Alexandria HSs

[Anonymous]

The Little School That Could in Alexandria
Jefferson-Houston on track for accreditation.
Jefferson-Houston School.
Jefferson-Houston School. Photo by Vernon Miles.
By Vernon Miles Tuesday, June 5, 2018
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Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni (left) and Interim Superintendent Lois Berlin.

#Officially, the Jefferson-Houston School’s accreditation status won’t be known until July or August. But unofficially, looking at the testing data, school officials say the school is on track to return to its long-awaited accreditation status. Over the last four years, testing scores have continually increased between 19 and 31 points.

#It’s a long way for the school that, in 2012, lost its accreditation status after students scored only 65 percent and 35 percent on the state reading and math exams. New school leadership, and new testing standards that tracked progress as well as scores, have helped push the school back towards accreditation.

#“Looking at the data, we continue to be excited,” said Christopher Phillips, principal of Jefferson-Houston. “We won’t know for sure until July or August, but we’re excited for that growth.”

#Celebrating Jefferson-Houston’s progress, Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni visited the school on May 25 to speak with school administrators and tour the building. Qarni spoke with teachers about challenges at the local and statewide level. One of the largest issues facing the state, Qarni said, is teacher shortages.

#“It doesn’t help with recruitment, but for retention, we’re taking the five-year Master’s Degree plan to a four-year plan,” said Qarni. “Some universities have embraced it, others are struggling.”

#But for recruitment and retention, Qarni ultimately agreed the state will have to focus on fair pay for teachers.

#“We have to consider teacher compensation,” said Qarni. “Virginia is near the bottom. Medicaid expansion would also help with teacher salaries.”

#Phillips said the success at the school has come from a focus on individual students and their individual growth rather than being worried about schoolwide progress.

#“As they’re working on reading or science, you can see them at the start and the ending; you can see the positive impact,” said Phillips. “Overall performance, not just on standardized tests, has grown.”

#During the conversation with administrators, Qarni said the state is working to shift away from a focus on standardized testing.

#“This puts a lot of pressure on [our teachers],” said Qarni. “We need to get information to everyone that there is a shift occurring. Starting next year, we’re shifting the way we do SOL assessments. I’m not against assessments, but it’s a toxic testing environment.”

#Phillips says the positive growth at the school has had an impact on the students.

#“Kids are excited,” said Phillips. “Kids come up to up to us and say ‘look at this assignment!’ They know what this means.”

#Phillips said having the parents onboard and having a close relationship with the surrounding community has been vital.

#“Connecting the pieces, it’s like an orchestra,” said Phillips. “Everything has to work together to sound good. One year we had disconnected pieces, but by year two we added more pieces and kept them all aligned and working together. They all have an impact on the others.”

#For Phillips, it is also his last year at the school.

#“I’m going to miss this community,” said Phillips. “I claim every kid as mine, academically and socially.”

#On May 24, Interim Superintendent Lois Berlin announced M Scott Berkowitz would take over as Principal next year. Berkowitz currently co-leads C.W. Harris Elementary School in Washington D.C. Berkowitz worked as a math and science teacher in Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) between 2004 and 2013, including one year at Jefferson Houston.

#“The next principal is going to see more growth,” said Phillips. “The school is on a positive trajectory. The school needs a new vision. It’s time for the next step forwards.”

http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2018/jun/05/little-school-could-alexandria/

[Anonymous]

Alexandria City Public Schools and subsequent colleges (or not) lost to suicide quite a number of white boys over the last years. Something to think about: are we letting our male students in ACPS down?

I miss them all. They were remarkable kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria City Public Schools and subsequent colleges (or not) lost to suicide quite a number of white boys over the last years. Something to think about: are we letting our male students in ACPS down?

I miss them all. They were remarkable kids.

I don’t understand your comment. White male students at/from ACPS are committing suicide?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria City Public Schools and subsequent colleges (or not) lost to suicide quite a number of white boys over the last years. Something to think about: are we letting our male students in ACPS down?

I miss them all. They were remarkable kids.

I don’t understand your comment. White male students at/from ACPS are committing suicide?

In recent years, white male students in Alexandria City who went to ACPS and beyond committed suicide. I only raise that because we are a City, our schools represent us, and an above average number of males lost there way. ACPS is not known for stand out male teachers or even male teachers.

