During this last endless election cycle, we often heard about the failing education system in this country.
A great example of that is the Great Valley School District. Only 46 percent of the Great Valley Middle School and High School students have achieved a proficient rating in mathematics. I repeat, 46 percent! Those results are reported in the US News ranking of school districts in Pennsylvania and the country.
And to achieve that miserable result, Great Valley spends over $27,000 per student each year. So, for the cost of a college tuition, Great Valley can only get 46 percent of the students proficient in mathematics. That is pitiful.
Residents of the Great Valley School District often boast about the “excellent” schools in Great Valley. Well, this is nothing to boast about and, indeed, the reality is that our schools are not worthy of praise.
Great Valley Middle School is not ranked in the top 25 in Philadelphia and Philadelphia suburbs. In fact, there are 7 Middle Schools in Philadelphia which are ranked higher than Great Valley. The math proficiency of 46 percent is the cause for the lower ranking, and the middle school is only ranked 101st in the state. Yet, we pay $27,000 per student per year. You can go to The 25 Best Middle Schools In Suburban Philly: U.S. News Ranking | Norristown, PA Patch to see the rankings and scores.
Great Valley High School is no longer ranked as a top 10 high school in the suburbs. It is now ranked 18th in the suburbs and its 46 percent proficiency in math is very poor compared to many of the other high schools in the top 20. This is what we get for $27,000 per student per year. You can go to The Top Public High Schools in the Philadelphia Region to see the rankings and scores.
What does the Great Valley School Board say about all of this? They say nothing. I sent several emails to the school board pointing out the miserable math results and asking what they are doing about it. I did not receive a reply. I then sent an email pointing out their own policy to communicate effectively with the public, and they responded stating: “On behalf of the entire school board, thank you for your email and comments. The board appreciates your input.”
So, they show no respect for the taxpayers by failing to answer what should be a simple question. This, unfortunately, is the mindset of our elected board. They don’t care, and they obviously don’t know what they are doing.
After seeing these miserable results, anyone who runs a business or manages employees would logically ask, “What are the measurable goals of the school district for academics?” The answer is that there are none. Here is a link to the Great Valley School District Goals: Annual Goals – Great Valley School District.
You will see that none of these “goals” are measurable and are merely tasks they are going to do. Under Academics there are four tasks which will “develop”, “monitor”, “expand”, and “evaluate” things. No mention of measurable goals to improve academics. They are merely tasks they are planning to do. It is also interesting to note that there are only four tasks they will do for Academics, but there are 12 they will do for the “Culture and Well-Being” of the district. As they do in their school board meetings, they spend more time talking about things like who can use bathrooms than how to improve academic results. And for this we spend $27,000 per student per year.
I would love to earn the $250,000+ salary of the Great Valley superintendent and not be accountable for anything that can be measured. I could just show the school board that I did all the tasks, and demand another raise. The fact that nothing is improved is irrelevant. So, our superintendent gets raise after raise and the taxpayers get 54 percent of our students who can’t do math.
Yes, Great Valley School District is a great example of what is wrong with the education system in our country. All of you taxpayers, just make sure you keep funding this debacle with your taxes that increase every year. Maybe if we spend $30,000 per student per year we can get 50 percent of the students to be proficient in mathematics!
