Comments on: Interactive map offers illustration of college-readiness disparities

By: Bob Williamson

Bob Williamson — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 21:33:00 +0000

Do East Harlem and the Upper East Side have any difference in their legitimacy birth rates? It seems to me that the rather than poverty causing poor education, absentee fathers could be the cause of both low incomes and lack of academic achievement.

By: Michael Haberman

Michael Haberman — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:33:00 +0000

Through PENCIL’s work bringing
the skills and resources from the business community into public schools, we’ve
found that creating programs targeting college access and readiness increases opportunities
for students to attend and succeed in college—wherever they live!

Our Partners are doing this throughout
New York City. In some cases, they’re introducing students to college as early
as first grade. Partners have role models discuss the benefits of college and
what it takes to get there, as well as where they went to college and how they
succeeded. They also bring students to college campuses, and demonstrate to
parents that college is achievable for everyone through “college nights” and
financial aid workshops.

Businesses support older
students with college application assistance, providing workshops and tutorials
on college application essays, FAFSA, and helping students identify the right
schools for them.

Collectively, these small steps
add up to a big difference:

·
More PENCIL Students
apply to college than their peers.

·
80% of surveyed
PENCIL High School students reported increased planning and decision making
about their college choices, such as selecting a school or choosing a
major.

·
Principals
report that PENCIL Students have a better
understanding of how to find and apply for the right college for them

Business volunteers can apply
their talent and skills to provide students with the guidance and resources that
they need to make college a real, obtainable goal—and to help them succeed once
they’re enrolled. In the words of one parent whose first grade student visited
a college through PENCIL: ”They have something to look forward to, to keep them
on the right track…It means a lot that my daughter [visited a] college. I want
her to reach big, and I want to her to have a really good career and a good
life.”

Michael Haberman
President, PENCIL

By: Guest101

Guest101 — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 14:06:00 +0000

Mr. Flerporillo,I think there is certainly much that could be done in order to make a tremendous impact in regards to overcoming the the tremendous impact that poverty has on children and student achievement. I’ll lay it out after this short rant. 1. I bet that college & career readiness rates were the same if not higher before this administration. Back then, neighborhood schools and districts did a much better job of articulation then they do now. Although more students supposedly did not graduate, the ones that did, met higher standards. 2. Make no mistake that this conversation is being led by the 1% who; A. want to see as much privatization in public the public sector as it ultimately means more money and opportunity for them. Teachers, custodian, food services, it’s just a matter of time before they set their sights on the police force the way they have prisons. (Crime is big business) B. Pensions, there is a double bonus here, let private employees put money in privately managed 401ks, etc. Remember, there’s a lot money to be made in Education. The vultures will continue to prey and are very difficult to deter. 3. College Readiness is defined by 75 on English Regents & 80 Algebra, or meeting the 3 year sequence in math (Algebra, Geometry, Trig.) or a particular score on the SAT. If a student scores 85 on the ELA & 79 on the Algebra, doesn’t complete the 3 year sequence and doesn’t take the SAT, he may very end up at a community college and eventually a graduate from a 4 year school. So the metrics which qualify this standard are gibberish. Now to the solution:From the day someone decides to take this on, this has to happen on multiple levels.Absolutely this starts with early childhood. Getting students into early enriching environments for an entire day. I would recommend 8-5. This would support healthy play habits, build a foundation for students, allow parents the time to work or get job training. But you also need to teach parents how to be parents and what they should be doing to support their children. I know how dare I say such a thing. But just because you know how to make a baby, doesn’t mean you know how to raise one. We shouldn’t assume that. Those on public assistance it would mandatory for this support. Teenage mothers, should have various options to support them. Oh, by the way you need wrap around services. NYC should be able to coordinate services but this administration has no clue on how to do that, one on their major failings. That was what mayoral control should have done. Next, let’s go back to districts. That way we could bring back articulation between, elementary, middle schools, & high schools. We need to identify students at risk, and track them through the system. Cradle to College or Career. We also need to reestablish strong vocational programs. We need to rebuild the arts & sports programs at early ages. This is going to cost a fortune you say. Nope, same money, maybe even less over the long run as you get more students on track, less young men going through incarceration. Less single parent households, although in itself is for another conversation. Sorry folks, I have to get back to work, but this can be done. But it will only be done when people who have committed their lives to this work are put in a position of power to affect change in this system. Those leading policy in this city have never done this work. They have agendas that are in the best interest of a wealthy minority. The rest are here to support that cause. Sorry I was unable to finish my manifesto for change. Take care and keep advocating for kids.

By: Mr. Flerporillo

Mr. Flerporillo — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 03:23:00 +0000

Fair enough. But nobody gets many points for predicting that a problem that’s grave, deeply entrenched, and generally considered unsolvable will remain grave, entrenched, and unsolved. Sounds a lot like a write-off to me. If the parents of the 87% in Harlem tune out, I certainly couldn’t blame them.

By: Vote NO!

Vote NO! — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 02:21:00 +0000

No, ” Just put me down” as one who believes with a great deal of confidence, that the current strategy will NOT work.

By: Former Turnaround Teacher

Former Turnaround Teacher — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 01:40:00 +0000

I agree with Neill. Since the gap clearly starts at a young age, and has to do with the home and surrounding environment, I believe the best investment would be quality and extensive pre-k. I also think that innovation needs to really be worked on at the Elementary Level. Perhaps by adding more after school literacy programs for young children, some of the achievement gap lost at home could be closed.

