Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:However, you feel about the author, this blog post raises a lot of legitimate concerns. Please help to ensure that this matter is properly looked into. I have a middle-schooler at a MS/HS charter school, and it's worrying that there is no real oversight/accountability on the charter side. It puts so much on the parents to investigate and be on top of, and I, for one, can't do it. I need my Mayor, DC Council, PCSB and OSSE to be on top of this!

https://educationdc.net/2018/01/20/come-on-city-leaders-do-the-right-thing-fully-investigate-all-our-dc-high-schools/

Do you guys realize that OSSE produces equity reports where the in-school attendance rate is reported for every school? Do you also realize that the charters have those rates counted in their PCSB report cards? If you look at the equity report for Ballou, for example, the attendance rate is 63.5%. The attendance rate for Thurgood is 92%. Like it or not, perhaps the fact that the PCSB puts a score and tier on everything is the reason that attendance is better at charters? I also would call that pretty strong accountability and oversight. If a charter doesn't have a good report card score, the PCSB will close them. Having good attendance is part of getting a good score.

Please, the type of students who are majority students are hardly likely to be the ones signing up to go to a charter school are they? You know how many students from Charters are sent back to their neighborhood schools, do you think Basis would put up with this foolishness and likewise the application DCPS schools! Send all the truants to Charters and see what happens!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:However, you feel about the author, this blog post raises a lot of legitimate concerns. Please help to ensure that this matter is properly looked into. I have a middle-schooler at a MS/HS charter school, and it's worrying that there is no real oversight/accountability on the charter side. It puts so much on the parents to investigate and be on top of, and I, for one, can't do it. I need my Mayor, DC Council, PCSB and OSSE to be on top of this!

https://educationdc.net/2018/01/20/come-on-city-leaders-do-the-right-thing-fully-investigate-all-our-dc-high-schools/

Do you guys realize that OSSE produces equity reports where the in-school attendance rate is reported for every school? Do you also realize that the charters have those rates counted in their PCSB report cards? If you look at the equity report for Ballou, for example, the attendance rate is 63.5%. The attendance rate for Thurgood is 92%. Like it or not, perhaps the fact that the PCSB puts a score and tier on everything is the reason that attendance is better at charters? I also would call that pretty strong accountability and oversight. If a charter doesn't have a good report card score, the PCSB will close them. Having good attendance is part of getting a good score.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:However, you feel about the author, this blog post raises a lot of legitimate concerns. Please help to ensure that this matter is properly looked into. I have a middle-schooler at a MS/HS charter school, and it's worrying that there is no real oversight/accountability on the charter side. It puts so much on the parents to investigate and be on top of, and I, for one, can't do it. I need my Mayor, DC Council, PCSB and OSSE to be on top of this!

https://educationdc.net/2018/01/20/come-on-city-leaders-do-the-right-thing-fully-investigate-all-our-dc-high-schools/

Do you guys realize that OSSE produces equity reports where the in-school attendance rate is reported for every school? Do you also realize that the charters have those rates counted in their PCSB report cards? If you look at the equity report for Ballou, for example, the attendance rate is 63.5%. The attendance rate for Thurgood is 92%. Like it or not, perhaps the fact that the PCSB puts a score and tier on everything is the reason that attendance is better at charters? I also would call that pretty strong accountability and oversight. If a charter doesn't have a good report card score, the PCSB will close them. Having good attendance is part of getting a good score.

Anonymous wrote:However, you feel about the author, this blog post raises a lot of legitimate concerns. Please help to ensure that this matter is properly looked into. I have a middle-schooler at a MS/HS charter school, and it's worrying that there is no real oversight/accountability on the charter side. It puts so much on the parents to investigate and be on top of, and I, for one, can't do it. I need my Mayor, DC Council, PCSB and OSSE to be on top of this!

https://educationdc.net/2018/01/20/come-on-city-leaders-do-the-right-thing-fully-investigate-all-our-dc-high-schools/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

Anonymous wrote: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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys don’t have a clue if you are quibbling about excused vs. unexcused absences and a few legitimate college visits. Truancy is a huge and systemic issue at DC schools. Walk into a school like Ballou, Anacostia, Woodson, or Dunbar and ask for a school tour. You will wonder why there are so many kids hanging around outside or in the hallways. Classes look tiny because the kids aren’t there. How do you teach and get a good impact score if you have different kids showing up every day. That is why so many teachers quit those schools. Also, only a handful of parents show up to Back to School Night and conferences. Parents are completely checked out. I’m not sure what to do to solve it but it has to be addressed at the community level not just the school level. The Mayor’s Office needs to get involved.

+1

Many students at these schools don't go to school on Monday or Friday, if it's raining, snowing, too cold, etc. There is no priority to go to school consistently because they know they will pass no matter how little work they do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys don’t have a clue if you are quibbling about excused vs. unexcused absences and a few legitimate college visits. Truancy is a huge and systemic issue at DC schools. Walk into a school like Ballou, Anacostia, Woodson, or Dunbar and ask for a school tour. You will wonder why there are so many kids hanging around outside or in the hallways. Classes look tiny because the kids aren’t there. How do you teach and get a good impact score if you have different kids showing up every day. That is why so many teachers quit those schools. Also, only a handful of parents show up to Back to School Night and conferences. Parents are completely checked out. I’m not sure what to do to solve it but it has to be addressed at the community level not just the school level. The Mayor’s Office needs to get involved.

+1

Many students at these schools don't go to school on Monday or Friday, if it's raining, snowing, too cold, etc. There is no priority to go to school consistently because they know they will pass no matter how little work they do.

Anonymous wrote:You guys don’t have a clue if you are quibbling about excused vs. unexcused absences and a few legitimate college visits. Truancy is a huge and systemic issue at DC schools. Walk into a school like Ballou, Anacostia, Woodson, or Dunbar and ask for a school tour. You will wonder why there are so many kids hanging around outside or in the hallways. Classes look tiny because the kids aren’t there. How do you teach and get a good impact score if you have different kids showing up every day. That is why so many teachers quit those schools. Also, only a handful of parents show up to Back to School Night and conferences. Parents are completely checked out. I’m not sure what to do to solve it but it has to be addressed at the community level not just the school level. The Mayor’s Office needs to get involved.

Anonymous wrote:Chancellor sounded pretty bad on Kojo. Kept mumbling about excellence and equity. What’s up with the meaningless jargon?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is missing 4 days to go on a scholarship interview in Texas more valid than a student missing 4 days to take care of a much younger sibling? To get to a job that's needed to pay the family's food bill or rent? Who are you to judge that?

The schools recognize that some absences are legitimate and others are not for the purpose of truancy laws -- eg excused and unexcused absences.

But when looking at the educational impact of absenteeism -- a missed day is a missed day.

college visits are excused, but I heard only 3 days per session, at a graduation meeting @Wilson last year. Taking care of siblings isn't on the excuse form, nor can you indicate that it was a school activity which was missed if the teacher doesn't remember to put it in the computer