Friday, December 05, 2008

I learned It From You, Teach

In a news story earlier this week about a one percent (1%) decline in Language Skill scores of students taking Indiana's ISTEP tests, a local school official said, "It's disappointing but not statistically significant."

     No, by golly, a thousand times no, it must be one or the other.  It can't be both.  Either it's a meaningless fluctuation, or it is a trend you are sorry to see.  You cannot have it both ways.

     ...His statement reflects the sort of thinking one might expect a highly trained educator to recognize and avoid -- unless, that is, his language skills are deficient.  H'mm.  I do believe I'm starting to see a connection here, Watson.

3 comments:

  1. Is it language skills that are lacking? Or is it the ability to think critically that is missing?

    Probably both. They seem to go hand in hand.

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  2. If he were to see your criticism, he would just think it is mean-spirited nit-picking. Because what is important is how you 'feel' about it. That's why it can be statisically insignificant and still disappointing.

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  3. I definitely agree language skills and critical thinking go hand in hand. If you can't articulate an idea, you can't possibly analyze it.

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