Fortunately, certain members of the Accountability Task Force
met with the editorial board to discuss their recently released
report. Had they not, I would consider the ATF a complete waste of
time.
Fortunately, certain members of the Accountability Task Force met with the editorial board to discuss their recently released report. Had they not, I would consider the ATF a complete waste of time.
The report is so poorly written as to raise grave doubts in my mind as to whether anyone in the district is competent to teach the discipline of writing.
The report lists 20 indicators, or goals. Each indicator is stated along with “progress” toward meeting that goal, “challenges” or failures in meeting it, and recommendations.
The first 14 goals are quite good. So is the purpose of the ATF, which is stated as being “to hold everyone in the system accountable for raising student achievement.”
Unfortunately, the recommendations are rarely specific, and nowhere do they fulfill the stated purpose of the ATF in holding anyone accountable. In many cases the only recommendation is a restatement of the indicator. For example, Indicator No. 7 is to increase the number of students who pass the CAHSEE. The recommendations are to intensify efforts to have students pass the CAHSEE.
To be fair, when queried on these points, Superintendent Edwin Diaz said that the report would be used as part of the planning cycle, that the recommendations would be fleshed out by the board and at each school site, that people at every level would take responsibility for holding themselves accountable. We shall see.
I have seen many public input boards and task forces convened. Usually most of the members are employees of the government bureaucracy involved. Usually the few members of the public are chosen because they are boosters or apologists for the government bureaucracy.
Usually the actual members of the public come up with some goals, and the bureaucrats graft on others that they wish to have included. The bureaucrats then bury the members of the public in an avalanche of data. Overwhelmed, they reach the conclusion that such things are best left to the experts, and recommend whatever the bureaucrats wish to have rubberstamped.
I sincerely hope that this scenario in no way reflects what happened with the ATF. But the membership list is alarming. So are the indicators, which were actually set by a goal-setting committee before the ATF ever met: the first 14 are laudable; the last six have more to do with truckling to the unions than improving student achievement. So are the appendices: 50 pages of ill-digested data.
I hate being a cynic.
Given the discussion at the editorial board meeting and the apparent sincerity of the task force members, I give them credit for a few things.
First, the task of turning this district around is a monumental one. For at least 20 years we have had a school culture that is complacent about mediocrity, hostile to any hint of criticism, and secretive about classroom procedures and the results thereof.
Now our district officials are saying that they are open, transparent, and dedicated to improving student achievement. Time will tell whether we have actually experienced a glasnost, and whether the district can figure out what must be done and do it.
Sometimes the way to improve our performance on an indicator is handed to us.
Take indicator No. 10: Increase the percentage of students scoring at or above the mean on the SAT.
The new SAT is a long test, three hours long. It is rigorous, intense, and reflective of a classical education. The parent organization Alliance for Academic Excellence gave the board of trustees and the district a position paper stating the problem, the nature of the test, and specific ways to improve student performance.
Specifically, at the high school level, students must read more books and more difficult books: classic works of literature. Vocabulary, grammar, writing to a prompt, and making allusions to literary or historical figures and incidents must be taught systematically. Teachers should attend training workshops in preparing students for the SATs I and II.
The AAE’s position paper could have been of immense help to the ATF in crafting recommendations for indicator No. 10. Instead, it seems to have disappeared without a trace. If we have actually achieved glasnost, we should not be freezing out the AAE.
