So there I was, in the staffroom, getting a cup of tea while assembly was going down.
As is my usual staffroom ritual, I steal the Times Educational Supplement, so I can see what wacky things Conservative teachers who spend so much time away from their schools whining about how bad the education system that their school fails (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/oct/08/conservatives-schools-birbalsingh-teacher-suspended) are saying this.
And on the front page it says "schools which score under average will be failed".
I checked the story.
I went back to the headline.
I checked the story again.
This wasn't hyperbole...every school which gets a below average score will be failed, according to Ofsted guidelines. As anyone familiar with mathematics knows, this means half the schools in the country are going to be failed. Everyone has to be above average now, or something.
It should be noted that yesterday, it was announced that 200 of the worst performing primary schools in the country were to be handed over to the private sector.
Anyone see where this is going?
This is how I feel right now. --> :FFF:
With perhaps a bit of "smashing my head into concrete blocks" thrown in there.
:lulz: Oh god.
So, wait....
They're missing the fact no matter how good or bad all of the schools are, 50% of them are still going to be below average by definition? Or is this a ploy to make the public ok with axing a bunch of public schools?
Blight,
Not great at math, but thinks he understands the problem here.
Quote from: Cain on June 17, 2011, 01:20:47 PM
It should be noted that yesterday, it was announced that 200 of the worst performing primary schools in the country were to be handed over to the private sector.
Anyone see where this is going?
So this is how they cut educational spending? Won't be long before it happens here.
Quote from: Cain on June 17, 2011, 01:20:47 PM
Anyone see where this is going?
A private school paradise!
:banana:
:sad:
Education is always the first to go, educated slaves are dangerous.
:lulz: assuming grading on a scale of 0-100 (or any set, really) all it will take is a few high performing schools to blow the curve and make what would probably, normally be considered a passing school "below average"
this is math fail on par with misunderstanding of the exponential function.
Quote from: Disco Pickle on June 17, 2011, 05:39:32 PM
:lulz: assuming grading on a scale of 0-100 (or any set, really) all it will take is a few high performing schools to blow the curve and make what would probably, normally be considered a passing school "below average"
this is math fail on par with misunderstanding of the exponential function.
I think they know exactly what they're doing.
Quote from: Cain on June 17, 2011, 01:20:47 PM
Anyone see where this is going?
Clearly they do know, imagine the short term funding such a move would free up in local and state gov systems. If they anticipate an emergency this could be a sudden(but planned) influx of working cash. Also could just wind up in the hands of private "Educational contractors" similar to privatized prisons. Or not.
Quote from: ☄ · · · N E T · · · ☄ on June 17, 2011, 05:59:01 PM
Quote from: Disco Pickle on June 17, 2011, 05:39:32 PM
:lulz: assuming grading on a scale of 0-100 (or any set, really) all it will take is a few high performing schools to blow the curve and make what would probably, normally be considered a passing school "below average"
this is math fail on par with misunderstanding of the exponential function.
I think they know exactly what they're doing.
:x
The school adminstrators should get the heads of the Maths departments together to explain what a bell curve in a closed data set looks like for any given set of values.
But yeah, you're probably right.
Admittedly, the privatization by stealth thing is entirely speculation on my part. And once you're failed, it's not an automatic process, lots of other things have to happen first.
On the other hand, that news like this came out the same week teacher's decided to go on strike over pension issues doesn't strike me as entirely coincidental.
Quote from: Cain on June 17, 2011, 06:29:30 PM
Admittedly, the privatization by stealth thing is entirely speculation on my part. And once you're failed, it's not an automatic process, lots of other things have to happen first.
On the other hand, that news like this came out the same week teacher's decided to go on strike over pension issues doesn't strike me as entirely coincidental.
That movie "Searching for Superman" talks about formerly public schools here in the states that are being privatized and admitting kids in a lottery system.
It's happening here already, expect the concept has already hit your shores and this is likely the first step toward adopting a similar approach.
Just to be contrary, there are claims of high bias in the "superman" documentary against the charter schools.
Quote from: Cain on June 17, 2011, 01:20:47 PM
So there I was, in the staffroom, getting a cup of tea while assembly was going down.
As is my usual staffroom ritual, I steal the Times Educational Supplement, so I can see what wacky things Conservative teachers who spend so much time away from their schools whining about how bad the education system that their school fails (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/oct/08/conservatives-schools-birbalsingh-teacher-suspended) are saying this.
And on the front page it says "schools which score under average will be failed".
I checked the story.
I went back to the headline.
I checked the story again.
This wasn't hyperbole...every school which gets a below average score will be failed, according to Ofsted guidelines. As anyone familiar with mathematics knows, this means half the schools in the country are going to be failed. Everyone has to be above average now, or something.
It should be noted that yesterday, it was announced that 200 of the worst performing primary schools in the country were to be handed over to the private sector.
Anyone see where this is going?
In the US, we have Title I schools (that's "one" as in the Roman numeral, not "I" as in the alphabet), and they are beholden to a set of standards that have been collaboratively gathered and standardized federally so that there's a certain level of "upgraded output" that each school is expected to produce, year after year. Regardless of natural disasters, influx of immigrant population, downgrade in economic levels of stability in the region, etc.
So when in the UK they say they will "fail" the schools that perform "below average," you gotta look at what that "average" is supposed to look like. Are they marginalizing the schools that have mostly immigrant or poor area children? Are they trying to make the schools more uniform so that by removing the status such schools had before (non-failing I guess would be the word?), they are subject to a similar set of standards only just now applied?
Privatizing the failing schools can create a whole host of problems (transparency and equality being the biggest that I can think of off the top of my head) on its own. But currently, governments are so strapped for cash and desperate for influxes, though they know further R&D is needed to meet the growing needs for a competitive and yet impoverished educational sector, they're willing to throw such "noble" pursuits as equitability or transparency under the bus so that the schools get funded.
So now I'm wondering how this all came about and what the underlying social tensions are, as I can only guess but I think I know where it is going...and where it is coming from...
It also does depend on what sort of average they mean.
Exactly half are going to be below the median. roughly half are going to be below the mean unless there are some strong outliers. The mode, if used broadly enough, is only going to fail outlying schools and it is possible (although unlikely) that they meant those schools that fall below a generous mode.