Public School Advocate Matt Damon Enrolls Kids in Private School (stats, millionaires)

[GregW]

If I were him I would send my kids to a private school where they were more secure from random violent nuts. I could provide them with enough "Progressive Politics" myself.

[InformedConsent]

Originally Posted by Ringo1

We live in an excellent school system and a lot of parents here still insist on sending their kids to private school and paying a fortune for it.

I really don't get it; unless you live in an area that does NOT have a good school system.

A lot of people think that their public schools are excellent, and a lot of school districts LOVE to foster and encourage that perception, even when it's not true.

I spent the better part of a year in the not too distant past educating my local community and our school district on the fact that one cannot make that assumption.

I live in a town in which the percentage of college graduates is quite high. Consequently, the income levels and housing prices are also quite high. Our town's public high school brags that 94% of their graduates continue on to college. Sounds good so far, right?

Well... a newspaper publisher local to a different suburban area than the one in which I live threw a monkey wrench into that idyllic blissfully unaware mindset when they got ahold of ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks and compared suburban Chicago public school district students' ACT scores with ACT's own College Readiness Benchmarks.

(In Illinois, all 11th grade students take the ACT as part of the required NCLB testing, which is a GOOD thing as that way the state CANNOT misrepresent the quality of our public high schools by making the state test easier or instituting lower passing scores as explained here: Lake Wobegon, U.S.A. -- where all the children are above average)

What that data showed was that while our local public high school loved to brag that 94% of their graduates continued on to college, only 27% of them were adequately prepared to take first year college-level courses according to the ACT Benchmarks. Furthermore, that 27% figure was significantly below that of comparable area communities and even that of communities in which housing prices were significantly lower.

I brought the data to our community's attention by publicly speaking out at school committee and board meetings which are covered by local suburban press.

The stunner: NO ONE in the community had EVER looked at that data even though it is easily accessible from ACT. Not school admin. Not the school board. Not students' parents. No one.

Naturally all the usual stages followed... shock, anger, resistance, and finally... grudging acceptance. The school admin and school board would have done nothing about it. Parents and community members shocked and angered at learning the truth have put pressure on the school to make improvements. School admin and the school board have subsequently been analyzing the situation and are making extremely slow progress in improving academic outcomes. Our high school's ACT College Readiness percentage is better but not anywhere near where it should be given the aspirations of our graduating students.

For those interested in exactly what the ACT College Readiness Benchmark scores are (they're SURPRISINGLY low, hovering close to the national average scores ):
ACT College Readiness Benchmarks | ACT

Now, compare those low benchmark score minimums to the percentage of Chicago suburban school districts (some quite wealthy) that have prepared their students well enough to meet all 4 benchmark minimums (last column in chart):
https://prev.dailyherald.com/package.../chapter10.htm

Lesson learned... DON'T automatically assume a school district's "excellent" reputation is deserved, or that higher-priced homes equals better public schools.

The very sad fact is that NONE of the states' public school systems educate even half of their students to basic grade-level proficiency.

Public school student achievement is actually much, much lower than most people think. Each state's education officials establish their own state standards, commission/construct their own tests, and set their own 'passing' scores. This has resulted in manipulations that make it look like public schools are educating our country's children, when in reality the majority of students in many states are far below acceptable levels of proficiency. In some cases, there's as much as a 70 percentage point difference in proficiency levels between NCLB state achievement tests and the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) tests. Not one state listed in the chart below educates even half of their students to grade-level proficiency on the NAEP.

If anyone wants to see their (or any other) state's reported proficiency level vs. the NAEP proficiency level (to see if their public schools are being honest about providing an adequate education), check here:
NAEP Researchcenter - NAEP and State Equivalent Percent Table
For each grade level, the first column lists the percentage of students scoring as proficient (meets or exceeds state standards) on the state test; the second column lists the percentage of students scoring as proficient on the NAEP (National Assessment).

[InformedConsent]

Originally Posted by Frank DeForrest

"Excellent school system" is subjective and people should be able to opt out of funding them and use the money to decide whats best for their children.

It is also a manipulated perception, as I've indicated in my last post.

You have to do your research and dig for the data. School district admins are NOTORIOUS for ignoring and even withholding negative info, all the while staking their reputations on their community members' egos and therefore willingness to keep an undeserved reputation as "excellent schools" afloat.

[GregW]

I would be surprised if any school system taught over 50% of the students to "grade" level. Let's face it no matter how wealthy the district at least half the kids are not mentally suited to learn what schools teach. However instead of teaching all the kids what they can learn as individuals we still insist on the industrial batch processing of all kids with the same, for some irrelevant, education. Well producing farmers, factory workers, merchants or college educated managers may all become irrelevant as the nature of the work, from farming, through manufacturing to being a big bank loan shark is going to change.

