ludlow-taylor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some basic realities that folks need to come to grips with - Schools that only teach to the level of the lowest achievers don't work.

Anonymous wrote:From what I have, that is not a problem at L-T. The absence of a G&T program does not mean the school is failing to challenge students at different levels.

Other Hill schools like Watkins, Brent, Maury, Tyler, SWS, Logan are struggling, in the eyes of many parents, to offer a level or rigor that compares with the best schools in the region. Why would one think that LT escapes the issue somehow?

I can't speak to what's going on at Watkins, etc.

There is an enormous middle ground between "only teaching to the level of the lowest achievers" and offering "rigor that compares with the best schools in the region." I place L-T somewhere in that middle area.

Is my child getting the education she'd get at Beauvoir? Probably not. But I don't expect ANY public school (at least, not one that doesn't limit enrollment via a test) to offer the level of rigor found at a school like Beauvoir or Sidwell.

OTOH, having attended schools along those lines, I hope my daughter will have a more well-rounded experience and that her classmates will be more diverse (along ethnic, economic, social, and intellectual axes) than mine were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You act as though "reform happened" and "it's already been tried" which is complete BS. Rhee was only there from June 2007 to October 2010, and she met with a huge amount of inertia and resistance, and only a small part of her reform agenda was even put into place. What she found was massive inefficiencies and waste in central office, which she was working on fixing, warehouses full of textbooks that weren't even being distributed, teachers who didn't even know the subject matter they were supposed to be teaching, and lots of other huge problems. Only a tiny portion of those issues were addressed and dealt with, yet here you are pretending "it's already been tried". And most of that proactive agenda has stagnated under Henderson. Those problems still exist, and are still deeply entrenched, my friend.

Your words, not mine, so please take the quotation marks off. Reform has been happening for the past six years and this is what it looks like -- lots of change and no improvement.

Rhee was famous for cutting through inertia and resistance -- She could do a lot with mayoral control. She changed a lot of things - and aside from getting the books out of the warehouse, they haven't worked. A zillion dollar teacher evaluation plan and all those ineffective teachers fired (and many "highly effective ones given bonuses) and no improvement in student achievement.

The good schools are still good and the bad ones are still bad. This is failed reform -- yet it continues and parents who care about their kids' education and want to stay in DC are not making much of a fuss about it.

[Anonymous]

What's your grand solution for improving the schools, PP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's your grand solution for improving the schools, PP?

I don't have one, do you? I just know, like a lot of people with common sense and concern about education, that it will take time and money carefully spent and not dependent on miracles or quick fixes. It will be something that takes the whole child into consideration, not just what happens in the school house.

Like any worthwhile human enterprise, it will require cooperation and respect. Like anything meant to improve the human condition, it should be based on facts, empirical evidence and scientific research.

In other words, it will be nothing like the reform DCPS has experienced over the last six years.

[Anonymous]

PP, are you aware that there are currently 5th and 6th graders in the DCPS system who still don't even have basic skills, like how to add and subtract? That's first-grade material. A bad home life alone can't account for a lack of learning to that degree. At some point you have to acknowledge that the schools have also failed those students.

From what I've seen reform hasn't continued. Rhee's efforts are long stalled and discontinued - and many were never implemented in the first place - and most things have returned to where they were before reform was attempted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, are you aware that there are currently 5th and 6th graders in the DCPS system who still don't even have basic skills, like how to add and subtract? That's first-grade material. A bad home life alone can't account for a lack of learning to that degree. At some point you have to acknowledge that the schools have also failed those students.

From what I've seen reform hasn't continued. Rhee's efforts are long stalled and discontinued - and many were never implemented in the first place - and most things have returned to where they were before reform was attempted.

yes, I'm aware of this. I think there is a DCPS rule that kids can only be held back twice.

Perhaps reform should have changed that rule. I don't recall it ever being discussed.

I do know teachers' hands are tied when they have to move kids ahead who are not ready.

Actually a bad home life (and forgetting what you learned over the summer) can account for a lot of lost learning. The same thing is known to happen - temporarily - with high SES kids whose family is in turmoil because of a death or divorce. No one blames the teacher in these cases.

Imagine if your father's in jail, your mother is a drug addict with boyfriends coming in and out, your grandma is kindly, but illiterate, and there are loud fights in your neighborhood most nights, in some cases with gunfire.

Are teachers ineffective because they can't teach you in spite of this? I'd wager that the same teacher is effective with kids in the same class who don't have all these distractions - assuming there's enough calm in the class to teach well.

Seems to me that the DCPS leadership -- fully aware o the deficits some kids face, has chosen instead to place the full burden of the kids education on the teachers. They should be able to "overcome" these deficits. If not -- then they are fired and other, supposedly superior teachers, are hired to perform this miracle.

Well, it hasn't happened, and it won't, because it's simply a reformer's dream, not based in reality.

Are you the one who asked for citations earlier? Even if not, please cite evidence that Rhee's efforts are "discontinued."

I see reform continuing -- the mayor called for its continuation -- as has the Washington Post editorial board -- despite evidence, as you note, that it isn't working.

