Townhall.com
Paul Jacob

Children can learn. Schools can possibly assist in that endeavor.

Keep these two vital precepts in mind when considering the long-term failure of our nation’s capital’s public schools to equip their graduates with the skills necessary for a decent future.

Last week, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, with city education officialdom in tow, announced some small improvement in standardized test schools city-wide. Yet “little was said at the news conference about the city’s neighborhood high schools,” the Washington Post noticed.

The lapse was understandable, for the Post refers to a fantastic success story back in 2017 — much ballyhooed by D.C. politicians, educators, and experts at the time — whereby the city’s high schools dramatically improved graduation rates. The biggest breakthrough came at Ballou High School, which, despite a particularly high-percentage of students living in poverty, managed not only to graduate every high school senior but also to get every single grad accepted to college.

Finally, the secret educational success formula had been found!

Er, well . . . faked.

It turns out, after an investigation, that administrators and teachers at Ballou and across the city broke the rules — cheated — in order to graduate more students. Young people were passed without completing the required coursework. In many cases, they were graduated after missing a fourth or a third — or even more than half — of the school year.

Numerous teachers told investigators they were pressured by principals to pass students they knew had not earned a passing grade. Almost all the reports were anonymous because the teachers feared retribution — a sure sign of a systemic problem.

Of course, some teachers and administrators had won financial bonuses for their fraudulent successes.

What happened to all those high school grads, legitimate or not, who were accepted to college? Even if the process by which it happened was compromised, maybe they were able to nonetheless benefit, eh?


No. That too was a scam.

The University of the District of Columbia automatically accepts any graduate of a D.C. public high school. But that doesn’t mean they can afford to attend or are prepared to do the course-work. In fact, most of the faux-grads had not applied to attend UDC, or ever intended to apply.

Last Spring, as high school graduation time rolled around, the 2018 rate had understandably fallen back down.

At least it was not perceived to be cooked!

Also, last Spring, D.C. high school students took a national standardized test called PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers). At the last level, before young men and women enroll in an institution of higher learning or embark on a career, the results were less than spectacular.

“About 30 percent of high schoolers passed the English exam in 2018, while 14 percent passed the math one,” noted the Post. Worse results still, “neighborhood high schools that primarily serve students from low-income families . . . recorded decreases in scores or remained stagnant.”

The failures go on and on. At Ballou, the rate of students passing the English portion of the exam plummeted six points; at Calvin Coolidge “fewer than 5 percent of students taking the test passed English, which represented a 10-percentage-point drop from the previous year”; at Ron Brown College Preparatory High, only “1 percent of students passed the math exam.” Some high schools could not even break the 5 percent level for readiness “for college or careers.”

Meanwhile, the Post informed, “Some charter schools that serve large populations of children from low-income families — including KIPP, Thurgood Marshall Academy, Friendship Tech Prep and Washington Leadership Academy — recorded big increases in scores.”

What to do to improve public school outcomes?

Well, Kevin Welner, a professor who heads the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado, has an interesting thought: “People want to read into these test scores lessons about what the schools are doing. But these scores, even the growth scores, depend a great deal on students’ opportunities to learn outside of school. If we address the poverty and racism, then we will see these test scores increase.”

Hmmm. Let’s review: (a) the problem is at home and (b) it cannot be overcome by the schools. Moreover, the esteemed professor perceives the cause of these detrimental home environments to be “racism and poverty.”

Once upon a time, public education was proclaimed to be the great equalizer, allowing the disadvantaged to climb the economic ladder, and, if not wipe out poverty completely, to certainly dramatically reduce it.

Now, we discover from an education expert that we had it backwards. We must wipe out poverty, first — and all racism, as well — before poor minority students can have a chance at a decent education.

But wait . . . children can learn.

Link

This is an outrage, and a disgrace.

Well... yes. Just remember it is D.C

So no big surprise!

This is a perfect example of giving power to people that think ideologically and not logically.

Essentially, every large public school system in the USA is failing. But no one asks why or logically determines that if they all fail, the foundation is the problem.

quote:

Originally posted by armedprof:
Essentially, every large public school system in the USA is failing. But no one asks why or logically determines that if they all fail, the foundation is the problem.

But their only solution is, and always has been, just throw more money at it.

Worked out great for the Atlanta Public School System too, because.... wait a minute... um, oh well, nevermind.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

...

But their only solution is, and always has been, just throw more money at it.

... throw more of YOUR money at it!