By: A.S.Neill

A.S.Neill — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 00:46:00 +0000

As I’ve pointed out before, there is an alternative plan well supported by research: high quality and extensive pre-K, a plan in fact championed by Obama in 2008 but later disregarded under Arnie Duncan. It is expensive and long term; words that most politicians don’t want to hear who want credit for a quick fix. Someday the US may get such a plan, but probably not any time soon.

By: Mr. Flerporillo

Mr. Flerporillo — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 23:26:00 +0000

I should have been clearer. I was trying to ask if anyone here had a plan. I know most people here think the city doesn’t have one. And to be clear, I do not have a plan, although it’s my sense that a truly effective plan would have to be much more ambitious and expensive than most people like to acknowledge.

By: Mary Conway-Spiegel

Mary Conway-Spiegel — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 23:20:00 +0000

Thank you Mr. Flerporillo…because the plan is: There is no plan. Just like there was no plan when the TurnAround debacle failed.
All of this is one big commercial “college ready” is a buzzword, just like: “raise standards,” “students first,” “it’s about the kids,” etc.

By: Mr. Flerporillo

Mr. Flerporillo — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 22:56:00 +0000

Can I just put you down for “write them off”?

By: Vote NO!

Vote NO! — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 22:49:00 +0000

The “plan” to counter all of the points you stated, is to put all of the responsibility on the teachers. Turn the teaching profession into one of the least desirable professions. Burn out all of the teachers within a few years of their entrance into the profession. Watch the college readiness rate drop from 18% to 8% in a decade. Then “scratch our heads” and wonder what to do next.

By: Mr. Flerporillo

Mr. Flerporillo — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 22:12:00 +0000

Let’s say someone: (1) lives in Harlem; (2) is a high school dropout; (3) has no skilled trade and has employment prospects that are basically limited to retail; (4) is a single-parent with several children; (5) watches television for entertainment; (6) doesn’t read unless she has to, and doesn’t enjoy it; (7) usually isn’t in a great mood for a whole bunch of reasons, finds her children’s whining and fighting exhausting, and tells them that often; and (8) doesn’t have health insurance. By the time her children were 3, they had heard approximately 30 million fewer words than children in households with college-educated parents. She doesn’t help her children with their homework much — they forget to bring it home, or they refuse to sit down and do it, and anyway she was never any good at long division herself.

Assuming that the problem of poverty will not be retroactively solved, what’s the plan to make sure her children are “college ready”? And then what’s the backup plan? Are children like this just write-offs at this point?

By: Mr. Shoop

Mr. Shoop — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:32:00 +0000

Think about this: The Upper East Side has a 70% college readiness rate and East Harlem has an 18% college readiness rate. However, there are tenured teachers in both the Upper East Side as well as East Harlem. Also, teachers from both of these locations are still evaluated under the “S” or “U” system. The fact is that neither tenure nor the current teacher evaluation system can or should be blamed for college readiness with such a high difference in these two locations. On a side note, I’d bet that there are probably a whole lot more tenured teachers on the Upper East Side than in East Harlem as these schools tend to not have as many TFA’ers or face huge staff turnover problems. But in the end, the ed-deformers don’t care about petty facts like poverty as it is all about “no excuses”.

By: Milo

Milo — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:16:00 +0000

I’m surprised the usual suspects have not blamed this on teacher pensions or 55/25. (You know who you are)

By: Former Turnaround Teacher

Former Turnaround Teacher — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 20:03:00 +0000

From the Daily News article regarding this study, “City schools officials defended the mayor’s record, noting that the citywide college readiness rate — currently 13% for black students and 15% for Latinos — is better than when Bloomberg took office. “Since our administration’s reforms, college readiness rates have nearly doubled for black and Latino students — but there is still more work to do,” spokeswoman Erin Hughes said.”

Even if it has “doubled” which I am not sure about since I college readiness seems to have only be tracked recently, this is a disgrace. How can we have a so called “Education Mayor” for almost 11 years now, and say that this is acceptable. All he has done is destroy neighborhood schools, and bash teachers. This is an extremely important story that I hope a lot of people read, but as noted below, it is truly depressing.

By: Travis Dove

Travis Dove — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:53:00 +0000

I think there comes a point, some time, when it becomes the fault of the students and not the teachers.

By: My Inspiration Is

My Inspiration Is — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:52:00 +0000

These are sad statistics. The at risk schools need to be given tools and incentives to keep these schools afloat rather than letting them fail.

By: Mary Conway-Spiegel

Mary Conway-Spiegel — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:01:00 +0000

Malpractice. Education malpractice. As parents, as advocates we’ve known this all along…we’ve told everyone…we’ve never been fooled.
Poor doesn’t mean stupid. It just means underfunded, under represented…

By: Mr. Flerporillo

Mr. Flerporillo — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:57:00 +0000

Depressing, not surprising, but mainly depressing. I taught argumentative writing for a few years at a state university, and my mind was consistently blown by how ill-prepared the vast majority of students were (as writers, at least. I’m sure they were all brilliant physicists). Most of them weren’t poor and didn’t appear to have had much trouble getting As in high school. And most of them were probably “college ready” by whatever standard that implies. So to see a number like 13%, wow.

By: Youdontneedtoknow

Youdontneedtoknow — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:54:00 +0000

But the DoE says it’s not about zip codes…..hmmm.