!
Jon
8:46 pm on Saturday, April 20, 2013
An IB program is not a gifted program.
Students who have high intellectual abilities, but who are not challenged for the first 8-10 years of their education, are not being educated to their needs or potential. They are not learning to work, and are learning that their desire to learn will be fed outside of school, not in school. Regardless of label, these kids are not being well served in Oakland County, or in Michigan.
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On the Blog Post Oh No – Not Again!
Jon
8:38 am on Tuesday, May 21, 2013
You are right that pension costs are a huge portion of the budget.
BHSD has considered outsourcing, and forced janitorial staff into severe pay cuts to avoid it. This is not to say that outsourcing should not be further considered, but please know that it has been. Outsourcing has its own set of costs and problems, so "consider" is the right way to view it. One may consider it and find it an untenable option.
Most importantly, BHSD residents CANNOT have high taxes/millages/bonds to pay for education. The funding used for core educational services is allocated at the state level and capped. Much of the property tax money paid by BHSD residents goes to Lansing, where it is redistributed out state. We get 1 dollar back for every 3 we put in, and are allowed by law to spend only a capped amount on educational services.
We could vote for high taxes/millages/bonds for building construction and maintenance. But that is the only avenue we have locally for funding our schools at a higher level. And even if we did that and had true Taj Mahals, the amount of money we could spend on education would not go up a penny, and we would continue to be funding other districts in Michigan with our tax dollars.