So, where did Mayor Fenty's kids show up for school?

[Anonymous]

Do your homework. Take a look at the DC standards.

http://dcps.dc.gov/portal/site/DCPS/menuitem.ee7836fa3e798a932c69621014f62010/?vgnextoid=22aba12cbf242210VgnVCM100000416f0201RCRD&vgnextfmt=default

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know that Fenty's neighbor's are upset by him skipping West -- probably more by him getting around the rules that apply to everyone else. I don't know of anyone in Crestwood who sends their kids to West or Powell. Everyone goes OOB, charters, or private.

Exactly; another thread I read said the Mayor's neighbors who go the OOB route were upset that he got a spot through rule bending (implicitly that could have been theirs...). But let me pose this--imagine the Mayor's kids did go to West. Don't you think the schools ratings with the neighbors might shoot up? I do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know that Fenty's neighbor's are upset by him skipping West -- probably more by him getting around the rules that apply to everyone else. I don't know of anyone in Crestwood who sends their kids to West or Powell. Everyone goes OOB, charters, or private.

Exactly; another thread I read said the Mayor's neighbors who go the OOB route were upset that he got a spot through rule bending (implicitly that could have been theirs...). But let me pose this--imagine the Mayor's kids did go to West. Don't you think the schools ratings with the neighbors might shoot up? I do.

Good point.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous Take a look at the DC standards.

http://dcps.dc.gov/portal/site/DCPS/menuitem.ee7836fa3e798a932c69621014f62010/?vgnextoid=22aba12cbf242210VgnVCM100000416f0201RCRD&vgnextfmt=default

and here are the arts, music, and PE standards too:
http://dcps.dc.gov/portal/site/DCPS/menuitem.06de50edb2b17a932c69621014f62010/?vgnextoid=78dd112f62c32210VgnVCM100000416f0201RCRD&vgnextchannel=22aba12cbf242210VgnVCM100000416f0201RCRD&vgnextfmt=default

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do your homework. Take a look at the DC standards.

http://dcps.dc.gov/portal/site/DCPS/menuitem.ee7836fa3e798a932c69621014f62010/?vgnextoid=22aba12cbf242210VgnVCM100000416f0201RCRD&vgnextfmt=default

pretty thin gruel here

[Anonymous]

Really? They've been rated among the highest in the US. Feel free to crap on the schools themselves, but you're going to need to defend your criticism of the standards. Clifford Janey did a good job here. Too bad Fenty rode him out on a rail...

[Anonymous]

I don't think where Fenty sends his kids would affect his neighbors' feelings about the neighborhood school. It might give a big boost to current West parents though.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think where Fenty sends his kids would affect his neighbors' feelings about the neighborhood school.

I don't know about that. Consider these two hypothetical conversations between neighbors:

Neighbor 1: Hey, how is our local school?

Neighbor 2: It sucks. Nobody here sends their kids there.

or:

Neighbor 1: Hey, how is our local school?

Neighbor 2: Well, it's good enough for the mayor's boys.

I think the second conversation would make a big difference on "Neighbor 1's" perception of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really? They've been rated among the highest in the US. Feel free to crap on the schools themselves, but you're going to need to defend your criticism of the standards. Clifford Janey did a good job here. Too bad Fenty rode him out on a rail...

rated highest in the U.S. by whom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? They've been rated among the highest in the US. Feel free to crap on the schools themselves, but you're going to need to defend your criticism of the standards. Clifford Janey did a good job here. Too bad Fenty rode him out on a rail...

rated highest in the U.S. by whom?

They are a pretty straightforward copy of the Massachusetts standards--considered a pre-eminent school system in the nation. Janey was a slow little turtle, but he was getting things done in his methodical non-rock-star way.

[Anonymous]

Janey was no turtle! But standards are ridiculous. We need a good old-fashioned CURRICULUM.

[Anonymous]

Janey squandered much time and dollars on the standards process copying other state standards that are only marginally better than what we already had. Especially at the elementary level, it's the Flat Stanley approach to Social Studies--my community, my city, my state, my country, and then, in 6th grade, the world in 10 months. Very old fashioned. Cheats elementary students out of learning anything about world history and geography. The Language Arts standards are heavily skill-based with little content. The science sequence is awful, repetitive.

