Kaya Leaving; John Davis in as interim

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Volunteering at a school is great, but it's not going to help the root of the problem which is the backgrounds of where some of these kids come from.

I am the poster who I think you're responding to, and while I agree that children learn negative habits at home, if the problem is that Jack and Jill do not know how to read and I come to school and tutor them in reading such that by the end of the year, they know how to read, that skill (developed with me) is protective against Jack and Jill's family's negative habits.

I'm not saying that it is a magic bullet, because it's a huge problem, but when you break it down to the classroom level, you're not talking about hundreds of kids to whom the bandaid of volunteer work and tutoring is being applied - you're talking about individuals helping other individuals to succeed. If you want 25% of a classroom of 20 kids to be reading at grade level, get some friends together and tutor 5 kids in that class regularly. I would certainly prefer to do that than say "The thing you are doing is great, but it doesn't matter because the problem is too big for you to fix." Naturally, YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Original PP here.

I think that the Deal example illustrates perfectly how personally people take this. I don't think it's appropriate. No one is looking at Family X and saying, "Let's kick Family X to the curb so that it's less crowded for Family Y." Rationally, one would look at the physical capacities of schools and adjust the boundaries in order to make sure that no school is over-enrolled. It's not personal!

I am sympathetic to everyone trying to find solid education options for their kids, but I'm also sympathetic to the macro issue at play, which is that many individuals are not willing to invest in the collective, wherever or however that's defined.

I'm the poster you responded to, and I think we agree on the general problem and on the need to make decisions without letting personal or neighborhood bias control. But I still don't think it's so easy. Here's one really concrete example ...

Deal is overcrowded despite the boundary changes, and is projected to get significantly more overcrowded in the coming years. Some say the Deal boundaries should shrink further, which likely means at least one of the feeder elementary schools gets removed from Deal. Rationally, one would say Shepherd or Bancroft is the logical choice for removal, because they're farthest away from Deal and closest to other middle school options. But many parents in those neighborhoods will believe - just as fervently - that the rational choice is just an excuse to benefit other neighborhoods and block their children from attending Deal. They will offer various rational reasons for their position, such as claiming that DCPS needs to keep those elementary schools in the Deal feeder pattern to add to diversity, or by claiming there aren't very many students coming to Deal from those neighborhoods anyway.

So how do you decide which side is more rational?

of course everyone believes the solution that benefits them the most is the most rational. again, that is the point: these decisions should be made on a macro level, not based on special pleading from small groups.

Well, we definitely agree on the need for objective, macro-level decision-making. But the really hard part is that in most places - and certainly in DC - such decisions are inherently political. Every mayor and councilmember knows she will catch blowback from neighborhood constituents and other special interest groups if their viewpoints don't prevail, and every DME/Chancellor knows she needs to support the mayor's agenda.

Maybe the mayor will hire you and me to work together to develop the strategy for improving DCPS.

It's actually at least 3 of us, because I (the original PP) wasn't the one who posted about macro level/special pleading (though I agree!).

I think it would probably be easier to have the policy conversation if we had any kind of models of how to turn an entire failing system around. You can certainly frame unattractive things in a way that makes them LESS unattractive. There are so many points of entry as to what to fix, and I think that one thing that DCPS has really screwed the pooch on in the last 5 years is trying out a new solution pretty much every year. Expanded access to preschool. At-risk funding. Boundary revision. Extended day. Extended year. New teacher evaluation systems. New standardized tests. It is pretty difficult to measure the effectiveness of any one of those things without a slightly more longitudinal study of effectiveness. It may be that PARCC and Common Core are, overall, good for academic achievement in DC, but if we were just to look at the effectiveness of those things now, today, and determine whether to keep them or not based on their effectiveness in July 2016, we'd scrap that shit so fast.

We try throwing money at the problem, but that clearly isn't working. Is it that DCPS is spending money unwisely? Are there contracts that could be revisited and made more beneficial for students? Are there things that schools need that DCPS isn't covering that could be paid for by diverting money from other places?

We talk about holding teachers accountable, but are they trained in the many non-academic education aspects of their job? Do teachers in high poverty schools receive professional development in working with kids who have experienced trauma? Do teachers receive adequate support from their administrations when it comes to burn out and balance?

We talk about increasing parent engagement, but it has not been my observation that DCPS as an entity is effective at engaging with parents. I have seen some improvement in the last year (I'm a fan of the idea of the Community Action Teams and hope that they expand and become more useful), but there does not seem to be much other than lipservice in terms of engagement. It is hard to organize a PTA from scratch (I know, because I've done it), and many people do not have the time or the organizing skills to make that happen. Even when they do, if the school isn't used to having a PTA, it can be hard to engage with parents (as countless threads here show).

So I don't know what the solutions are. I don't think that John Davis will suddenly bring solutions either. I think that it really depends on who is brought in on a non-interim basis and what power that person has to effectuate actual changes.

[Anonymous]

Wondering if John Davis has the authority to negotiate a new contract with wtu? Does Henderson's departure explain why she stalled negotiations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Original PP here.

I think that the Deal example illustrates perfectly how personally people take this. I don't think it's appropriate. No one is looking at Family X and saying, "Let's kick Family X to the curb so that it's less crowded for Family Y." Rationally, one would look at the physical capacities of schools and adjust the boundaries in order to make sure that no school is over-enrolled. It's not personal!

I am sympathetic to everyone trying to find solid education options for their kids, but I'm also sympathetic to the macro issue at play, which is that many individuals are not willing to invest in the collective, wherever or however that's defined.

I'm the poster you responded to, and I think we agree on the general problem and on the need to make decisions without letting personal or neighborhood bias control. But I still don't think it's so easy. Here's one really concrete example ...

Deal is overcrowded despite the boundary changes, and is projected to get significantly more overcrowded in the coming years. Some say the Deal boundaries should shrink further, which likely means at least one of the feeder elementary schools gets removed from Deal. Rationally, one would say Shepherd or Bancroft is the logical choice for removal, because they're farthest away from Deal and closest to other middle school options. But many parents in those neighborhoods will believe - just as fervently - that the rational choice is just an excuse to benefit other neighborhoods and block their children from attending Deal. They will offer various rational reasons for their position, such as claiming that DCPS needs to keep those elementary schools in the Deal feeder pattern to add to diversity, or by claiming there aren't very many students coming to Deal from those neighborhoods anyway.

So how do you decide which side is more rational?

of course everyone believes the solution that benefits them the most is the most rational. again, that is the point: these decisions should be made on a macro level, not based on special pleading from small groups.

Well, we definitely agree on the need for objective, macro-level decision-making. But the really hard part is that in most places - and certainly in DC - such decisions are inherently political. Every mayor and councilmember knows she will catch blowback from neighborhood constituents and other special interest groups if their viewpoints don't prevail, and every DME/Chancellor knows she needs to support the mayor's agenda.

Maybe the mayor will hire you and me to work together to develop the strategy for improving DCPS.

It's actually at least 3 of us, because I (the original PP) wasn't the one who posted about macro level/special pleading (though I agree!).

I think it would probably be easier to have the policy conversation if we had any kind of models of how to turn an entire failing system around. You can certainly frame unattractive things in a way that makes them LESS unattractive. There are so many points of entry as to what to fix, and I think that one thing that DCPS has really screwed the pooch on in the last 5 years is trying out a new solution pretty much every year. Expanded access to preschool. At-risk funding. Boundary revision. Extended day. Extended year. New teacher evaluation systems. New standardized tests. It is pretty difficult to measure the effectiveness of any one of those things without a slightly more longitudinal study of effectiveness. It may be that PARCC and Common Core are, overall, good for academic achievement in DC, but if we were just to look at the effectiveness of those things now, today, and determine whether to keep them or not based on their effectiveness in July 2016, we'd scrap that shit so fast.

We try throwing money at the problem, but that clearly isn't working. Is it that DCPS is spending money unwisely? Are there contracts that could be revisited and made more beneficial for students? Are there things that schools need that DCPS isn't covering that could be paid for by diverting money from other places?

We talk about holding teachers accountable, but are they trained in the many non-academic education aspects of their job? Do teachers in high poverty schools receive professional development in working with kids who have experienced trauma? Do teachers receive adequate support from their administrations when it comes to burn out and balance?

We talk about increasing parent engagement, but it has not been my observation that DCPS as an entity is effective at engaging with parents. I have seen some improvement in the last year (I'm a fan of the idea of the Community Action Teams and hope that they expand and become more useful), but there does not seem to be much other than lipservice in terms of engagement. It is hard to organize a PTA from scratch (I know, because I've done it), and many people do not have the time or the organizing skills to make that happen. Even when they do, if the school isn't used to having a PTA, it can be hard to engage with parents (as countless threads here show).

So I don't know what the solutions are. I don't think that John Davis will suddenly bring solutions either. I think that it really depends on who is brought in on a non-interim basis and what power that person has to effectuate actual changes.

DCPS's problem truly is an easy fix.

Here it is in a nutshell: Create a culture and climate for learning.

How does DCPS do that? They develop a discipline policy that holds students accountable for appropriate behavior.

Giving teachers PD, evaluating them differently, bringing in new programs and tutorings, creating a wonderful curriculum are ALL MEANINGLESS if students are able to disrupt class by cussing, fighting, cussing at teachers, walking in and out of classrooms as they'd like and cussing out teachers who tell them not to...When students are sent out by teachers, they're sent right back. Teachers are told that the reason students challenge them to fight and act aggressively is because their lessons aren't engaging enough. The reason students stole from the teachers desk is because they didn't lock it. It's the teachers fault. When kids fight in class, guess who's to blame? The teacher whose lesson wasn't rigorous enough to hold their attention.

Teachers are told that it's not the kids fault they're angry and use profanity. It's the way their families speak, the language they hear in their neighborhoods. While this is true, the school still needs to send the message that the language and behavior are not okay there. Believe it or not, the majority of the kids will adapt. But they don't have to. So DC schools remain ineffective, violent, and unappealing for families that are serious about education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bye, Kaya!

But why wait until October? Why not leave now? Transition Davis in this summer and let the District begin the new school year with the new interim Chancellor instead of another (avoidable) post-school start exit and transition--especially one that's so huge.

The only reason to wait until October would be to give Bowser the time to conduct her national search and find a new replacement. Otherwise, you're just creating more turmoil.

Leave now.

No one will miss you.

You're out of your mind if you think you speak for everyone. You certainly don't speak for me, so stop claiming to.

Ask that other poster for a Quaalude. Like really, no one assumed you were being spoken for.

UN.CLENCH. Then BREATHE.

You're funny. You like to imagine people are all hot and bothered, just because they speak clearly. You're the one shouting "unclench and breathe" in all caps... Maybe just because you disagree with someone don't assume they can only think that way because they're unreasonably upset.

Oh yeah, and the word "no one" is all inclusive, so from a literal point, yes, that PP was presuming to speak for everyone. Aaaah, but having that pointed out to you no doubt strikes you as being about clenching too hard. You're funny!

You are seriously damaged.

A dissertation and drawn out explanation for what?

Good point. The fact that you were wrong was obvious, there was no point in writing another post. You're still funny though - 2 small paragraphs as a "dissertation" is another good funny insight into your view of things. Keep posting, it's a nice strange smile break in an interesting but tricky discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What changes have been made to the Early Childhood division?

The division has been split into two offices. The instructional portion of the division is now under the Office of Instructional Practice which is headed by Jason Kamras, the creator of LEAP. All Title 1 Early Childhood classrooms are under Head Start but the movement of the Instructional Team to Jason's office means that the focus of the work is solely on LEAP as opposed to everything laid out in the Head Start grant. Additionally, the director of the division who has overseen its growth and progress for the past 6 years, has handed in her resignation. This in and of itself is a huge blow for the direction of ECE in the District. Very unfortunate situation all round.

What's the name of the person who has resigned?

[Anonymous]

@ Anon 14:31

You are absolutely right, and it's a shame that this continues. I'm sure that there are some strong principals who have improved their school discipline policies, but the one I worked in did nothing but blame the teachers and continue to allow students to have access to special extra-curricular activities even when being violent toward classmates, wandering the school, and being incredibly disrespectful to teachers. It's so unfair to the other kids, 90% of whom do not act this way and are at school to learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:@ Anon 14:31

You are absolutely right, and it's a shame that this continues. I'm sure that there are some strong principals who have improved their school discipline policies, but the one I worked in did nothing but blame the teachers and continue to allow students to have access to special extra-curricular activities even when being violent toward classmates, wandering the school, and being incredibly disrespectful to teachers. It's so unfair to the other kids, 90% of whom do not act this way and are at school to learn.

I've found this as well: The majority of the students are there to learn. But the 10% are allowed to be so disruptive to the point of violence that it destroys the entire culture. Then the 10% becomes 20 when students who could go either way realize what they can get away with. That percentage increases to 30% once students give up trying to learn because it's simply useless.

It's truly the students who suffer when this type of behavior is allowed to flourish. Teachers pay will not be docked because students are acting like animals. However, the ways who come to learn do have their learning time docked. Tremendously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
DCPS's problem truly is an easy fix.

Here it is in a nutshell: Create a culture and climate for learning.

How does DCPS do that? They develop a discipline policy that holds students accountable for appropriate behavior.

Giving teachers PD, evaluating them differently, bringing in new programs and tutorings, creating a wonderful curriculum are ALL MEANINGLESS if students are able to disrupt class by cussing, fighting, cussing at teachers, walking in and out of classrooms as they'd like and cussing out teachers who tell them not to...When students are sent out by teachers, they're sent right back. Teachers are told that the reason students challenge them to fight and act aggressively is because their lessons aren't engaging enough. The reason students stole from the teachers desk is because they didn't lock it. It's the teachers fault. When kids fight in class, guess who's to blame? The teacher whose lesson wasn't rigorous enough to hold their attention.

Teachers are told that it's not the kids fault they're angry and use profanity. It's the way their families speak, the language they hear in their neighborhoods. While this is true, the school still needs to send the message that the language and behavior are not okay there. Believe it or not, the majority of the kids will adapt. But they don't have to. So DC schools remain ineffective, violent, and unappealing for families that are serious about education.

So how do you do that, though? When you say "create a culture" that does not sound like a specific, measurable thing. It also sounds to me like the OTHER things you list (develop curriculum, PD for teachers, etc.) are things that are often considered to be components to "creating a culture."

It sounds to me like as a teacher, your concern is that teachers are blamed for students' bad behavior while simultaneously being denied tools to manage that behavior. Clearly this is not universally true, since there are teachers who are able to maintain discipline. What are those teachers doing differently? Why are those methods not being passed on to other teachers?

[Anonymous]

Jason Kamras isn't over Human Resources anymore? Who heads that office?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
DCPS's problem truly is an easy fix.

Here it is in a nutshell: Create a culture and climate for learning.

How does DCPS do that? They develop a discipline policy that holds students accountable for appropriate behavior.

Giving teachers PD, evaluating them differently, bringing in new programs and tutorings, creating a wonderful curriculum are ALL MEANINGLESS if students are able to disrupt class by cussing, fighting, cussing at teachers, walking in and out of classrooms as they'd like and cussing out teachers who tell them not to...When students are sent out by teachers, they're sent right back. Teachers are told that the reason students challenge them to fight and act aggressively is because their lessons aren't engaging enough. The reason students stole from the teachers desk is because they didn't lock it. It's the teachers fault. When kids fight in class, guess who's to blame? The teacher whose lesson wasn't rigorous enough to hold their attention.

Teachers are told that it's not the kids fault they're angry and use profanity. It's the way their families speak, the language they hear in their neighborhoods. While this is true, the school still needs to send the message that the language and behavior are not okay there. Believe it or not, the majority of the kids will adapt. But they don't have to. So DC schools remain ineffective, violent, and unappealing for families that are serious about education.

So how do you do that, though? When you say "create a culture" that does not sound like a specific, measurable thing. It also sounds to me like the OTHER things you list (develop curriculum, PD for teachers, etc.) are things that are often considered to be components to "creating a culture."

It sounds to me like as a teacher, your concern is that teachers are blamed for students' bad behavior while simultaneously being denied tools to manage that behavior. Clearly this is not universally true, since there are teachers who are able to maintain discipline. What are those teachers doing differently? Why are those methods not being passed on to other teachers?

I think the post is specific enough. The way to do it is to create a discipline policy. You cannot expect teaching and learning to take place in chaos. Every functioning school system is such because they absolutely do not accept-much less justify-the types of behavior that are the norm in most DC schools.

And who are these teachers who have no issues with the lack of a discipline policy??? Where are they??? Across the board you will see teachers and visitors in underperforming schools bemoaning the lack of structure. There are teachers who've thrown up their hands decided they don't care as long as the pay check comes, their kids are doing well in life so forget those bums. They pass kids along en masse who don't do the work for the same reason. But that teacher who has supreme order whole others struggle is a myth used to justify turning a blind eye to poor behavior.

In functioning school systems admin deals with egregious behavior while educators teach. In DC the principals are afraid to deal with the kids as they respect NO ONE! Not even their parents!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:@ Anon 14:31

You are absolutely right, and it's a shame that this continues. I'm sure that there are some strong principals who have improved their school discipline policies, but the one I worked in did nothing but blame the teachers and continue to allow students to have access to special extra-curricular activities even when being violent toward classmates, wandering the school, and being incredibly disrespectful to teachers. It's so unfair to the other kids, 90% of whom do not act this way and are at school to learn.

DCPS teacher yes this is true, one student can seriously disrupt a class if there are no consequences and they are repeatedly sent back into the classroom. Profanity, throwing things, refusing to work etc...And now DCPS students will be evaluating teachers next school year. Jason Kamras deserves to be fired NOW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
DCPS's problem truly is an easy fix.

Here it is in a nutshell: Create a culture and climate for learning.

How does DCPS do that? They develop a discipline policy that holds students accountable for appropriate behavior.

Giving teachers PD, evaluating them differently, bringing in new programs and tutorings, creating a wonderful curriculum are ALL MEANINGLESS if students are able to disrupt class by cussing, fighting, cussing at teachers, walking in and out of classrooms as they'd like and cussing out teachers who tell them not to...When students are sent out by teachers, they're sent right back. Teachers are told that the reason students challenge them to fight and act aggressively is because their lessons aren't engaging enough. The reason students stole from the teachers desk is because they didn't lock it. It's the teachers fault. When kids fight in class, guess who's to blame? The teacher whose lesson wasn't rigorous enough to hold their attention.

Teachers are told that it's not the kids fault they're angry and use profanity. It's the way their families speak, the language they hear in their neighborhoods. While this is true, the school still needs to send the message that the language and behavior are not okay there. Believe it or not, the majority of the kids will adapt. But they don't have to. So DC schools remain ineffective, violent, and unappealing for families that are serious about education.

So how do you do that, though? When you say "create a culture" that does not sound like a specific, measurable thing. It also sounds to me like the OTHER things you list (develop curriculum, PD for teachers, etc.) are things that are often considered to be components to "creating a culture."

It sounds to me like as a teacher, your concern is that teachers are blamed for students' bad behavior while simultaneously being denied tools to manage that behavior. Clearly this is not universally true, since there are teachers who are able to maintain discipline. What are those teachers doing differently? Why are those methods not being passed on to other teachers?

I think the post is specific enough. The way to do it is to create a discipline policy. You cannot expect teaching and learning to take place in chaos. Every functioning school system is such because they absolutely do not accept-much less justify-the types of behavior that are the norm in most DC schools.

And who are these teachers who have no issues with the lack of a discipline policy??? Where are they??? Across the board you will see teachers and visitors in underperforming schools bemoaning the lack of structure. There are teachers who've thrown up their hands decided they don't care as long as the pay check comes, their kids are doing well in life so forget those bums. They pass kids along en masse who don't do the work for the same reason. But that teacher who has supreme order whole others struggle is a myth used to justify turning a blind eye to poor behavior.

In functioning school systems admin deals with egregious behavior while educators teach. In DC the principals are afraid to deal with the kids as they respect NO ONE! Not even their parents!

Trust me, every classroom is different some "disruptive" kids are specifically put in certain teachers classes so not all teachers teach the same children. If you were able to freely walk around the school you would see the craziness, everyone knows whose classrooms "those kids" are in!!! Sometimes it is because the teachers are veterans who can handle it better than the new teachers, sometimes it is punitive, sometimes it is about test scores (you can't get high test score in English/Math if the class is constantly disrupted) so "those" kids are put in another class for content teaching. If you don't teach, you have no idea what decisions are made behind closed doors. Teacher don't get to choose who they teach unless they are friends with the principal. No MEs next year, all teachers will now be at the mercy of their principals and there are few good ones of those around. Do you see how many new principals have been hired this year? Can you imagine working in a profession when everything changes every 10 months, some students have had no stability in terms of teachers, admin, or principals and are in a decrepit school, you don't think that impacts their learning and behavior? As an aide you get to see all sides of things, there are many children in DCPS with mental health and psychological problems never mind behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:11:53 again. Another "rational" option people may propose for Deal: Let's just add more trailer classrooms. Isn't it arguably rational to do as much as we can to enable as many students as physically possible to attend the highest-ranked middle school in DCPS?

As is probably obvious, I have my own view on what the logical choice is. But I also know other people will fiercely argue - and even believe - that their opposing viewpoint is just as rational.

Trust me there is no magic happening at DEAL for kids who are low performing, and the more kids who go to Deal the less high-performing it will become. No one wants to believe it so the myth of Deal lives on!!! It is not the building or the teachers, it's the kids and the "money" which pays for extra resources many of the other schools don't have.

[Anonymous]

A good teacher operates in a good system,not with a personal magic wand. Classroom discipline must be supported by positive schoolwide (and by extension, system wide) policies and expectations. Period. - twenty years teaching