Letter from Cancellor re moving schools - opps - I got caught moving my kid?

[Anonymous]

Woodridge, drat autocorrect

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
KIPP doesn't want all and sundry, nor do they claim to have the answer, I don't understand why people don't get this! They are successful precisely because they don't take everyone, even they recognized this when they took over a neighborhood school and failed! Now they have grown, and homegrown students go from elem, middle, to high! Let them do what they do well and support them, but not turn them into something they are not. As some charters have grown, their success has decreased and as new Charters have taken the best and the brightest scores have decreased. I'm thinking off the top of my head of Haynes and Friendship!

Confused EL Haynes has some pretry good scores compared to many other DC schools.

EL Haynes has pretty good scores compared to EOTR or the city average, but pretty comparable to many EOTP DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's no one. I'm sorry for correcting you but if you want to talk authoritatively about education, it's best to look like you're educated.

You’re missing a comma.

[Anonymous]

I think the problem is wanting all kids to have 100 percent success on a standard academic metric. This is never going to happen. Nclb has driven schools and educators off track in meeting students where they are and raising them from there in a way that meets their needs and circumstances. Add in the no suspension /expulsion/alternative route thing (gross check out how that worked in FL when they kept trying to mainstream a kid with incredibly special needs) . The parameters of schooling are so rigid we keep doing the same thing over and over the achievement gap is a chasm and both naughty and nice kids stay away from a worthless education - ie skip school that isn't worth their time.

[Anonymous]

ESPECIALLY social promotion at middle schools with high populations of ELL newcomers. Without effective programs/certified teachers, this is one of the MOST disadvantaged groups in the district.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grosso finally taking some more action

https://twitter.com/cmdgrosso/status/966415861690052610

There is no indication that attendance, or social promotion, is a problem at charter schools (just look at their graduation rates; not all pass), and even less so that there's a shred of a problem at elementary schools. Yet Grosso wants to spend money to audit all of the schools. What's wrong with this guy? How does he win elections?

I wish it would look at social promotion. We aren't ever going to fix the high school problems when we keep moving kids up when they aren't ready. If I was in high school at an elementary reading level I wouldn't show up to class either!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is wanting all kids to have 100 percent success on a standard academic metric. This is never going to happen. Nclb has driven schools and educators off track in meeting students where they are and raising them from there in a way that meets their needs and circumstances. Add in the no suspension /expulsion/alternative route thing (gross check out how that worked in FL when they kept trying to mainstream a kid with incredibly special needs) . The parameters of schooling are so rigid we keep doing the same thing over and over the achievement gap is a chasm and both naughty and nice kids stay away from a worthless education - ie skip school that isn't worth their time.

+1,000

The achievement gap is never going to close. That's just a fact. Everyone shouldn't go to college,another fact. Don't get me started on the insane liberal idea (led by Grosso) of reducing discipline and suspensions.

We should be focused on giving principals the power and flexibility to adjust to their unique student populations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is wanting all kids to have 100 percent success on a standard academic metric. This is never going to happen. Nclb has driven schools and educators off track in meeting students where they are and raising them from there in a way that meets their needs and circumstances. Add in the no suspension /expulsion/alternative route thing (gross check out how that worked in FL when they kept trying to mainstream a kid with incredibly special needs) . The parameters of schooling are so rigid we keep doing the same thing over and over the achievement gap is a chasm and both naughty and nice kids stay away from a worthless education - ie skip school that isn't worth their time.

+1,000

The achievement gap is never going to close. That's just a fact. Everyone shouldn't go to college,another fact. Don't get me started on the insane liberal idea (led by Grosso) of reducing discipline and suspensions.

We should be focused on giving principals the power and flexibility to adjust to their unique student populations.

Flexibility is a beautiful word to educators on the ground and a bad word to people who create policy. Why? Because they can't put it in a box!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's no one. I'm sorry for correcting you but if you want to talk authoritatively about education, it's best to look like you're educated.

You’re missing a comma.

DP. They don't *need* that comma. Nice try nitpicking though.

[Anonymous]

Flexibility is exactly what charters have that DCPS doesn’t.

Sometimes it works — and sometimes it doesn’t. There is less accountability and transparency but on the whole freeing some from the dictates of a large bureaucracy has been a worthwhile experiment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flexibility is exactly what charters have that DCPS doesn’t.

Sometimes it works — and sometimes it doesn’t. There is less accountability and transparency but on the whole freeing some from the dictates of a large bureaucracy has been a worthwhile experiment.

Except when there’s bullying. Then people want accountability and oversight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flexibility is exactly what charters have that DCPS doesn’t.

Sometimes it works — and sometimes it doesn’t. There is less accountability and transparency but on the whole freeing some from the dictates of a large bureaucracy has been a worthwhile experiment.

Except when there’s bullying. Then people want accountability and oversight.

Right -- and even more so when it comes to students with special needs. But if we could actually study what works at individual schools -- and not stay at the sector vs sector level -- and make that available as a resource for principals, and principals would get the freedom to do some innovation.

We let DCPS principals do it with ECE to a small degree. Why not expand that through early elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, why do you care what his house looks like? It's shallow and stupid.

The point is that he chose a large, updated house over a school zone where he could have had the best options for his kids without cheating the system. THAT is what's shallow and stupid. The gaudiness of his house is just icing on the cake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is wanting all kids to have 100 percent success on a standard academic metric. This is never going to happen. Nclb has driven schools and educators off track in meeting students where they are and raising them from there in a way that meets their needs and circumstances. Add in the no suspension /expulsion/alternative route thing (gross check out how that worked in FL when they kept trying to mainstream a kid with incredibly special needs) . The parameters of schooling are so rigid we keep doing the same thing over and over the achievement gap is a chasm and both naughty and nice kids stay away from a worthless education - ie skip school that isn't worth their time.

This is a reality we need to embrace. Schools cannot reverse the academic implications of poverty, adverse childhood experiences, or/or physical/emotional morbidity. All students deserve high-quality educational opportunities, but goals and outcomes need to be flexible. There must be a range of diplomas for students with different goals.

The current model of grouping students by age and teaching them together in the same classrooms is obsolete. We should group students by age, but by secondary level, we need to move into a competency-based model where students are progressing at their own rate using a combination of online programs, small group instruction, tutoring, and coaching. At the high school level, particularly in schools where truancy is high, we need to look at a model where students attend smaller, storefront schools with flexible hours to accommodate work schedules. Diplomas should be based on mastery, not attendance. Some of our STAY high schools are already using these strategies.

At middle schools that have large numbers students that are constantly disruptive, we will need reduce class size and hire additional teachers and behavioral specialists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, why do you care what his house looks like? It's shallow and stupid.

The point is that he chose a large, updated house over a school zone where he could have had the best options for his kids without cheating the system. THAT is what's shallow and stupid. The gaudiness of his house is just icing on the cake.

Will someone please post a link to the house!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, why do you care what his house looks like? It's shallow and stupid.

The point is that he chose a large, updated house over a school zone where he could have had the best options for his kids without cheating the system. THAT is what's shallow and stupid. The gaudiness of his house is just icing on the cake.

Will someone please post a link to the house!?

Not permissible here. WaPo once reported that he bought it for $980k in june 2017. Neighborhood is given in previous posts. You can find it with that info.