The state Board of Education, for the umpteenth time, heard presentations Thursday about a new method of gauging how well public schools are educating 6-plus million kids.
As usual, they were couched in opaque educational jargon, such as “evaluation rubrics,” “multiple measures” and “a flashlight not a hammer.”
And as usual, education reform groups were critical of replacing the Academic Performance Index, an annual test-based score given to schools, with something that, they said, would make it more difficult for parents and public to know what’s happening.
The educational establishment, including powerful teacher unions, despises the API, saying it’s simplistic and encourages teaching to the test. It also is a basis for parents to intervene and even take over poor-performing schools, which the establishment also dislikes.
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