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Question About DCPS And Elementary School Ratings
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Anonymous
| I am pretty sure that the dc board of ed is taking some steps to strengthen the curriculum. Does anyone here watch the school board meetings on cable? That's where a lot of curriculum issues get discussed. I stopped at that channel the other day and they are looking at ways to strengthen what we have but I don't have specifics. I will post back if I can find the info. |
Anonymous
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This spring we made the heartbreaking decision to pull out daughter out of kindergarten at Maury and move to the suburbs. Why? Because I know that while Maury is indeed one of the best options on the Hill, it is still not a great school by most measures, and I knew we could do better in the suburbs.
In my specific case, my daughters classmates were at such a low proficiency and had such behavioral and emotional problems that the learning in the class was minimal. My daughter wasn't the dumbest or the smartest kid in class, but her classroom experience was not what it should be. I know this because I was deeply involved in that classroom, unlike the other parents in her class. This was so very frustrating to me...I expected to have to ask and work for the changes that were important to me. But I didnt' expect to have to go it alone. Just like the District itself (which varies in quality of life from block to bloc), DCPS varies from classroom to classroom. My daughter's classroom experience was a distaster and I could no longer delude myself into thinking it was the best I could do for her. |
Anonymous
BOE does not have a clue about curriculum. |
Anonymous
| I think its sad that so much of the conversation becomes about scores and testing. A child's education is so much more robust than skills. Living in a diverse community--racially, socio-economically, culturally-- means my children are exposed to a variety of experiences that will never be measured on a test. My parents moved to the burbs to give us a good education. I learned the academic skills but not the social skills needed to live in the "real world". I think being at Maury (or many other schools in the area) will provide my children not only a good education but a way to relate to the world that will serve them long into the future. |
Anonymous
Amen. |
Anonymous
| I am posting on behalf of the many, many, many families of Maury kindergarten students from last year who had an excellent experience! Our daughter thrived in the kindergarten program at Maury thanks to our amazing teacher, the amazing specials teachers and the love and care from all of those in the Maury family. While everyone has a right to their opinions and to vocalize their experience, I would hate for one person's negative experience to overshadow the amazing experience that so many of our kindergarten families had last year. Just my quick $.02. (mom to incoming 1st grader and future Cougar) |
Anonymous
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Heather again -
One other thing -- my younger daughter was in one of the 3 kindergarten classes at Maury last year. Her FP reading level was L, almost 3rd grade, but she was not the highest in her class. Her two best friends, both black btw, were leveled even higher. And there is differentiated learning. The groups are named for colors or ideas (i.e. Red Birds or Peace) instead of High Math and Low Reading. I would suggest that anyone who is interested in learning about the school system contact Rhee's office, or make an appt with the principal. Ms Albert-Garvey at Maury is candid and friendly. Take a list of questions and don't hold back - she can take it. |
Anonymous
Gee that's helpful and insightful. |
Anonymous
http://sboe.dc.gov/sboe/cwp/view,a,1388,q,574661,sboeNav,%7C33422%7C.asp They mostly deal with regulation and standards, compliance, that sort of thing. I don't think that they have much to do with actual curriculum, but I could be mistaken. |
Anonymous
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BOE does not have a clue about curriculum.
http://sboe.dc.gov/sboe/cwp/view,a,1388,q,574661,sboeNav,%7C33422%7C.asp They mostly deal with regulation and standards, compliance, that sort of thing. I don't think that they have much to do with actual curriculum, but I could be mistaken. Now that we're back on the actual topic of elementary school ratings, this discussion starts to interest me! I'm an involved elementary school parent, with some added insight as a School Advisory Board member at our public elementary school. I feel like I see reasonably well what's going on in many elementary school classrooms, certainly in ours. And it seems to me that test scores for elementary schools city-wide are in blatant disconnect with the realities I'm seeing. Now, isn't it possible that OSSE, advised (as stated below) by the DCBE, is measuring something that doesn't square with the curriculum? If that's so, and that's totally plausible, shouldn't we all start to place calls to and picket in front of OSSE and the DCBE rather than Michelle Rhee's office? For I would hate to see the curriculum being shaped to fit the tests rather than the reverse! From the Weblink above: "The DC State Board of Education is responsible for advising the State Superintendent of Education on educational matters, including: state standards; state policies, including those governing special, academic, vocational, charter and other schools; state objectives; and state regulations proposed by the Mayor or the State Superintendent of Education." |
Anonymous
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My son was in Kindergarten at Maury last year. He was already advanced when he went in and I was worried that he'd suffer academically and, as a result, lose his love of learning. We just moved to the DC area from Utah. I don't know what any of you know about Utah but it's not very diverse at all so I also worried how he'd handle the diversity here.
