Reply to Soaring Child Poverty in DC

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There's that attitude again - make extreme statements; blame teachers; don't very look at poverty - too scary and beyond the scope of DCPS. DCPS administrators have pinned their paychecks and their puffed up self-perception on teachers being the whole answer to improving achievement -- and if they're wrong -- too bad for the kids.

And there's that attitude again... I'm not making an extreme statement. Nor am I blaming teachers. I'm actually taking you at your word, and repeating to you what the logical extension of your position is.

You blame poverty for poor outcomes. I agree.

You then jump to attack DCPS for imposing a set of objective standards for teachers because it's unfair. After all, we can't expect teachers to get results when the real problem is poverty.

Let's unpack those two assertions: first, if teacher quality is irrelevant, let's get rid of highly trained (and paid) teachers until we lick this poverty problem. After all, it's just pearls before swine at this point. And we can sink the savings into poverty abatement programs.

Secondly, as you put it so eloquently "poverty - too scary and beyond the scope of DCPS". DCPS is designed to create and maintain a public primary education system. Read very carefully: DCPS CAN NOT UNILATERALLY SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF REGIONAL OR NATIONAL POVERTY.

A few other things DCPS can't do:

- Cure cancer.
- End tribal infighting in sub-saharan Africa.
- Stabilize the Afghan tribal regions.
- Resolve the Israel/Palestine Question.
- Monetize cold fusion technology.

Okay, so now that we've got that out of the way, let's take a look at your solution to improving DCPS:

1) DCPS needs to fix the poverty issue.
2) [Whatever you follow with is completely irrelevant.] [/quote]

GREAT post.

If it's true that the needle cannot be moved with disadvantaged children then let's get rid of all the experienced teachers (read: expensive) and replace them with rookies (read: cheap).[/quote]

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