WV academic achievement gets an F

I have three children in Cabell County public schools. One is in high school, one is in middle school and one is in elementary school. In the 11 years I have been so close to the school system, I have seen things that have pleased me greatly and things that have disappointed me severely.

Having said that, let's move on to this story from the AP:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A new national study praises West Virginia’s education policies with an A grade, but gives the state’s schoolchildren an F for classroom achievement.

Though the state is succeeding in setting high standards, students aren’t yet achieving high academic marks, according to Education Week’s “Quality Counts 2008” report released Wednesday.

Nationally, the state’s eighth-graders rank 47th in math and 43rd in reading, while fourth-graders rank 40th in reading and math. Those rankings are based on cumulative student scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test from 2003-2007.

Overall, the state’s grade of B-minus topped the national average, a C. High marks in standards, assessment, accountability and the state’s policy of financial equity provided a counterbalance to the low achievement numbers.

“West Virginia is very low-performing when you look at K-12 achievement, and that’s not going to surprise a lot of people,” said Christopher Swanson, one of the study’s authors and director of the editorial project at the Education Research Center.

“Unfortunately, we have to be patient if we want to see wholesale and very visible improvements to achievement. It can happen, but it takes time.”

In five years, West Virginia’s schools may be substantially improved if they follow current policy mandates, Swanson said.

In five years, my 10th grader and my 8th grader should be out of the public schools, and my 2nd grader should be in middle school.

I really wish I could put my finger on exactly what it is that bothers me about the public schools. I wish teachers knew more about their subject areas and I wish they could be held accountable, but the big deficiency is in how to get kids to want to learn. As they say, you can lead a kid to water, but you can't make him think. And even kids who do want to learn can be stymied by the system's desire to teach to the middle.

I will have more on this in an editorial running in the next few days.