Detroit Parents Say Low Test Scores = Jailtime for Teachers

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Detroit Parents Say Low Test Scores = Jailtime for Teachers

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

My Fox Detroit: After a report showed that fourth- and eighth-grade students in Detroit posted the worst math scores in the nation, some parents rallied for jail time for those responsible with educating the city's youth.

The Detroit News reported that Sharlonda Buckman of the Detroit Parent Network called for jailing and civil lawsuits against anyone in the city's educational system that is not doing his or her share to help properly educate children.

"Somebody needs to go to jail," Buckman said in an address to 500 parents gathered Saturday for the organization's annual breakfast forum reported the newspaper. "Somebody needs to pay for this. Somebody needs to go to jail, and it shouldn't be the kids."

Detroit students took the National Assessment of Educational Progress test this year and 69 percent of fourth-graders scored below the basic level in math and 77 percent of eighth-graders scored below basic.

"This is an abysmal failure," Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb told the gathering. Bobb said he would announce Monday that he is calling for 100,000 volunteer hours to help children with reading.

An editorial in The Detroit Free Press notes that "the rest of the state should take last week's excruciatingly painful test results ... as a warning."

According to CNN the report showed that eighth-graders in Austin, Texas, and San Diego, raised their scores. And fourth-grade students in Boston, and Washington, D.C., also showed gains.

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The individuals in a child’s life most responsible for that child’s education are the PARENTS!!!!! If they’re hell-bent on making those responsible go to jail, they should turn themselves in today. Disgusting. Whatever happened to personal accountability?

- Shelly

Posted 12/15/09 01:13 PM

Let’s make the parents home school the kids and jail them if the test scores don’t improve. Detroit is a mess. It’s worst than New Orleans and that’s saying something.

- Anonymous

Posted 12/15/09 02:36 PM

I think the low test scores have more to do with MI’s school of choice policies pulling any kid with parents who care about their education out of DPS (leaving the school district full of kids who don’t have support at home and kids who can’t get into charter schools or schools of choice because of their discipline records) than the teachers.

- Sara

Posted 12/15/09 02:41 PM

Do they think that perhaps there kids are responsible for there low test scores.Teachers can teach all day that doesn’t mean the childs listening

- whitnye

Posted 12/15/09 07:49 PM

Gimmi a break.

- Dara

Posted 12/16/09 02:57 AM

That’s one of the dumbest thigns I’ve ever heard of. I have a feeling the teachers are TRYING. No matter what a teacher does if a parent is not supporting their children to thrive in school then it is very unlikely that the child will do well. The need for the parents supporting and working with their child on school work is a must.

- Sara

Posted 12/16/09 06:48 AM

Jail time “always” motivates teachers to do their best. If anything, the teachers would become bitter, and care less what scores their students got on tests. A lot of teachers take the brunt of the blame for when things don’t go right in school. Sometimes it’s lack of funds, and the school can’t afford to do somethings. Teachers end up paying for supplies out of pocket, and then have be extremely frugal to get by. Most of the time though, it’s lack of support from parents or guardians at home that is the source of problems. If their parents don’t care, why should they. If it’s a poor community, and many people are on welfare; the kids see their parents living off the government, and figure that works for them too. They stop bothering with school, and end up failing more than once.

- Stefanie

Posted 12/16/09 03:28 PM

What a bunch of arrogant people. These parents must have been grown in a garden.Any body born of another human,will not think like these people.You can lead the horse to the water, but you can not make them drink.They only have themselves to blame.

- walter williams

Posted 12/23/09 04:08 PM