Underwhelming appearance by Principal Martin at Wilson HS Open House

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thought this thread was beyond rude last year. Sorry to see it dredged up again.

What I find rude is the sharp decline in Wilson's PARCC.

Some people seem to be treating it as a little joke. I don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thought this thread was beyond rude last year. Sorry to see it dredged up again.

What I find rude is the sharp decline in Wilson's PARCC.

Some people seem to be treating it as a little joke. I don't.

What I can't find is how the Wilson subgroups - white, black, latino, econ disadvantaged - performed last year compared to this year. OSSE and DCPS suggest the drop was preciptious among white Wilson students year over year and that it was a testing anomaly. Can anyone help me figure that out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm always a little baffled by the battles about Wilson. I'm the parent of a senior this year. I think I have a pretty realistic picture of what Wilson is and is not. I'm underwhelmed by many things that I wish were different or better, but I'm also constantly appreciative of the many dedicated and high quality teachers, counselors and others who go the extra mile and have inspired my teen. My teen's friends and classmates are also really good, smart, talented, but regular kids trying to figure out who they are and what they want to do and be in the world. Mostly they are happy to be in a school that allows them both the structure and freedom to be challenged academically, but also to explore lots of interests and other sides of themselves. That's what you hope for in a school. Is it like a private school? Of course not. Are there kids that are not interested in school, get in trouble or are struggling? Yes, there are and Wilson could do more to engage and support those students. And, we as parents in the school community, could also get engaged to help more than we do. I know I could have been more involved. Wilson is big and diverse and you have to want that in order to find it a good fit for your family. Because we are a multi-racial family, that was really important to us. In our family's experience, Wilson has been a school where a student can be supported to get a quality education that prepares them well for college or other next steps, as well as a school community that helps prepare kids to navigate other aspects of life. But clearly the new test scores show that not all kids are benefiting. However, needing to continue to improve doesn't negate the core of what is good and strong about the school.

Some great insights there, but not sure they are very relevant. This thread is not about the school itself, but about the leadership by Principal Martin. In fact, it is some people who appreciate the school the most, given all those things you say, the ones baffled by her.

Time will well. And I'm sure next year's PARCC results will be amazing compared to this year's -- worse, it's impossible.

This is a slightly rosier picture than we've seen (our oldest is now in 10th at Wilson), although Wilson does have some nice strengths. The email yesterday from the principal about the PARCC scores points was a complete whitewash. According to the email, the awful test results were caused by the 2 factors below. Nothing else was mentioned.

"First, we need to do a better job of helping our community understand the importance of this assessment."

"Second, we need to work on resolving some of the test administration conflicts."

In other words, nothing is wrong with the curriculum, nothing is wrong with the administration or the teaching, and nothing is wrong with Wilson's overall academic standards.

Since this is our first child at Wilson, I can't compare last year to previous years, but I can say that 9th grade at Wilson is...inadequate. Even if your child is in the top classes, there is almost no homework, and there are very few opportunities to write essays or present to a group. My son's biology class had NO labs the entire year and in honors English class, they read a total of 4 books. There is almost no way in which the academics of 9th grade at Wilson resemble 9th grade at a top suburban public school (my niece and nephews are at Fairfax high schools) or at a DC-area private school. This should be the principal's focus, but unfortunately she has made clear in her emails to parents that it is not. Her welcome message stated that her priorities are the following:

1. "We will embark on several important initiatives this year, one of which will be to examine the role of unconscious bias and racism in our school."
2. "Implementation of the new teacher evaluation rubric."

These are both important issues but they don't matter a bit if Wilson's academic standards are levels below other "top" schools in the area, and it's becoming increasingly clear that they may be. This matters for smart, well-prepared kids, and it matters for kids who arrive at Wilson really far behind.

As far as the principal herself goes, she presents (to me) as capable and hard-working, but I think her priorities are all wrong, and I don't see any evidence that she knows it.

