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[quote=Anonymous][quote=GarrisonPTA]Hi there, it's me, Ann McLeod, Garrison PTA president.

I was really disappointed about the test scores. I haven't talked with the Principal about it yet so I don't know what his explanation might be. I can offer one that I am quite sure will not be adequate for DCUM but I can try.

Last year was the first year after many school closures.  Our enrollment went up 20%.  We received students from Prospect Learning Center which closed and so our special education percentage increased even more.  So, our enrollment increase was not just because an additional PS/PK class was added, it was also from students in upper grades who came from other schools.

I've said it before and I will say it again...my son has been at Garrison since PK.  He will be in 3rd grade this year.  He has learned to read and do math at Garrison.  I certainly did nothing to teach him this. Really, I let him watch way too much TV and have his own iPad on which he plays MineCraft way too often. His cousins who are the same age (one is the the same grade, the other is one grade above) go to school in Potomac Maryland.  HE READS AND DOES MATH ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THEM.  He learned it all at Garrison.  Why are other students not on this same level? I don't know, they have had the same teachers.  All I can really point to is that our school is 99% low income and probably 30% special education (this is a MUCH higher sp ed percentage than a lot of other Title I schools). My son is in neither of those categories and that's the difference.  If my son, who has a stable home life and inherently knows school is important and that he has to listen and behave was not learning, then I would know there was a problem with the teachers or the administration or whatever other reason you want to give.  But that is not the case.

As a person who has spent the majority of her free time working to support the school, it is extremely disheartening to read many of the comments about Garrison and many other similar schools.  A school should not be judged on test scores alone. "Hype" about a school is not worth it if the test scores don't go up?? No school is ever going to improve unless we all support the students who are enrolled and each other and stop being so negative.  If more involved families don't start attending, of course nothing will change.

So perhaps instead of asking "What's up with Garrison?" how about we ask "How can we help Garrison?" or "What is DCPS doing to help Garrison?" maybe the original poster did not mean the question in a negative way, and maybe I am reading into other posts, but it seems all of the discussion is so negative rather than trying to really figure out what is wrong and what to truly do to help the kids who need help getting to the level where they should be according to some data point.

I would give up reading DCUM but as the PTA president it is my responsibility to come here and read all of this and respond.  And you can feel however you want to about what I have said, bash me, or whatever.  All I know is I am trying to support the school and our students, who are such great kids, and I'm also really sad that they are not reading and doing math on grade level.  I guess on a positive note, at least people are paying attention to Garrison.

Thanks,
ann

[/quote]

Keep in mind the N on those data tables (number of students tested) when focusing so much on test scores. What does a 5% drop or increase really mean in terms of number of students? Well, let's see, only 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students are tested. At our Title I school doomed to close at one point that added up to about 45 kids. 100%/45= 2.2%. So test results slam around by almost 5% for every 2 students who happen to cross a threshold (and it's not even an average, but fixed thresholds between quartiles!). Take in two new 'below basics' - god forbid special ed - students from another school and you're cooked. So please look at test scores with a grain of salt!

And there is more: our child attended an elementary school where the test scores hovered in the range of 20-30% proficiency (thankfully I wasn't proficient reading them back then...) and really did exceptionally well at that school. That child now a well rounded honors student in middle school excelling at most of what he touches above and beyond most kids who attended another feeder school with 60%+ proficiency. Go figure. But my explanation is simple and straightforward: In addition to what Ann outlines as "MY child does well there and isn't that what counts?", I'd say that kind of school will prove particularly adept at catering to a broad range of capabilities, including particularly advanced students. There is no doubt in my mind that our child benefited from some pretty nifty differentiation resources and techniques akin to those that are used in G&T programs to challenge advanced students. Not only that, that child of our ended up being part of every single unique opportunity. That same kid ours would have been lost in the masses at a homogeneously well off school.

So, yes, maybe our child was a social experiment, but for the better I'd say, and not just to the benefit of those around but for OUR benefit, too.[/quote]

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