[InformedConsent]

Originally Posted by Ringo1

How so? IF the majority of your students go on to graduate from college

There's a big difference between matriculating to college after high school graduation, and actually completing a college degree. Look at my post. My local school district bragged that 93% of their high school graduates went on to college. They offer AP classes, IB classes, etc., but STILL only adequately prepared 27% to succeed in first-year college classes.

There's a pretty big gap between 93% and 27%.

[Bulldogdad]

Average ACT score of my kids private highschool 28. 50% scored over 30.

Three local public school systems- 17,19,22. Yup the 22 is majority white/asian.

[Cinebar]

Originally Posted by theunbrainwashed

Matt Damon isn't telling anyone where they should send their kids. He's saying we should support public education to make it better, that's not telling people that they should all send their kids to public school and not private. Totally missed his point

Whoosh............

Right over their heads.

And they wonder why we laugh at them.

[sickofnyc]

I can afford to eat Beluga Caviar and drink Dom Perignon, so I should not advocate for people less financially able to have access to adequate food? OP...your point is moot.

[theunbrainwashed]

Originally Posted by InformedConsent

A lot of people think that their public schools are excellent, and a lot of school districts LOVE to foster and encourage that perception, even when it's not true.

I spent the better part of a year in the not too distant past educating my local community and our school district on the fact that one cannot make that assumption.

I live in a town in which the percentage of college graduates is quite high. Consequently, the income levels and housing prices are also quite high. Our town's public high school brags that 94% of their graduates continue on to college. Sounds good so far, right?

Well... a newspaper publisher local to a different suburban area than the one in which I live threw a monkey wrench into that idyllic blissfully unaware mindset when they got ahold of ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks and compared suburban Chicago public school district students' ACT scores with ACT's own College Readiness Benchmarks.

(In Illinois, all 11th grade students take the ACT as part of the required NCLB testing, which is a GOOD thing as that way the state CANNOT misrepresent the quality of our public high schools by making the state test easier or instituting lower passing scores as explained here: Lake Wobegon, U.S.A. -- where all the children are above average)

What that data showed was that while our local public high school loved to brag that 94% of their graduates continued on to college, only 27% of them were adequately prepared to take first year college-level courses according to the ACT Benchmarks. Furthermore, that 27% figure was significantly below that of comparable area communities and even that of communities in which housing prices were significantly lower.

I brought the data to our community's attention by publicly speaking out at school committee and board meetings which are covered by local suburban press.

The stunner: NO ONE in the community had EVER looked at that data even though it is easily accessible from ACT. Not school admin. Not the school board. Not students' parents. No one.

Naturally all the usual stages followed... shock, anger, resistance, and finally... grudging acceptance. The school admin and school board would have done nothing about it. Parents and community members shocked and angered at learning the truth have put pressure on the school to make improvements. School admin and the school board have subsequently been analyzing the situation and are making extremely slow progress in improving academic outcomes. Our high school's ACT College Readiness percentage is better but not anywhere near where it should be given the aspirations of our graduating students.

For those interested in exactly what the ACT College Readiness Benchmark scores are (they're SURPRISINGLY low, hovering close to the national average scores ):
ACT College Readiness Benchmarks | ACT

Now, compare those low benchmark score minimums to the percentage of Chicago suburban school districts (some quite wealthy) that have prepared their students well enough to meet all 4 benchmark minimums (last column in chart):
https://prev.dailyherald.com/package.../chapter10.htm

Lesson learned... DON'T automatically assume a school district's "excellent" reputation is deserved, or that higher-priced homes equals better public schools.

The very sad fact is that NONE of the states' public school systems educate even half of their students to basic grade-level proficiency.

Public school student achievement is actually much, much lower than most people think. Each state's education officials establish their own state standards, commission/construct their own tests, and set their own 'passing' scores. This has resulted in manipulations that make it look like public schools are educating our country's children, when in reality the majority of students in many states are far below acceptable levels of proficiency. In some cases, there's as much as a 70 percentage point difference in proficiency levels between NCLB state achievement tests and the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) tests. Not one state listed in the chart below educates even half of their students to grade-level proficiency on the NAEP.

If anyone wants to see their (or any other) state's reported proficiency level vs. the NAEP proficiency level (to see if their public schools are being honest about providing an adequate education), check here:
NAEP Researchcenter - NAEP and State Equivalent Percent Table
For each grade level, the first column lists the percentage of students scoring as proficient (meets or exceeds state standards) on the state test; the second column lists the percentage of students scoring as proficient on the NAEP (National Assessment).

Glad to see PA is in the top 10 for Grade 8 math and reading to NAEP levels I'm not surprised, though. Ideology doesn't rule the roost here unlike the states north, south, and west of mine. Extremists don't last more than one election cycle for the most part

Pennsylvania also scores above average in Writing as well compared to US average

[burdell]

Funny the self-Righteous whiners here weren't crying hypocrite! over Mitt Romney who supported the Vietnam war/draft yet conveniently ran the other way instead of taking his turn, eh?

Typical RW hypocrisy.

That Damon can afford to send his children to private school does nothing to negate the importance of public schools or his support of them.