D.C. schools new achievement targets vary by race

BEWD · September 19, 2012, 5:44pm

[LEFT]Every public school in the United States has aimed for the same goal over the past decade: that all students be proficient in math and reading by 2014.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]But that noble ambition, educators and experts almost universally agree, was never realistic. Now, in the District and many states, goals over the next five years tend to be lower for black, Hispanic and poor children than they are for white and Asian students, and in the District, they tend to be higher at schools in affluent areas than in poor neighborhoods. It’s a policy shift that strikes some parents as a form of prejudice.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Officials say the new targets account for differences in current performance and demand the fastest progress from students who are furthest behind. The goals vary across much of the country by race, family income and disability, and in Washington, they also vary by school.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]At Anacostia High, which draws almost exclusively African Americans from one of the District’s most impoverished areas, officials aim to quadruple the proportion of students who are proficient in reading by 2017, but that would still mean that fewer than six out of 10 pass standardized reading tests. Across town at the School Without Walls in Northwest Washington, a diverse and high-performing magnet that enrolls students from across the city, the aim is higher: 99.6 percent.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Meanwhile, at Wilson Senior High, 67 percent of black students — and 88 percent of Asians and 95 percent of whites — are expected to pass standardized math tests five years from now.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Setting different aspirations for different groups of children represents a sea change in national education policy, which for years has prescribed blanket goals for all students. Some education experts see the new approach as a way to speed achievement for black, Latino and low-income students, but some parents can’t help but feel that less is being expected of their children.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]“It’s disgraceful,” said Alicia Rucker, a Ward 7 resident and single mother of six, one of whom graduated from Georgetown University and five of whom are still living at home and enrolled in D.C. public schools. “It’s ridiculous to even believe that if you expect less from someone, you’re going to get more.”[/LEFT]
[LEFT]City and federal education officials say they’re not retreating from the conviction that all children can learn. Instead, they say, they’re trying to bring about real change by setting attainable goals that reflect an unavoidable truth: Some schools, and some students, lag far behind others.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Under the new approach, low performers will be required to make larger gains each year than higher-achieving students so that the gap between student groups is cut in half by 2017.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]“What we have to be very honest about is that schools, and groups of students within schools, are starting at different places right now,” said Daria Hall of the Education Trust, an influential nonprofit group that advocates for lifting the achievement of underprivileged children and endorses the new approach.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]“What we need is to have a system that starts where they are right now and moves them all forward,” Hall said, “and moves those who are furthest behind further, faster.”[/LEFT]

source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/student-achievement-targets-vary-by-race-income-in-dc-and-many-states/2012/09/18/3b306568-fd13-11e1-8adc-499661afe377_story.html?fb_ref=sm_btn_fb

There’s a second page on the main article. I’m sure white nationalists are having a field day with this : |

Azure · September 19, 2012, 5:54pm

Unless they themselves are willing to teach a higher level of academics at those underachieving schools, they can kindly shut the hell up.

Sent from my thumbs, using SRK technology.

bkfst_sausage · September 19, 2012, 5:57pm

…

That’s about all that comes to mind when reading this.It’s either that, or me typing out something longer than my work shift would allow me time.

Havatchu · September 19, 2012, 5:58pm

This wouldn’t be a problem if people were taught shit that actually matters in our world today, i.e. computer shit, technology shit, medical field shit.

bkfst_sausage · September 19, 2012, 6:07pm

Or the universal “common sense”

BEWD · September 19, 2012, 6:11pm

^Moreso Logic/Rhetoric/Grammar + Personal Finance(after Arithmetic and all that good stuff) + Civics at an absolute minimum

Pertho · September 19, 2012, 6:12pm

Its awesome how non-universal common sense is.

For some reason this makes me mad. Probably makes me mad because they couldn’t be bother to fix the actual problems with education and now they are changing their targets. Its like trying to get improve your target practice by moving the target instead of fixing your posture.

Fucking BEWD, if you’re gonna post something this stupid, put a coffee warning in front of it. Something nice like Coffee Mug Required: “title of whatever nonsense you are posting.”

Azure · September 19, 2012, 6:14pm

This is not what really matters, per se.

Rather, it is what has been left for the working poor to do (by the rich, who have systematically destroyed most other viable employment options), so that they might achieve some meager level of success.

One cannot teach common sense.

It is definitional.

Sent from my thumbs, using SRK technology.

bkfst_sausage · September 19, 2012, 6:14pm

This is more what I’m talking about specifically by "common sense"
Just the ability to conduct yourself in the real world and not be a fucking jackass. The knowledge based and field-based information and reasoning can come later, but none of that means anything if you can’t understand basic adaptation to the real world.

Hatred_Edge · September 19, 2012, 6:15pm

I’m laughing. Because this has got to be a fucking JOKE.

Gimpy · September 19, 2012, 6:17pm

The sad part is most of those kids learn the “common sense” on the streets which isn’t doing the kids any good. I should know because I live right outside of the D.C. city limits in Maryland. D.C. public schools have been shit for years now.

Korbidon · September 19, 2012, 6:21pm

Isn’t this pretty cut and dry racism? This can’t be legal, can it?

Raz0r · September 19, 2012, 6:23pm

Math and reading comprehension are integral parts of all these disciplines. What are you on about?

Redbeard · September 19, 2012, 6:24pm

Kids in D.C. need to stop being a victim.

BEWD · September 19, 2012, 6:24pm

D.C. and Illegality? No wayz

pedoviejo · September 19, 2012, 7:05pm

This is the education system saying that the education problem is a cultural problem. And it is a cultural problem, except it isn’t this white and black.

voodazz · September 19, 2012, 7:12pm

Ugh, I hate reading serif fonts on the computer.

HoneyBBQGrundle · September 19, 2012, 7:19pm

True, seems like in a few decades the only jobs will be in medical (not doctor- maybe rolling fat people from room to room), military, education, or working for someone else in the service sector. Seems like that now actually. We could employ almost everyone and probably have a 4 or even 3 day work week by now, but then a lot of people would have free time, a big no-no.

Also, nobody mentioned history? It’s probably the most important subject and I’m still making up for our school system’s unbelievably poor history program (I know it’s intentionally bad, of course). “Ok, kids, these next few weeks we’re going to talk about the Revolutionary War. Again. Summarized in this book by a third rate college professor pandering to idiots in Texas, so don’t bother about primary sources or attempt to actually read Washington or Paine or anyone like that.”

pherai · September 19, 2012, 11:31pm

history is most important? I’ll agree that its important, and I wouldn’t cut it out of the curriculum anywhere, but its still mostly trivia. The few people I know with history degrees aren’t doing shit with them. Personally I’d like less emphasis on memorization of dates and names cause I’ve long since forgotten all of that.

Mr.X · September 19, 2012, 11:37pm

If they change the curriculum in those “not doing good” schools, wouldn’t that hurt the kids who are doing well or above average in those schools who really have no option but public school because private school is too expensive and district things preventing kids from going to the better suburban schools?