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Testing is not the answer. All it does is give the "teacher" a basis for determining a grade. And, we all know that grading and grades are circumspect. Rather, a more true measure of learning is when the learner (i.e., the "student" using traditional and aniquated terminology and stereotyping) wants to know more about a topic or issue. This expression of desire for more is an affirmation that the learner has mastered current concepts and material and now wants to move on. In this scenario no test nor grade is necessary. What should be necessary is for the provider (i.e., the "teacher") to have the next level or dimension of concepts and materials readily available to present and apply once the learner expresses the desire to move on.

What we need is a system that is designed to cater to this basal learning behavior and can be applied in real time. Take a look at the definitive treatment "Education in America -- What's to Be Done?" developed by Trigon-International. This commission report presents an end-to-end solution that is actionable and affordable.

$400 K, try $400 million

Thank you to Lorie Shane and Marcie Lipsitt for blowing off the cover, exposing one of Michigan's "dirty secrets."

As the parent of a child with special needs in Michigan, it's been an uphill battle since day one to get the APPROPRIATE services for my child. Sadly, the bar is held too low for our kids. Upon graduating, if the student is not capable of attending college, he/she is warehoused into post-secondary settings where formal academics are not offered. Perhaps if students had gotten proper academics when younger- taught by highly qualified teachers- many would have had the opportunity to move on and continue formal academics like their non-disabled peers, rather than be expected to dust shelves and bag groceries their whole lives.

Michigan's special eduation has and continues to fail our children.

As a parent I see the value of a teacher with knowledge of both special ed methods and the subject matter. Do enough of them exist to go around? My guess is that many teachers who concentrated their schooling and training on special ed took fewer courses in subject matter (English, Mathematics, Science, etc.). There are limits on course load, number of years in college, and student finance.

As much as we want the best for every person, we are not going to have six teachers each an expert in their subject matter per one pupil. So in this world of limited resources, each person and our society have to decide how to use the resources we have. Hopefully a successful balance of flexibility and accountability can produce the desired results: educated children with the capacity to think and the ability to learn.

Michigan High School & the University deliver quality education to its
students & has maintained its standard with good caliber. The courses offered by the Michigan institutes are versatile and for future progress of the society and the students, it further enhances them to become excellent citizens!!
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Carol
<a href="http://http://www.treatmentcenters.org/michigan">Michigan Treatment Centers</a>

Thank you for your comments. I would be honored and proud to go to any school district or meeting to stand up for your/our children!! Just EMail me and I will be there or call me anytime at 616-8474282
Thank You, Dr Jack Grenan Educator and Cancer Survivor

Parents and teachers have not had a voice. The waivers used have allowed administrators of various Michigan schools to plunk in 20 - 25 students in a classroom of students with learning disabilities. As a special education teacher, I find it very difficult to meet the individual learning objectives of that many students.

This article presents excellent information. As the parent of a child with a disability I advocate for my son. Currently, there is no one to speak for all the children with disabilities in Michigan. There is no transparency of government. The position of State Superintendent is a dictatorship with the power to make all the decisions. As a parent, I cannot voice my concerns by voting.

Ferndale High School in Ferndale, Michigan succeeded in correcting the mistaken reporting of the Johns Hopkins University report that had included it as a "dropout factory" with poor "promoting power." The University researchers have acknowledged that Ferndale High School does not belong in this category and removed the school from the list because of the school district's high outward mobility (more students move out than move in during high school.). The high school has a three-year promoting power ration of 77% rather than the 50% reported in the Associated Press in October 2007, with the Class of 2006 having a 91% promoting power. Please visit Johns Hopkins' website for more clarification to see the "Schools Removed from the List of Weak Promoting Power High Schools: http://web.jhu.edu/CSOS/images/Removed_from_List_5_14_08.pdf .

Also, visit www.ferndaleschools.org for info about the school district.

So you're not going to admit an anti-MESSA bias?

*wink*

The links to the sources used in MED are so that people can read the entire article. MED provides a summary of what the media reports. A "further reading" is then included for those readers who wish to read more on a related topic.

