Parents protested a decline in test scores in New York City at a citywide panel, resulting in the departure of the chancellor and the rest of his staff and a rescheduling of the meeting. The uproar was due to a raising of standards for the tests, resulting in the decline of in the number of passing students and pronouncing racial and ethnic gaps more clearly. However, rather than waiting for their chance and actually holding a meeting, a small group of parents through such an uproar with bullhorns and shouting that those who had waited patienly for their chance to speak and voice their opinions to the panel. I think it was completely inappropriate for that group of parents to respond the way they had towards the dropping test scores. It should have displayed issues in the way students are taught and how they study, rather than being seen as a deliberate attempt to force students to fail (as over half failed the English section).
Article Referenced:
Zraick, Karen. "As Parents Protest, Chancellor and Panel Leave". NYTimes. New York Times. 15 August 2010. Web. 29 August 2010.
It is understandable that parents are upset with these scores, yet their method of expressing these concerns may not be the most effective. The real concern has to do with setting state standards. Either we raise the bar, with the understanding that some people will not pass, (even with the efforts of teachers), or we lower the standards so that more people pass, but end up with an inflated success rate.
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