20,000 kids missing from DCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really think most of this is all the shuffling around going on. Kids moving in with grandparents, enrolling or unenrolling at private schools, kindergartners being pulled to redshirt or attend an in person day care etc.

Let's see how things look in October before panicking.

moving in with grandparents? seriously? that is totally ridiculous. it is exactly what it looks like: massive numbers of poor students dropping out of the school system altogether. it's happening in city after city. everyone should be panicking.

But it's not what Perry presents it as. I'm at a high poverty school. Our students are enrolled and attending. I know staff at other high poverty schools and their students are there too. The issue is PAPERWORK and DC's strict requirement of enrolling and proving residency each year. The only grades that are truly under-enrolled are pre-school and pre-K. The city does need to address this, especially for at-risk kids.

Nobody cares about the paperwork (and we know DC doesn't lift a finger to try to prove residency). The issue is the number of kids logging into class. Last year there were 99,000 students in the system. According to the story, only 77,000 have actually logged in at least once. That's 20,000 who have never logged in -- not once. How many thousands more have only logged in once or twice?

The city should release daily figures on how many students are logging in.

As far as I can tell as a teacher the only ‘attendance’ data DCPS has is kids signing into Canvas at some point during the day. There is no official class period attendance being recorded. Teachers were told not to record attendance for class in Aspen. So there is no way the percent of kids attending class is even close to the percent of kids signing into Canvas. As an anecdote, my school was really proud of getting 97% attendance one day when I had at least 8 kids out of my classes (high school).

the city seems to have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy on children attending school.

That is ridiculous. What happens when school does return in person and these kids are 2,3,4 years below grade level?

You just described every (except maybe Wilson) high school in the city. And many MS. Your faux concern would be cute if it wasn't so cravenly in furtherance of your agenda. Let's see if your concern survives school reopening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really think most of this is all the shuffling around going on. Kids moving in with grandparents, enrolling or unenrolling at private schools, kindergartners being pulled to redshirt or attend an in person day care etc.

Let's see how things look in October before panicking.

moving in with grandparents? seriously? that is totally ridiculous. it is exactly what it looks like: massive numbers of poor students dropping out of the school system altogether. it's happening in city after city. everyone should be panicking.

But it's not what Perry presents it as. I'm at a high poverty school. Our students are enrolled and attending. I know staff at other high poverty schools and their students are there too. The issue is PAPERWORK and DC's strict requirement of enrolling and proving residency each year. The only grades that are truly under-enrolled are pre-school and pre-K. The city does need to address this, especially for at-risk kids.

Nobody cares about the paperwork (and we know DC doesn't lift a finger to try to prove residency). The issue is the number of kids logging into class. Last year there were 99,000 students in the system. According to the story, only 77,000 have actually logged in at least once. That's 20,000 who have never logged in -- not once. How many thousands more have only logged in once or twice?

The city should release daily figures on how many students are logging in.

As far as I can tell as a teacher the only ‘attendance’ data DCPS has is kids signing into Canvas at some point during the day. There is no official class period attendance being recorded. Teachers were told not to record attendance for class in Aspen. So there is no way the percent of kids attending class is even close to the percent of kids signing into Canvas. As an anecdote, my school was really proud of getting 97% attendance one day when I had at least 8 kids out of my classes (high school).

the city seems to have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy on children attending school.

That is ridiculous. What happens when school does return in person and these kids are 2,3,4 years below grade level?

You just described every (except maybe Wilson) high school in the city. And many MS. Your faux concern would be cute if it wasn't so cravenly in furtherance of your agenda. Let's see if your concern survives school reopening.

