http://www.detnews.com/article/20090406/OPINION01/904060304/1008/Tougher+learning+standards+are+working.+Why+do+some+lawmakers+want+to+weaken+them

Monday, April 6, 2009

Our editorial: MEAP sweep

Tougher learning standards are working. Why do some lawmakers want to weaken them?

Michigan students are catching up with the rest of the industrial world in learning -- and we have higher standards to thank for that. Yet some shortsighted state lawmakers still want to lower them.

For the fourth consecutive year, Michigan children posted improved math scores. In results that were released late last week, more than 75 percent of students in grades 3-8 tested as proficient or better in their math scores on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program test, commonly known at the MEAP. (More improvement is needed, of course, both in math and reading skills.)

Even math scores among African-Americans and Latinos, two groups that often lag in student learning, improved. Seventh-grade African-Americans' math scores jumped more than 28 percent, and seventh-grade Hispanics' rose 16 percent.

That's particularly noteworthy because Michigan's urban black children rank as the nation's worst student achievers in their peer group, according to recent national test scores. Middle school math competence is a strong predictor of high school success.

"These kids should do better in high school," says Jan Ellis, a Michigan Department of Education spokesperson.

What accounts for the improvement? More accountability for teachers and academic rigor.

In the 2004-05 school year, Michigan provided teachers with a common understanding of what should be taught in classrooms. It also demanded better instruction from teachers.

The lesson: Expect more from teachers and students, and they will deliver.

You'd think state legislators would get this lesson by now. But some can't seem to learn.

Democratic state Rep. Joel Sheltrown of West Branch is one of these lawmakers. He believes Michigan's young people need the same training as they did in the 1960s.

His supporters, and they are growing in number, seek to gut Michigan's high school curriculum before it's even been fully implemented. Sheltrown and other lawmakers have introduced a bill that allows students to bypass the curriculum requirements.

Sheltrown argues he wants to help students by making high school easier. Providing students with dumbed-down classes won't help anyone.

What Sheltrown and his supporters may not realize is that if they dilute the curriculum, they risk losing hundreds of millions of federal dollars. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said states that don't have high curriculum standards and accountability for their schools will not be eligible for much of the federal education stimulus dollars.

Michigan's new curriculum and the accountability for teachers have proven themselves a success.

Too few things are working in Michigan. We shouldn't mess with those that are.

<><><><><><><><><><><>
Education for Liberation!
Peter S. Lopez aka: Peta

Sacramento, California, Aztlan
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/THIRD-WORLD-NEWS/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NetworkAztlan_News/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CASA-12-Steps-Program/