Is this watered-down fare really good enough for your child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Janey squandered much time and dollars on the standards process copying other state standards that are only marginally better than what we already had. Especially at the elementary level, it's the Flat Stanley approach to Social Studies--my community, my city, my state, my country, and then, in 6th grade, the world in 10 months. Very old fashioned. Cheats elementary students out of learning anything about world history and geography. The Language Arts standards are heavily skill-based with little content. The science sequence is awful, repetitive.

Is this watered-down fare really good enough for your child?

I believe the the elementary school standards in DCPS range from my city (3rd), to early American history (4th), to mid-to modern (5th Grade--I taught colonies to country...Civil War etc, fascinating stuff) to geography in 6th and then World after...

The beauty of standards is that they set the learning goals (ie. child can describe varied forms of transportation used in Westward expansion) and then the teacher can certainly use a standard textbook for background, but range in method: skits assuming the character of a historical personage, crafting, essay, report.... With standards you can change the text etc., without changing the expectations of the class. It works beautifully, and reminds teachers that curriculum is not a text-book--rather a text book can support a thoughtful curriculum.

I actually liked the standards as a DCPS teacher and am grateful to Janey for introducing them. The only issue was that the system was resistant to change and there were umpteen workshops for teachers who were presumed not to 'get' the standards. Perhaps necessary, perhaps redundant.

Now teaching in independent schools, I see a movement there towards standards. In many ways public was on the vanguard in this. The next step is going to be a nationalization of standards, which would not be a bad thing. Go to the DCPS website--the standards are fabulous. They set a great minimum, and a teacher can always push a class beyond. I never felt lockstep constrained--more inspired. However, the DCPS report card is awful. Few parents understand it. It does not correlate well. There is work to be done there....

And Janey was a bit of a turtle. When I think of Janey and Rhee I think of the Turtle and the Hare. We know how that worked out!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Janey squandered much time and dollars on the standards process copying other state standards that are only marginally better than what we already had. Especially at the elementary level, it's the Flat Stanley approach to Social Studies--my community, my city, my state, my country, and then, in 6th grade, the world in 10 months. Very old fashioned. Cheats elementary students out of learning anything about world history and geography. The Language Arts standards are heavily skill-based with little content. The science sequence is awful, repetitive.

Is this watered-down fare really good enough for your child?

I believe the the elementary school standards in DCPS range from my city (3rd), to early American history (4th), to mid-to modern (5th Grade--I taught colonies to country...Civil War etc, fascinating stuff) to geography in 6th and then World after...

The beauty of standards is that they set the learning goals (ie. child can describe varied forms of transportation used in Westward expansion) and then the teacher can certainly use a standard textbook for background, but range in method: skits assuming the character of a historical personage, crafting, essay, report.... With standards you can change the text etc., without changing the expectations of the class. It works beautifully, and reminds teachers that curriculum is not a text-book--rather a text book can support a thoughtful curriculum.

I actually liked the standards as a DCPS teacher and am grateful to Janey for introducing them. The only issue was that the system was resistant to change and there were umpteen workshops for teachers who were presumed not to 'get' the standards. Perhaps necessary, perhaps redundant.

Now teaching in independent schools, I see a movement there towards standards. In many ways public was on the vanguard in this. The next step is going to be a nationalization of standards, which would not be a bad thing. Go to the DCPS website--the standards are fabulous. They set a great minimum, and a teacher can always push a class beyond. I never felt lockstep constrained--more inspired. However, the DCPS report card is awful. Few parents understand it. It does not correlate well. There is work to be done there....

And Janey was a bit of a turtle. When I think of Janey and Rhee I think of the Turtle and the Hare. We know how that worked out!

So when you were teaching these standards that you thought were so great, what literature did you introduce to your students?

[Anonymous]

Used Reader's Workshop/novel sets. The standards are not the problem. Believe me, I HATE DCPS--but the standards are not the problem. You are charging at the wrong windmill (Cervantes). xo