Teachers will ultimately get the blame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at a diverse Capitol Hill DCPS and there are 2 kids who haven't shown up for K once. They're on the teacher's schedule for testing (no idea if they showed up to that) so I don't think they've officially switched to a different school or anything, but they have literally never logged in for class AFAIK. A handful of other kids are rarely there. I don't know the situations of these kids, so it could be a mix of falling through the cracks entirely and hyper-involved homeschooling parents who are giving their kids a much better education. I worry a lot for the kids though and also for what classes are going to be like when kids do get back. There's always a range of abilities, but if they keep with the normal social promotion policy, it is going to be *insane* next year.

Maury isn’t diverse

Haha, 100% it’s not diverse at all.

I’m the PP and I’m at LT... which is diverse. Not sure why you randomly assumed I was at Maury when I said diverse? You’re right that Maury isn’t that diverse, but both LT and Peabody/Watkins are, so not sure why you’d start with the assumption that I’m lying?

They assumed you were at Maury because they're trolls with sad little lives devoid of love.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Story about how DC teachers have noticed a number of children sitting in homes with chirping smoke detectors.

WTF people. If you're not motivated enough to change a 9V battery in a smoke detector what can we then assume about the educational outcomes in that house?

Exactly. To H*ll with those kids; should've picked better parents, the little cretins.

[Anonymous]

"In one survey of 5,659 educators around the country, 34 percent of respondents said that no more than one in four students were attending their remote classes, and a majority said fewer than half their students were attending."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/22/us/schools-covid-attendance.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One out every five kids in DC has never attended school this year.

This is unconscionable.

They are actually really clear in the article that some of those kids have attended school, and they haven't calculated how many. Kids are counted as an incomplete enrollment if they

1) Started the paperwork, but didn't finish, even if they attended school.

OR

2) Finished the paperwork but didn't attend school.

I teach in a DC charter, and the first couple days of school, there is always a list of kids who show up and still have outstanding paperwork. For the younger kids, where parents are dropping off and picking up, we stop them at that point and make them go to the office. Usually if you physically stop them in the a.m., then they bring what they need in the p.m.. For the older kids, we make them get their parents on the phone. Lots of parents will answer their kids' cell when they won't answer a call from school. Even with those strategies, as you can see from the article, last year there were about 10K kids who hadn't finished the process by this point. And this year, we're making due with less effective strategies.

In addition, gathering the paperwork may be harder for families. Maybe they didn't do their regular well check up and so they don't have the doctor's paperwork. Maybe they are having trouble figuring out how to upload documents.

And finally, there is definitely more mobility in the system now. More families who were planning to enroll their ECE kids decided to stay with daycare or a babysitter and enroll next year. More families have sent the kids to stay with Grandma so they have childcare, making the kids no longer eligible in DC. More families have chosen private or homeschooling.

Yes, this is all concerning. But it's not that 1/5 of the students didn't attend school. It's more nuanced than that.

This was one of the better responses. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"In one survey of 5,659 educators around the country, 34 percent of respondents said that no more than one in four students were attending their remote classes, and a majority said fewer than half their students were attending."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/22/us/schools-covid-attendance.html

Wow

[Anonymous]

In DC, I'd like to see the breakdown by grade. If it's PK3 and 4 and parents are choosing private day care, not a big deal (though if low-income kids are at home and come to K behind it will be an issue--I wonder if DCPS will offer Junior Kindergarten or "begindergarten" or a similar program as some schools do). If it's adult ed, also less of a big deal--obviously getting a GED or HS degree at 23 rather than 24 is useful but I understand why people might defer. More of an issue for K-12.

I don't think DC has any idea how many kids are not enrolled. For example, I know a kid who graduated Appletree last year. Since it's only a PK program they aren't tracking him, and his IB school doesn't know he exists. This family is at least on the radar of some social service and government agencies, but is slipping through the cracks more than if there had been in-person school. I worry about kids who are even less connected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In DC, I'd like to see the breakdown by grade. If it's PK3 and 4 and parents are choosing private day care, not a big deal (though if low-income kids are at home and come to K behind it will be an issue--I wonder if DCPS will offer Junior Kindergarten or "begindergarten" or a similar program as some schools do). If it's adult ed, also less of a big deal--obviously getting a GED or HS degree at 23 rather than 24 is useful but I understand why people might defer. More of an issue for K-12.