[Anonymous]

If anything, the lower scores on the PARCC English tests reveal the intelligence of the student body. Many of the students were not persuaded by the school's persistent entreaties that the standardized tests were important (to the students), in terms of grades, college prospects, or well-being. The students simply do not care what the PARCC results may show for teacher or school accountability, or for purposes of comparing Wilson to other schools. So instead they chose to rush through the PARCC so they could return to studying for AP tests, their regular classes, or devote time to their clubs and other extra activities. And the students with other more important classes and projects to work on were more likely to finish the 90 minute test in 10 minutes. Simple as that. It is not a reflection on Ms. Martin (except for her failure to recognize much earlier that the timing of the PARCC tests so close to AP exams was a huge blunder). It is the same old problem with how to measure teacher and school performance with a standardized test that students have zero incentive to try to ace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm always a little baffled by the battles about Wilson. I'm the parent of a senior this year. I think I have a pretty realistic picture of what Wilson is and is not. I'm underwhelmed by many things that I wish were different or better, but I'm also constantly appreciative of the many dedicated and high quality teachers, counselors and others who go the extra mile and have inspired my teen. My teen's friends and classmates are also really good, smart, talented, but regular kids trying to figure out who they are and what they want to do and be in the world. Mostly they are happy to be in a school that allows them both the structure and freedom to be challenged academically, but also to explore lots of interests and other sides of themselves. That's what you hope for in a school. Is it like a private school? Of course not. Are there kids that are not interested in school, get in trouble or are struggling? Yes, there are and Wilson could do more to engage and support those students. And, we as parents in the school community, could also get engaged to help more than we do. I know I could have been more involved. Wilson is big and diverse and you have to want that in order to find it a good fit for your family. Because we are a multi-racial family, that was really important to us. In our family's experience, Wilson has been a school where a student can be supported to get a quality education that prepares them well for college or other next steps, as well as a school community that helps prepare kids to navigate other aspects of life. But clearly the new test scores show that not all kids are benefiting. However, needing to continue to improve doesn't negate the core of what is good and strong about the school.

Some great insights there, but not sure they are very relevant. This thread is not about the school itself, but about the leadership by Principal Martin. In fact, it is some people who appreciate the school the most, given all those things you say, the ones baffled by her.

Time will well. And I'm sure next year's PARCC results will be amazing compared to this year's -- worse, it's impossible.

This is a slightly rosier picture than we've seen (our oldest is now in 10th at Wilson), although Wilson does have some nice strengths. The email yesterday from the principal about the PARCC scores points was a complete whitewash. According to the email, the awful test results were caused by the 2 factors below. Nothing else was mentioned.

"First, we need to do a better job of helping our community understand the importance of this assessment."

"Second, we need to work on resolving some of the test administration conflicts."

In other words, nothing is wrong with the curriculum, nothing is wrong with the administration or the teaching, and nothing is wrong with Wilson's overall academic standards.

Since this is our first child at Wilson, I can't compare last year to previous years, but I can say that 9th grade at Wilson is...inadequate. Even if your child is in the top classes, there is almost no homework, and there are very few opportunities to write essays or present to a group. My son's biology class had NO labs the entire year and in honors English class, they read a total of 4 books. There is almost no way in which the academics of 9th grade at Wilson resemble 9th grade at a top suburban public school (my niece and nephews are at Fairfax high schools) or at a DC-area private school. This should be the principal's focus, but unfortunately she has made clear in her emails to parents that it is not. Her welcome message stated that her priorities are the following:

1. "We will embark on several important initiatives this year, one of which will be to examine the role of unconscious bias and racism in our school."
2. "Implementation of the new teacher evaluation rubric."

These are both important issues but they don't matter a bit if Wilson's academic standards are levels below other "top" schools in the area, and it's becoming increasingly clear that they may be. This matters for smart, well-prepared kids, and it matters for kids who arrive at Wilson really far behind.

As far as the principal herself goes, she presents (to me) as capable and hard-working, but I think her priorities are all wrong, and I don't see any evidence that she knows it.

Her priorities reflect DCPS' central administration priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If anything, the lower scores on the PARCC English tests reveal the intelligence of the student body. Many of the students were not persuaded by the school's persistent entreaties that the standardized tests were important (to the students), in terms of grades, college prospects, or well-being. The students simply do not care what the PARCC results may show for teacher or school accountability, or for purposes of comparing Wilson to other schools. So instead they chose to rush through the PARCC so they could return to studying for AP tests, their regular classes, or devote time to their clubs and other extra activities. And the students with other more important classes and projects to work on were more likely to finish the 90 minute test in 10 minutes. Simple as that. It is not a reflection on Ms. Martin (except for her failure to recognize much earlier that the timing of the PARCC tests so close to AP exams was a huge blunder). It is the same old problem with how to measure teacher and school performance with a standardized test that students have zero incentive to try to ace.

But Wilson students were not hte only ones juggling AP exams and PARCC -- both PARCC and the APs have 3 week long testing windows.

Students in Montgomery County, Banneker, SWW and BASIS, to name just a few, all had the same conflicts and apparently most of them made a different choice to not blow off PARCC.