And you don't simply "report" stories in the Education Digest. For example, in this story in question you link directly to a story where MESSA's accused of stonewalling, further bolstering the bias and claim that MESSA is doing something wrong here.

Your coyness is patronizing.

Michigan Education Digest is just that, a digest, which means it is a compilation of what is reported by other media. You may want to contact the Paw Paw newspaper and give them a copy of the questionnaire so they can do a follow-up story on the issue. Please keep us updated on that matter.
- Ed.

What the news article on MESSA conveniently leaves out is the intrusive nature of the questionnaire sent out in the Paw Paw district. It asks for--under threat of not being covered if you don't comply--your name, ss number, all family details, and a specific 14-question section on your medical history.

And there's a 3-page lawyer note attached to the survey that essentially says the company has the right to share this info with anyone they choose to do so.

Where's the ACLU when you need them?

It's a disgrace that a site like this would be so in bed with corporate interests that it would gladly back such an invasion of personal privacy.

And before you ask, yes I have indeed seen the survey. I have a copy of it. Why doesn't your site post THAT?

The article in the Kalamazoo Gazette that you linked to was incredibly biased in its presentation of the KRESA tax. Here's my reaction on our blog:


MORE LIES FROM THE RAG

Readers of the Kalamazoo Gazette have long been accustomed to its shilling for just about every proposed tax hike. In the world view of the Gazette, local governments and school districts are always strapped for cash, mainly because those stingy taxpayers are reluctant to fork over more of their wealth.

Even though readers are aware of this pro-tax bias, two articles in the March 16 paper are simply astonishing in their reckless disregard for the truth. The articles are supposed to be an analysis of how the KRESA enhancement tax has impacted funding for Kalamazoo County's nine local school districts. Remember, we are in the third, and last, year of the KRESA tax, passed by voters in 2005.

So what school funding time period does the articles examine? Get this: the two years before the tax was enacted, plus only the first two years after the tax was enacted. This is equivalent of saying you are going to write a history of the 20th Century, and then writing about the period from 1850 to 1950. Astonishing.

The two years before the tax was enacted were flat funding years for Michigan schools. The per-pupil grant from the state stayed the same for those two years at $6626 per pupil. That was the whole reason why the KRESA "enhancement" millage was put on the ballot by local schools in 2005.

So if you include these two depressed years, prior to the KRESA tax, into an analysis of the KRESA tax revenue increase, of course you're going to end up with a smaller increase of revenue.

Think that's the end of the articles' duplicity? Wrong. "On the revenue side, the Gazette found, increases in the state's per-pupil allocations have been undercut by enrollment declines. On the expense side, districts have faced sharp cost increases, most notably in the mandatory contribution to the school employees' retirement fund."

Yes, some school districts have had their revenue cut because their enrollment has dropped. Welcome to the real world. But guess what. If you have few students to teach, you should have fewer expenses in teaching them! What a concept! Unless, of course, you are the typical government bureaucrat who resists every effort to cut costs and cut unneeded personnel.

And the mandatory contribution to the school employees' retirement fund? We find out, buried later in the article, that the state of Michigan will actually cut what school districts have to pay into the retirement fund next year. Whoops, never mind.

"But fiscal analysts said the rate could increase to more than 20 percent in the near future," wails the article. Don't you love this? Tax apologists present these kinds of increases in retirement costs as something that is beyond our control; an act of God, like a meteor falling out of the sky.

But retirement costs are not beyond our control. If they go up, it's because public officials without a backbone cave in to the public sector unions and their demands for more compensation. Retirement costs do not have to go up--if we have public officials who are willing to grapple with the issue and get it under control

And we haven't even discussed the huge elephant in the room, the unnecessary costs that every school district pays for gold-plated MESSA health insurance.

That's the main frustrating thing about the entire argument by the KRESA tax pushers--who say basically that our costs keep going up, and there's nothing we can do about it, and that's why we have to raid your wallets. But taxpayers are providing plenty of funding for public schools. Now it's time for them to stop whining, and start producing.

--Ray Wilson
Kal. Co. Taxpayers Assoc.
http://www.kaltax.org
stoptaxes@kaltax.org