Reply to DCPS can't handle 'Middle Schools'? This is why Kaya Henderson needs to go

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Exactly. Well said. 
At the elementary level, the kids are still little and highly supervised so that behavior doesn't spiral out of control. 
Middle school is another story entirely. The same kids have more freedom and are expected to have some age appropriate self-discipline. This is where the rubber meets the road and many kids from lower ses situations cannot keep up. This is when the behavior spirals out of control because the kids are bigger and the nature of middle school is that kids are more responsible for themselves. 
Melissa Kim understood this and set up a system without too much wiggle room, but enough to allow the kids to find their independence. In the case of infractions, she put in clear disciplinary policies with actual consequences for the kids and maybe more importantly, the parents. 
[b]Let's talk about the missing piece here, kids from poverty may need to learn more life skills, let's help them[/b].

I agree with this posting.  Melissa Kim did hold the parents accountable and that was refreshing.  And I don't mean just some parents.  She had no problems telling me and other very well educated and accomplished parents what we had to do to respond to a situation.  I found it refreshing and helpful.
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I agree that kids in ES are easier to control and that behavioral problems are more typical of MS and HS given the age of the kids. but this is not the only reason why MS schools in poor areas are failing more often than MS schools in high SES areas. kids in high SES areas get a lot of support from families in addition to going to good schools. if they fall behind, they have private tutors, parents heling at home, enrichment classes after school.  in low SES areas, kids do not have any support at home and if the ES fails them, they are done, when they get to MS they fail and they may act out also because they are not able to keep up. In 2002 I volunteered at an ES in SE (and not a real bad one). I had a reading group with three gilrs who were in 6th grade (the ES at that time was going up to 6th grade, now it goes to 5th grade). two of them were able to read at kindergarden level. I was absolutely shocked when they picked up a book with two lines of words per page, very large font, and they could read syllable by syllable follwoing the words with their fingers on the page. they were MS level kids by age and they COULD NOT READ. what kind of homework can you do when you are unable to read a page of a normal book (i.e. small font, single space and so on). how can you get your history home work done if it would take you hours to read the fews page you need to read? I thought of those two girls several times in the past ten years, now they should be in their early 20's. I would not be suprprised if they dropped off HS because I cannot imagine how they could graduate with those reading skills. kids getting to MS in this shape would probably hit a wall of homework they could not perform. when you are asked to do something you can't do because you were not prepared for it, your self estime goes down the drain and I am not surprised if kids act out. so I think low SES need to learn not only life skills and proper behavior, they also need to get a proper education at the elementary level so they can actually get to MS and HS with the tools they need to succeed.  [/quote]

And when those children get to high school, and I have to teach them using Common Core and Impact I will be assessed as a lousy teacher, because it is my fault the student can not achieve the benchmarks on the DC CAS. Now if we could be honest, and meet the students were they are at instead of grandstanding about how wonderful DC test scores are this year maybe we could get somewhere. Where is the admission that many students in DCPS cannot read, we need to do more than differentiate a graphic organizer to help them meet a high school standard these students should be in remedial supplemental targeted intervention programs. [/quote]

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