| I don’t think that the GP was insinuating anything regarding the root causes of the issue. However “IQ” at least as how we measure it, has clear demographic corollarion, this does not mean it’s “genetic” at least not in a racial manner. However it does seem to be hereditary even if through nurture and environmental factors alone. The sad truth is that until we as a society come to terms with that there likely won’t be an effective solution. Time and time again various charities and governmental programs discovered that trying to uplift the least privileged through a new coat of paint doesn’t work, even the gates foundation does not target the “weakest” schools as those are essentially beyond hope at least at this point. I also don’t think that the GP’s point of rating teachers relative to the current potential of their pupils rather than using local, state and national averages is inherently wrong or discriminatory, if anything proposing that all of only those at risk and underprivileged youth would have new textbooks and cleaner class rooms that they would perform just as well as privileged kids who go to private schools or to private in all but tution public schools. And while forcing children away from their families and putting them in schools where they would be abused is terrible one thing that does seem to work is just that minus the abuse and the forcing as children with less means that get into good schools through either scholarships or voucher based programs tend to perform extremely well. That said the most important factors as far as underprivileged youth goes seem to be missing from the study.
Test scores are not the most or even an important factor for such social programs that seek to change the future outlook of these kids for the better.
Teacher or well “educators” can have and should have an impact far greater than pure academic success and that is they should imprint positive social character and personality traits. So while the scores were not improving has the well being of the kids improved? Has underaged crime rates dropped? Drug and alcohol use? Violence? Was there psychometric collected to see if kids developed traits that would increase the likelihood of them succeeding in life?
Are their happier?
That is the data I would expect to be collected and in my matter much more than their scores on some standardized tests. |