First my apology to Bobby for linking him to something which he opposes, as do I, but this Rabbi is about two subjects and I thought this headline was an effective attention getter.

Why Bobby Deaton? He recently wrote about a subject that I had been considering just as I preempted him on evolution. Although some disbelieve, Bobby and I have never collaborated, and are often startled when one writes on a subject the other is considering, frequently simultaneously. No, I am not going to say that great minds run in the same channel!

I speak of Bobby’s excellent article on testing and the public schools. First a disclaimer: This is not directed at either the Breathitt County Schools or Jackson City Schools. Nor is it meant to disparage many fine teachers and administrators in our public schools.

The problem goes back to the first year of the Education Reform Act, a law that nearly everyone one supported in concept. It provided more money for districts that were poorer economically and provided choice for parents to take their children from weak schools and put them in schools that were performing at a higher level. Both of these notions were much needed!

A commissioner was hired from California and he decided that we needed a new test because we were going to revamp the curriculum and a standardized test such as the California Test of Basic skills or the ACT would not measure our new fangled curriculum. No phonetics in the primary bloc. No more teaching of spelling because computers would check that. A great emphasis on portfolios. So a new test was thrown together during that first year and when I asked about the validity and reliability of the test, a senator from Fayette County called me an obstructionist.

I knew that it took at least three years, more optimally four years, to develop a test that was valid and reliable: At least a year to develop what questions accurately measure the intended outcomes; a pilot testing in year two, revisions and retesting in year three, and the actual testing to begin in year four. But, they said they did not have that kind of time because they had to prove to Kentucky taxpayers that the Reform Act was working. After lots of snafus, the test results finally came out and it showed what the politicians hoped for: Great improvement———————at the High School level! This flew in the face of most standardized tests which show achievement begins to decline in junior high school and persists thru high school with the strongest achievement by far at the elementary level.

Since the debacle of the first year, the testing program has been revised and tinkered with until no one seems to understand its meaning. Until Kentucky adopts a national test with reliability and validity coefficients, Kentucky taxpayers will not understand how our schools are doing. And, by the way, a big jump in achievement on a standardized test is almost impossible to accomplish in one year. Occasionally, we read of a district that makes great gains from one year to the next. How able? Fill in the blank!

Now to Casinos. The Lexington Herald-Leader in an editorial on December 19 said, in addressing the inauguration of Governor Brashear, “You made no secret during the campaign that you wanted casinos so there would be money to take on Kentucky’s problems. But everything comes with a price, and you should be aware that the day could come when the tradeoffs will cost more than any benefit you anticipate.

How much money will organized gambling pour into Kentucky to see that this amendment is passed? How many legislators will receive money under the table to vote for it? How many bankruptcies? How many addictions? How many suicides? How many broken marriages? How much corruption? Is it worth it?

Like a teenage daughter who has stars in her eyes and has fallen in love with a traveling salesman, we advise her against leaving with him, but we are powerless to stop her. “She’ll be back, Mom, and we will have to raise her children!”