Time for a change

The most recent Michigan-wide academic test scores have come out and the results should sicken all of us. In Michigan, more than half of all 11th grade students failed the math portion. 45% of 11th graders taking the science exam failed while a nauseating 61% of 11th graders failed the writing portion. The social studies exam had an 83% pass rate which is better but still not acceptable.

Michael Horn, the principal of Southfield High School, said it best: "I am very, very disappointed in the test results. All of us are at fault. We must acknowledge that. We failed our kids."

This is an attitude which we need from administrators, teachers, and - more importantly - parents. Also, the state has just introduced a new, tougher set of standards for the entire state, which should improve the situation.

It's not enough.

What we need is a fundamental change in the way in which education is funded and operates. We need to consolidate technological infrastructure; consolidate services; create state-wide educational research and development programs; implement community mentoring of at-risk students; expand the use of charter-schools; identify and reward high-performing teachers; change the pay structure so that we can attract more and better math, science, foreign language, and special education teachers; and concentrate more heavily on personal success and personal discipline over the self-esteem-first approach that has plagued education in the past few decades.

This will require fundamental changes to the way in which education is handled, and will require implementation of the results which education R & D will provide - something which has not seriously been done in this country. We are still educating our children essentially the same way we did 50 years ago; despite radical advances in every other field of study, the advances in education have been negligible. We need to identify how education can benefit from new technology, new psychological theories, new sociological models, and even new economic processes. Instead, the only really significant improvement to education in the last 50 years is the move from blackboards to dry erase boards in classrooms.

Right now, we're failing half of an entire generation in providing them with the single most important contribution they can receive. With these abysmal, shameful results we as a society have received, we are condemning countless numbers to poverty and it in unacceptable.

Merit test scores fall short
Detroit News

More than half of Michigan's high school juniors failed the state's new exam in math and writing and fewer than 60 percent passed reading and science, according to results released Wednesday by the Michigan Department of Education.

The new Michigan Merit Examination, which replaces the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) in high school, is billed as a tougher gauge of how well prepared students are for college, and it showed in test scores.

While state officials said they expected room for improvement, some district officials expressed shock their scores.

"I am very, very disappointed in the test results," said Michael Horn, principal of Southfield High School, where students struggled in math and writing. "All of us are at fault. We must acknowledge that. We failed our kids."

The results are the first indicator of whether Michigan is on the road toward increasing college readiness, and it likely will present a roadmap of where improvements must be made.