Documentary on DC METROPOLITAN Airing Tonight on PBS

[Anonymous]

11:18, complete this you are such a_____________!

[Anonymous]

But seriously - what now? How to change this messed up wheel that keeps on turning? A petition?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not just that teachers and the DCPS system are to blame (and I'm sure there are some great teachers and principals at DCPS - but there's also some lousy ones) - ghetto culture in DC is also to blame. Just because there are societal problems doesn't let teachers off the hook.

If there are any "lousy" teachers let in DCPS it's the fault of central office, that's been on a mission to rid the system of bad teachers with its IMPACT evaluation system. Lousy teachers get kicked out after one year.

[Anonymous]

Central office was a disaster and that's where Rhee had focused a lot of her initial work, for example the Central Office folks who were sitting on thousands of textbooks, not distributing them when teachers desperately needed them in the classroom. And though IMPACT was far from perfect and may have wrongly hurt a few good people, it did get rid of a whole bunch of dead weight teachers that needed to be gotten rid of.

[Anonymous]

So many of you are so ignorant to the issues facing our youth today- not only in our nations Capitol, but across the country. DC Met is just one of the many examples of schools that are failing our students that has gone ignored for so long. Ms. Minor was not an effective principal because her students didn't make growth. To blame the failure of our schools on our students is ignorant and racist. The fact is, the expectations that you set for students determine how successful they will be. We can't just keep putting a bandaid on the problem- teachers and administrators must prove they should be teaching by showing growth with our students- no matter what the circumstances are. Take some time to educate yourselves - especially if you have children in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Central office was a disaster and that's where Rhee had focused a lot of her initial work, for example the Central Office folks who were sitting on thousands of textbooks, not distributing them when teachers desperately needed them in the classroom. And though IMPACT was far from perfect and may have wrongly hurt a few good people, it did get rid of a whole bunch of dead weight teachers that needed to be gotten rid of.

IMPACT is a disaster --- cost a fortune on an ongoing basis and has done NOTHING to improve student performance. So what''s to say that "dead weight" teachers were any different than those hired in their place?

The books story is the only good one told about Rhee - and sorry - any non-educator administrator could have fixed that -- plus don't kid yourself -- it has continued -- maybe not as bad as before (I don't know) but it's not publicized, now that it's supposedly been solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many of you are so ignorant to the issues facing our youth today- not only in our nations Capitol, but across the country. DC Met is just one of the many examples of schools that are failing our students that has gone ignored for so long. Ms. Minor was not an effective principal because her students didn't make growth. To blame the failure of our schools on our students is ignorant and racist. The fact is, the expectations that you set for students determine how successful they will be. We can't just keep putting a bandaid on the problem- teachers and administrators must prove they should be teaching by showing growth with our students- no matter what the circumstances are. Take some time to educate yourselves - especially if you have children in school.

Yes, please do educate yourself - if you watched the documentary (and even if you didn't) you should know that poverty and chaotic lives outside of school plays a huge role in how kids perform inside school

[Anonymous]

What's lacking in those chaotic lives outside of school is things like structure, value, goals and discipline. Some of it can be instilled in schools - no doubt the worst of the worst will have truancy, tardiness and behavior problems in school, and it's disturbing that schools might allow things like that slide 20 times before taking any more serious action - and when action is finally taken, it's ineffective. How about if those infractions were taken more seriously, with the first actions being detentions and in-school suspensions, and not just kids sitting in a room twiddling their thumbs or engaged in some unproductive activity but instead being the interventions - having specialists working with them to instill values and self-discipline, deprogramming kids of self-destructive ghetto culture, diagnosing the academic issues that may be leading them to act out, such as reading or writing difficulties, and working to correct them, reducing frustration, anger and feelings of inadequacy and futility that lead to acting out and counterproductive behavior. With all the money that DCPS spends on a per student basis, this kind of thing could be done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many of you are so ignorant to the issues facing our youth today- not only in our nations Capitol, but across the country. DC Met is just one of the many examples of schools that are failing our students that has gone ignored for so long. Ms. Minor was not an effective principal because her students didn't make growth. To blame the failure of our schools on our students is ignorant and racist. The fact is, the expectations that you set for students determine how successful they will be. We can't just keep putting a bandaid on the problem- teachers and administrators must prove they should be teaching by showing growth with our students- no matter what the circumstances are. Take some time to educate yourselves - especially if you have children in school.

