It kills me to read comments on education that show ignorance of the difference between "their" and "there", "to" and "two" or "it's" and "its". Not hard words, folks. If our kids spelled that way, they'd be left behind.

Voucher Advocate:

If you think that teachers can make more money by starting a charter school, you are either insane or uninformed. Private schools and charter school pay much less than public schools. They also often hire uncertified teachers because no certified teacher would accept a starting salary of $15,000-$20,000 per year. Might as well get a job at hamburger joint. What bothers me is how everybody outside of the education field seems to know everything about education. We have a failing medical system as well, do you tell your doctor how to treat your illnesses? We are professionals, we have expertise, and most of us work extremely hard to do the best we can. All you hear about is the failures. You don't hear about the undocumented immigrants who get academic scholarships, or the high AP test pass rates, or the other success stories that can't be disaggregated from these almost meaningless test scores. Maybe you should do some research, or visit some schools, or actually start your private school so that you can make the big bucks.

Try teaching at home. I have always believed that school is only to introduce and home is to reinforce. No human can "teach" 25+ kids.
Why can't Johnny read? Let's see..Take him out of his primary classroom for his music..p.e...library..computer..and be sure to take 5- 10 extra minutes getting there And 5-10 getting settled back in class.Then have an assembly about how to sell gift wrap, or some other promotion...add on crazy hair day, backward day, pajama day, etc. Then,, have a day off or go to half day Fridays..Then come over the intercom several times a day to disrupt the class. . If you live in Utah, then start and end the year with the temperature over 85 in the classroom..or 95!. If the teacher is ill or away at training, then just use a substitute for $70.00.(Don't bother to check for any teaching creditials or degrees) Basically, just send in a sitter.If he can still focus and attemps to do his work, then put him next to a pupil who is constantly disruptive, tapping and mouthing off. Be sure to reward Johnny with incentives like candy. After school shuttle him to activities so school becomes a low priority, or put on the tele. Then he will be good and tired and balk at minimal homewrok.
I am amazed that the scores are as high as they are.
The whole system needs to be revamped; as it is the serious future of our Utah children and the future of our Country which is now falling behind others who have the power to discipline, and who reward good educators with adequate pay.As parents we need to teach our children to value and respect the 'opportunity'' not automatic 'right' to attend public schools.

The parents of gifted and very high functioning pupils are pulling them out of the public schools, which, more often than not fail these. This is one reason your test scores are going down and will continue to drop.

Do you think maybe your children are hearing too much gloom and depressing news, and maybe they are just giving up? What if everybody in Utah turned off the news and spent 30 minutes reading to each child. The test scores would increase and the depression rates would decline.

Whining Teacher Boy: Please don't interject logic into the discussion. It only confuses the ignorant.

u think??: No, You Don't!

if your kid's are going to stay in utah, who cares if the education system is substandard. Delivering pizzas or driving the Frito Lay truck doesn't require alot of reading writing or arithmetic

The assertion by some teachers that they are "unfairly" penalized for not making attendence targets is symptomatic of the disconnetion between the education establishment and their clientele: the families and students they serve. So is the claim that parent involvement is to blame for low test scores.

In a private school, or even in a charter school, the teachers and other staff must provide a "product" that their patrons find valuable enough that they want to send their children, and in private schools, that they want to spend money on. If the teachers fail to do so, the school fails and goes bankrupt. Such schools are held "accountable" by the market.

The public schools, which derive their revenues from the coercive power to tax and use the police power to command attendance, has no similar need to satisfy its customers, and thinks it knows better what its customers need then do its customers themselves.

If a school (or a teacher) is not meeting attendance quotas, then the obvious reason is that the clientele finds insufficient value in the product. Improve the product, and attendance will improve. Stop blaming the customer for not buying your product.