I don't think DC has any idea how many kids are not enrolled. For example, I know a kid who graduated Appletree last year. Since it's only a PK program they aren't tracking him, and his IB school doesn't know he exists. This family is at least on the radar of some social service and government agencies, but is slipping through the cracks more than if there had been in-person school. I worry about kids who are even less connected.

DC knows. They sent to every school the list of kids who were enrolled the year before but not enrolled anywhere this year to see if they could help track the families down or if they had more information on the families (i.e. moved out of state, etc). This was true even for kids who were promoted out (i.e. ended 5th grade and should have moved to another school for 6th but didn't).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In DC, I'd like to see the breakdown by grade. If it's PK3 and 4 and parents are choosing private day care, not a big deal (though if low-income kids are at home and come to K behind it will be an issue--I wonder if DCPS will offer Junior Kindergarten or "begindergarten" or a similar program as some schools do). If it's adult ed, also less of a big deal--obviously getting a GED or HS degree at 23 rather than 24 is useful but I understand why people might defer. More of an issue for K-12.

I don't think DC has any idea how many kids are not enrolled. For example, I know a kid who graduated Appletree last year. Since it's only a PK program they aren't tracking him, and his IB school doesn't know he exists. This family is at least on the radar of some social service and government agencies, but is slipping through the cracks more than if there had been in-person school. I worry about kids who are even less connected.

DC knows. They sent to every school the list of kids who were enrolled the year before but not enrolled anywhere this year to see if they could help track the families down or if they had more information on the families (i.e. moved out of state, etc). This was true even for kids who were promoted out (i.e. ended 5th grade and should have moved to another school for 6th but didn't).

They know how many kids are enrolled. They know no data on kids attending classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"In one survey of 5,659 educators around the country, 34 percent of respondents said that no more than one in four students were attending their remote classes, and a majority said fewer than half their students were attending."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/22/us/schools-covid-attendance.html

Wow

Sad, but not surprised. There are no consequences for not attending class. Even the grading this year is based on low expectations. We are expecting kids to attend class based solely on intrinsic motivation if an adult isn’t around to force them. Most kids are not intrinsically motivated to go to school. This is such a sad situation all around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really think most of this is all the shuffling around going on. Kids moving in with grandparents, enrolling or unenrolling at private schools, kindergartners being pulled to redshirt or attend an in person day care etc.

Let's see how things look in October before panicking.

moving in with grandparents? seriously? that is totally ridiculous. it is exactly what it looks like: massive numbers of poor students dropping out of the school system altogether. it's happening in city after city. everyone should be panicking.

But it's not what Perry presents it as. I'm at a high poverty school. Our students are enrolled and attending. I know staff at other high poverty schools and their students are there too. The issue is PAPERWORK and DC's strict requirement of enrolling and proving residency each year. The only grades that are truly under-enrolled are pre-school and pre-K. The city does need to address this, especially for at-risk kids.

Nobody cares about the paperwork (and we know DC doesn't lift a finger to try to prove residency). The issue is the number of kids logging into class. Last year there were 99,000 students in the system. According to the story, only 77,000 have actually logged in at least once. That's 20,000 who have never logged in -- not once. How many thousands more have only logged in once or twice?

The city should release daily figures on how many students are logging in.

As far as I can tell as a teacher the only ‘attendance’ data DCPS has is kids signing into Canvas at some point during the day. There is no official class period attendance being recorded. Teachers were told not to record attendance for class in Aspen. So there is no way the percent of kids attending class is even close to the percent of kids signing into Canvas. As an anecdote, my school was really proud of getting 97% attendance one day when I had at least 8 kids out of my classes (high school).

the city seems to have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy on children attending school.

