At the meeting in Upper Hutt on the 11^th, one question that the Minister tried not to answer was based on the ERO report on the first network reviews in Wainuiomata. The report notes that educational outcomes have been negatively affected by the mergers in Wainuiomata, and are not yet up to pre-review levels. The report recommends that certain processes be followed in future reviews. The most important to us is the recommendation that an educational needs assessment be done at the start of a network review. This has not been done in Upper Hutt. The question was simply, when would the MOE do the educational needs assessment for Upper Hutt? The Minister eventually admitted that such an assessment would not be done in Upper Hutt, as he felt that the process was too far down the tracks, and that it would be stressful to the community if we were to delay it with an educational needs assessment. So much for educational outcomes being paramount!

Note the irony here - the Minister is using ERO research to back his actions, yet his review process is not yet following ERO guidelines! Would that the Minister used the same ruler for himself that he uses for us.

9:53:29 PM    

Hmm.

Zero Tolerance for kindergarten kids? In Schools, Bad Behavior Is Shown the Door. As a result of Connecticuts policy of "zero tolerance," students are being kicked out of schools like never before. [New York Times: Education]

7:13:04 PM