Reply to Interim OSSE Report on Student Absenteeism

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Reply to "Interim OSSE Report on Student Absenteeism"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a friend who teaches at Ballou and she says that often 5 students show up to class out of 20. Sometimes only 1-2 show up. Truancy is especially bad in August and June and any type of adverse weather days. This is not your typical UMC family situation of taking a couple extra days for a ski trip.
Also, since the Rhee days, everything is considered the teacher’s fault. So if kids aren’t showing up to class, the teacher gets blamed for not making the class so compelling that students don’t want to miss it. Lot of pressure on teachers to be performers, etc.[/quote]

I read an article about the truancy at Ballou and several teachers talked about how
a lot of times the truant kids were in the building but just not in class. I'm no stranger to the DCPS model of blaming the teacher for every problem, but that one is definitely the issue of school security and administration. [/quote]

I did some volunteer work at one of the DC high schools. The classes only had a few kids in them. Some were trying to hang out in the hallways and an administrator rounded them up and gave the choice of go to class or have your parent come pick you up. The administrator was relatively new and the kids complained and complained, moaning about how different it was from the year before. It was surreal. You can't place the blame only on teachers if kids aren't in class to be taught. Parents, students, admin, security, teachers and the central office all have a part in helping shape a functional or dysfunctional environment.  [/quote]

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