"Las Notas Hay Que Sudarlas"

This interesting article titled "Las Notas Hay Que Sudarlas", brings forth a debate that has caused many arguments in this year. Is it really good for the students to be evaluated in this new way? This is terribly hard to answer. In my case I went to private schools up to 9th grade so I know what it is to be evaluated in this way. Thn when I went to the public school system in 10th grade, the evaluation was diferent therefore I had better grades. Don't get me wrong; I had good grades in the private school but the grades just boosted up in the public school. My mom says it was just easier classes in the public schools but I differed because I believe that it was just the evaluating by points (4-0). I graduated with a 4.00 grade average when, otherwise, in a private school I wouldn't have. The truth is my grades weren't supposed to be all A's so in a way I feel that the private school would have been more fair in that sense. Another thing is that the students now have to get used to this system whether they like it or not and this will help them be prepared to go to the University and already know what to expect. I believe that it is the best way to evaluate because it shows what grades the students really have. Many students are faling because of this but it is because they are used to lay back in the past system, now it makes them decide if they want to pass or not. If they really do want to pass, they must work for it like the others do.

"Usefulness of Education Research Questioned"

The article "Usefulness of Education Research Questioned" enfasizes on the supposed irrelevance research on education has on the United States government. It is clear to see that they have, once again, proven that their attention is not on the people or the quality of students' education, but on their own pleasure and "good looking numbers." It is alarming how they have research results right in their faces, yet they decide to ignore them completely. It doesn't seem normal for me to see that the research says public school students are doing better that private schools students and the government will prefer to send public school students to private schools. I don't even know how in the world they would do that. Abut NCLB, this is an obvious intent of the government to control and manipulate education as they seem to do very well. NCLB doesn't seem like a very good idea to me because it focuses too much on numbers and not on the important things like quality of education and learning.

"El Plan Bilingue"

The article "El Plan Bilingue" once again reassures what we already know: once a political party wins the elctions, they will accomodate education to their convenience and political ideas. This is of great concern to us puerto ricans because our students spend 12 years of their lives taking clases in our schools, which means that they can see various political changes throughout those years. The question is: should our education sistem be bilingual? I believe that bilingual schools are a good idea. The problem is that students need consistency, and that doesn't seem to be a word in the "political dictionary". They seem to just care about aquiring followers and votes and winning elections but they seem to forget about the children, the futur of our beloved country. Another situation with bilingual schools is the resistance of our people to the english language. This is extremely upsetting considering all the advantages that knowing a second language will bring. I just hope that people open their eyes and change their closed mentality and try to do something to make better citizens in the future.

La Bestia de Hato Rey

When I read articles like thes, I must be angry and glad at the same time. I'm angry at what is happening with the Department of Education of Puerto Rico these days. I am also glad to see that people, like the author of this article, have stand up to the problem and have decided to make Puerto Rico see that we have been bling for a long time.
So this is the Department that holds our children's education in their hands, how horrible! We know of these events and what do we do? Nothing. Saldly, we all sit and watch are children receive a mediocre, and sometimes poor, education when we should be trying to get the reoganization that the Department of Education so urgently needs. I believe that all Puerto Rico can unite and accomplish great thing, but only if we leave all the corruption behind and we think, not of ourselves but, of our children's future.

"LaS nOtAs HaY qUe SuDarLAs"

I agree and disagree with this new method of evaluating our students. I disagree because students that were used to getting good grades will now lower their grades and not because they don’t study hard enough, but because of the way they are being evaluated. There are very intelligent students that might get frustrated when they see their new average and this can lower their motivation towards their studies and this is a big problem that many students have always had and now with this new method, students will be more unmotivated. Not only students will have to sweat to get good grades, but teachers will have to sweat to get the students motivation and will have to make some kind of change on their teaching methods and tests. Something I don’t find relevant mentioned in this article is that it is said that this method will help reduce school and community problems. How? I think that there are more important things happening in schools, like drop outs, violence, schools without the necessary materials, children not receiving the special attentions they need and even worse problems that affect our children that the government should be paying more attention to and acting upon instead of just mentioning it in the news and not doing anything about it. In the part I agree is that although students will have to really work hard to get good grades, this will prepare them for when they start their university studies. This method truly proves student’s intelligence and will teach them that to get what you truly want in life you have to work hard. But as I said, this depends on how motivated the students are. Also, with the evaluating method used before, students just took it easy the first semester and didn’t worry too much of studying and getting good grades because they would increase their average the second semester. Now, students will have to get good grades form the beginning. I just think that this is a subject that the government is giving too much importance to when we should all, teachers, parents and society, be more united then ever to solve more important situations that truly affect our students.

Las Notas hay que sudarlas

I don’t see why there are so many complaints about that situation. I think that's the best way to measure the students' performance. It is actually more accurate than the other method...
If we want to hear a lie about our children’s performance, then we can use the other method. But since I want to see the reality behind all of this, I rather see the real percentage, even if I don’t like the outcome.
Why I think it’s more accurate? Check this out: The following will be a hypothetical case of the score of one student in one class.

Test No 1 [A =4] [A= 100]
Test No 2 [A =4] [A =90 ]<< Same grades in both >>
Test No 3 [A =4] [A =93 ]
Test No 4 [B =3] [B =89 ]
Test No 5 [B =3] [B =85 ]
Test No 6 [B =3] [B =80 ]
-------------- ----------------
[6 /21] [539]
--------------- -----------------
[21/6=3.50] [539/600=.89]
Final Score [3.50 = A] [.89 = B]

Now imagine that those grades will be the same grades for the other classes. This is what we’re going to have:
Final Grade class 1 [3.5 = A = 4] [.89 = B ]
Final Grade class 2 [3.5 = A = 4] [.89 = B ]
Final Grade class 3 [3.5 = A = 4] [.89 = B ]
Final Grade class 4 [3.5 = A = 4] [.89 = B ]
Final Grade class 5 [3.5 = A = 4] [.89 = B ]
-------------- ------------------
Final Score [5/20 = 4.00 = A ] [445/500 = .89 = B]

There’s the difference: A student that was said to be an A student (4.00) now is a B student (.89). But the reality behind this, is that that students was never an A student, he/she was living in a lie, the sad reality was, that he/she actually was a B student.

So, analyzing this, I want to see the real performance of my son. I don’t want to believe he is something that he really isn’t. My reaction, ha! Still asking: I’m glad that method is finally applied in PR.

Aneliese Hernandez

Usefulness of edution research questioned

I really do not understand why Margaret Spelling with the president are changing students from public schools to private. Didn't they say in July that children from public schools got better scores thant the ones in private schools? What is the point of making a research and ignoring the results!

As for the AERA, I think they are loosing their time by making education better but not solving the problems that cause a bad education. The article says that many researchers agree that they can make researches but not as effective they would want it to be beacause of the limitations they have to go inside a classroom. What is the point of preparing conferences on how to improve education if they do not know what are the problems! How is it possible to make a research of public and private schools education if they can not get inside the classrooms?

Another thing I can complain is the lack of funds given to educational researchers. If they do not have the money to do good researches, it will be impossible to figure out how to improve the educational system and to train teachers to do the same.