DC MET is not failing our children, we are!!!! I don't know if you watched this documentary but DC Met was a school of last choice, when all the other option have run out. One of the students clearly stated all the schools he had been expelled from, including "Choice" and that is supposed to be an alternative school for children who cannot function in a regular school. If those young men and women, have been expelled from numerous public and charter (if they were ever let in), are teen parents, criminal records, learning disabilities, dysfunctional and non-existent families, substance abuse, mental health and health issues in general, are reading years below grade level, are truants, and have missed so much school that they are not performing at grade level, I think what they do is miraculous. Not only that, you do realize that passing the DC CAS has no impact on a child's grade or ability to graduate in DCPS (DCPS policy not schools); hence, a student has no incentive to take the test seriously. The only impact the DC CAS has, is on the school and the staff. You think that makes any sense at all???? Your comments make no sense, because despite the problems that these children had/have the staff continued to have high expectations for those children. The shabby building, lack of resources, and compassion showed that DCPS had low expectations for these children. Please go and volunteer at Washington Met., start with doing some home visits - they will be glad to have you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's lacking in those chaotic lives outside of school is things like structure, value, goals and discipline. Some of it can be instilled in schools - no doubt the worst of the worst will have truancy, tardiness and behavior problems in school, and it's disturbing that schools might allow things like that slide 20 times before taking any more serious action - and when action is finally taken, it's ineffective. How about if those infractions were taken more seriously, with the first actions being detentions and in-school suspensions, and not just kids sitting in a room twiddling their thumbs or engaged in some unproductive activity but instead being the interventions - having specialists working with them to instill values and self-discipline, deprogramming kids of self-destructive ghetto culture, diagnosing the academic issues that may be leading them to act out, such as reading or writing difficulties, and working to correct them, reducing frustration, anger and feelings of inadequacy and futility that lead to acting out and counterproductive behavior. With all the money that DCPS spends on a per student basis, this kind of thing could be done.

DCPS has decided to put its money toward "master educators" who evaluate teachers based on classroom behaviors and PR reps whose job it is to present central office in a positive light and bonuses to highly effective teachers in ward 3.

[Anonymous]

There's two sides to the coin - If there are kids who are a repeat behavior problem from class to class, regardless of teacher, it is that student who is the problem and addressing the student's bad behavior is where focus needs to be.

But at the same time, if teachers have inadequate classroom management skills, that's certainly also a huge problem - check for example YouTube for videos with teachers displaying completely ineffective or even completely inappropriate behavior - some teachers really really don't know how to manage students and classrooms effectively, and that's something that the school administration needs to diagnose and deal with effectively as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's two sides to the coin - If there are kids who are a repeat behavior problem from class to class, regardless of teacher, it is that student who is the problem and addressing the student's bad behavior is where focus needs to be.

But at the same time, if teachers have inadequate classroom management skills, that's certainly also a huge problem - check for example YouTube for videos with teachers displaying completely ineffective or even completely inappropriate behavior - some teachers really really don't know how to manage students and classrooms effectively, and that's something that the school administration needs to diagnose and deal with effectively as well.

And with their zillion dollar IMPACT evaluation system, DCPS has surely gotten rid of all the teachers with poor classroom mgt skills.

[Anonymous]

so if classroom management is taken care of and the great majority of teachers are effective or highly effective, then it must be SOMETHING ELSE that's holding so many kids back.

But it DCPS leaders admitted it was the effects of poverty, it would make them look bad, and we can have that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's two sides to the coin - If there are kids who are a repeat behavior problem from class to class, regardless of teacher, it is that student who is the problem and addressing the student's bad behavior is where focus needs to be.

But at the same time, if teachers have inadequate classroom management skills, that's certainly also a huge problem - check for example YouTube for videos with teachers displaying completely ineffective or even completely inappropriate behavior - some teachers really really don't know how to manage students and classrooms effectively, and that's something that the school administration needs to diagnose and deal with effectively as well.

Agreed, but there is a huge difference between dealing with a small number of students with behavior difficulties in a class of so called "well behaved/respectful" students and having one class with all "dysfunctional" children who feed of each other. DCPS/Impact makes no distinction between the two, so a teacher that actually may not appear to have good skills may actually be doing a great job because normally those so called "dysfunctional" children might not even be in class, not listening at all rather than have their head on the desk but still listening, pacing around because they can't sit still, etc. Also, how do we expect new TFA with 5 week training to work with these students successfully, clearly for the most part those children aren't getting what they need and the teachers are getting used and abused. If IMPACT/DCPS would only admit that not all children are the same, some need different kinds of instruction (not watered down but meeting them where they are), and stop penalizing those who work with the hardest population and rewarding those that work with those that need the least support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's two sides to the coin - If there are kids who are a repeat behavior problem from class to class, regardless of teacher, it is that student who is the problem and addressing the student's bad behavior is where focus needs to be.

But at the same time, if teachers have inadequate classroom management skills, that's certainly also a huge problem - check for example YouTube for videos with teachers displaying completely ineffective or even completely inappropriate behavior - some teachers really really don't know how to manage students and classrooms effectively, and that's something that the school administration needs to diagnose and deal with effectively as well.

And with their zillion dollar IMPACT evaluation system, DCPS has surely gotten rid of all the teachers with poor classroom mgt skills.

What's your solution? Poor classroom management continues, and there are still lousy teachers. Rather than whining about IMPACT, or saying "get rid of IMPACT" the answer needs to be "what do we replace it with?" So... what is your answer?