Administrators Welcome New Illinois School Rating System

CAT Tracks Editor's Note:

Whatever.

The article actually only mentions and quotes one Carbondale administrator and a "Carbondale resident and former teacher"...putting into question the headline of "Administrators". Anyway, for their sake, I hope they are still happy after the new ratings are broadcast near and far. If, say, Marion kicks their butt under the new rating system, I would expect to hear another tune out of Carbondale, a song sung blue.

A couple of weeks ago, Illinois school administrators were reported to be pleased/happy about Governor Rauner's elimination of some unfunded mandates. Just goes to show that these are desperate times in public education. You take your "happy" where you can find it.

However, this sentence from the article...

Murphy says the new system will help highlight successful programs in schools, and is worth the extra manpower required.

...makes me wonder. Who is going to pay for the "extra manpower required" by this new school-rating system? Would that be the budget-challenged State of Illinois, or each and every school and school district?

Rating schools and school districts by their test scores is/was wrong, because it did not take into consideration circumstances beyond their control - like poverty - which is the elephant in the room. Playing the devil's advocate, however, it is/was "fair" in that the rating system was "objective". The "fix" to the old system injects "the subjective" into the equation, things that can be tweaked and twisted by those with "the extra manpower" -and the lack of morals - to do so.

Well, maybe this new system will allow the State of Illinois to avoid the cheating scandals that plagued and embarrassed Atlanta, among others. Gathering and tinkering with data on these as yet undetermined factors won't leave behind the cold, hard proof of malfeasance - like erasures on student test papers.

So, pardon me, if I don't get excited about this "fix". Rating schools is inherently wrong. The only "fix" is end it (not that that is an option since it is mandated by the federal government, no matter how much they want to deny it.)

Does anybody really believe that schools in Cairo can compete with schools in Carbondale? Just take a look at the facilities of Carbondale High School, the site of this week's Regional Teachers' Institute. Better yet, get a copy of their curriculum offerings, all the things that Cairo students can only dream about.

Hell, if the new rating system were to say that the Cairo educational system was better than Carbondale's, I would smell a big ol' rat! However, if Carbondale trounces Cairo, does that mean that Cairo teachers are not as good, that they don't work as hard or harder than their Carbondale counterparts? Hell, no! If you compare the "haves" with the "have nots", the "haves" will win 99% of the time.

Oh well, the "winners" under the new system will have an opportunity to brag and lord it over the "losers".