" Refresh my memory - and the reason I pay over a thousand dollars a year in property taxes to CHS is what? "

" From what my child comes home and tells me from being at school all day, there isnt a lot of learning going on. High School these day's is just not what it was when I went. No wonder they failed! Start teaching the kids and stop the goofy nonsense that goes on instead of teaching. Teachers should be held accountable!!! "

" I agree 100% with mjkfinney! "

" mjkfinney--I don't know what classes your child is taking, but my son has homework almost every single night. And not just one night assignments, but work that is due in 2 days, next week, etc. Even my middle school son is given homework that is due over a period of time.

Sometimes, students need to choose to go the extra step and put effort into completing assignments. Plus, not everyone chooses to do homework. What "goofy nonsense" is going on in the classes? "

" So you are going to tell me that what students learn over the course of many years is adequately tested on a test over two days in the junior year? Did the kid eat the day before? Was he/she living out of the home because the parents keep fighting? Does the student get test anxiety?

For those of you who are in the dark, the PSAE is made by ACT. If you wanted to go to college, you remember the ACT. EVERY child has to take this test, including very low performing special education students. The test is intended for college-bound students! Not everyone is a college-bound student!

Marking a school "successful" or a "failure" because of one assessment over two days is absurd! Requiring ALL students to pass a college-bound test by 2014 will never happen! Mattoon did not reach AYP again this year as well. This will be the first year where most schools in this area, and the state, will begin to not meet or exceed.

The reason the lower levels (elementary and middle school) always "meet and exceed" is because their tests are not as difficult and the actual scoring of the test is very easy.

The reason that this NCLB was promoted by Bush and Margaret Spellings was that Texas was all the sudden doing so well on the test, especially in Houston. We found out years later that the scores were so good because Houston School District was actually getting Texas' version of the test ahead of time and actually teaching the kids the test questions; that is not how that is suppose to work!

I recommend that you contact the administration at your school and see if you can take a practice test with the time constraints the students have and see how difficult, and stressful, the test is. I think you will have a better grasp of what this is all about.

The law is the law and educators have to get kids to care to pass this test. There is not a lot of motivation of non-college-bound students because this test means nothing to them. I have had students tell me that they just go down the rows and fill in bubbles. They do not realize, although they are told often, that this test matters to the school district and it should matter to them. A lot of states do okay on their tests because they are called Exit Exams; the student does not graduate high school unless they "meet or exceed" on the test. Illinois does not do that yet. "

" If the schools would go back to making a student repeat the classes they fail, maybe they wouldn't have this problem. Instead they promote a student with a failing grade and the student just gets further behind because they didn't learn things they should have the year before. "

" Wow 44% sandbagged on the test, but only on the math section. Baffling "

" Aw yes the same old excuses. It is the teachers faults, it's the tests faults, the student has problems taking tests, it's Bush's fault, and of course students don't have enough time for the tests. NOw let's see who's fault it really is. The envelope please. The winner is, THE STUDENTS!!! That's right it would be those students who just don't care. At that age level the students should be fairly independent when it comes to homework, and study habits. If parents enforced it when they were younger, which most don't anymore. Place the blame where it should lie, the students, and the parents who just don't care. "

" Place the blame where it should lie, the students, and the parents who just don't care.

On this we agree, my friend. But as you say it's too easy to fault the schools and the teachers and anyone else for our kids failures. I love the old saying: our children will do as we do. People with good parenting skills know that. "

" why not hold the teachers accountable by putting them on probation when their students fail. So if 5th grade math does not meet the standard than put the 5th grade math teacher on probation the next year. If it happens the next year, time to find a new 5th grade math teacher. Some of these teachers are hiding behind tenure and forget why they are there. "

" As a member of the junior class that didnt make AYP i would like to say most of you dont know what you're talking about. I personally met or exceeded in every area of the test. It was actually very difficult for most students. You cant blame teachers for the failure, and at the same time you cant blame students either. Most we're too nervous or just not good test takers. Of course you have the percent of students that didn't care at all, but I do not like our class being talked about like we are scum. Law makers have no right to be involved with school issues, let the teachers do their job. "

" NCLBH is flawed, but many laws and rules often are. Making the AYP, but near 30% not passing, in any category, is still a very sad state of educating.

