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Massachusetts School Superintendent Fails Literacy Test


Smallie Bigs

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How the fuck do you become a superintendent of a school district, punish teachers for failing the literacy test, and then fail it your damn self 3 times in a row??

 

 

Mass. School Superintendent Fails Test

 

LAWRENCE, Mass. - This city's superintendent of schools, who recently put two dozen teachers on unpaid leave for failing a basic English proficiency test, has himself flunked a required literacy test three times.

 

Wilfredo T. Laboy called his failing scores "frustrating" and "emotional." He blamed his performance on a lack of preparation and concentration, as well as the fact that that Spanish is his first language.

 

"It bothers me because I'm trying to understand the congruence of what I do here every day and this stupid test," Laboy told The Eagle-Tribune of Lawrence in a story published Sunday.

 

"What brought me down was the rules of grammar and punctuation," Laboy said. "English being a second language for me, I didn't do well in writing. If you're not an English teacher, you don't look at the rules on a regular basis."

 

State Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll said he is aware of Laboy's troubles with the test, but would not say how many chances Laboy would be given to pass or what the consequences of another failure could be.

 

He said Laboy was doing an excellent job leading the district, and is getting more time to prepare for the test. But he added, "He's going to have to pass. ... The situation will only get serious if he goes much longer without passing."

 

Since 1998, all Massachusetts educators — from teachers to superintendents — have had to pass the Communications and Literacy Skills Test, which measures basic reading and writing skills, including vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, spelling and capitalization.

 

Laboy, who receives a 3 percent pay hike this month that will raise his salary to $156,560, recently put 24 teachers on unpaid administrative leave because they failed a basic English test.

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The thing that disturbs me more is the fact that he had to discipline 24 teachers for not having a grasp on the basics. He isn't teaching any classes to the kids, his job is to make sure that the system runs smoothly. I don't even think that would take a 5th grade education, so i don't really see how it is relevant that he is about to lose his job over commas and semi-colons. Bah.

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Originally posted by mr.yuck

so i don't really see how it is relevant that he is about to lose his job over commas and semi-colons. Bah.

 

i bet 90% of america doesnt even know how to use a semi-colon; and the other 10% is probably most of our english teachers.

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Guest BIGMETALCIRCUS

the lawrence school system has no accredidation. if you graduate high school there it means nothing, and you cannot get into any schools. bullshit!

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Originally posted by Sean Daley

i bet 90% of america doesnt even know how to use a semi-colon; and the other 10% is probably most of our english teachers.

 

Yeah and you're one of those cats who used the semi-colon wrong too. You should've used a comma.

 

A semi-colon can be thought of as a pause that's longer than a comma, but shorter than a period.

 

Example:

 

My grandmother seldom goes to bed this early; she's afraid she'll miss out on something.

 

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Originally posted by Smallie Bigs

Yeah and you're one of those cats who used the semi-colon wrong too. You should've used a comma.

 

A semi-colon can be thought of as a pause that's longer than a comma, but shorter than a period.

 

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Yeah, and you're one of those cats who can tell people that they're wrong but can't explain why. The only difference between your example and her sentence is the use of a coordinating conjunction ('and' in this case). You're technically correct but instructionally bankrupt.

 

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Originally posted by Smart

Yeah, and you're one of those cats who can tell people that they're wrong but can't explain why. The only difference between your example and her sentence is the use of a coordinating conjunction ('and' in this case). You're technically correct but instructionally bankrupt.

 

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Actually, he did explain why in his first sentence. Infact, I'm not sure how much clearer he could have made it. His example was correct not by the inclusion of a 'coordinating conjunction', but by simply writing it properly. To say that he was 'only' right because he followed the rules is like saying I'm only employed because I have a job. You're technically correct, but semanticaly impertinent.

 

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