To me it says something about the parents of these students and the messages they are sending their students. Parents have much more influence over their students than a principal does.

[Anonymous]

A move to create an upper NW charter or application high school would get their attention. Plenty of space at former Fannie Mae, Intelsat, and UDC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thought this thread was beyond rude last year. Sorry to see it dredged up again.

What I find rude is the sharp decline in Wilson's PARCC.

Some people seem to be treating it as a little joke. I don't.

What I can't find is how the Wilson subgroups - white, black, latino, econ disadvantaged - performed last year compared to this year. OSSE and DCPS suggest the drop was preciptious among white Wilson students year over year and that it was a testing anomaly. Can anyone help me figure that out?

I don't see a way to make those detailed year-on-year comparisons. But I doubt the drop happened only among white students, look at these results:

Blacks: Only 8% met/ exceeded ELA standards; Only 3% met/ exceeded Math standards
Hispanics: Only 12% met/ exceeded ELA standards; Only 8% met/ exceeded Math standards

http://results.osse.dc.gov/school/463

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the feedback about the Open House. I regret that my performance was less than you anticipated. The questions and answers I provided during the unscripted Q and A were somewhat vague, I agree, and in my perspective they were questions that I would typically answer in an email or individual conversation, but not in front of a large group, due to their complexity. For instance, "what do you anticipate being the biggest issue in the next five years" and "is your school safe?" (there was no question about discipline). In my view, those questions require a bit of background knowledge and, as I mentioned in my response to the group, have many variables to consider, which I'm not sure a group of parents who are largely unconnected to our school would understand. In fact, I hold monthly Parent Coffees, which are well attended by Wilson parents, and I often hear that these meetings are informative, thoughtful and productive. The parents who are present set the monthly agenda, however, we do not speak about issues like school safety, presumably because it is not an issue for parents who are insiders. In thinking about school safety: does the speaker want to know about our suspension rates? The number of fights in the school? The number of safety drills we have each month? The results of the student satisfaction survey? The results of the teacher survey? Or are there other factors that are important? Perhaps there is something more to the question, of which I am unaware? When I prompted the speaker for clarification, he stated, "does your school feel safe?" How am I to answer a questions about "feeling" without discussing how someone "feels," which is why I stated, "my son feels safe and students tell me they feel safe." I could have stated that our suspension rate has declined over the last several years, but does that mean a school is more or less safe in an outsiders' perspective? In relation to the questions about my biggest concern for the next five years, I am quite concerned about the boundary issues that have been discussed and analyzed over the last few months since I've arrived. Our school is the largest school in DCPS and as I mentioned in the Open House, we are 150 students over capacity THIS YEAR, but as our enrollment continues to increase....? When asked, "what will you do about it?" I explained that there are several possible solutions, none that has been determined to be THE solution as yet. Then I was asked, "what are the possible options for solving this problem?" I stated that there are several possible solutions that have been discussed, which include looking at our boundaries and making changes to our boundaries, as has been done within the last 12 months, and changes were already implemented last year. Then, "why is this a concern?" and yes, I stumbled, because I hesitate to say that our school may unwittingly exclude a specific demographic of students and yes, then the question of race came up. If there was concern from me about the presentation it was that I was being asked to answer to situations that are already and still occurring and in forums like this, I cannot share "what ifs" since my words are often distorted and those distortions are made as fact.
How my race plays into this conversation is another matter entirely and I will not comment on that in this forum or at any other time.
All the best,
Kim Martin

Just ran this through writing quality software. It's 10th grade level.

Time magazine is written at the 8th grade level.

Have they discovered the Paragraph?

I effing cannot understand the women on this site. What the hell is wrong with you people?

Hugs, Shepherd-hating mom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If anything, the lower scores on the PARCC English tests reveal the intelligence of the student body. Many of the students were not persuaded by the school's persistent entreaties that the standardized tests were important (to the students), in terms of grades, college prospects, or well-being. The students simply do not care what the PARCC results may show for teacher or school accountability, or for purposes of comparing Wilson to other schools. So instead they chose to rush through the PARCC so they could return to studying for AP tests, their regular classes, or devote time to their clubs and other extra activities. And the students with other more important classes and projects to work on were more likely to finish the 90 minute test in 10 minutes. Simple as that. It is not a reflection on Ms. Martin (except for her failure to recognize much earlier that the timing of the PARCC tests so close to AP exams was a huge blunder). It is the same old problem with how to measure teacher and school performance with a standardized test that students have zero incentive to try to ace.

