Teachers and professional educators understand tests.
Tests are an assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities.
With that said, we look with mixed emotions on the test scores of Clarksdale Municipal School District and Coahoma County School District.
All of us have been handed back a test and the grade disappointed us. I feel that is the case with our local school districts. Both Clarksdale and Coahoma county schools got an F on the Mississippi Department of Education School Assessment last week.
This paper doesn't want to say teachers and administrators are failing, but it is apparent many of our children are. Educating students to achieve success should be the focus of all schooling.
The solution to our education concerns should always focus on our children and not administrators, school boards, teachers and certainly not maintaining the status quo at school districts.
Our children deserve better.
Report Card
Your Clarksdale Press Register had a lengthy story in last week’s paper complete with Mississippi's and each district’s grade as we sought to explain what recent test scores released by the state mean and what each district plans to do to improve their grades.
We hope parents, taxpayers and educators carefully read what was said by each of our school district leaders about these test scores. We hope each community and school taxpayer takes that information and works to better the schools in their respective district.
We challenge trustees and educators to realize how serious these numbers are, not because they reflect on their work, but because they indicate our children are not learning in many key subjects.
Look at the drop-out rates, look at the missed opportunities of kids saddled to a failing school district, look at how much we are spending in our school districts and what our kids are learning for those tax dollars.
Yes, our children deserve better.
Positive Steps
We also hope each community will also look at the successes of local school districts and encourage local educators to work harder. Teaching is not an easy job, but it is one that holds immense rewards for those who demand excellence.
I will not get into what was tested, the merits of high-stakes testing or pointing fingers in this space today. But I do want each community to take a long, hard look at what kind of marks their school district earned this year.
Clarksdale and Coahoma County schools now have a target on their back. They are prime candidates for take-over by the state. They are prime candidates for consolidation.
Again, I will not delve into those topics at this time, but they are options that could solve our problem – if we don’t solve it first.
Our children
Your see, the stakes are high.
Great schools could solve our de-population problem. Great school would bring people to our community to buy homes, go to our churches live in our city and county and shop at our stores. Great schools are one of the first things industry looks at when considering a move to any community.
And residents of Clarkdale and Coahoma County deserve the best.
Let’s look the facts squarely in the face and then roll up our sleeves and get to work.
Because it all boils down to this: Our children deserve better.
Floyd Ingram in the Editor of the Clarksdale Press Register. He has four boys who have gone to good and not-so-good schools in three states and feels his children – and yours too – deserve the best.
