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[quote=Anonymous][quote=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. [b]During one year, I remember the position changing three times? [/b]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. [/quote]

During that period, scores rose more than they did (if they did) during more stable periods.  Clearly superintendent stability and proficiency scores are not causative.

Also, the huge turnover in teaching and principal staff during the Rhee-Henderson years has done nothing to improve scores.[/quote]

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