Probably more than what I've seen about Kilgore where classrom grades are 'A's' but test scores in the 70's and 80's on the SOL's-not consistent.
If Kilgore is representative, there's a lot of self-esteem build up, but little to show for learned or practical knowledge, or applied knowledge for what is learned. I'm ALL for extra-curriculars such as school plays, etc.
When it comes to a knowledgeable of the '"taught" academics, what I see is test-knowledge ready and nothing past it. When someone is getting A's in a class, they should be able to hold a meaningfully insightful discussion on the subject. If it's a foreign language, I expect a at least a pigeon-language of knowledge capable literacy. It seems and appears from my 'A student' that the knowledge retained goes no farther than what would be for the multiple-choice questions and a superficial first sentence wikipedia answer for the written question.
My conclusion from these observations is that the students' studiousness-required is no more than a show-up appearance effort for a "reward" that has little substantive merit beyond the region. The kids have a narrow scope of things secular to the subjects or related to broader aspects they must face beyond the walls of the school and their status with family and friends.
As designed now, the 'A' students have 'C+'/'B-' knowledge. They will not be competitive for scholarships to better colleges and will have to 'curb their enthusiasm' of the false-esteem of their prowess engendered in this particular educational medium. Students of parents who are able to subsidize their education without going into deep loan debt, if at all will be fine. The others will face what exist now in the education market-a seller's cartel of of over priced and inflated services
It's the 'HOW' more than any time. If teaching for the tests is producing such superficial and shallow results, then DAMN-the-TESTS and teach for the depth of the subject and let the SOL's be adjusted to the depth of knowledge expected. If that means increasing the daily exposure for some subjects per semester, then it should be done. What NOT should be done is skimping on knowledge and the disciplines needed to acquire the knowledge and comprehension of that knowledge's significance per se and its broader social lesson, for funding based on artificial fabrications of learning.