Another third rail. Yes, I went there. We spent decades here in ACPS and Alexandria City and this needs to be addressed imho.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria City Public Schools and subsequent colleges (or not) lost to suicide quite a number of white boys over the last years. Something to think about: are we letting our male students in ACPS down?

I miss them all. They were remarkable kids.

I don’t understand your comment. White male students at/from ACPS are committing suicide?

In recent years, white male students in Alexandria City who went to ACPS and beyond committed suicide. I only raise that because we are a City, our schools represent us, and an above average number of males lost there way. ACPS is not known for stand out male teachers or even male teachers.

Another third rail. Yes, I went there. We spent decades here in ACPS and Alexandria City and this needs to be addressed imho.

What the hell are you talking about?

[Anonymous]

Get involved!

https://www.acps.k12.va.us/hsproject

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get involved!

https://www.acps.k12.va.us/hsproject

Everyone’s chance to lose your job attending work-hours meetings, to have a discussion limited to the specific subject-matter specified by the school board, to have the discussion “moderated” and “facilitated” by someone reporting your comments to the school board (any maybe even to your kids’ school!), and to conclude the “community engagement” process by agreeing to everything the school board proposed, because that’s the way they will report it even if it’s absolutely untrue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get involved!

https://www.acps.k12.va.us/hsproject

That survey is the biggest piece of non-substantive fluff. Without major personnel changes all of this is meaningless.

But congrats to the marketing/consulting firm that's about to make 7 figures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get involved!

https://www.acps.k12.va.us/hsproject

That survey is the biggest piece of non-substantive fluff. Without major personnel changes all of this is meaningless.

But congrats to the marketing/consulting firm that's about to make 7 figures.

The survey is incredibly patronizing. Really insulting exercise.

[Anonymous]

Fairfax teacher here to throw gas on the fire. This week is new teacher week and I understand that there are over 30 new FCPS teachers who were in ACPS last year, many from T.C. Williams. I'm just a stupid teacher but that seems unsustainable for Alexandria. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get involved!

https://www.acps.k12.va.us/hsproject

That survey is the biggest piece of non-substantive fluff. Without major personnel changes all of this is meaningless.

But congrats to the marketing/consulting firm that's about to make 7 figures.

+1

ACPS is always doing this silly surveys that amount to nothing. Their timeline is crazy. It's like 5 years away. I am pretty sure I answered a similar survey back when my kid was in elementary and nothing happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get involved!

https://www.acps.k12.va.us/hsproject

Everyone’s chance to lose your job attending work-hours meetings, to have a discussion limited to the specific subject-matter specified by the school board, to have the discussion “moderated” and “facilitated” by someone reporting your comments to the school board (any maybe even to your kids’ school!), and to conclude the “community engagement” process by agreeing to everything the school board proposed, because that’s the way they will report it even if it’s absolutely untrue.

I lol'd

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get involved!

https://www.acps.k12.va.us/hsproject

That survey is the biggest piece of non-substantive fluff. Without major personnel changes all of this is meaningless.

But congrats to the marketing/consulting firm that's about to make 7 figures.

Its a first visioning step, not a blue print at this point.

And its about planning for high school capacity, not about reforming the system. Which maybe should be done, but is up to the school board, which is up to the voters. Maybe you should run?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get involved!

https://www.acps.k12.va.us/hsproject

Everyone’s chance to lose your job attending work-hours meetings, to have a discussion limited to the specific subject-matter specified by the school board, to have the discussion “moderated” and “facilitated” by someone reporting your comments to the school board (any maybe even to your kids’ school!), and to conclude the “community engagement” process by agreeing to everything the school board proposed, because that’s the way they will report it even if it’s absolutely untrue.

You think kids are going to get punished because of something a parent says at an outreach meeting? Really? Pretty big risk they would be taking, to discsourage speech they would be ignoring any way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get involved!

https://www.acps.k12.va.us/hsproject

That survey is the biggest piece of non-substantive fluff. Without major personnel changes all of this is meaningless.

But congrats to the marketing/consulting firm that's about to make 7 figures.

Its a first visioning step, not a blue print at this point.

And its about planning for high school capacity, not about reforming the system. Which maybe should be done, but is up to the school board, which is up to the voters. Maybe you should run?

Right. Because in Alexandria, unless you run for school board, you have no right to be angry about the schools.

And BTW, where in this alleged survey is there a single question about capacity? There isn’t one. The “capacity” decisions were already made last year, with no disclosure and no real open input. This is just window dressing to justify the decision, after the fact. Trump would be proud.