Why are so many DC schools so bad?

[Anonymous]

It is hard for me to understand how fewer than 10-20% of students could be proficient in math and English in elementary school, but that's the case with a sizable portion of the schools in neighborhoods where I can afford to live in DC. How do kids get that far behind where they are supposed to be for their age? Is it the schools themselves? Is it the parents? Is it something else about their environment? What an incredibly sad state of affairs.

[Anonymous]

Google 30 million word gap study.

[Anonymous]

It's the poverty...please educate yourself about what being poor does to a child. The effects of poverty start in the womb. It's not the schools...it's the lack of prenatal care, lack of parental education, poor nutrition, lack of books in the home, fewer than 30 million words spoken to the child before 3 yrs, even fewer uplifting words spoken, lack of sooo many things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's the poverty...please educate yourself about what being poor does to a child. The effects of poverty start in the womb. It's not the schools...it's the lack of prenatal care, lack of parental education, poor nutrition, lack of books in the home, fewer than 30 million words spoken to the child before 3 yrs, even fewer uplifting words spoken, lack of sooo many things.

It's also the schools

[Anonymous]

I'm familiar with that concept. Are there really 80-90 percent of parents in DC who are not talking/reading to their children enough? What do these people do for a living and how do they afford to live in DC?

[Anonymous]

The latest data from OSSE says that 74% of DC public school children (charter and dcps) are economically disadvantaged. And much of it is multi-generational. So not 90% but still staggering.

[Anonymous]

I've wondered this for a while. Where I'm from, if a kid doesn't pass yearly, then they would go to intensive summer school.

I worked on a literacy council in DC. I was shocked how low the literacy rates were in DC. (literacy was defined as reading a receipt) I would have assumed in a country like this, that literacy would be close to 95%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm familiar with that concept. Are there really 80-90 percent of parents in DC who are not talking/reading to their children enough? What do these people do for a living and how do they afford to live in DC?

Section 8 housing, public housing, renting a dilapidated house from a the owner who has moved to Maryland or Virginia, living 3 generations in one house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm familiar with that concept. Are there really 80-90 percent of parents in DC who are not talking/reading to their children enough? What do these people do for a living and how do they afford to live in DC?

Where are you from?? parents? There usually is just one and it might be a grandma even. Talking/reading to their children?? lol

DC has a lot of housing projects. That's how they afford to live here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm familiar with that concept. Are there really 80-90 percent of parents in DC who are not talking/reading to their children enough? What do these people do for a living and how do they afford to live in DC?

Where are you from?? parents? There usually is just one and it might be a grandma even. Talking/reading to their children?? lol

DC has a lot of housing projects. That's how they afford to live here.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/02/15/cheat-sheet-states-poverty/23325629/

[Anonymous]

There's a number of different factors, both a lot listed above and more. Forgive me for this being long. I used to do some work with agencies who had to deal with DCPS, so I observed or experienced a lot of these that others might not list.

One issue is special education - DDS has failed on special ed services for so many decades that judges have pretty much guaranteed that if you go to court your child will get placement at private schools paid for by the city. So about 30% of all funds go to the lawsuits. DC is one of the few cities where higher end law firms take education cases because they are a guaranteed win and there is no cap on legal fees.

High poverty: so many of DC's schools are Title I schools (free or reduced lunch, used as an indicator of poverty), and with some schools the rate of free lunch is 99%. With that level of high poverty students, there are a wealth of other issues that have to be dealt with, kids don't have the level of home support (reading for pleasure, enrichment, etc.) and for many parents the emphasis is that kids go to school as a place to babysit and take them off of their hands vs. a place to learn.

Organizational dysfunction: central office is disorganized and dysfunctional, and it rolls from the top down. Under Arlene Ackerman (remember her?), schools went to a budgeting system where each principal was responsible for their whole budget, and very few had experience with it. Supplies and books don't get delivered, people find end-arounds or give up, and schools get dirty and run down.

Churn: one of the best things happening now is that Henderson has stayed, because studies have shown that superintendents in urban/high poverty school districts can only make significant change if they stay 5 years or more, and that rarely happens. During one year, I remember the position changing three times? With that going on, teachers resort to "behind the door" teaching - a new reformer comes in, teachers nod and smile during professional development, then they get back to their classrooms and do the same old thing once their doors are shut, and they wait for you to resign or be replaced in a short period of time.

With all of this, parents who have high expectations for their kids pull out of the system. If they have the means they go to private schools, or they move to the suburbs with good schools. Repeat all of this for decades and you have a level of systemic failure that is hard to change.

There's more, but that's a few things that make improving DC schools challenging.

[Anonymous]

I think some of the above information is a bit dated now - especially with respect to special Ed and private school placements, which is a good thing.

Also wrt FARM rated - when you see a school today with 99% it means they have more than 40% so they offer the benefit to all students. Actual poverty rates can be anywhere from 49 to 100% - still very high but not quite as bad as the "99" makes it seem.

[Anonymous]

Real issue is no one has solutions to poverty's multigenerational effects on education. No one likes to tell poor people their children will end up the same. It's just one more way the promise of the American Dream isn't available to all.

[Anonymous]

The no one has solutions argument is bullshit. Poor people aren't stupid--give anyone access to opportunity and they'll take it.

My grandmother grew up doing migrant farmwork, but still, she--and many many others from her poor, rural high school went to a state school for college and worked their way up. My other grandmother was a war widow with an infant and 16. She grew up eating lard on toast. She, too, put herself through school (and at that point with four kids) and became successful selling real estate.

We were the gentrifying yuppies at my poor, inner city elementary school growing up, but we weren't the only ones. It was an amazingly diverse place, where students from all backgrounds learned together. And we all did learn. The magnet school I attended after skewed slightly more affluent, but there too were families from all over.

We mixed. And I think that is the key. The mantra that poor kids are just poor and that you can't risk your own children being "exposed" to them is bullshit and sadly pervasive now. And that is a new sentiment. And a disturbing one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's the poverty...please educate yourself about what being poor does to a child. The effects of poverty start in the womb. It's not the schools...it's the lack of prenatal care, lack of parental education, poor nutrition, lack of books in the home, fewer than 30 million words spoken to the child before 3 yrs, even fewer uplifting words spoken, lack of sooo many things.

+1