embracing mediocrity

From the desk of Superintendent Propaganda:

This week we announced that 77 percent of our eighth graders had “met” or “exceeded” expectations on a new statewide writing test. At first this may sound like a rather average percentage, and not much to brag about, but this is a brand new statewide writing test. Students typically do worse on the administration of a new test, especially one that has toughened its standards. So, 77 percent was not unexpected. But it gets more interesting when you compare the performance of Cobb’s students to the passing percentages of metro Atlanta school districts (69 percent) and the statewide average (67 percent). Suddenly, you begin to see what an outstanding performance it really was.

Oh yes, it is absolutely outstanding. Thanks for the pat on the back. Only 77% of our students could pass a test that has been so watered down so that illiterate people could pass it. No, really, I've seen the rubric. If I can manage to get a copy into pdf format, I'll include a link.

To be honest, if you consider that probably more than 23% of the students in the county are non-English speaking then having some of them that can pass it is actually somewhat astounding.