But why were Wilson students the only ones to see it that way? It seems to indicate zero love or respect for the school administration

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If anything, the lower scores on the PARCC English tests reveal the intelligence of the student body. Many of the students were not persuaded by the school's persistent entreaties that the standardized tests were important (to the students), in terms of grades, college prospects, or well-being. The students simply do not care what the PARCC results may show for teacher or school accountability, or for purposes of comparing Wilson to other schools. So instead they chose to rush through the PARCC so they could return to studying for AP tests, their regular classes, or devote time to their clubs and other extra activities. And the students with other more important classes and projects to work on were more likely to finish the 90 minute test in 10 minutes. Simple as that. It is not a reflection on Ms. Martin (except for her failure to recognize much earlier that the timing of the PARCC tests so close to AP exams was a huge blunder). It is the same old problem with how to measure teacher and school performance with a standardized test that students have zero incentive to try to ace.

But why were Wilson students the only ones to see it that way? It seems to indicate zero love or respect for the school administration

Because the Wilson students were raised by the kind of women who run a principal's speech through a program to see if she is "articulate." Because the Wilson students (the ones in question) were raised in an environment where they were taught that they could be disobedient with no consequence. Because no one is checking their speeches for correct phrasing, or complaining that they just aren't professional "enough." You don't get this? You don't see the double standard? You think of Banneker or McKinley kids walked out of the test after five minutes you'd be applauding their capacity for free thought?

Hah.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If anything, the lower scores on the PARCC English tests reveal the intelligence of the student body. Many of the students were not persuaded by the school's persistent entreaties that the standardized tests were important (to the students), in terms of grades, college prospects, or well-being. The students simply do not care what the PARCC results may show for teacher or school accountability, or for purposes of comparing Wilson to other schools. So instead they chose to rush through the PARCC so they could return to studying for AP tests, their regular classes, or devote time to their clubs and other extra activities. And the students with other more important classes and projects to work on were more likely to finish the 90 minute test in 10 minutes. Simple as that. It is not a reflection on Ms. Martin (except for her failure to recognize much earlier that the timing of the PARCC tests so close to AP exams was a huge blunder). It is the same old problem with how to measure teacher and school performance with a standardized test that students have zero incentive to try to ace.

But why were Wilson students the only ones to see it that way? It seems to indicate zero love or respect for the school administration

Because the Wilson students were raised by the kind of women who run a principal's speech through a program to see if she is "articulate." Because the Wilson students (the ones in question) were raised in an environment where they were taught that they could be disobedient with no consequence. Because no one is checking their speeches for correct phrasing, or complaining that they just aren't professional "enough." You don't get this? You don't see the double standard? You think of Banneker or McKinley kids walked out of the test after five minutes you'd be applauding their capacity for free thought?

Hah.

YES! Could not agree more.

I want to meet you in real life.

[Anonymous]

So we are attributing the drop in scores to entitlement, both of Wilson kids and their parents? Just want to make sure I'm following (haven't read every post in this thread, but am a future Wilson parent).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So we are attributing the drop in scores to entitlement, both of Wilson kids and their parents? Just want to make sure I'm following (haven't read every post in this thread, but am a future Wilson parent).

Apparently, a couple posters are.

What a convenient excuse.

[Anonymous]

From the Washington Post:

..."Wilson High School in Northwest Washington experienced the worst setback — a drop of nearly 58 percent in the number of students who met or exceeded expectations on the English portion of the test. In 2015, 50 percent of Wilson students earned fours and fives in that area; this year, just 21 percent of students did.

But the school saw a bump in the number of students meeting or exceeding expectations in math, with 18 percent of students at that level in 2016, compared with 8 percent in 2015.

School Without Walls High School —a high-performing DCPS school where admission is by application — saw a 12.4 percent drop in students earning fours and fives on the English portion of the test.

It is unclear what caused the dramatic drop in these two schools. Officials suggested Tuesday that normally high-scoring students may have intentionally flubbed the test.

Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson said that more than 100 Wilson parents unsuccessfully sought permission for their children to “opt out” of PARCC, which came the week before Advanced Placement exams and in the middle of AP review sessions.

Wilson principal Kimberly Martin said students seemed to be more focused on AP tests than PARCC. “We saw students that were finishing the exam in five or seven minutes,” Martin said of PARCC, which was given in three parts, each designed to be no less than 90 minutes long."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-students-post-modest-gains-in-paarc-test-scores-wilson-high-school-sees-dramatic-drop/2016/08/30/eee76024-6e35-11e6-8365-b19e428a975e_story.html