But if you truly believe that reform has "stalled" - then by all means complain loudly to Kaya and Gray - they think reform is on course.

They need to hear from taxpayers about this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, are you aware that there are currently 5th and 6th graders in the DCPS system who still don't even have basic skills, like how to add and subtract? That's first-grade material. A bad home life alone can't account for a lack of learning to that degree. At some point you have to acknowledge that the schools have also failed those students.

From what I've seen reform hasn't continued. Rhee's efforts are long stalled and discontinued - and many were never implemented in the first place - and most things have returned to where they were before reform was attempted.

yes, I'm aware of this. I think there is a DCPS rule that kids can only be held back twice.

Perhaps reform should have changed that rule. I don't recall it ever being discussed.

I do know teachers' hands are tied when they have to move kids ahead who are not ready.

Actually a bad home life (and forgetting what you learned over the summer) can account for a lot of lost learning. The same thing is known to happen - temporarily - with high SES kids whose family is in turmoil because of a death or divorce. No one blames the teacher in these cases.

Imagine if your father's in jail, your mother is a drug addict with boyfriends coming in and out, your grandma is kindly, but illiterate, and there are loud fights in your neighborhood most nights, in some cases with gunfire.

Are teachers ineffective because they can't teach you in spite of this? I'd wager that the same teacher is effective with kids in the same class who don't have all these distractions - assuming there's enough calm in the class to teach well.

Seems to me that the DCPS leadership -- fully aware o the deficits some kids face, has chosen instead to place the full burden of the kids education on the teachers. They should be able to "overcome" these deficits. If not -- then they are fired and other, supposedly superior teachers, are hired to perform this miracle.

Well, it hasn't happened, and it won't, because it's simply a reformer's dream, not based in reality.

Are you the one who asked for citations earlier? Even if not, please cite evidence that Rhee's efforts are "discontinued."

I see reform continuing -- the mayor called for its continuation -- as has the Washington Post editorial board -- despite evidence, as you note, that it isn't working.

But if you truly believe that reform has "stalled" - then by all means complain loudly to Kaya and Gray - they think reform is on course.

They need to hear from taxpayers about this.

Sorry. It is about culture and priorities. I have lived overseas and seen children in MUCH MORE DIRE poverty and disfunction who attend public schools in dilapidated buildings or even outdoors and they learn much more and more quickly than some of the students in our American inner cities. And those classes have 60 to 70 kids in them. They go In shifts all day long because there is such demand for education among the desperately poor. It is a very strong indictment of our culture and attitude towards education in the USA that with the money and focus we put into education, large numbers of our students remain functionally illiterate

[Anonymous]

^ +1000
Culture and priorities.

[Anonymous]

Still surrounded by people who behave like animals - There was a shooting a block from Ludlow Taylor, just a few minutes ago: https://twitter.com/IAFF36/status/349353020607311873

[Anonymous]

What Gray, Henderson and Council need to hear more about is how DC manages to spend far more per student than virtually any school district in the nation, yet still manages to deliver far less than most school districts in the nation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What Gray, Henderson and Council need to hear more about is how DC manages to spend far more per student than virtually any school district in the nation, yet still manages to deliver far less than most school districts in the nation.

Gray and Henderson know all about that. they are the ones spending the money. I think until they see parent outrage and parent determination to make positive change, that they are going to continue down their course. why not? They have no motivation to change as long as unengaged parents stay unengaged and engaged parents surmount all the obstacles placed in their way to try to get their kids a good public education.

Did you see today's Post? A big national charter study shows some improvement for poor kids, but none, or even some losses, for kids who are not poor, irrespective of race.

[Anonymous]

^^^ I have yet to read the article, but in DC this cannot possibly true at the middle/high school level. I hope they break out the data by school level.

[Anonymous]

So what are everyone's plans for high school?

[Anonymous]

MoCo.

[Anonymous]

As a Black parent with two children at Ludlow Taylor- This is Utter BS. If you have a problem with out of boundary children too bad. DC has always had this option. Which is great because we as parents can have more choices, if anything with an abundance of quality schools in the future this city can be a example of exceptional education for all people and backgrounds. Yes this Blog is a very racist but in the closet way. Problem is I know that there is ill will intentions- Most black people know how prejudice things are, even though some try to disguise it. Most of you do not want your children around so-called poor black kids. Quite frankly no one gives a two-s... about how comfortable you want to be on G street NE. DC is a very segrated town. It's very sad. I wish you in the closet prejudice people would put a face to your name. For those that assume Principal Cobbs is anti-white, sorry for the news flash but you guys may have a problem with communicating with Black people. Why is it that most of you assume everything must be catered to your specific wants and needs because you decided to gentrify into a black neighborhood and black city. So now we must go because you are here. Like many people that can afford too will send their child to private school. If you can not do that then you are on the same ecomonic level as any OOB child or parent at Ludlow. So it's best to starting to speaking and getting to know another instead of segregating into parents cliques. For the record my name is Antonia