Feedback Loop: Readers Give Failing Marks To Parent Grades, School Rankings
Florida House of Representatives
Rep. Kelli Stargel's bill would require teachers to evaluate their students' parents.
Rep. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, wants to grade parents, but readers gave her idea failing marks.
Dirhart argues grading parents does nothing but generate ill will:
This is a total waste of time, and will just lead to more teacher bashing. Yes, many parents are not doing a good job. There is little we can really do about it.
GrumpyElder puts the parent-teacher relationship in context:
Stargel forgets, both she and the teachers work at the pleasure of the parents..
Parents as voters and Taxpayers are the employers, if anything they have the right to grade individual teachers, NOT the other way around–
I would also challenge Rep Stargel to show where there is any Constitutional Authority for the State to use Schools as a means to evaluate parents.
Lina, a former teacher, appreciates the motivation:
As a former teacher, I do not think this bill is feasible, however, I think that it is well intentioned. I have worked in some challenging environments and had been held accountable for the performance of students who repeatedly failed to come to school ( some of who were also defiant and oppositional in the classroom).
It was beyond frustrating when parents were uncooperative during attempts to meet with or contact them even though I made myself available by coming hour early and staying until 6 pm or later, often tutoring other students for no monetary gain. Frustration wasn’t even the word when I worked 60 hour weeks tailoring plans to individual students who would either not attend or misbehave during school so when it was time for my class they had already been sent to the office or into a CSI classroom.
Readers also gave poor marks to the Florida Department of Education’s ranking of every public school. Someoneelse80 says the rankings are junk data:
The public deserves information that is useful and these rankings are not. What does it mean when a city’s public education fund releases better info than state officials? Politics, anyone? Those who released this garbage have shown their willingness to give the public useless data.
Ldhiker notes the relationship between test scores, the basis for the rankings, and wealth:
The lowest-ranked high school has almost 90% of students on free or reduced lunch. The highest-ranked school has 6% of students on free or reduced lunch. The same thing can be said for percentages of minority students. Until we address the gap with minority students and other social problem issues, these school rankings are absolute garbage.
Reader reaction is an important part of building StateImpact Florida’s education coverage. Feedback Loop will be a regular feature highlighting your questions, criticisms and comments.