NCLBH's basis goal was good, no child being left behind in getting at least a set basic level of education should have always been every districts goal and not needed arbirtary benchmarks mandated. Its methods and resources have been lacking from day one. Many noble actions have often led to more and bigger problems than they solve, because of lacking thought and dedication to effective responsible actions, rather than knee jerk cursory reactions. Now administrators are glad to have 70% or better, and ignore that near 30% slipped through a crack and didn't get the basic skills for the time and effort they put in, and the tax dollars many contributed.

While NCLBH is mandated, school districts are ultimately held responsible. Excuses are moot, the district has failed 2x in 3 years. Something is not resolving the situation. Blame the test, blame the motivation, blame anything, but if they keep failing the choices will be even more difficult, and may be removed from the administrations hands. Failure opens the door for students to be transfered out, at the districts expense. If they do, available resources will get even tighter.

This is not the ACT or SAT, it is a basic skills test, isn't it?

Many of these skills didn't suddenly erode, its a 12 year process to get to being prepared to take a basic skills test in junior year. Something is not effectively building those skills over that time. Action needs to go all the way back to first grade and calculators, estimating, and other crutches for math and other subjects need scrapped for building basic skills to what they should be. Teachers passing students to the next grade, needs to have responsiility for them having the proper tools to be ready to be there. Schools may now need to add different remedial classes, to fix past educating failures quicker, and not just hope for 70% to pass basic skills in subjects to get them off the hook.

44% failed in math. It should be no wonder higher education is continually adding no credit basic remedial math and other classes.

Its time schools were held to no child being left behind way beyond graduated progressing benchmarks. 30% not doing well on basic skills, is still no triumph, in educating. Just like PTELL, they failed to get the basic message. "

" Mike:

The test is not a basic skills test. The PSAE is the ACT on the first day and Work Keys day two. I do however agree with you, despite the fact that the ACT is a test designed to determine a student's success in college and as a the population does better on the ACT it is normed to be more difficult (they like there money), it is what we (at least here in Illinois) are stuck with, and the schools are going to have to constantly adjust to make sure the kids do well on the tests.

The problem comes when the no one quite understands that and create a community atmosphere that is very negative towards schools, much because the districts haven't done enough to inform the public of what these test are, what they mean, and what the schools are doing every day to attempt to reach the goals set before them.

I know my son comes home every day telling me what teachers at CHS are trying to do, and I see some of the work he his bringing home, and we talk about the importance of the tests. There are some good things going on at CHS from what I can see. I'm not saying it is perfect and that more doesn't need to be done. I just think that before we start casting stones at those working with our children, perhaps we should hold ourselves as parents accountable by talking to our kids and holding them accountable too. "

" I'm disgusted with our high school; the failure is a combination of the curriculum K-12, the parents, the teachers and the students. They all bear responsibility.

I might add something about the math - my child came home from school on more than one occasion ADMONISHED for NOT having a calculator! My child told me, "...but I can do it in my head, and I was told that wasn't good enough - I needed to do it on a calculator".

What is wrong with our system that we teach kids that they have to have these crutches? It doesn't surprise me one bit that we're so behind in math skills here in Chucktown. "

" You just pointed to the big elephant in the middle of the room, Explorer. Too many folks take the easy route by blaming our children's failures on the very people who are trying to correct situations like this. My grandchildren's dad sits down with his kids and reviews their homework with them before they go to bed. How many parents are willing to do that? Guess what kind of grades the get in school? As you pointed out, it all starts at home. "

" If parents took education as seriously as they take sports, many of our children would be doing much better. "

" I am not clear on what this even means. CHS also missed the mark in the sub-category of white students, who scored at about the same level.

