Posts tagged Achievement Gap
-
Morning bell: Gray proposes millions more for education
Mayor’s budget allocates $100 million more to schools: The money will go to at-risk kids, middle schools, and an extended day at as many as 40 low-performing schools, among other things. (Post, WAMU) Catania throws hat in the ring: David Catania, an Independent who is chair of the DC Council’s education committee, announced that he would be a mayoral candidate in… Keep reading…
-
At-large DC Council candidates favor extended school hours for low-performing schools
We interviewed candidates for DC mayor and competitive council races for the April 1 primary, and recorded the conversations on video. We will be posting the videos for each subject area and each race over a few weeks. Here are the discussions about education with candidates for DC Council at-large. See all of the discussions here. The 3 challenger candidates for the at-large… Keep reading…
-
Should we fix schools by fixing poverty or fixing teaching? How about trying both? (Part 2)
Turnaround for Children, a nonprofit that aims to improve schools by addressing the effects of poverty both inside and outside the classroom, is working with 5 DCPS schools this year. The goal is a calmer environment where learning can take place, and so far the results look promising. In the first part of this post, we looked at how Turnaround for Children (TFC) partners with a… Keep reading…
-
Hear the candidates: Ward 6 on education
We interviewed candidates in the April 1 primary and recorded the conversations on video. Over the next few weeks, we will be posting excerpts here about their views on education. Here are the discussions with DC Council candidates for Ward 6. See all of the segments here. If you live in Ward 6 and like your current councilmember’s views on education, you’ll probably… Keep reading…
-
Teacher evaluations, part 2: In high-poverty schools, classroom observations miss the mark
DCPS evaluates its teachers in a way that penalizes and discourages those who work in its lowest-performing schools. Its IMPACT system has been tweaked in the past, but as a teacher in a high-poverty school I hope that negotiations on a new teachers’ union contract result in an IMPACT 3.0. In part 1 of this post I discussed how the IMPACT system evaluates some teachers in high-poverty… Keep reading…
-
Teacher evaluations, part 1: To keep teachers in low-performing schools, DCPS needs to change how it evaluates them
DCPS has said it wants to invest in its 40 lowest-performing schools. If that’s the case, the school district needs to change its teacher evaluation system, which penalizes and discourages the teachers who work in them. DCPS and the Washington Teachers Union will soon begin negotiating a new contract. As a teacher at a high-poverty DCPS school in Ward 8, I hope that one issue… Keep reading…
-
More and more DC students are taking AP classes, but what are they getting from the experience?
Although the number of students taking AP classes in the District has gone up dramatically, many fail the AP exam. But there’s a way to ensure that kids get a rigorous education without putting them into classes they’re not prepared for. Partly due to a push to increase minority and low-income participation, the number of students taking AP classes has nearly doubled… Keep reading…
-
When is it okay to have an empty classroom?
If you put more advanced classes into low-performing middle and high schools, will you get students who are capable of doing more advanced work? Or will administrators be tempted to fill those classes with students who aren’t ready for them? One thing that Councilmember David Catania and DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson agreed on at a DC Council hearing last week was that… Keep reading…
-
Morning bell: DC schools may get more money per pupil, but how much aid will those pupils get for college?
More money for DC schools?: A DC-government commissioned study has recommended that funding increase by about $2,000 per pupil, and that poor and other “at-risk” students should get more than that. The study, which will form the basis for Mayor Vincent Gray’s budget, also concluded that DC has not been funding charter schools at a level equal to DCPS schools,… Keep reading…
-
Thousands of DC kids will become dropouts unless they’re tutored in reading. Here are two ways to help them.
Well over half of DC’s 3rd graders read below grade level, a key indicator of trouble ahead. Two nonprofit programs aim to address that problem through tutoring. Both are getting promising results, but can either expand enough to serve the thousands of kids that need help? Children who can’t read on grade level by 3rd grade are 4 times more likely to drop out of school. Keep reading…