Re: Greg Stratton’s June 22 commentary, “School district fails its students�:
Judging by the content of his commentary, Mr. Stratton has contracted an advanced case of “standardized testing and reporting testivitis.�
The symptoms are all too familiar: chronic complaining of not enough academic course work for students, restlessness caused by worrying about test scores and the conviction that electives are not a core component of a successful curriculum.
Here is a prescription that should put Stratton back on the road to educational health:
— Take two tablets of the report on standardized testing prepared by Michael Selvaggio for the school board a couple of years ago. He compared science test results versus course work in school districts of similar size and socioeconomic backgrounds to Simi Valley. The conclusion was that an extra semester of science does not increase test scores. Competency in reading, writing and comprehension of the English language produce the best test results.
— Take a hike. Walk around any middle school campus and stroll through the elective classrooms. You will find something that is missing from some of today’s courses: fun.
— Relax. The first year of the STAR science test was the embryonic stage. It could take two or three years of testing to determine the scope and breadth of the science portion of the test.
— Be truthful. Simi Valley is an exceptional school district. We are not “failing our students� or “wasting a million dollars on elementary science� only to “throw it away in the eighth grade by shortchanging our students.� We are providing a quality education that provides students choices in middle school, which has increased our test scores.
I trust this home remedy will put Mr. Stratton on the road to a full and complete recovery. We should be proud of our middle schools in Simi Valley. They have consistently provided a quality education for students as well as raising test scores every year.
— Corey Nordal, Simi Valley
Something will always be wrong with our schools as long as you have to pay tens of thousands of dollars for college to learn what a kid in China learns in the 8th grade.
The 'report' by Michael Selvaggio (a former student and son of Sinaloa's art teacher) was prepared on his own without School District involvement. Selvaggio was not commissioned by the School Board to do any study. It was not done 'for' (on behalf of) the school board and is not even part of the record for the staff report. It is not clear that it was even delivered to the Board.
Having not seen the report, it is hard to comment on its contents. Without knowing Michael's credentials, I may be jumping to a conclusion to suggest that this report may just be a little less that objective.
I've reviewed the state requirements for the class and they are pretty comprehensive. To cover all that material in a year is a full load, in a semester it is really tough. I have not yet heard from any science teacher who thinks that a semester class is going to cut it.
So while we relax and wait for the inevitable, a large group of our students are not getting the education that they need. Eventually it will be fixed, but too late for a few years of eighth graders. This is not teaching to the test, but teaching to what the kids need.