Can I start a petition to stop calling those who are teachers “educators”?

I mean, I don’t remember these conversations growing up:

“Hey, who’s your homeroom educator?”

“Eric, did you hear what Chris’ educator made him do today?”

“Dude! This guy is an absolute animal! I have never had a harder Chemistry educator.”

Just a thought…..happy Monday

But just by applying Occum’s razor this is scenario, I figured such a huge decline had to be due to the test…not that 23% of DeKalb students instantaneously got dumber in a single year.

And I’m correct up to a point. They made the test harder.

Here’s a quote from a different AJC article…

State schools superintendent Kathy Cox had predicted more schools would fail this year because of low math test scores. The state says it created harder elementary and middle school math tests to match the state’s more rigorous curriculum in this subject.

Also, more students in all grades were required to pass state math and English exams to meet testing goals. Passing rates will gradually increase to reach the federal mandate that 100 percent of students pass by 2014.

“We have increased rigor coupled with increased expectations,” Cox said in a telephone interview today. “It was harder this year, much more difficult than ever before.”

So yes, I shouldn’t have been so quick to label the test inadequate. But geez…a 13% drop state-wide? And 100% federally mandated passing by 2014? That’s one heck of an aggressive goal. But its all for the good of the kids, right?

Oh and full disclosure…I dislike standardized tests because I always did poorly on them. You’ll find that those that support them, generally have done well on them in the past. Yeah, I know…then how do we measure schools against one another?…no clue…not an educator.