The Advocate. November 9, 2022.
Editorial: If we want better high schools, we have to be honest about their performance
If we want better results from our high schools, a critical vote by the state education board on Thursday will tell us whether we’re on the right track.
The right track is a more accurate system for rating high schools. About seven in ten high schools in Louisiana are in the top ranks, A or B letter grades. No one believes that this reflects reality in a state with the educational challenges we face.
Fixing the accountability formula is obviously required; after months of meetings and much compromise, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education ought to adopt the new formula on the table.
We wish we lived in a Lake Wobegon world where all our high schools are above average. We don’t.
What’s the wrong track? Sticking with today’s system because it suits the politics of school boards and superintendents who want to preen themselves on our way above-average schools.
There are going to be huge challenges going forward for high schools — poverty and increasingly difficult subject matter, in everything from English to math. Urban schools have different hurdles than rural schools.
We don’t want to see a single school’s performance scores go down. The purpose of this discussion is accuracy, and a vote to block the latest accountability reforms is not in the best interests of parents and students.
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