In the Journal today (link sub req)
It was reported that when ninth grade students took a test, the test revealed that one in five would be unemployable. *
APS was quick to point out that these were ninth graders; and further
""Mary Ann Landry, the district's vocational education director, said APS scores rose slightly when some of the schools retested students as upperclassmen. However, the district did not provide complete data on those results."One has to wonder what, exactly, the leadership of the APS meant when they said, ...when upperclassmen retook the test, scores rose slightly.
I suspect that is APS speak for;
when seniors were given the same test;
the scores were essentially the same.
Coincidently; the public records of the test results
were not provided.
* from the Journal report, the test;
"The numbers come from the WorkKeys assessments, tests designed to find out how high schoolers stack up next to employer expectations.
Local businesses seem to be developing a taste for the test and advocates say it goes where the resume can't.
"Employers really like it because it gives them a really objective assessment of workplace skill," said Lois Johnson, director of transitional services for the New Mexico Department of Workplace Solutions."
2 comments:
Are these tests used anywhere else? How do APS students compare to students elsewhere?
What are employer expectations for students from high school? How are APS students meeting them now? If they aren't, can they be quickly trained on the job?
Does pushing to send every child to college interfere with learning useful skills? Does APS have room to add these skills and still do the NCLB federally-mandated testing?
Typical Journa Headline....
if 17% are unemployable, that means 83% are employable. But that wouldn't be a great teacher bashing headline now would it.
There is a lot to investigate in APS, and it is very interesting to me that the media is concentrating on issues that concern teachers. Teachers taking too many sick days, some hired before 1997 have never had a background check. And now this. Why not investigate what really is criminal, Albuquerque Media? Your own complicity with the board and the administration.
Post a Comment