I'm not a betting person, but let's just make a friendly bet.
That bet is you failed.
Why?
Well, you've just been lumped in with all of your peers: Mechanics, plumbers, builders, politicians -- whatever your title. You're in there with the good ones, the mediocre and some who you think should try another profession. Never mind. Your progress has to be measured, along with all of your counterparts, and you'll be measured 40 different ways.
OK, mechanic? Were you able to find every electrical problem on that Chev?
Plumber? Has a pipe you've installed ever leaked?
Builder? Any roofline out there that you just wince at? Every drywall seam invisible?
Politician? Did 95 percent of the electorate vote in the last election?
OK. Now a few more measurements ... the results are coming together ... they're here right now.
Yep, you failed. But you ask, "I scored well. I actually scored a 92.5."
We're sorry about that. You and all of your peers have to make progress in all 40 areas of our test. We're going to release your test results now -- to everybody.
"That isn't fair," you reply. As quickly as you verbally say that, you hear the voice of one of your parents hauntingly surfacing in your head saying, "Fair? Nothing in this world is fair."
Well, your parent was right. And keep that in mind when Adequate Yearly Progress reports come out about schools.
You see, under the Bush Administration, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was viewed as a way to show how schools measured up.
"Good idea; about time," you say.
Well, should a school fail when it scores 92.5 percent? Should students with disabilities be measured with the same measurement as those without disabilities? Should a student whose native language is not English be up to par with students who grew up here?
The answer, apparently, is "Yes." Such measurements are part of the No Child Left Behind Act. Eventually, every school, no matter what, has to score 100 percent on the entire test, or they fail. And 95 percent of all the students in the school have to take the test. If not -- no matter how well students perform -- the school fails.
Some say there is no excuse to fail. So politicians? Ninety-five percent didn't vote last go-around? You've got just two years to better that. If you can't accomplish that, you'll be labeled as failing and someone will be brought in to help you.
If you still can't measure up, we'll just replace you and your staff with someone else. No need for election. You simply didn't measure up.
Don't like the measuring stick? No matter. Remember, nothing in this world is fair.
And by the way, watch out for that stick. You're going to be whacked by it.
Christopher Williams serves as the community relations director of the Davis School District.
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