05/01/2024
With those funds parents could literally hire a private tutor for each of their kids & work 1 on 1 in every subject, every year. Do you realize how much further we could take the next generation with that type of educational setup? 📚 Not to mention teachers would get the pay they deserve! Teaching Jobs would abound. Seems like the middle man is taking more than his fair share & doing what with it?! 🚮
"FWD: from Tuttle Twins
If a school was spending over $24,000 per student each year, and none of its students were testing proficient in reading and math… would that be a school you think we should replicate elsewhere?
What if it was replicated 180 times?
That’s what’s happening in Chicago with Richards Career Academy. The teachers union president and mayor are throwing their weight behind a plan to bring this school to more communities, even though the existing one has by all measures been a failure.
That’s a lot of money per student for poor outcomes, but it isn’t only happening in Chicago—these same results are seen across the country.
Last week the Census Bureau released how much was spent per student in 2022. It was the biggest year-over-year increase in over 20 years—up 8.9 percent. That is $15,633 spent per student—a mix of local, state, and federal funding.
But like most statistics (especially the ones put out by the government!), it doesn’t tell the full story. This amount doesn’t include operational and capital expenses—adding that in makes it a whopping $18,911 per student.
There are 18 states that spend more than $20,000 per student with New York spending almost $36,000 per student. And yet we are still seeing mediocre results, or worse!
I shared many examples of the mediocre results government schools deliver in the book I wrote with Corey DeAngelis, Mediocrity. Too many students are falling through the cracks because these schools are not a good fit for them.
Children are unique individuals. But the modern school system collectively judges them based on standardized test scores. Imagine what teachers could accomplish if they could focus on helping students learn at their own pace instead of pushing them through this (expensive!) conveyor belt process.
Of course, test scores don’t tell the full story. They are a sometimes useful metric to assess knowledge, but they are not an accurate reflection of student achievement and learning comprehension. But education bureaucrats use these low standardized test results to push for more money, arguing that additional investment will increase education outcomes.
Unfortunately for them, the data shows this isn’t true; increased spending over the last 20 years has not improved test scores. It’s the definition of insanity.
We all want children to learn — especially our own! But it’s imperative that we question a system that has so consistently produced poor results. We need to do better, for our children’s sake. For the sake of our country"