More than three-quarters of Maine's eighth-graders performed below standard on the state writing test for 2007-08, prompting education officials to toss the results and try to figure out why so many students missed the mark.
State Education Commissioner Susan Gendron and her staff say the one-question test was somehow flawed because 78 percent of the estimated 14,900 eighth-graders who took the exam failed to write a persuasive essay as required.
That's a 50 percent increase, over 2006-07 in the number of eighth-graders who failed to meet or only partially met state writing standards.
The department's decision surprised even longtime educators like Tom Lafavore, director of educational planning in Portland Public Schools, Maine's largest district.
"I've never seen test results pulled like this," Lafavore said.
Maybe the little bastards are functioning retards who don't do a damned thing in school except socialize with their friends, all the while teachers pass them off to the next grade, regardless of if the student understands the material?
You know, just a thought and all.
How about we go back to the old ways that worked? You don't pass, you don't go to the next grade. Public shame ensues. The student either shapes up, or gets ready for a lifetime of repeating the phrase "Would you like fries with that"?
Stop coddling kids and start doing your jobs: teaching.
Travis
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