Lowering expectations, or just stating a fact?

By Staff
April 23, 2003
State Superintendent of Education Henry Johnson says early projections of test results show as few as 100 of Mississippi's 880 public schools may meet federal student progress requirements. That would translate into a success rate of about 11 percent far, far below any acceptable standard.
Test results are due to be released in September, based on new federal and state criteria.
These test results could give everybody a jolt. Some might say a jolt is what we need. If we can put out the word beforehand, we hope it won't be nearly as emotional in September,'' Johnson commented to the editorial board of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal newspaper in Tupelo.
Johnson is right, of course, that a jolt is needed. We hope his cautionary note isn't somehow designed to lower expectations on how the vast majority of public schools are likely to perform, so he can be suddenly and pleasantly surprised if more than 100 public schools score well. That would inject an ominous note of politics into the test scores, just weeks before voters elect a new governor in November.
But whether a political jolt or just a jolt, the coming test scores should be educational as Mississippi, like other states, tries to structure a system that helps its public school students perform academic work at least at grade-level proficiency.