The January 10, 2022 School Board Meeting was very telling in regard to exposing many deceptions perpetrated on Cleveland County citizens and taxpayers. Our latest series of articles have been breaking down and exposing waste and misrepresentation on a one-by-one basis. This particular article is going to expose one downright deception. A deceitful planned scheme of a deception to cover-up low test scores by CCS students and the over 50% (now) of students graduating that are not proficient in Reading, Writing and Math at the 9th grade level. A deception that also would cover-up CCS’s teaching Critical Race Theory, Common Core and other such indoctrination and divisive “trash,” instead of the Three R’s and other invaluable information that would serve you well for the rest of your life. Which is the purpose of our American Education system to start with.
CAUTION! If you are not interested in thinking for yourself, you might want to just exit this article right now and go watch Soap Operas on TV. Or fake news. Or something!!!
At the January 10, 2022 School Board meeting, Superintendent Stephen Fisher, once again, lamented that the North Carolina General Assembly had refused to listen to their requests for more so-called “flexibility” in the School Calendar. The General Assembly, for their part, has to consider what is best for the education of all students in all school districts over all of North Carolina. And has set standards such as the minimum number of instructional hours and such. The General Assembly says, within a range, when schools should start and when they finish within the year, holidays and such, and allows school districts to take the 365-day calendar (sometimes 366 days-Leap Year) and fit those school days within the calendar as the local district sees fit. Overall, the General Assembly has the responsibility to make the Billion$ spent on education in North Carolina be as effective as possible and consistent throughout the state. Sometimes I wonder just what CCS thinks their responsibility is. This is one of those times.
The sticking point for Supt. Fisher is the Christmas and New Year Holidays. And whether to schedule test before or after those holidays.
Fisher makes a good point that before the holidays the student’s lessons are more “fresh” and test scores would be higher than tests after the two-week holiday period. Those of us that drive knows that if you “brush up” on road signs, speed limits and such you will make better scores on your Driver’s License test. Everybody has “crammed” for exams at one time or another. So, on the surface, Fisher makes sense with his arguments.
Most everybody also knows that when you “slack off” during your schooling and then “cram” the night before the test, you also forget the lessons much sooner.
Another thought is that some schools have taken to “Teaching for the Test.” Knowing or guessing, from experience, what will most likely be on the standard tests and focusing school lesson plans on those areas and less on the other areas of the subject. Perhaps for making time to teach the indoctrination materials, Critical Race Theory, etc., that the Schools received grants to teach.
Either way, students test scores have consistently dropped for the last 50 years and many graduating students can’t read cursive, sign their names on their small paychecks, read the measurement off a tape measure or make change for a $20 bill.
Note: I graduated from high school in 1965. when the USA was Number 1 in the World in education. Now, we are not even in the top 10. There are reasons for that!!!
So, one has to “wonder” about some things. Some basic things and then some “critical thinking” kinds of things.
Like:
Why does North Carolina fund public schools and education to start with?
Let’s just stick with a simple answer. NC supports education because an educated workforce will earn more money and, therefore, pay more taxes. Actually, that answer is good enough to move on to the next level.
Why does “Raleigh” require school districts to “test” student achievement?
Again, a simple answer. “Raleigh” requires testing students to ensure consistent education across the state and to make sure low achievement school districts are identified for remedial actions.
What is EDUCATION?
Education is a process that includes both:
1. the act of teaching knowledge to others and
2. the act of receiving knowledge from someone else.
3.Education also refers to the knowledge received through schooling or instruction and to the institution of teaching as a whole.
A quality education provides a person the knowledge and skills necessary to best utilize that person’s natural talent for the rest of that person’s life.
NOTE: “For the rest of that person’s life.”
Now, things get a little more complicated.
What is a TEST?
A TEST is a procedure or process intended to establish the quality, performance, or reliability of something, especially before it is taken into widespread use.
If you scroll back a little to “What is Education?” you find there are two components to the Education Process. The first is the TEACHING to someone and the second is the LEARNING by someone. Supt Fisher and the School Board only talked about the student’s testing. Nary a word about any kind of testing the quality, performance or reliability of Cleveland County Schools in doing THEIR part in the Education process-TEACHING TO students. Remember that!!!
Now, we are getting to the nub of the school schedule issue. Test students before the Christmas-New Year holidays OR AFTER.
Since our basic public-school education’s purpose is to teach students the lessons they need for the rest of their lives, the answer is simple.
TESTING AFTER the holidays gives a better indication of the student’s mastery of that particular subject. Even though we KNOW that the scores would have been better if tested before the holidays. But what is more important? Knowing that the Education process is working or NOT working. Testing before the holidays only serves to HIDE deficiencies in the education process. The CCS part of the education process.
My Conclusions:
It seems that Superintendent Stephen Fisher and the Rogue Republicans are scheming to falsely “Puff-up” student test scores for the sole purpose of making CCS look better than it actually is. Which is knowingly bad. Thus, better test scores would falsely imply that CCS has made improvements to its Education Process, when in fact there was NO IMPROVEMENT. And surely NO IMPROVEMENT during the COVID lockdowns.
This is part of Fisher’s MO. This is why CCS spent around $17 Million building the unnecessary NEW North Shelby School to hook onto the failing James Love Elementary School to hide James Love’s failures by changing “Categories” instead of actually making the necessary improvements to James Loves teaching methods-or whatever to stave off “Raleigh” taking over.
This is why CCS is making changes to the Shelby Elementary School Attendance Zones under the guise of improving school facility utilization by closing certain schools and shifting students around. The most vulnerable students-elementary school students.
This is also why CCS is hiding teaching Critical Race Theory, Common Core and other phony indoctrinations instead of actually teaching the basic subjects. The three “R’s.”
Superintendent Stephen Fisher, School Board Rogue Republicans Rodney Fitch, Luke Queen, Ron Humphries, Joel Shores and Greg Taylor are invited (and “dared”) to respond to this article. You and your sycophants calling me a “Liar” and “Crazy” on Fake-news Facebook don’t count. Neither do phony press releases published in the Shelby Star.