Mixed messages from the city about post-Sandy enrollment rules kept some students out of class. (NY1)
Many Rockaway schools have abysmal attendance rates; some students have fled. (GothamSchools)
One Far Rockaway school, Wave Prep, had just three students show up to its relocated site. (Post)
Parents say the city’s plan for students to get buses at closed schools makes little sense. (SchoolBook)
D.C.’s four-year graduation rate rose by 2 percentage points last year, to 61 percent. (Washington Post)
Former Turnaround Teacher
I wonder if the DOE will start to use the drops in enrollment, and abysmal attendance rates in these schools as an excuse to excess teachers, reduce funding, close the schools and replace them with Charters. Honestly I wouldn’t put it past them to start to use Sandy as an excuse to privitize more schools, just as New Orleans did with Katrina. I mean Katrina was “the best thing to happen to New Orleans schools,” right Arne?
At the very least, when these schools are finally ready to re-open and the students return, it will be so hard to return to normal, that I am sure there will be steep drops in test scores in the spring, and on January Regents for High School students. The DOE should exempt these schools from progress reports for this year.
Guest
RE: article about D.C. schools:
2% is just about statistically insignificant. Much ado about nothing, I’m sorry to say. If it’s down 2% next year, the same will be the case.
There is not much a school system can do that will increase graduation rates, other than cheating a kid through and thus kicking the can down the road to the next stage of the child’s life.
There will always be a few miracle stories, thank G-d. But these will likely be in spite of how the school system is set up, not because of it.
The only thing I know of that will be likely at all to increase graduation rates is a change in society’s values system, to one which truly values education. Our president can have a BIG role in this, more than he may think. He can stay off the campaign trail now and let the college kids be, and now talk to his huge constituency in the inner cities. That, and a few other things, could make a big difference over time.
But it’s not any department of ed. program that’s going to make more the significant difference for more than a few anecdotal cases — which are important and worth pursuing, don’t get me wrong.
But again, we need to work on society’s values, not so much the school system.
And PS: Charter schools are not going to help increase graduation rates:
Most kids who can get into one of those charter schools were going to graduate anyway. The rest of the public school system must still teach the rest of the kids, who are the ones who pull the overall grad. rates down.
And until society’s values change, the “rest of the kids” will not necessarily value completing their high school education. We teachers can do what we can — and we do; we put our blood, sweat, and tears into it, and should continue to do so — but seldom can we alone overcome a segment of society that simply poo-poos finishing high school.
I noticed that…
If the Charter School movement invaded the New Orleans public school system after Katrina, then what’s to stop the closing/phasing out of more public schools and opening up more charter schools because of Sandy. Ask Duncan how he’s feeling towards the many communities that were devastated by Sandy. Bet you he has a smile on his face.
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