New D.C. principal’s termination letter from Dallas

[Anonymous]

everyone knows that reading skills are imperative. Few would think falsifying grades and depriving students of music and science is the way to acquire them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try to read this sentence and pretend you've never learned anything about science or social studies: Penicillin was discovered sixty-three years after the end of the US Civil War.

Knowing the significance of penicillin or the date the US Civil war ended is not going to do you much good if you can neither decode the words of that sentence nor do the math to draw a logical conclusion from it. Everything elementary school kids are taught about history, biology, civics, and the arts will be taught again, in greater depth, in middle and high school. Fat lot of good it will do them if they haven't been grounded in reading and math. It's called "putting the cart in front of the horse"....

Anonymous wrote:If you think the problem is all about decoding, you're confused. Go volunteer in one of the schools and you will see many students' decoding skills are fine.

Why is Garfield 6% proficient - with less than 1 in 16 pupils on grade level? Why is Garfield the lowest performer in DCPS?

[Anonymous]

Hey, I'm all for other subjects being worked in to reading to improve comprehension skills, as long as improving reading skills is the focus.

Spending precious elementary classroom time on science experiments, art projects, journaling, and music enrichment that could otherwise be used to improve more basic requirements- not so much. Yes, it's a pity to think a fifth grader isn't exposed to the breadth of knowledge that's out there while learning to read and add, but it's a SHAME when we let that fifth grader slide through to high school graduation with the same limited skills because we didn't want her feeling left out....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try to read this sentence and pretend you've never learned anything about science or social studies: Penicillin was discovered sixty-three years after the end of the US Civil War.

Knowing the significance of penicillin or the date the US Civil war ended is not going to do you much good if you can neither decode the words of that sentence nor do the math to draw a logical conclusion from it. Everything elementary school kids are taught about history, biology, civics, and the arts will be taught again, in greater depth, in middle and high school. Fat lot of good it will do them if they haven't been grounded in reading and math. It's called "putting the cart in front of the horse"....

Anonymous wrote:If you think the problem is all about decoding, you're confused. Go volunteer in one of the schools and you will see many students' decoding skills are fine.

Why is Garfield 6% proficient - with less than 1 in 16 pupils on grade level? Why is Garfield the lowest performer in DCPS?

Not sure, but I'm sure you think some DC-CAS study guides will help them.

[Anonymous]

I hope none of the people posting here in support of teaching to the test, without seemingly thinking about how what is taught and how it is taught affects students' motivation and ability to comprehend increasingly more complex material (they can't always read Captain Underpants), actually work in education. How terrifying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate to say it to the parents of these seriously undereducated kids at Garfield, but with scores like these:

MATH: 52.29% below basic 42.20% basic 4.59% proficient 0.92% advanced
READING: 42.20% below basic 47.71% basic 9.17% proficient 0.92% advanced

These kids could stand to skip science and enrichment for a while and learn some reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic.

Too bad not to have science education. But without the ability to read or add, these kids are going to be cut off from the world for the rest of their lives.

Sorry not to be politically correct, but wasn't Garfield rated THE WORST of all DC elementary schools on DC-CAS recently? Time to teach to the test a little, and this lady sounds like the one to do it.

are you endorsing teaching to the test, then, and suggesting that falsifying grades for non-offered science and music classes should be acceptable in DCPS?

WOuldn't it be better to offer these kids intensive reading instruction some other way - in pre-school perhaps?

And how would you propose we do this for the current set of illiterate, innumerate kids? Build a time machine? Why not just go back and support these kids' parents in getting their high school degrees, and get them into colleges so they can support their soon-to-be-born kids both financially and pedagogically.

[Anonymous]

Teach them to read
Teach them to write
Teach them basic math

And yes, teach to the test, because being dead last is shameful to these children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate to say it to the parents of these seriously undereducated kids at Garfield, but with scores like these:

MATH: 52.29% below basic 42.20% basic 4.59% proficient 0.92% advanced
READING: 42.20% below basic 47.71% basic 9.17% proficient 0.92% advanced

These kids could stand to skip science and enrichment for a while and learn some reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic.

Too bad not to have science education. But without the ability to read or add, these kids are going to be cut off from the world for the rest of their lives.

Sorry not to be politically correct, but wasn't Garfield rated THE WORST of all DC elementary schools on DC-CAS recently? Time to teach to the test a little, and this lady sounds like the one to do it.

Try to read this sentence and pretend you've never learned anything about science or social studies:
Penicillin was discovered sixty-three years after the end of the US Civil War.

Learning how to read isn't all about sounding out letters and words.

While this is true, illiteracy is a educational and cultural death sentence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate to say it to the parents of these seriously undereducated kids at Garfield, but with scores like these:

MATH: 52.29% below basic 42.20% basic 4.59% proficient 0.92% advanced
READING: 42.20% below basic 47.71% basic 9.17% proficient 0.92% advanced

These kids could stand to skip science and enrichment for a while and learn some reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic.

