So how do you judge a school's success?

So how do you judge a school's success? How good is your child's school?

Does anyone really believe a school's performance can be determined by how a subgroup of the total school population, sometimes as young as 8 years old (that's right - 8 years old) scores of a battery of tests that are entirely too long, while at the same time too narrow, written (devised is probably a better word - sounds a little more contrived) by educrats who have no idea what skills or knowledge our kids will need in the future?  In the words of Chris Berman, "C'mon man!"

Even the folks at ABC news get it. (I know, shocker!) In a post entitled Future skills: Report reveals tools school kids will need to thrive in jobs market of 2030, the authors outline what schools should be focused on as we prepare kids for this uncertain future.  You can check out the post at the following link:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-27/what-skills-will-the-future-generation-of-workers-need/8747610

As I read this and almost identical articles about what kids will need to succeed, I see so little correlation with our current curricula.  Why?  It's a classic "tail wagging the dog."  As long as we spend hours, change that, days, change that, weeks, change that, months in pursuit of putting up a good score on state mandated accountability tests, we will continue to do a tremendous disservice to our children.  The saddest part to me? So many folks in this business who I believe truly want to do what best for kids, have gone down the rabbit hole, like lemmings into the sea.  I think about the Lorax (note: The author's name deleted here to avoid controversy), who stood up, confronting the madness and said, "Who will speak for the trees?" Well, "Who will speak for the children?"

"C'mon man!"