What is Charlestons graduation rate? Are they graduating students that would have trouble getting their GED's? What tests are used for the grades below jr year? Surely there should be some correlation from the prior years scores and rankings, to the jr year evaluation. What ACT scores are considered passing? How do they compare to minimum scores for college entrance requirements?

Years ago I did well on the ACT and pretested into trig and comp 1, at EIU. I had mostly blow off BS classes and 4 hrs of study hall/lunch my entire sr year, because of how their curriculum differed so much from the district I moved from, and even took a year off before applying to EIU, mostly because I graduated at 17.

Do they still take the ASVAB tests? I don't remember if it was mandatory or not, way back then. It seems like it was.

If the state requires an unrealistic score on an ACT type test, it is probably something that definately needs changed, using the ASVAB test could have been a much better tool.

Still whatever the test, basic skills need reinforced, and passing to the next grade has to have basic skills standards met at each one. Some of these kids possibly should not even be starting out in highschool and not have basic reading, math, and other subjets well in hand. Possible backtracking of former teachers, grades, and grade progressions, could aid to narrow some issues down or pinpoint where to start on a more focused solution.

If I had moved from the district I graduated from, to the one I left, I probably could have been way behind my class in many areas and needed to major in shop and other vocational classes, just to graduate. The difference was night and day, and the total/class rank at the last school fell of by more than 100, by the time I graduated. About 1/3 didn't graduate, and thats only 33.3 percent. How many kids have slipped through the cracks in coles county schools? This has gone on for more than 2 decades, at least. NCLBH or not, this is a terrible thing to still be happening, it was irresponsible decades ago.

I spent several years at Jefferson in Charleston, and the sound foundations they built helped out a great deal for the rest of my education and still does today. Its disappointing to see what was a great school system, at least at the early grade levels I encoutered, is now having these issues with basic skills. I moved out of the district in the 6th grade, so how it went from there, or how it is now, I have no idea.

I hope Charleston gets back on track, back to basics, even if it means some grades get repeated, and parents are irritated their kid was heldback. Nothing helps kids focus on school a little more than a few kids 1, 2, or more grades behind, or a real possibility of it happening.

Most of the ones that I know of that slipped through the cracks, were from lower income situations. Many parents work outside of 9 to 5, Both parents work, lots of single parents, young parents, and multi job holders, and don't forget Charleston did have the biggest drop in median income in the country for 2007. I wonder if local leaders are still just as baffled, and dismissive of that outside independant studies findings.

Lower incomes tend to be far less mobile, and not as likely to relocate. So as opportunity and things keep drying up the cycles continue, and can even grow. Decline and stagnation could be a big factor in the root causes of some of this problem. Those that feel any job is a job, and good jobs are too much to ask for, should probably get in the habbit of using self checkouts and exact change, when they can't. Stagnation has far reaching consequences. "

" Beaches wrote: if parents took education as seriously as they take sports,many of our children would be doing much better.
Not so in Mattoon, their football teams always seem to suck. "

" Oddly enough private schools don't have a problem meeting NCLB state standards. Statistics whow that they already exceed them.

Hmmmm...wonder why? Oh that's right. Private schools aren't their for "social experimentation and manipulation" and they are not make-work programs keeping non-performing, union teachers employed.

Silly me. "

" And the Superintendant didn't think the students should watch the
Obama pep talk to students. "

" Or it could be that most private schools draw from kids of higher socio-economic areas. Look at non-union state public schools. You'll see they are having the same problems. I know it is easy to tack things on to your little agenda, but perhaps you should try again.

You aren't helping to solve the problem, you are just adding more background noise. "

" Also, private schools aren't subject to NCLB. "

" Um excuse me people, but I was one of last year's juniors and The PSAE and the ACT are more difficult than you realize. We spent all school year praticing for both tests and I think we did a dang fine job, even if we didn't make AYP. School shouldn't be boring, cause if it was boring everyone would be asleep by second hour. "

" We took them and others and there was no organized prep, or practice, if it was done, it was done on your own.

Perhaps the test prep over the school year is part of the problem. I thought teaching to the test, was some urban myth. "