Rise and Shine --- Upper Darby has it all wrong

Good Morning and welcome to the calm before the storm!

So, in case you missed it, Upper Darby school officials are proposing cutting any 'special' classes throughout the district.
That means Upper Darby students won't have designated music, gym or language classes.
Now, some out there might be saying, "Good. These kids need more time in the classroom."
Well, let me tell you from experience, this is the absolutely worst way to go about bringing up those precious scores.
What students need are more specials. Unfortunately, Upper Darby has decided that teachers spending all their time teaching for a state-mandated test is the road to go down.
Sure, the plan says teachers will fit gym, music and art into their daily curriculum, but we all know that's not happening.
For the first year, there may be some art. After that, it will all be book learning and no time for an outlet.
Last year, a third-grader I knew struggled in his first year in the Upper Darby School District. He was given less time to be a young student while the teachers (through no fault of their own) were doing practice test after practice test and preaching about the importance of the PSSA.
This year, as a fourth-grader, he is excelling in a neighboring school district that puts less emphasis on the standardized testing and more on letting students be children.
By the way, the new school district has never had a problem making the state numbers.
Somebody has to stand up to these cuts. It would be nice if Upper Darby officials had the backbone to see what knocking off all these programs will do to the students.
Yes, I know all about the funding our esteemed Governer has taken from school districts. Yes, I know districts have to take hard looks at their budgets, but just taking a hatchet to programs (and teachers) will do no good in the long run.

Rise and Shine --- Fix schools now

Good Morning and break out those winter coats once again!

Now that we have some form of health care reform (those who like to yell, well, just deal with it), now's the time to move on to other things.
While jobs and the economy will recover over time (they always do), a more pressing issue is it's time to get rid of the ridiculous 'No Child Left Behind' mandate.
Sure, we want all children to learn, but when it's forced learning it's more like memorizing.
We are quickly coming up on another round of PSSA testing.
The school administrators will hold rallies. They will first talk to the students about relaxing while taking the test, then they will quickly say they all have to ace it.
After all, school funding is based on a general test scored by a computer. The computer doesn't know if the student broke his/her pencil during the question and was too scared to ask if it could be sharpened. It also doesn't know if the child had a headache or couldn't sleep the night before because they were inundated with mixed messages.
OK, we are on the road to fixing the health care mess (although the battle isn't over because those health care companies have deep pockets and hire loudmouths). Now, let's fix the school mess.
We'll finally be on the way to knocking that last president off the books (unless it's comic books).

RISE AND SHINE

GOOD MORNING, DELAWARE COUNTY!

OK, I have a confession to make, I told a third-grader not to worry about the PSSA tests. This, of course, will be a shock to the system.
The PSSAs are government-mandated tests that will be given over the next couple of weeks and schools are into an all-out push.
There have been daily letters home to parents. There was even a 'contract' sent home telling parents it was their duty to make sure there are no activities after school during the week the PSSA will be administered.
Some schools even hold pep rallies and all-day study sessions to get ready for the 'test.'
Hogwash!
In fact, I thing we'll stay up late every night and maybe even take in a movie or two.
Sure, it's probably a dumb protest, but there is enough pressure on young students these days without adding any more.
The PSSA tests are now the complete focus of the public school system. Instead of teaching to learn, teachers are teaching for the test. There is extra homework, extra time spent during class and extra pressure on the teachers, adminstrators and students.
I'm not blaming the schools. Our President has set this 'No Child Left Behind' bull. The states have no choice but to follow along, which leads to pressure on the school districts, individual schools, principals, teachers, finally, the students.
You know what they say runs downhill.
We should be giving students a reason to love learning, love going to school, instead of adding more and more onto their heads.
The biggest problem is the tests are standardized throughout the state.
Now, let's just look at the school districts in the county. There is no sane way to argue the students in the Radnor School District and the students in the Upper Darby School District get the same education.
This is not to say the teachers, at least some, don't try and that there aren't some talented teachers in both school districts. The plain truth is it's not the same education, yet they are held to the same standards.
When a third grader is walking home and believes the PSSA tests could potentially keep him out of fourth grade, that's just plain wrong.
If that's the message schools are sending, they should be held accountable.
Instead of getting all the students together to 'pump' them up for another test (really, aren't there enough regular tests throughout the year) gather them in the gym to sing or listen to some stories or ... whatever.
So, take the tests because you have no choice, but think about baseball the whole time.
Here's a quick history lesson: When I was in school there were standard tests given each year. We always thought they were very important to our advancement.
By the time we reached sixth grade, it was obvious the tests had no real meaning. So, we took the No. 2 pencils and created designs in the little circles, barely reading the test questions.
We all made it into seventh grade.

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