Bennett's policies as useless as he is

Here in Indiana, we are known for corn, racing and Midwestern hospitality.

We are not known for our public school systems.

Or at least we weren’t before Tony Bennett made our schools infamous for his corrupt grading system.

I graduated from Ben Davis High School, which is considered an inner-­city school.

The words “ISTEP testing,” “ECA scores” and “pay cuts” were whispered in hushed tones among teachers making barely enough to live above the poverty level.

Every year our school preached the importance of doing your best on standardized tests because even though they didn’t affect your grade, they were very, very important.

These test scores and other statistics affecting the grading scale put in place by the Indiana public school system determine the finances that schools receive each year to pay for necessities.

The Tony Bennett scandal, in which he changed the Christel House Academy’s school grade from a C to an A because its founder made large donations to Indiana Republicans, has compromised the real progress that other schools work hard to make every year.

Even though math test scores revealed that this charter school wasn’t in fact producing the quality of work it stood for, Bennett quickly emailed his chief of staff to correct this seemingly unacceptable situation.

This is not the first time that test scores have been compromised — many teachers have been fired for altering answers on state tests to improve school scores.

The grading system in place simply overlooks the fact that many of these under­performing schools need these finances to assist with improving student learning. This system keeps the underperforming schools in bad condition with no help, while rewarding the more privileged institutions with corrupted promises that compromise the whole.

This scandal shows that it is time to end the standardized testing and grading system that has failed. Schools need a chance to prove themselves without skepticism and questionable ethics.

In early August, Bennett resigned from his post in Florida. Though he is gone, many of his detrimental policies remain.  

Bennett’s resignation should not only be the end of his career in education, but the end of an ineffective grading scale as well.

­— mtackett@iupui.edu
Follow columnist Megan Tackett on Twitter @mirrormetallics.