We are getting dumber

After reading the Morning Call story below, we wonder how much "dumber" our leaders can get.

Forks Township, the biggest contributor to the growing student enrollment in the EASD keeps building homes at a time when our public schools can't keep pace.

The EASD keeps spending millions upon millions of dollars on turf fields and sports complexes at a time when the 3-R's have come to mean nothing.

1. What ever happened to the idea of an education impact fee?
2. Why do parents tolerate these test scores?
3. What will happen when these kids graduate the EASD? In other words, what will they be prepared to do in the real world?
4. When will we start holding our elected public servants (school board members and Forks Supervisors) responsible for the actions that directly affect the public in such a negative way?
5. How can these elected officials look at the children in the eye and honestly say that they are doing the best that they can?
6. Our school taxes keep going up yet education is not improving. Why is this?
   

Bottom line. If you are thinking about moving to this area and you have school age children, buyer beware and be prepared to pay for private or parochial school education if you want your children to have a fair chance in life to succeed.

Two Easton Area schools miss testing goals

Superintendent: District to work with state on plan for high school.

By Madeleine Mathias Of The Morning Call

While most schools in the Easton Area district met math and reading targets on state testing this year, the high school and one middle school failed to clear educational hurdles — with the high school landing in the second lowest category — and will require improvements.

The high school's rating fell from School Improvement II to Corrective Action I, while Easton Area Middle School dropped from ''warning'' to School Improvement I, Superintendent Dennis Riker told the Academics in Education Committee on Wednesday.

The Pennsylvania System of School Assessment scores, given in Grades 3, 5, 8 and 11, are used to measure whether a school or district is achieving Adequate Yearly Progress as part of the No Child Left Behind law.

Riker said the district will work with the Pennsylvania Department of Education on an action plan for the high school. ''PDE has to review and approve a plan,'' Riker said. ''We will be working with them on any suggestions they make.''

A school falls in Corrective Action I when it fails to meet state targets for four years in a row. Because of that ranking, the district can get assistance on improving not only teaching, but also the curriculum and even on administration from the state.

''We are not off the hook,'' Riker said. ''Our children performed very well this year but obviously we know there are areas we have to work on, challenges that must be met.''

Unless the high school shows improvement with the specially planned program, this time next year it could drop to Corrective Action II, where the state could step in, order reconstitution, chartering or privatization.

Angela DiVietro, director of secondary education, said because the district made many changes last year in instruction, Shawnee Middle School in Forks Township moved from School Improvement II to Making Progress, a significant gain over the past year.

Overall, she said, the district's schools could have met the Adequate Yearly Progress requirements, but at the upper-level schools, four subgroups are assessed separately on their math and reading scores. Those subgroups are blacks, Hispanics, economically disadvantaged and special education.

The state set a threshold of 45 percent of students earning a proficient or above rating in the reading portion of the PSSA. In a computer presentation, Greg Shoemaker, director of elementary education, showed that for the high school subgroups, 35.8 percent of black students, 41.1 percent of Hispanics, 16.7 percent of students in special education and 36.7 percent of economically disadvantaged students met the proficiency rating.

DiVietro said the district will have to assess its programs and decide how they can be enhanced. She said the district has all the math courses, but instructors must learn to teach in concepts.

''We will look what we have, revamp and revise and also look at what could be needed in reading and math,'' she said.