Let's not ignore the fact that the source material used to generate this "report" was largely the Washington Post. Given their widely-recognized bias and well-understood social agenda, the problem is likely to be much worse than represented.

Schools built on a foundation of lies and deception.

Yet, as explained by Dr. Sowell in “Discrimination and Disparities”, race and poverty have very little to do with it.

I suspect that learning and teaching are not as closely associated as we have been given to believe.

More gifts from “educators.”

quote:

Originally posted by armedprof:
This is a perfect example of giving power to people that think ideologically and not logically.

Essentially, every large public school system in the USA is failing. But no one asks why or logically determines that if they all fail, the foundation is the problem.

I know WHY, the explanation is glaring and nobody is willing to talk about it.

The very reason Dougherty County School System was cheating and Lee County just to the North was not.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
I know WHY, the explanation is glaring and nobody is willing to talk about it.

The very reason Dougherty County School System was cheating and Lee County just to the North was not.

Pray tell. Or if you don't want to do so publicly, send it to me via Neva.

My mom’s boyfriend taught for roughly 15 years at the high school in the city of Benton Harbor, MI. It is pretty much an all black community with approximately 90 plus percent of it’s citizens on welfare. He described a very similar situation to what was outlined in this article. He ended up retiring as soon as he possibly could because he could not take it anymore. He was under the threat of losing his job if he did not pass a certain number of students. He said, “how can I pass a student who doesn’t know the material and misses more than 60 days of the semester?” The response from the principal was essentially, “ if you were a better teacher they would want attend your class.”
I think this type of stuff goes on at every inner city public school in the country and it is criminal. The problem is that these kids grow up without parenting and in a culture that puts no value on education, hard work, or responsibility.
Our society has decided to collectively draw a blind eye to the drivers of what actually creates and enables the environment that is prevalent in so many public schools across the country. It is sickening.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
Schools built on a foundation of lies and deception.

The biggest of all lies and deception is that socialism works. What else would we expect out of socialist schools than to bring (most) people down to the least common denominator?

The purpose of public schools is to slowly acclimate the public to accept the idea of socialism.

Charter schools work pretty much across the board, regardless of the income level of the students, because they have an application - students and/or their families want them there, with an actual desire for an education. Get rid of the kids in public schools who are just there for baby sitting services and they would be successful, too.

quote:

Originally posted by barndg00:
Charter schools work pretty much across the board, regardless of the income level of the students, because they have an application - students and/or their families want them there, with an actual desire for an education. Get rid of the kids in public schools who are just there for baby sitting services and they would be successful, too.

If you close down the warehouses (inner city public schools) what are the miscreants going to do with their time all day?

Company used convicted Chicago schools chief in 'highly unethical' work to win millions in CPS business, watchdog finds

By Juan Perez Jr.Contact Reporter
Chicago Tribune

A for-profit company that educates at-risk students won tens of millions of dollars from Chicago Public Schools with help from then-CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and her co-conspirators in a separate bribery scandal, the school district’s inspector general found in a report released Tuesday.

That “highly unethical conduct” was essential for Camelot Education to open four CPS campuses several years ago, Inspector General Nicholas Schuler’s office said in the report. Camelot now operates six schools in CPS, with a total of about 800 students, and the Texas-based company has received more than $67 million in district business, the IG said.

Schuler’s office asked the Chicago Board of Education to disqualify Camelot and two unnamed company executives from future business with CPS. If the board concludes doing so would be too disruptive, Schuler recommended the board fine Camelot $6.7 million and appoint an independent monitor to review the company’s conduct for three years.

Schuler concluded Camelot first won “behind-the-scenes access” to Byrd-Bennett and top staff plus “confidential inside information” with help from Gary Solomon and Thomas Vranas — two consultants who served as Camelot’s “undisclosed lobbyists” before they were indicted and convicted in federal court alongside Byrd-Bennett for organizing a kickback scheme that upended the district.

Schuler’s report does not allege any criminal behavior occurred as part of the Camelot case.

“We’re alleging ethical violations and procurement violations,” Schuler told the Tribune.

But the IG’s investigation illustrates how Byrd-Bennett’s disgraced administration continues to reverberate in a school system that’s sought to clean up its reputation for crisis and scandal. It also shows how a murky array of lobbyists, attorneys and consultants can influence the awarding of public contracts with minimal oversight.

