As, Bs, Cs - and a few Ds: East Valley schools graded by state

2 comments:

• mesateacher posted at 6:25 pm on Thu, Aug 2, 2012.

  Posts: 176

  It's tragic that it has come to this. All this tells you is where the rich kids live. Look at Mesa high schools. The A's are from Mountain View and Red Mtn. The B's: Dobson, Mesa, Skyline, Westwood. If you look at the demographics, the A schools are in areas with higher median incomes, higher home prices. The B schools all face problems and challenges the A schools don't. Mesa and Westwood in particular have enormous populations of kids from families in poverty, families where English is not the primary language, families where parents rarely have college degrees, and so on. I feel really bad for the teachers at the B and C schools. They'll be expected to work harder, put in longer hours, do more with less. They won't get the salary bonuses the A school teachers get. This is wrong. What Mesa and other districts must do is this: take funding from the A schools and give the B and C schools more resources that they need. Who would want to be at a lower rated school? This is just so sad. I'm glad I'm out of system.

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• JMJ posted at 11:33 am on Fri, Aug 3, 2012.

  Posts: 297

  Not only are the impoverished schools' scores falling, but the exodus of veteran teachers with 25-plus years of teaching experience is taking its toll, as well. Schools that scored well in the past have, some for the first time, failed to meet their own goals because they have so many neophyte teachers on staff who are not yet able to teach effectively. It takes a while to come up to speed and be an effective teacher. Meanwhile, the effective teachers have hit the road as soon as possible, leaving behind younger and newer staffs who cannot mentor each other. Add the cherry on top--the lack of leadership--and there you go. Slip sliding away. I feel badly for my former colleagues who are still "stuck" with the poor leadership, the falling scores, and the staff which turns over every year, now, as some try to get away from the poor leaders--it is a churning up and over of what used to be stable school veteran staff and stable, solid student scores and a collegial atmosphere. Teachers have lost income based on these realities, at no fault of their own. The boat takes on water, and there's only so much bailing you can do while trying to stay afloat, yourself. I don't miss Mesa's lack of leadership. How's it workin' for ya', MPS?

  Leon. You are still a Froot Loop,

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