Carol Gaido-Schmidt – 6/11/08

This page was last updated on July 12, 2008.

Realistic approach to learning; Carol Gaido-Schmidt; Beaver County Times; June 11, 2008.

In one previous letter Mrs. Gaido-Schmidt lobbied for more taxes on “the rich”, in another thought it was great that Rochester got state taxpayer dollars to upgrade its high school football field, and in a third complained there was “Not a lack of housing, but an excess.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“The debate about No Child Left Behind continues to rage among all the stakeholders, and no one is winning, least of all the kids.

“Is there too much testing in schools? Probably. Do we need outcomes measurement and testing? Definitely.

“The problem lies with setting demanding blanket standards when a basic fact of life is that not all learners are equal. Many environmental factors affect the ability of children to learn. Poverty, nutrition, stress, medical care, sleep, emotional factors and home environment all play a major role in learning.

“In quality improvement when measuring outcomes, we level the playing field with risk adjustment. All these risk factors need to be considered when looking at outcomes or measurement becomes biased.

“Reducing the dropout rate should be a major priority, yet this least desirable outcome seems to be the one that is most ignored.

“I recently read about a ‘growth model’ for measuring adequate progress. It takes into consideration the child’s baseline status at the time of testing, measuring progress in terms of growth.

“Isn’t this a more realistic approach?”

[RWC] The “growth model” is one of two alternatives used to measure a school’s progress toward meeting NCLB requirements. It does nothing to decrease/increase the number of tests taken. As a substitute teacher, Mrs. Gaido-Schmidt should know this.

“Additionally, some children have no need or desire to go on to college. Instead of requiring everyone to take courses such as Algebra II, maybe they should have more useful options, such as a course that teaches real world math situations like budgeting, balancing a checkbook, and understanding interest rates and investments.”

[RWC] Admittedly it’s been 38 years since, but what Mrs. Gaido-Schmidt suggested was offered during my years at Center High. Is Mrs. Gaido-Schmidt claiming this is no longer SOP?

“A high school diploma serves as entry-level preparation for working or to enter college. What we need to do is meet the needs of the individual student by showing adequate growth in his or her knowledge, with a focus on the student’s future plans.”

[RWC] Aren’t tests needed to determine “adequate growth?”

“If we take time to consider the individual, we can reduce the dropout rate while still making a high school diploma meaningful. That way everybody wins.”