They Scored Higher AYP?!

So the Charter Schools reached AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) at a higher percentage than Utah's public schools, did they? Well, it's no wonder.

Thanks to the short sighted and non-funded No Child Left Behind federal law passed a handful of years ago, the public schools must test with their total population--be they non-English speaking students, Special Education students or students whose homes fall below the poverty line--everyone who attends that school. Charter Schools have the advantage of being public funded, and still being allowed to pick and choose their student population.

If our public schools didn't have to accept all the kids that lived within the boundaries, but could instead choose only the ones with parents who cared enough to get involved or who came from a higher tax bracket and therefore had resources available to them when they needed something for class, our public schools could out score schools that have to do that too.

It kills me when this stuff shows up in the newspaper articles, like this one from the SL Tribune: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10656141?source=rss


I take my hat off to our good, qualified teachers and administrators that have cared enough to make the AYP required by the ridiculous NCLB national policy while making school the fun and enjoyable place we remember from our childhoods. That is no small task, when you think of the societal differences that these teachers face today: two income parents, single parent homes, older children staying home to watch younger siblings, litigious parents waiting to pounce on anyone who "oversteps" their place, acceptance of TV/Video games as acceptable child care, overly stimulated or continuously medicated students in their classes, parents who themselves take no personal responsibility and therefore hold their child blameless for everything that student does, plus all the safety issues that they must go through just to be in a classroom with kids while the parent "volunteers" have no such safety check, among many other things. I am blown away when you think of all the intricacies our good public school teachers have to hurdle--and they still take on the teaching of my kids every day.

So Charter Schools are ahead in the AYP race by a few points--knowing what I do about charter schools and their systems of selecting their students, they ought to be way ahead! Bravo to our public schools and the teachers that are there each day teaching and caring for my kids and the neighbor's kids around us. There really should be an "express lane" into heaven for the teachers who take their jobs seriously enough to care for each child they teach and teach them with love and kindness--still fulfilling the asinine requirements set by a distant and unattached government.