Reply to Graduates from low-performing D.C. schools face tough college road

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Nope.

That comment doesn't say anything about schools being the ONLY ones responsible, it does not support your claim.

That quote is about Rhee wanting to change the culture of low expectations and perpetual excuse-making in DCPS schools.

And the Henderson comment is completely non-relevant.[/quote]

yep - that comment is about Rhee placing all the responsibility on teachers to raise scores and completely discounts other environmental  issues.  And the comment about Henderson indicates she feels the same as Rhee -- she made it shortly after Rhee left to reassure people that there would be no changes in the reform movement after Rhee left.

Here’s a quote from before it was learned that there had been no miracle in Rhee’s Baltimore classroom.  You don’t hear much about this anymore.

“Everyone sort of spews the rhetoric about ‘all kids can learn’ and that sort of thing, but I actually experienced that. I saw these kids in my classroom who were at the absolute rock bottom in terms of achievement. And people said, “You can’t do this—their home lives are too bad.” This and that. They had all sorts of excuses for the kids. And over a two year period, I saw them grow exponentially. So for me, it’s not just this nice idea that kids can learn, it was my actually experiencing it and seeing it first-hand.  That’s what drives my work every single day.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/11/crusader-of-the-classrooms/307080/

Here’s a quote in which Rhee openly acknowledges that great teachers is her only solution:
“And the only way we’re going to get out of this situation [low achievement] is if we have great teachers.   That is the only solution that we have, and so that’s why we’re really focused on it.” 
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Connecting_With_The_Chancellor___2_13_09_Washington_DC.html

Here’s Kaya, after she took over DCPS, expressing similar views:
“I’m not discounting the effects of poverty or kids coming to school hungry, but we can’t use that as an excuse for not reaching our kids. At the end of the day, you know and I know, great teachers who took kids from improbable circumstances and catapulted them to great lives and we have to ensure that this is the norm and not the exception.” http://mountvernontoday.com/education/208-new-dc-school-chief-inspired-by-mount-vernon-education.html

“And so for the eight hours a day that we have them, we can't make excuses for the fact that they come from poverty. In fact, we have to set incredibly high expectations. And what I know about children is they rise to the expectations that you set for them.” http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2010-12-20/dc-schools-interim-chancellor-kaya-henderson/transcript

So, Kaya acknowledges that poverty affects kids but still says teachers should be able to overcome poverty.  She claims to know from experience that this can happen and that it should be “the norm.”

Well, it’s not the norm and attempts in DCPS to make it the norm have failed.  [/quote]

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