A call to action

By Dr. Andre M. Perry
Contributing Columnist

In my i need a personal loan with bad credit not a payday loan recent op-ed that appeared in the daily paper, “Opportunity is as Important as Test Scores,” I argued that increased test scores in the absence of economic gains leave education reform without a practical purpose. In other words, what do improved test scores mean, if they net losses in job opportunities for the people it aimed to serve?

A corollary appeal to this argument must be made to those communities that are the primary recipients of school reform and to those who represent them. Three points comprise bad credit loans grand rapids mi my appeal. First, a prerequisite for positive change must be an admission there is a need for it. Second, the need for change is so widespread that school leaders should offer as much in-house critique as external criticism. Third, cynicism doesn’t build great school systems, good thinking and hard work do.

In 1999 the percent of students scoring at basic and above on all subjects and all grades was 23. Today, approximately 52 percent of all students score at or above basic. In the year prior cash loans in rosenberg tx to Katrina, 66 percent of the schools earned a school performance score below 60 (academically unacceptable).

Today, that number dropped to 24 percent. New Orleans (OPSB and RSD combined) is no longer the worse performing district in the state; however, we still rank in the bottom 10. These data tell us that we needed positive change prior to Katrina and we still need it today.

In the midst of our upcoming Board of Elementary and Se­condary Education (BESE) elections, any candidate that romanticizes how to get a personal loan online the glory years of education lacks the knowledge and/or cou­rage to admit a need for change. Undoubtedly, candidates will mobilize people around the deep pain of mass firings, expansion of the Recovery School District or the rapid takeover of schools. However, effective leadership will organize around practical routes towards better schooling — in the past and in the present.

In offering solutions, candidates will invariably point to problems. This is okay, particularly if self-critique is included.

This is difficult for many politicos because they 1 minute unsecured loans fear that any internal critique will offend their bases. But, our educational outcomes, however they are measured, were so low that it’s impossible to exclusively point fingers outwardly. Someone was in the classroom. Someone had an opportunity to expand and diversify funding streams. Someone could have transformed a failing school. Someone could have run for governor.

Finally, parents and children don’t need rhetoric; they need action. As a professional cynic, my value rest in how far well placed ideas moves people, places and things. However, we fast cash cebu need great ideas to ultimately teach, construct schools and lead public meetings.

Most importantly, we have to remind and encourage the families, teachers and leaders that they possess power to change their own condition.

The days of paternalistic or symbolic representation have to end. If there is a value in rhetoric, let it be that words inspire action. Students suffered under stagnant, overly bureaucratic systems. In response to new visions for schools, public school families can’t afford arguments of “No. Can’t, or Shouldn’t.” Too many skeptics of the latest iteration of school reform have become the new party of “No.” Families need their students to become the next generation of doers.

For this upcoming election, there is yet another opportunity to provide a vision and plan for improved public schools. Let’s not allow cynicism to be the platform we build our schools upon.

This article was originally published in the September 19, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper