Poll for Teachers. Your top 5 reasons for metro D.C poor performing schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The elephant in the room: poverty and low education level of the parents. The administrators are not willing to face it head on. The teachers are supposed to be miracle workers.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Educated parents = educated children

Yes, but not educated parent doesn't necessarily mean not educated children. It just depends on the parents and/or child, and often times it depends on the culture. There is an all boys catholic school in Watts CA where 100% of the kids are minorities (70 percent Latino and 30 percent black.), high FARMS rate, and they have 100% college acceptance rate (albiet, CSU level university, but some have gone to Ivy levels). Many are the first in their families to go to college.

http://abc7.com/education/all-boys-watts-high-school-has-100-percent-college-acceptance/777375/

Like a PP stated, there has to be the desire, and you can't force that on people. It's sad really that they don't see education as a ticket out no matter how many times they are told. I don't know if it's fear of the unknown or not wanting their kids to be "different" than the rest of the family.

There are many white Americans that are the same, and even Asian groups (like Hmongs, though that is changing).

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/these-groups-of-asian-americans-rarely-attend-college-but-california-is-trying-to-change-that/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not only poverty but the culture of poverty. I teach in a high FARMS school (not in DC). I think we are appr. 95% FARMS. Even if we gave money to the parents of the students, it probably wouldn't make a difference academically. Most years, 90% of my students have cars in their family. They never seem to go anywhere except stores and restaurants. Going on a field trip for them is eye opening. They could be visiting another planet for all they know. My students' parents believe that education happens in school. No matter how much we do to get parents to be involved (directly or indirectly) in their child's education, our efforts are mostly for naught. The only thing that gets parents into school is giveaways mostly in the form of gift cards. These students who qualify for free lunch sure do seem to have plenty of money for luxuries like cell phones (often newer versions than my own), electronics in the home like tablets, X-Box, etc. These same students often don't bring in school supplies. It is very frustrating to understand this culture when you don't come from it. But those who come from this culture don't go to college. We tout college and career readiness but I don't even know if college is what these families want for their kids. Some families in this neighborhood won't allow their high schoolers to go to magnet schools b/c the local high school is where they went and they turned out fine. Meanwhile, the local high school is near the bottom of our district. There are many fights and daily violence there. I want the best for my kids but many of the parents here seem to think the local option is good enough. Poverty is very concentrated where my school so too much poverty places a huge stress on the teachers, etc. I guess that is a districting/zoning issue. Attendance is an issue with kids not coming to school for reasons I used to laugh at when I first started here. Kids wouldn't come because 1) they overslept 2) it was raining/snowing, cold 3) their mom said they could stay home. All of our students live within walking distance except for special ed students who take a bus. None of our students go hungry (all get free breakfast and lunch and many get free dinner). We make sure all students have coats, backpacks, dental care, gloves, etc etc. I feel like the more we do, the more we are expected to do. I wish some of these students could be spread out into schools so they aren't all concentrated in one. Maybe if there were, they might meet kids who have plans for the future that involves higher education. I don't know if the solution is just one thing but I know that the teachers are tired and we just started. Back to planning.

This.

I agree with this completely. I taught in a very similar school, but in New York City, I am no longer teaching there. I had one parent who told me her son didn't come to school One day because it was raining and she couldn't get a taxi for him. I struggled for words to respond as he had already missed the maximum number of days after which point you are required to repeat the grade.

. I have many students who were English language learners, so even though many did have supportive parents, they could not help with homework or academics in the same way that others could. Some of my students who had family in the Caribbean or central America would routinely miss one to three weeks of school every year due to parent scheduling their vacations during the school year. Some students would just start three weeks late. Many would not do homework. I don't love homework, but when students are years behind in reading and math, some of it is necessary. It would just not be done. It needs to be a family and community effort and not all learning can take place in the classroom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few random thoughts. I am an ESOL teacher and work in a school with a high FARMS rate.

1. Pre-K is great for getting kids used to being in school. That is helpful, as when they get to K they don't have to take the time to learn how to stand in a line, sit on the carpet etc. And, yes, they do have to learn those things. Real instruction begins the first week of school, and if students do not know how to behave in a school setting then their energy goes to learning how to do that, not the academic concepts being taught.

That being said, Pre-K cannot cure everything. I just assessed all of our K students (not just ESOL) on their ability to write their name, ID shapes, colors, numbers to 31, letters and letter sounds. Many of the students who had a year of Pre-K still knew very few of these concepts. Reinforcement at home is key, and it doesn't happen in many families. What we're finding is that many parents don't really engage in much vocabulary-rich conversation with their kids. And by vocabulary-rich at this age, I mean things like talking about the colors of the food they're eating or that the TV is shaped like a rectangle.

2. This kind of goes along with my last point, but many people lump ELL students into one pile. There is a huge difference between kids who come to school with little or no English but have a very good grasp of their native language. Those students will need some time to learn the language, but the foundation is there. It's a lot easier to learn vocabulary and concepts in English when you already have the background knowledge even though it's in a different language. It's called positive transfer. These students make progress very quickly and catch up to grade level after a year or two. These types of students are pretty rare in my school, but we do have a few who are like this.

Then there are the students who were born in the US, can speak and understand English just fine, but come to school with extremely limited background knowledge. They come to Pre-K or K at 4 or 5 with very little vocabulary. They need to learn from the ground up. The curriculum (at least in my district) assumes that students have a certain amount of background knowledge from which to draw, but they just don't. So then content becomes more and more in depth and students fall farther and farther behind. Like 4th graders who are learning about different types of government, but don't know what a city, state, country or continent is and think that Barack Obama is the president of the whole world. This happens with ELLs and also students who don't speak or understand any language other than English.

My friend teaches in a school with an affluent population. We teach the same curriculum, but her students have such a large amount of background knowledge and experiences from which to draw. She may need to fill in a few gaps here and there, but at my school we're pretty much filling in gaps so much that the purpose of the unit ends up being lost. But if we try to restructure the unit so that kids will understand and actually get something out of it we get in trouble for not following the curriculum to the letter.

3. Teachers are pulled in way too many directions. Class sizes are large, considerable behavior problems are expected to be handled in class by the teacher, special ed. instruction and accommodations must be given by the teacher with little support, and there can be up to 6 reading groups in a class. It's just very difficult to have the time to give each student exactly what they need. Every lesson needs so much differentiation, and planning time is taken up by meetings, meetings and more meetings. Teachers at my school have 1 individual planning time per week. The rest is long-range common planning and data chats. Students who are below grade level must be receiving interventions and those interventions must be documented. If a student does not respond to interventions after a certain period of time a building-wide meeting with the parent is called. Often times the parent does not show up even though they said they would be there the day before. After a certain point, the process is stalled without any parent cooperation and students who may have some level of learning disability don't receive the help they need.

Teachers and schools keep being asked to do more and more. The teachers I work with are very dedicated to their students and want the best for them. But they are staying at school until 8pm and forgoing time with their own families in order to get everything done. There is strong pressure from administration in my school to sponsor after school clubs since our students don't get many extracurricular opportunities. There is no stipend money for these clubs, so teachers are expected to volunteer their time. We are also asked to sign up for slots during the summer to come in and serve lunch since our school qualifies for the summer lunch program but there isn't staff provided with the program. Teachers by nature are usually pretty generous people, but at some point enough is enough. The lines have blurred between teacher and caregiver.

These thoughts aren't in any particular order since I just wrote stream of consciousness style. Maybe I'll be back to give a more concise response and actually list top 5 reasons.

I am the teacher who posted previously and I also teach ESOL. I agree with everything you wrote especially about how we are expected to do more and more of what I consider the role of a parent. I went to my kid's BTS night and it was packed. Standing room only. I'm exhausted and yet I went to BTS night b/c I care and want to know about my child's teachers, curriculum, etc. My school's BTS night often has entire grade level teams (3 classrooms) where not one parent attends. 90%+ of the students who attend my school live within walking distance. When I leave BTS night, I see parents sitting on stoops and sitting out in front yards. If you can't spend an hour walking down the street to your child's school once a year, what does that say to your child?

[Anonymous]

Both parents working, family problems/struggles, multiculturalism, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are schools like Kipp, etc. that are helping change the don't-care culture, right?

But remember: Children have to enroll in schools like Kipp. Someone has to take steps to make it happen. That means kids who are enrolled in schools like Kipp already have a leg up on other kids of similar SES: They have parents who have an interest in and an ability to seek out more for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few random thoughts. I am an ESOL teacher and work in a school with a high FARMS rate.

1. Pre-K is great for getting kids used to being in school. That is helpful, as when they get to K they don't have to take the time to learn how to stand in a line, sit on the carpet etc. And, yes, they do have to learn those things. Real instruction begins the first week of school, and if students do not know how to behave in a school setting then their energy goes to learning how to do that, not the academic concepts being taught.

That being said, Pre-K cannot cure everything. I just assessed all of our K students (not just ESOL) on their ability to write their name, ID shapes, colors, numbers to 31, letters and letter sounds. Many of the students who had a year of Pre-K still knew very few of these concepts. Reinforcement at home is key, and it doesn't happen in many families. What we're finding is that many parents don't really engage in much vocabulary-rich conversation with their kids. And by vocabulary-rich at this age, I mean things like talking about the colors of the food they're eating or that the TV is shaped like a rectangle.

2. This kind of goes along with my last point, but many people lump ELL students into one pile. There is a huge difference between kids who come to school with little or no English but have a very good grasp of their native language. Those students will need some time to learn the language, but the foundation is there. It's a lot easier to learn vocabulary and concepts in English when you already have the background knowledge even though it's in a different language. It's called positive transfer. These students make progress very quickly and catch up to grade level after a year or two. These types of students are pretty rare in my school, but we do have a few who are like this.

Then there are the students who were born in the US, can speak and understand English just fine, but come to school with extremely limited background knowledge. They come to Pre-K or K at 4 or 5 with very little vocabulary. They need to learn from the ground up. The curriculum (at least in my district) assumes that students have a certain amount of background knowledge from which to draw, but they just don't. So then content becomes more and more in depth and students fall farther and farther behind. Like 4th graders who are learning about different types of government, but don't know what a city, state, country or continent is and think that Barack Obama is the president of the whole world. This happens with ELLs and also students who don't speak or understand any language other than English.

My friend teaches in a school with an affluent population. We teach the same curriculum, but her students have such a large amount of background knowledge and experiences from which to draw. She may need to fill in a few gaps here and there, but at my school we're pretty much filling in gaps so much that the purpose of the unit ends up being lost. But if we try to restructure the unit so that kids will understand and actually get something out of it we get in trouble for not following the curriculum to the letter.

3. Teachers are pulled in way too many directions. Class sizes are large, considerable behavior problems are expected to be handled in class by the teacher, special ed. instruction and accommodations must be given by the teacher with little support, and there can be up to 6 reading groups in a class. It's just very difficult to have the time to give each student exactly what they need. Every lesson needs so much differentiation, and planning time is taken up by meetings, meetings and more meetings. Teachers at my school have 1 individual planning time per week. The rest is long-range common planning and data chats. Students who are below grade level must be receiving interventions and those interventions must be documented. If a student does not respond to interventions after a certain period of time a building-wide meeting with the parent is called. Often times the parent does not show up even though they said they would be there the day before. After a certain point, the process is stalled without any parent cooperation and students who may have some level of learning disability don't receive the help they need.

Teachers and schools keep being asked to do more and more. The teachers I work with are very dedicated to their students and want the best for them. But they are staying at school until 8pm and forgoing time with their own families in order to get everything done. There is strong pressure from administration in my school to sponsor after school clubs since our students don't get many extracurricular opportunities. There is no stipend money for these clubs, so teachers are expected to volunteer their time. We are also asked to sign up for slots during the summer to come in and serve lunch since our school qualifies for the summer lunch program but there isn't staff provided with the program. Teachers by nature are usually pretty generous people, but at some point enough is enough. The lines have blurred between teacher and caregiver.

These thoughts aren't in any particular order since I just wrote stream of consciousness style. Maybe I'll be back to give a more concise response and actually list top 5 reasons.

I am the teacher who posted previously and I also teach ESOL. I agree with everything you wrote especially about how we are expected to do more and more of what I consider the role of a parent. I went to my kid's BTS night and it was packed. Standing room only. I'm exhausted and yet I went to BTS night b/c I care and want to know about my child's teachers, curriculum, etc. My school's BTS night often has entire grade level teams (3 classrooms) where not one parent attends. 90%+ of the students who attend my school live within walking distance. When I leave BTS night, I see parents sitting on stoops and sitting out in front yards. If you can't spend an hour walking down the street to your child's school once a year, what does that say to your child?

Do you think it would help if the lower SES and/or ESL students weren't so concentrated? Again, I don't know how you address this within DC proper, since so many affluent families have left the system all together. But in neighboring counties that have more affluent students attending public school, wouldn't having the ESL and low SES students less concentrated make teaching easier because you wouldn't be quite so overwhelmed, and you would have more time for differentiation? Wouldn't it make staffing clubs and events easier if you had a larger pool of parents who could fund and/or staff clubs and events? Wouldn't it improve the academic culture if the majority of the parents did prioritize education and attend events and expect excellence from their children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That being said, Pre-K cannot cure everything. I just assessed all of our K students (not just ESOL) on their ability to write their name, ID shapes, colors, numbers to 31, letters and letter sounds. Many of the students who had a year of Pre-K still knew very few of these concepts. Reinforcement at home is key, and it doesn't happen in many families. What we're finding is that many parents don't really engage in much vocabulary-rich conversation with their kids. And by vocabulary-rich at this age, I mean things like talking about the colors of the food they're eating or that the TV is shaped like a rectangle.

...

Then there are the students who were born in the US, can speak and understand English just fine, but come to school with extremely limited background knowledge. They come to Pre-K or K at 4 or 5 with very little vocabulary. They need to learn from the ground up. The curriculum (at least in my district) assumes that students have a certain amount of background knowledge from which to draw, but they just don't. So then content becomes more and more in depth and students fall farther and farther behind. Like 4th graders who are learning about different types of government, but don't know what a city, state, country or continent is and think that Barack Obama is the president of the whole world. This happens with ELLs and also students who don't speak or understand any language other than English.

I think these are incredibly important points that aren't well understood by many. There is an ENORMOUS difference in the way the average person of higher SES/education talks to her young children compared with how the average person of lower SES/education does. It cannot be overstated. Think about how and how much many of us talk to our toddlers and preschoolers all day long:

"Yes, that is a tricycle. Do you see how it has three wheels? One, two, three. Mommy's bicycle has only two wheels. One, two."

"Do you want to wear your purple shirt or your red shirt?" (Kid points to purple) "Purple it is! Purple is one of my favorite colors. Do you know what else is purple in this room? I see something purple on your bookshelf. Can you find it?"

"Oh my goodness, what could that loud noise be?! Did you hear it? There it is again! Let's go look. Do you think it's the trash truck? No? Maybe it's a fire truck!"

"Are you going to use your doctor kit to give me a check up? Okay. I wonder if I have a fever. Can you check my temperature with the thermometer? It goes under my tongue. No, thermometers don't go in people's nostrils." (Kid: What is a nostril?) "You know those two holes that everyone has in their noses? Those are nostrils. One nostril, two nostrils."

"Hey, look, there's the library. Maybe we can stop there on our way home. Do you remember the name of the librarian who helps us find our books? That's right, Miss Larla. What kind of books should we ask Miss Larla about?"

and on and on and on and on and on. All day, every day.

Look at the concepts and vocabulary in just those few sentences above. Now think about a home where these kind of conversations just don't take place. It is like this in many more homes than people realize. These children get to school and they are, literally, YEARS behind. And catching up is almost impossible, because the homes in which those conversations occur between adults and preschoolers become the homes in which adults and school-aged children talk about elections and the discovery of a planet in another solar system and how to calculate a batting average and what the difference is between a hurricane and a tropical storm and what ISIS is and what makes someone born a boy or a girl and why are some people transgender. And on and on and on and on and on. All day, every day. And so the children of the haves continue to pull away from the children of the have nots.

I think the culture of poverty can only be changed by trying to change the culture of *parenting* in poorer communities. But it is incredibly hard, because adults are shaped by the way they themselves were parented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

That being said, Pre-K cannot cure everything. I just assessed all of our K students (not just ESOL) on their ability to write their name, ID shapes, colors, numbers to 31, letters and letter sounds. Many of the students who had a year of Pre-K still knew very few of these concepts. Reinforcement at home is key, and it doesn't happen in many families. What we're finding is that many parents don't really engage in much vocabulary-rich conversation with their kids. And by vocabulary-rich at this age, I mean things like talking about the colors of the food they're eating or that the TV is shaped like a rectangle.

...

Then there are the students who were born in the US, can speak and understand English just fine, but come to school with extremely limited background knowledge. They come to Pre-K or K at 4 or 5 with very little vocabulary. They need to learn from the ground up. The curriculum (at least in my district) assumes that students have a certain amount of background knowledge from which to draw, but they just don't. So then content becomes more and more in depth and students fall farther and farther behind. Like 4th graders who are learning about different types of government, but don't know what a city, state, country or continent is and think that Barack Obama is the president of the whole world. This happens with ELLs and also students who don't speak or understand any language other than English.

I think these are incredibly important points that aren't well understood by many. There is an ENORMOUS difference in the way the average person of higher SES/education talks to her young children compared with how the average person of lower SES/education does. It cannot be overstated. Think about how and how much many of us talk to our toddlers and preschoolers all day long:

"Yes, that is a tricycle. Do you see how it has three wheels? One, two, three. Mommy's bicycle has only two wheels. One, two."

"Do you want to wear your purple shirt or your red shirt?" (Kid points to purple) "Purple it is! Purple is one of my favorite colors. Do you know what else is purple in this room? I see something purple on your bookshelf. Can you find it?"

"Oh my goodness, what could that loud noise be?! Did you hear it? There it is again! Let's go look. Do you think it's the trash truck? No? Maybe it's a fire truck!"

"Are you going to use your doctor kit to give me a check up? Okay. I wonder if I have a fever. Can you check my temperature with the thermometer? It goes under my tongue. No, thermometers don't go in people's nostrils." (Kid: What is a nostril?) "You know those two holes that everyone has in their noses? Those are nostrils. One nostril, two nostrils."

"Hey, look, there's the library. Maybe we can stop there on our way home. Do you remember the name of the librarian who helps us find our books? That's right, Miss Larla. What kind of books should we ask Miss Larla about?"

and on and on and on and on and on. All day, every day.

Look at the concepts and vocabulary in just those few sentences above. Now think about a home where these kind of conversations just don't take place. It is like this in many more homes than people realize. These children get to school and they are, literally, YEARS behind. And catching up is almost impossible, because the homes in which those conversations occur between adults and preschoolers become the homes in which adults and school-aged children talk about elections and the discovery of a planet in another solar system and how to calculate a batting average and what the difference is between a hurricane and a tropical storm and what ISIS is and what makes someone born a boy or a girl and why are some people transgender. And on and on and on and on and on. All day, every day. And so the children of the haves continue to pull away from the children of the have nots.

I think the culture of poverty can only be changed by trying to change the culture of *parenting* in poorer communities. But it is incredibly hard, because adults are shaped by the way they themselves were parented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is not only poverty but the culture of poverty. I teach in a high FARMS school (not in DC). I think we are appr. 95% FARMS. Even if we gave money to the parents of the students, it probably wouldn't make a difference academically. Most years, 90% of my students have cars in their family. They never seem to go anywhere except stores and restaurants. Going on a field trip for them is eye opening. They could be visiting another planet for all they know. My students' parents believe that education happens in school. No matter how much we do to get parents to be involved (directly or indirectly) in their child's education, our efforts are mostly for naught. The only thing that gets parents into school is giveaways mostly in the form of gift cards. These students who qualify for free lunch sure do seem to have plenty of money for luxuries like cell phones (often newer versions than my own), electronics in the home like tablets, X-Box, etc. These same students often don't bring in school supplies. It is very frustrating to understand this culture when you don't come from it. But those who come from this culture don't go to college. We tout college and career readiness but I don't even know if college is what these families want for their kids. Some families in this neighborhood won't allow their high schoolers to go to magnet schools b/c the local high school is where they went and they turned out fine. Meanwhile, the local high school is near the bottom of our district. There are many fights and daily violence there. I want the best for my kids but many of the parents here seem to think the local option is good enough. Poverty is very concentrated where my school so too much poverty places a huge stress on the teachers, etc. I guess that is a districting/zoning issue. Attendance is an issue with kids not coming to school for reasons I used to laugh at when I first started here. Kids wouldn't come because 1) they overslept 2) it was raining/snowing, cold 3) their mom said they could stay home. All of our students live within walking distance except for special ed students who take a bus. None of our students go hungry (all get free breakfast and lunch and many get free dinner). We make sure all students have coats, backpacks, dental care, gloves, etc etc. I feel like the more we do, the more we are expected to do. I wish some of these students could be spread out into schools so they aren't all concentrated in one. Maybe if there were, they might meet kids who have plans for the future that involves higher education. I don't know if the solution is just one thing but I know that the teachers are tired and we just started. Back to planning.

Thank you for taking the time to post this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both parents working, family problems/struggles, multiculturalism, etc

No. There is no evidence that supports this.

[Anonymous]

Mcps is not going to close the achievement gap - they may cover it up some. But in our lifetimes it is not going to happen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not only poverty but the culture of poverty. I teach in a high FARMS school (not in DC). I think we are appr. 95% FARMS. Even if we gave money to the parents of the students, it probably wouldn't make a difference academically. Most years, 90% of my students have cars in their family. They never seem to go anywhere except stores and restaurants. Going on a field trip for them is eye opening. They could be visiting another planet for all they know. My students' parents believe that education happens in school. No matter how much we do to get parents to be involved (directly or indirectly) in their child's education, our efforts are mostly for naught. The only thing that gets parents into school is giveaways mostly in the form of gift cards. These students who qualify for free lunch sure do seem to have plenty of money for luxuries like cell phones (often newer versions than my own), electronics in the home like tablets, X-Box, etc. These same students often don't bring in school supplies. It is very frustrating to understand this culture when you don't come from it. But those who come from this culture don't go to college. We tout college and career readiness but I don't even know if college is what these families want for their kids. Some families in this neighborhood won't allow their high schoolers to go to magnet schools b/c the local high school is where they went and they turned out fine. Meanwhile, the local high school is near the bottom of our district. There are many fights and daily violence there. I want the best for my kids but many of the parents here seem to think the local option is good enough. Poverty is very concentrated where my school so too much poverty places a huge stress on the teachers, etc. I guess that is a districting/zoning issue. Attendance is an issue with kids not coming to school for reasons I used to laugh at when I first started here. Kids wouldn't come because 1) they overslept 2) it was raining/snowing, cold 3) their mom said they could stay home. All of our students live within walking distance except for special ed students who take a bus. None of our students go hungry (all get free breakfast and lunch and many get free dinner). We make sure all students have coats, backpacks, dental care, gloves, etc etc. I feel like the more we do, the more we are expected to do. I wish some of these students could be spread out into schools so they aren't all concentrated in one. Maybe if there were, they might meet kids who have plans for the future that involves higher education. I don't know if the solution is just one thing but I know that the teachers are tired and we just started. Back to planning.

This.

Yes.

But then, what's the solution?

I don't think this notion is a solution in and of itself, but I think it would help. Might not work in DC since so many families of higher SES are not in the system and attend private. But I think it would help tremendously in suburban areas just outside of DC that have VERY segregated school systems (MoCo, Fairfax, Arlington come to mind). If the students are immersed in an environment that DOES value education and effort from an early age, like Pre-K, they might be more likely to adopt that outlook. Also, they would have access to a wider variety of enrichment activities, which would be beneficial in multiple ways. For instance, let's say your school has an active PTA that can fund/staff something like a Chess Club. Not only might a student learn to play chess, which might improve logic through the ability to visualize, analyze, and think critically (which might even improve academic achievement), but they would be gaining access to a hobby that many elite/high achieving students share. I know I'm generalizing here. It could be violin lessons, or French lessons, or whatever. The more things like this that an underprivileged child can be exposed to, the better off they will be. Not just academically, but socially, too. They will have more in common with the peers they might (hopefully) encounter later in life during higher education.

This could be studied in some of the DC elementary schools which have increasing #s of high SES kids in the lower grades due to more high SES families moving into a neighborhood and using the local school who plan on staying at the school (e.g., in Ward 6 - Ludlow-Taylor, Maury, JO Wilson, Payne).

[Anonymous]

Get to the point. We cannot have an open discussion about these issues if every non liberal is called a racist or biased etc. people need to stick with facts respect and open mindedness (but not in the liberal sense)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dolly Parton's excellent free book program has expanded to DC and to many states. That might address part of what 17:13 was referring to, lack of books.

But someone has to go online and request to be part of the program to get the books. If the families don't care about books and education, you need someone to do this for the family. Maybe kids should sign up through/at school.