CPS pledged Monday to strengthen vendors’ requirements to report lobbying activity, and also to launch a process that, following the inspector general’s recommendations, may sanction Camelot or disqualify the company from future business with the district.

That raises the prospect of shutting down the firm’s Chicago schools, although CPS argues state law would prohibit any closures at least until August 2019.

“The actions uncovered by the Office of the Inspector General undermined the best interests of Chicago students, city taxpayers, and the honest, hard-working educators and administrators who have worked to dramatically improve schools throughout the city,” CPS spokesman Michael Passman said in a statement.

A negotiated settlement could occur instead of a shutdown. Camelot executives disputed Schuler’s report as inaccurate.

Schuler’s examination of Camelot centers on behavior that largely occurred between 2012 and 2013. Authorities also investigated Byrd-Bennett, Solomon and Vranas for steering multimillion-dollar no-bid contracts to the SUPES Academy education consulting firm in exchange for the promise of lucrative kickbacks during the same time period.

The trio were eventually indicted for their roles in that scheme, pleaded guilty and are now serving federal prison sentences. Schuler said the completed criminal cases against Byrd-Bennett and her co-conspirators allowed his office to finish the Camelot probe.

CPS pays Camelot and similar firms to operate schools that are often meant for students who have dropped out, been expelled or are catching up on credits in order to graduate.

According to Schuler, Camelot hired Solomon and Vranas to represent their interests in Chicago and paid them $294,000 for their work to establish schools in CPS between 2012 and 2014.

“The financial investment in influence peddlers was well worth it for the school operator, which received tens of millions of dollars in CPS funding,” Schuler’s report said. “Through Solomon’s and Vranas’s coordination with Byrd-Bennett and manipulation of CPS’s procurement process, the company opened its first four schools in CPS.”

Schuler said Solomon brokered a meeting between Byrd-Bennett, her top aide and an unnamed Camelot executive during a 2012 conference. One week after that meeting, the aide emailed high-ranking CPS employees “to emphasize that Byrd-Bennett wanted to open more of the company’s schools simply by amending a contract for a campus that the company was already opening,” Schuler said.

Byrd-Bennett emailed Solomon in December to say she was “trying to figure it out without breaking laws,” according to Schuler’s report.

One day after sending that message, the former district CEO followed up with Solomon and Vranas to discuss the terms of a scheme to steer CPS contracts to the SUPES Academy and Synesi Associates educational training firms with Byrd-Bennett's help — the scheme that sent the three to prison, Schuler said.

On Byrd-Bennett’s suggestion, Schuler said, Camelot also gave SUPES a $60,000 sponsorship in October 2012.

The IG also determined Camelot hired a high-ranking CPS administrator, who had resigned from CPS amid an internal misconduct investigation, for a lucrative job “as part of a ‘wink-wink’ agreement that Solomon brokered on Byrd-Bennett’s behalf.”

Schuler said Camelot never disclosed to CPS that it had hired Solomon or Vranas to represent the company. Failing to do so violates the district’s ethics code.

Camelot CEO Andrew Morrison disputed Schuler’s conclusions.

“We competed for and won the Board of Education’s contract fairly and on our merits,” Morrison said in a statement.

“The fact is we were awarded the contracts based on our outstanding performance and the Chicago Board of Education selected us in succeeding years to operate additional programs, based on our programs’ tremendous results.”

Company used convicted Chicago schools chief in 'highly unethical' work to win millions in CPS business, watchdog finds

disgusting, but not surprising

quote:

Originally posted by barndg00:
Charter schools work pretty much across the board, regardless of the income level of the students, because they have an application - students and/or their families want them there, with an actual desire for an education. Get rid of the kids in public schools who are just there for baby sitting services and they would be successful, too.

There's another aspect of charter schools (at least here) that I think is incredibly important. The charter that opened near us a couple years ago requires 'every' family to contribute 20 hours a year to the school. There are dozens of ways to contribute, from stay at home moms helping out in the classroom, to parents who have jobs voluteering time at sporting events or other after school activities, to even folks helping paint classrooms. Everyone contributes and as such, develops an ownership interest in the school and in their kids performing. The parents are also not encouraged to help their kids study, but rather, required to participate with both the kids and their teachers as needed to ensure everyone is on the same page and moving forward. Since there's a backlog of students who want to go to the school, and the school tows the line on parents/students meeting their responsibilities, student performance is quite a bit higher than the other public schools these kids are districted into.

The solutions aren't rocket science, they simply aren't popular because of who's running the show today.