Principal tells ninth graders to study, or leave

[tonysam]

As if this is a good idea. As far as I am concerned, this principal should be shitcanned. Instead, he is hailed by the WP as a hero:

So I was surprised when Charlie Thomas, principal of Crossland High School in Prince George's County, began sending me emails. His school has been one of the worst in a low-performing district for a long time. But Thomas, who arrived in 2004, was trying to improve his school and was willing even to deal with a fault-finding columnist if it would help. Nearly 66 percent of his students were low-income, but he was not going to let that slow him down.

I confess he has gotten my attention with some unusual moves. For instance, he quickly discovered that close to 800 of his 1,800 students were still in the ninth grade. "I asked for a list of every ninth grade student that was 16 years old or older with a grade point average of less than 1.0 ," he told me. The list had 330 names. Some had been there four or five years.

"As soon as the school year began we met with each of these students and informed them that they were being placed on academic probation," he said. "They were informed that they had one quarter to raise their grade point average to at least 1.0. If they failed to do so they would be withdrawn from the school due to lack of interest or transferred to the evening school program. . . . At the end of the first quarter, only fifty students remained on the list."

Susan Ohanian:

This edict of withdrawing students from school "for lack of interest" sounds an alarm to anyone familiar with the World of Opportunity in Birmingham, Alabama. When the late Steve Orel noticed lots of 16-year-olds showing up at the WOO, he asked why they weren't in high school. They all showed him the same termination papers. Reason for withdrawal: lack of interest.

Steve wondered how much "lack of interest" there could be when kids immediately tried to get into another school. As he talked to them, he heard stories of family troubles, students taking care of fatally ill relatives, working to put food on the table, students ill themselves, and so on. They said nobody at their high schools had ever asked them why their attendance was so poor, why they never did the homework, and so on.

Steve believed in second chances. And third. And fourth. . . . Steve knew that poor students lack many things; he didn't believe in "lack of interest."

The World of Opportunity continues to show another way. Steve's widow struggles to keep it going, and reports that those 16-year-olds are still being terminated by the local district.

Looking good at any cost is some districts' motto. The easiest way to do that is get rid of the really low kids.

link

It's all about cooking the books to make those test scores look good, not about high standards. The principal is an asshole and has no business running a school.

[d_r]

1. yeah, it is about test scores

let's get rid of the kids who won't get higher test scores. Its been going on a while. In a couple of years somebody will catch on and they'll start looking at graduation rates.

[Better Today]

2. It actually sounds like good thing to me, particularly if they can be " transferred to the evening

school program." Or even an on-line program. If the kids aren't attending and they aren't getting the work done, what's the point of them being enrolled, it can't even be construed as necessary babysitting at the age 16+.

The school can't solve their personal issues, so knowing about them won't help. Also it isn't like he said they had to have straight A's, just a 1.0.

Sorry, I know there's a big push around here to dis anything regarding school reform ideas, but this one seems perfectly reasonable. There's nothing stopping them from getting GED's at a later time when they can, and if that never arrives, what? are we going to just let them stay in ninth grade forever? Even till 18 just seems not worth the hassles it causes other students and teachers to have to deal with.

[tonysam]

3. No, it's not reasonable.

This guy is cooking the books to make HIM look better by throwing kids out and dumping them elsewhere.

Principals do a lot of this stuff thanks to NCLB.

[Better Today]

4. I'm not saying NCLB doesn't play a role, but there are logical reasons to make such a decision.

[mzteris]

5. sounds like it worked, eh?

"As soon as the school year began we met with each of these students and informed them that they were being placed on academic probation," he said. "They were informed that they had one quarter to raise their grade point average to at least 1.0. If they failed to do so they would be withdrawn from the school due to lack of interest or transferred to the evening school program. . . . At the end of the first quarter, only fifty students remained on the list."


Of course I'd have to know WAY more about the schools, the kids, the principal, the program, what's been done in the past, etc...

that's the trouble with these "sound bites" - you have no idea what the big picture is, and it's ridiculous to pass judgement based on "an article".

[Better Today]

6. I'm reading it that only 50 didn't succeed, and were still on the list. It is poorly written.

I can see your interpretation as well. Hmm. I wonder.

[knitter4democracy]

7. Some students need to be in another environment, though.

I think "lack of interest" is a loaded term, mind you, but there are some who just plain don't fit into the standard public school. I teach in an alternative high school, and we get these kids. Some need to keep getting booted out of class until they realize they're hurting themselves more that way (the vast majority come back to finish), but most just need a more tailored environment, one that meets their needs with more involved teachers and a more understanding principal.

That's okay: he can kick them out. We'll take them, get their skills up, and get them into college or whatever program they want to get into.

[tonysam]

8. I don't think you get it

This isn't "okay"; this is about boosting up the schoolwide test scores in order to make AYP under NCLB.

Principals use various dubious and even illegal means in order to make sure "their" schools make AYP.

Kids should NEVER be pushed out.

[knitter4democracy]

11. I don't think you get it--this is nothing new.

If it weren't for AYP, it would be for the test scores published in the paper or for whatever metrics some big grant is based on. This practice is nothing new, just as alternative high schools aren't new.

Apparently, the Obama administration is considering re-writing or re-interpreting the law to say that alternative high schools students' scores will go back to their home district (or the one they came from before we got them). If that happens, there should be less of this occuring.

[mzteris]

10. amen and hallelujah!

Alternative environments!!

And wouldn't it be even BETTER if students who don't "fit into the standard model" could have options BEFORE they become "problem students"? ? ?

My son goes to an "alternative high school" of choice. No one gets "kicked out of another school" to go there, you have to interview to get in. They take the kids that are bullied and ignored and just plain DON"T FIT IN at the traditional model.

A WHOLE lot of GLBT's, kids who are "different" - both physically and mentally, etc. any of the things that make a kid a "target" in a regular school.

It's part of the traditional school system (not a charter public school). It's really amazing.

[knitter4democracy]

12. That's the kind of school I teach in.

We have a six page long waiting list, so we take those who really want to be in school but need a different, more supportive environment. We have many GLBT students, and interestingly enough, they all say that our school (with all the bullies and violent students that we have as well) is safer and more supportive. We work hard to make it that way.

[donco6]

9. You do have to take into account whether graduation is possible.

Here we study each kid and look at his/her age versus credits and how much time they have left in high school. If it's not possible for them to earn credits to graduate in the time remaining, we do counsel them into our "evening" school (we call it Young Adult school). They still get tested, so it doesn't impact that at all. But it gives them another opportunity to get a diploma. If they can't make that, we counsel them toward a GED. Is that a bad thing?

[YvonneCa]

14. No donco6. That's a very GOOD...

...thing. :)

[Taitertots]

13. His idea is wrong, but what do we do with them? n/t