That is ridiculous. What happens when school does return in person and these kids are 2,3,4 years below grade level?

You just described every (except maybe Wilson) high school in the city. And many MS. Your faux concern would be cute if it wasn't so cravenly in furtherance of your agenda. Let's see if your concern survives school reopening.

Teachers will ultimately get the blame.

Who cares. They’ll be like sped teachers and be expected to teach 3 grade levels in a year but not always deliver.

Also 3 and 4 years? Dramatic much? Kids who are behind like that are likely the same poor kids who are in HS and can’t read. The system has failed them before Covid ever came around

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In DC, I'd like to see the breakdown by grade. If it's PK3 and 4 and parents are choosing private day care, not a big deal (though if low-income kids are at home and come to K behind it will be an issue--I wonder if DCPS will offer Junior Kindergarten or "begindergarten" or a similar program as some schools do). If it's adult ed, also less of a big deal--obviously getting a GED or HS degree at 23 rather than 24 is useful but I understand why people might defer. More of an issue for K-12.

I don't think DC has any idea how many kids are not enrolled. For example, I know a kid who graduated Appletree last year. Since it's only a PK program they aren't tracking him, and his IB school doesn't know he exists. This family is at least on the radar of some social service and government agencies, but is slipping through the cracks more than if there had been in-person school. I worry about kids who are even less connected.

DC knows. They sent to every school the list of kids who were enrolled the year before but not enrolled anywhere this year to see if they could help track the families down or if they had more information on the families (i.e. moved out of state, etc). This was true even for kids who were promoted out (i.e. ended 5th grade and should have moved to another school for 6th but didn't).

Well, if they know they weren't able to get this kid enrolled for at least the first 3 weeks of school and didn't do anything to make sure he had internet access or a device he could use. And I don't think they called CFSA to report educational neglect. I don't 100% blame DCPS or OSSE--there is a lot more the family and their existing supports should have done. But the kid is getting a lot less education than if there were in-person classes or even options where at-risk kids could be dropped off somewhere and do their virtual classes with some assistance from background-checked adults. That's really all I'm asking for and I don't understand how DCPS didn't even plan for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In DC, I'd like to see the breakdown by grade. If it's PK3 and 4 and parents are choosing private day care, not a big deal (though if low-income kids are at home and come to K behind it will be an issue--I wonder if DCPS will offer Junior Kindergarten or "begindergarten" or a similar program as some schools do). If it's adult ed, also less of a big deal--obviously getting a GED or HS degree at 23 rather than 24 is useful but I understand why people might defer. More of an issue for K-12.

I don't think DC has any idea how many kids are not enrolled. For example, I know a kid who graduated Appletree last year. Since it's only a PK program they aren't tracking him, and his IB school doesn't know he exists. This family is at least on the radar of some social service and government agencies, but is slipping through the cracks more than if there had been in-person school. I worry about kids who are even less connected.

DC knows. They sent to every school the list of kids who were enrolled the year before but not enrolled anywhere this year to see if they could help track the families down or if they had more information on the families (i.e. moved out of state, etc). This was true even for kids who were promoted out (i.e. ended 5th grade and should have moved to another school for 6th but didn't).

Well, if they know they weren't able to get this kid enrolled for at least the first 3 weeks of school and didn't do anything to make sure he had internet access or a device he could use. And I don't think they called CFSA to report educational neglect. I don't 100% blame DCPS or OSSE--there is a lot more the family and their existing supports should have done. But the kid is getting a lot less education than if there were in-person classes or even options where at-risk kids could be dropped off somewhere and do their virtual classes with some assistance from background-checked adults. That's really all I'm asking for and I don't understand how DCPS didn't even plan for that.

How do you know that this kid isn't enrolled in a school?

[Anonymous]

It's a long story how I know, but it's true. And I guarantee you this will not be the last child who enrolls in school without having been enrolled anywhere else this year.