86 percent failing test got a pass

Well, I did beleive that Dr. Bedden deserved his $15,000.00 bonus based on improvements in the system in such a short time period compared to the former Superintendent. However, with articles such as this (as long as the truth is being presented) he does not deserve a bonus and the school system as a whole deserves an "F" for shuffling these young people onto the next grade level without the proper training or education. These students are being set up for failure in the next grade and the rest of their lives. If we fail to properly educate a person the chances of them ending up in jail drastically increase which in turn will be a blight on our community and cost us greatly in the long run. We must ensure these children are learing and receiving a proper education even if their parents fail to be of assistance. Passing them to the next level without them having the needed skills is a grave injustice to each child who has been advanced. These numbers are staggering and our system is certainly failing.

Why give the test and have it connected to promotion? 9th, 6th, & 4th grade teachers of these students will have their hands full. Again, the students are not held accountable! Good luck teachers!

The true negative impact is on all the children that tried hard and passed. When they see that the majority of students were promoted without passing they realize that retention was an empty threat. Each year the number of "bubble kids" expands as well as those that just don't bother to show how much they do know. Many teachers put their heart in soul into reaching many children that have lost hope in the system. Why not include the numbers from other neighboring counties? It would be interesting to compare to Columbia, McDuffie and Burke.

Thanks, giwi, we certainly need it. 9th grade Math 1 is horrible and the state must have been nuts to implement it. I'd say that 75% of my students don't have a clue what's going on.

And the dumb down continues. Guess this is one of bedden's major accomplishments so far!

If this appeals process is a one time deal and not part of the ongoing process used for social promotions (that produces nothing but a Democrat voting block), then it's something we can live with. If it's the only way to adapt to "curricula improvement" and is needed again, then we need vouchers so we can opt out of the government school system.

"ConcernedEducator" speaks The Truth so far as this retired concerned educator can determine. Too bad for our children and our futures that more concerned educators do not speak out and act on their convictions. But I remember what it was like to be "evaluated" by principals without principles.

By the way, what are the specific criteria utilized by the tripartite evaluation team of parent, principal and teacher in determining which of the retest-failers are promoted and which are retained?

This is exactly what the teachers said would happen when the CRCT tests were first required. Educators can only fail a child twice between kindergarten and sixth grade . Those that are 2 or more years behind are really special education students BUT because we don't acknowledge that, they are just sent on and are always at the bottom of the class and continue to be major behavior problems. They then get sent on to middle schools extremely unprepared. Eventually middle school students will be driving themselves to school in a car with 2 baby seats in the back.

Does anyone remember that the state law determines the process for promotion, not the Superintendent. The law says the parent, teacher, and administrator meet to determine if the student gets promoted, not the Superintendent. Before being critical, can we consider the factual information? The Superintendent is not a part of the process.

ConcernedEducator, Burke and McDuffie may not have been printed, but Columbia County was reported as having 95% being promoted according to an earlier article in the paper a few weeks ago.

It is so heart warming to know that nothing much has changed over the years when it comes to passing kids on to the next grade without being properly taught....

This is a recipe for another test failing disaster! What will happen when these kids take it next year when they could not even pass it this past time and still were moved ahead?

That " Democratic voting block" record is scratched to Hades and back. You don't miss a beat, trying to politicize everything.

Consider this, and you believe the superintendent does not give the "tripartite" guidelines, that he/she is totally out of the loop---come on. By the way, can you tell me the number of that ga law you are quoting?

Another generation getting ready need the "grant" to keep people off the streets.

It's ugly, FFH, but not one of those social promotions will vote Republican. They'll either not vote or vote Democrat, usually because they're paid to. Denying it or ignoring it won't make it go away, and yes, politicians will take advantage of the situation. (How else would Marion Williams get elected?)

gee, i see why gerogia is either last or next to last in high school achievement...i comes a time when students who fail have to be held accountable. where is the motivation to pass when even when they fail they pass???, although it is a state law that the students can appeal, if they failed twice what is the grounds for the appeal but more importantly what is the rationale for promoting these students??? yes they have a right to appeal and the sorry, trifling parents will exercise that right based on the "entitlment principal" but the school is under no obligation to promote them, that is where i blame dr. bedden. if i was the superintendent it would be a mandate that no student will be promoted if the do not pass the crct. unless all means of "social promotion" are eliminated there will be a continuation of turning out high school graduates that are funtionally illiterate creating a continuing under-class dependent upon the system to take care of them, thereby burdening those who work hard eveyday to carve out a decent living in society.

So, 72.6% of the third graders that can not read are now in fourth grade? Their parents and the administration thought this would in some way benefit them. Let's wait and see the test results when those children take their fifth grade CRCT.

Why waste all the time and money testing if the students are going to pass anyway?

Another argument for school choice. It is obvious that the "government" schools cannot educate and have no standards. Richmond County schools should be dismantled and school choice begin with schools who compete for students. If the school doesn't cut it, no students go and it closes. It is no wonder that any parent with the means to do so either moves to Columbia County, goes to private school or rolls the dice to get in to Davidson. What a disgrace!!

Well, here we go again . . . .

Why am I not surprised?

When I was about 6 or 7 years old I attended a political rally at May Park over by the fire station. I no longer remember the candidate's name but I remember some of the things he said. He promised if you attended you would see something you had never seen before. He held up a peanut. Supposedly we had never seen that peanut before. Cute, huh? He also promised that he would work tirelessly to see that education in Georgia was the best in the nation. I had no idea it would take this long.

Patriciathomas even demonstrates her hate towards children. She has no solutions but many judgements. Let them eat cake.

The ones here that really suffer are the children, They are being pushed on before they know the material. Which causes further failure down the road.... You tell the children if they dont pass that they will be retained and then you send them through anyway?????????? So who has to follow the rules?

What a waste the CRCT is! And Bush's No Child Left Behind fiasco. No, you can't fail these kids, Some would never get out of middle school. They clog up the system and must be pushed on until they drop out or decide to study and make something out of their lives, The best place to start with cutting the education budget is do away with these mega-million tests that mean nothing.

You can't do all of the educating in schools. The teachers only have a limited amount of time besides all of their babysitting duties they must take on for parents during the day. This is nothing but very clearly the parents fault. These kids will not be able to pass anything when they get to middle school, will end up dropping out by the time they are 16 because they can't make it to or thorugh high school and will either get pregnant and start a new family on the system or get someone pregnant and work a menial job to pay for diapers while the tax payers pay for formula and food and medicine for their kid. Until the parents take ALL of the responsibility then nothing will change. If the parents cared they would be seeing what is going on in their schools and if they don't work then they should be involved at the schools which should help with the budget issues as well. NO EXCUSE FOR THE PARENTS OF THESE KIDS. Parents homework if for a reason, to continue the education process at home and for you to know what your child knows and doesn't know. If you were doing it with them then you would have known during the past year they were failing!!!

Dana ... this isn't a good thing and is atypical of what finally got Larke ousted. Get ahold of this mess - address the media and tell the parent's and the already [filtered word] off taxpayers of RC (seniors and the rest of us who have no kid's in RC schools) why you deserved a bonus for forcing uneducated students up to the next grade level.

We're certainly showing our children that "failure is success." As for the future of America......??