My worries were needless. He has adapted to the area and people wonderfully and appreciates the differences in people. I feel that Maury helped to foster that. His teacher, also, was wonderful. She allowed him to work at his own pace to advance and when he left Kindergarten, he was reading at a 3rd grade level. I've enrolled him for 1st grade and he can't wait to get started. |
Anonymous
Based on my experience attending, testifying at, and watching BOE meetings on tv for more than a decade, I find this to be accurate. |
Anonymous
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A lot of people ask the curriculum question. Here is the deal- curriculum just gives a minimum list of subjects, topics ect that a child needs to know to have completed that grade. Prior to the 60's it was very rigid and Euro-centric. One of the many changes from this period was significant liberalization of the curriculum to be more general, less focused texts and ideas. This happened in DC and it mean that many a kid could get through DC public schools without encountering very basic ideas- say European History or Greek Mythology. The counter movement over the years has been to get a lot more specific, no where near the 50's but more specific. The leading advocate for this is E.D. Hirshe and his core knowledge curriculum. He is very specific advocating specific literature, events, ideas. His argument is that reading comprehension is really knowledge based and all tests actually test for knowledge so you can teach a kid a million strategies, but if they don't have say basic knowledge that a person, place or thing is a noun it won't matter what strategy they employ if a question asks the reader to identify a noun. Massachusetts lead the way to develop a more detailed curriculum, VA Standards of Learning are also a more specific curriculum. DC was modeled on Massachusetts, but is still less detailed. The new movement is to go to a common core curriculum for 60% of the curriculum. The thinking is that this will help more mobile students and standardize the range of knowledge expected for a child to be tested.
I personally think the standards are not specific enough. I think Hirshe's argument about how important common cultural references is essential to communication and knowledge is correct. I know a lot of teachers who think it is to constraining and limiting, many others will feel it is too Eurocentric. The fact still remains that that you don't appreciate something being called a Pandora's box if you don't know the myth. If you want to see comparisons here are some examples: Mass http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html From Standard 11: Theme Grade 3: Identify themes as lessons in stories, fables, and poems. Grades 3-4: Identify themes in folktales, fables, and Greek myths for children. Grade 5: Apply knowledge of the concept that theme refers to the main idea and meaning of a literary passage or selection when stated. Grades 5-6: Apply knowledge of the concept that theme refers to the main idea and meaning of a selection, whether it is implied or stated. Grade 7: Identify and supply evidence for theme in a selection. Grades 7-8: Analyze and evaluate similar themes across a variety of selections, distinguishing theme from topic. From VA Grade 3 http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/index.shtml The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fiction. a) Set a purpose for reading. b) Make connections between previous experiences and reading selections. c) Make, confirm, or revise predictions. d) Compare and contrast settings, characters, and events. e) Identify the author’s purpose. f) Ask and answer questions. g) Draw conclusions about character and plot. h) Organize information and events logically. i) Summarize major points found in fiction materials. j) Understand basic plots of fairy tales, myths, folktales, legends, and fables. DC does not have the standards in word format so I can't cut and paste but you can compare here by looking at this matrix http://www.osse.dc.gov/seo/frames.asp?doc=/seo/lib/seo/common_core/crosswalk_dc_to_cc_standards.pdf |
Anonymous
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08/12/2010 20:54
I agree with your posting. And I think children should be exposed to the great books as well as Morrison, Wright, Márquez, etc. Let me ask you this - do you think Virginia schools do a better job in teaching children or do Virginia parents do a better job in teaching their children? I have noticed that many DCPS parents spend the time to track MoCounty and VA standards to ensure their children are on par. And yes, some/many do decide to move but I wonder if it you have highly educated, motivated parents, can they adequately compensate for mediocre schools? And I bet if DCPS added additional rigor and enrichment to their curriculum, the vast majority of the children would rise to the higher standards. |
Anonymous
| Reference to the curriculum content- I think wealthier/middle class people tend to have the means to expose their kids to more. A vacation will include a trip to a historic site. More print exposure in home ect. However if the numbers are correct even SAT scores and the like for the highest cohorts started to decline during the period of curriculum liberalization. If the reality is that these tests ultimately only test knowledge and I think that may be an underlying truth, then the knowledge base will always be critical. You can go further and ask how much knowledge do you have to have to be a citizen, high quality worker etc. I am not sure. The IT person in my office could maybe name the president and she has always lived in the US. She does not care about politics, reads only books about cooking, knitting and playing guitar. However, my job only requires her to know system support for our computer system. You can tell from my description here how ignorant I am of what that entails. One of the real challenges here is that for many of us the purpose of education does not jive with the economic purpose for education for many people. There is a very valid and persuasive line of argument out there that we have privileged "knowledge work" to the loss of working with our hands. As a consequence we are beholden to fully encased but not fixable products from China, i.e. your I POD or the Mercedes engine that is locked. The best piece on this is Shopcraft as Soulcraft. I am not sure what the answer is myself, but I do think there may be a core set of knowledge including knowing specific authors, events, ideas for the lower grades that may need to diverge at the upper grades. |