Academic declines reported in CR school district

My questioning of Cedar Rapids school district performance started in 2000 when we won the argument and obtained just two years of school data (that was all they had) and found and reported academic declines in several areas.

The Cedar Rapids superintendent just admitted, and The Gazette finally reported, that “changes don't excuse declining test scores.” Unfortunately, since 2000, 11 years of students have suffered as a result of district denial and stonewalling. The district has no meaningful improvement plans or interest or methods to stop cheating. The district and 21 schools are in need of assistance for academic failures. About 15 more are on the watch list for serious academic shortcomings. It's an academic disaster, with a total cost per student - including infrastructure - of at least $14,000 per year - up from about $10,000 in 2000, in constant year-2000 dollars. That's a 40 percent cost increase, as student achievement stagnated, or likely fell in some grades.

More money made matters worse for the district, now building a $41 million Taj Mahal, for bloated salaried administrators who failed to improve student achievement. So now what? School fixes and failures are evaluated and scored on http://iowalive.net/

Dick Fredericks

Palo