Too bad not to have science education. But without the ability to read or add, these kids are going to be cut off from the world for the rest of their lives.

Sorry not to be politically correct, but wasn't Garfield rated THE WORST of all DC elementary schools on DC-CAS recently? Time to teach to the test a little, and this lady sounds like the one to do it.

Try to read this sentence and pretend you've never learned anything about science or social studies:
Penicillin was discovered sixty-three years after the end of the US Civil War.

Learning how to read isn't all about sounding out letters and words.

While this is true, illiteracy is a educational and cultural death sentence.

Here is what I am saying: "Illiteracy" does not always mean students cannot decode words. If often times means that the students can read a text, but have very little comprehension of the text. Many students are able to read aloud every text on the DC-CAS, but are not able to correctly answer the questions about the texts because they have low comprehension. Comprehension comes from increased background knowledge, like things you learn in SCIENCE AND SOCIAL STUDIES. What's even worse is that low-income students are the most dependent on their schools to get this background knowledge because there are fewer trips to museums on the weekend, or vacations to Europe in the summer, etc. For most kids past 1st/ 2nd/3rd grade, "reading" is not about learning how to decode, it's about being able to comprehend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
And how would you propose we do this for the current set of illiterate, innumerate kids? Build a time machine? Why not just go back and support these kids' parents in getting their high school degrees, and get them into colleges so they can support their soon-to-be-born kids both financially and pedagogically.

I don't have a proposal for these kids that wouldn't cost a fortune that no one seems willing to spend on them. We've already lost five years lining the pockets of adults with their terrible school reform practices in DCPS, so I don't see how more of the same will help.

Five years ago, DCPS must have known the state Garfield was in -- what did they do about it? Frankly, I don't know, but it obviously didn't work -- five years down the drain for those kids - led by adults who swore they were putting children first. and the response is to hire a disgraced principal from another system.

[Anonymous]

The only thing that can be done is to support DC's renaissance as a middle-class city. The schools will follow. The (much fewer) remaining poor families will get a good education in schools that have 10% poverty as opposed to 80%. The rest will get an education in MD or VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that can be done is to support DC's renaissance as a middle-class city. The schools will follow. The (much fewer) remaining poor families will get a good education in schools that have 10% poverty as opposed to 80%. The rest will get an education in MD or VA.

IOW - the way to improve DC schools is to get rid of the poor black children in them.

How true. the schools will improve, but the poor black kids won't - but who cares if the real issue is "DC's renaissance"

THe poor black kids will disappear into MD or VA and won't be an embarrassment to DC anymore.

So much for narrowing the achievement gap and for providing a good education for all children, regardless of zip code.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hate to say it to the parents of these seriously undereducated kids at Garfield, but with scores like these:

MATH: 52.29% below basic 42.20% basic 4.59% proficient 0.92% advanced
READING: 42.20% below basic 47.71% basic 9.17% proficient 0.92% advanced

These kids could stand to skip science and enrichment for a while and learn some reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic.

Too bad not to have science education. But without the ability to read or add, these kids are going to be cut off from the world for the rest of their lives.

Sorry not to be politically correct, but wasn't Garfield rated THE WORST of all DC elementary schools on DC-CAS recently? Time to teach to the test a little, and this lady sounds like the one to do it.

what does PC have to do with it? Those

kids Just need to buckle down and get serious about school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate to say it to the parents of these seriously undereducated kids at Garfield, but with scores like these:

MATH: 52.29% below basic 42.20% basic 4.59% proficient 0.92% advanced
READING: 42.20% below basic 47.71% basic 9.17% proficient 0.92% advanced

These kids could stand to skip science and enrichment for a while and learn some reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic.

Too bad not to have science education. But without the ability to read or add, these kids are going to be cut off from the world for the rest of their lives.

Sorry not to be politically correct, but wasn't Garfield rated THE WORST of all DC elementary schools on DC-CAS recently? Time to teach to the test a little, and this lady sounds like the one to do it.

Try to read this sentence and pretend you've never learned anything about science or social studies:
Penicillin was discovered sixty-three years after the end of the US Civil War.

Learning how to read isn't all about sounding out letters and words.

I honestly do not follow. If you are illiterate, scientific and historical context isn't going to help you READ that sentence. Literacy is fundamental. It is the first step to learning other stuff. Science and history and music are wasted if you can't read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that can be done is to support DC's renaissance as a middle-class city. The schools will follow. The (much fewer) remaining poor families will get a good education in schools that have 10% poverty as opposed to 80%. The rest will get an education in MD or VA.

IOW - the way to improve DC schools is to get rid of the poor black children in them.

How true. the schools will improve, but the poor black kids won't - but who cares if the real issue is "DC's renaissance"

THe poor black kids will disappear into MD or VA and won't be an embarrassment to DC anymore.

So much for narrowing the achievement gap and for providing a good education for all children, regardless of zip code.

80-100% low SES schools will not succeed. Segregation, whether racial or economic is wrong. Having those low SES kids in diverse schools rather than segregated into a few very poor schools is better for everyone.