Spinning the PARCC results

PARCC test results are finally becoming available.  The "prediction"  from the NM PED and Secretary Hanna Skandera, that the results would be disturbing, has come true.

The upset will be addressed with a poultice of spin and distraction.  Forgotten will be the bottom line; most students are doing poorly in public schools and do more poorly every year - and not because "standards are being raised".

Wherever it is we find ourselves in the effort to educate children, we were led here.  We were not led here by teachers and others who work at the educational interface; where the system and the students meet face to face; the classroom.  We we not led here by those who really know what they're doing.  We were led here by supposed education experts who may or may not have any real, honest to God, teaching experience.

The focus will be deflected from those led us in the wrong direction, and placed on those who were (mis)led.  Teachers will be held responsible for the failure to "properly" implement the latest fad passed down from the supposed experts.

If the PARCC results show any thing at all, it is that decision making needs to include the people who are supposed to implement changes; in particular if those people are the most educated and experienced people at the table.