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San Diego Unified Board of Education, San Diego Unified School District, San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Cindy Marten, SDUSD Trustee John Lee Evans, SDUSD Trustee Kevin Beiser, SDUSD Trustee Mike McQuary, SDUSD Trustee Richard Barrera, SDUSD Trustee Sharon Whitehurst -Payne
Here are some interesting articles we received and discovered this past week…
ENJOY!
Eighth-Graders Are Doing Fifth-Grade Work. No Wonder Our Kids Aren’t Ready for College.
Quote from Article:
I just read a report that, as a father, makes me question my own kid’s school. I mean, if these problems are happening in so many classrooms, what are the chances they’re happening in my son’s classroom?
Don’t get me wrong. I love my school, and I think they’re doing amazing things, but most parents think their schools are great. This isn’t Lake Wobegon. All our kids can’t be above average. But this report suggests that most schools are letting kids down.
TNTP, a national education nonprofit, just released The Opportunity Myth. There’s a lot to say about this report, but for me, it finally explains why, despite so much talk about improving education, despite all the policies and laws designed to make schools better, we still have so many kids struggling.
STUDENTS WHO START COLLEGE WITH REMEDIAL CLASSES ARE UNLIKELY TO EVER GET THAT DEGREE.
The Opportunity Myth shows why, despite students’ best efforts, their good grades and big dreams, so many graduate high school and find themselves being forced into remedial classes in college. Those classes costs them thousands for stuff they should have already learned for free in the public school system. What’s worse, students who start college with remedial classes are unlikely to ever get that degree. They find themselves unable to grasp the opportunities they thought they were ready for.
And…
GRADE-APPROPRIATE ASSIGNMENTS
Most students are doing the work asked of them.
- 90 percent of students are doing their classwork.
- Students are meeting the demands of their assignments 71 percent of the time.
- More than half are getting A’s and B’s. 80 percent are getting at least a C.
- Classes are aligned to the Nation’s Report Card test (also known as The National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP).
But schools aren’t helping many students do the right work.
Only 17 percent of assignments give students a chance to do grade-level work.
TNTP found fourth-graders being asked to do first and second grade math problems. And this fifth-grade-level reading assignment shocked me (see my screenshot below)! They asked eighth-graders to read it and complete a problem where the vowels in the word “habitat” are blanked out. I couldn’t believe it.
“Opportunity Myth” Link: THE OPPORTUNITY MYTH
District Deeds Synopsis:
When we read this article and study we were reminded of a quote relayed to us by one of our district contacts:
9th graders at (redacted) High School can’t read at a 5th grade level” – San Diego Unified School District Senior Staff Member at a School Site PTO Meeting
Meanwhile, SDUSD Stakeholders are bombarded with “happy news” press releases from the district propaganda department about how test results for all Students on national tests are great and the Graduation Rate is skyrocketing.
How can both items be true?
Answer: They can’t.
Maybe the facts from the article and study give us a clue:
“Only 17 percent of assignments give students a chance to do grade-level work.”
Do ANY of our readers have confidence that the educational plans and curriculums deployed by Elementary School Superintendent and her Senior Staff cronies regularly EXCEED the 17% threshold in our neediest schools?
Obviously not given the rapid migration away from SDUSD schools and into Charter Schools.
Our guess is that drastically less than even the 17% of grade appropriate assignments exist in many of our most struggling schools.
Remember?
9th graders at (redacted) High School can’t read at a 5th grade level” – San Diego Unified School District Senior Staff Member at a School Site PTO Meeting
Make-Up Courses Can Lead to Made-Up Graduation Rates
Quote from Article:
Expectations for academic progress in America’s public high schools keep increasing despite the fact that high-school test scores have been stubbornly stagnant in most states. As a result, schools have chosen to demonstrate success by using graduation rates, which have hit record highs five times in the past five years. The pressure to increase graduation rates continues, and to boost numbers, schools are increasingly using credit recovery programs (i.e., make-up classes) to give more struggling students a chance to graduate on time. Used judiciously these programs can be beneficial, but many schools are pushing too many students through them, allowing graduates to circumvent expectations rather than meet them.
And…
Schools with high-participation rates are different from the rest. They have more poor and non-white students, and fewer students performing satisfactorily. Their graduation rates are also lower. The differences are profound for “peak” schools, 28 percent of which are high-poverty, and 70 percent of which are majority minority (compared to all high schools where the percentages are 14 and 45, respectively). In “peak” schools, the students are more likely to be suspended, held back, and chronically absent. They are less likely to pass Algebra I on time, take and pass AP exams, or be proficient in reading and math. While their graduation rates remain below average, these schools have had one advantage: larger graduation rate gains than all other schools for four years running. The high-volume programs in these schools create more than a quality problem; the concentrated disadvantage of their students amounts to an equity problem.
And…
Scandals aside, it’s possible that some high-volume programs are well-conceived, with policies in place to ensure that participants meet graduation standards. However, the dearth of information we found on 200 school districts websites — schools which had at least a 10 percent credit recovery participation — suggests otherwise. No information on credit recovery programs was posted in 15 percent of these districts. Basic information, such as what courses were available, when they were offered, and whether they were in class or online, was missing in far too many cases. For programs serving one in 10 students, this lack of information suggests a lack of quality control.
Link to Study: Credit Recovery: Second Chance or Second Track
District Deeds Synopsis:
We have written repeatedly about the SDUSD Diploma Mill Scam exposing all the credit recovery and Diploma abuses.
We have also proven over and over that “quality control” and Cindy Marten are mutually exclusive terms.
This article is virtually a profile of the dystopian educational reality we face as long as the current Superintendent Marten and her crony Board of Education Trustee Richard “Tricky Dick” Barrera, Kevin “Dismissal with Prejudice” Beiser, John “You Can’t Handle the Truth” Evans, Michael “Foggy Bottom” McQuary and Sharon “Flying By The Seat of Our Pants” Payne – are in power.
Highly suggested reading!
Why Millions of Americans Never Finish College
Quote from Article:
How can millions of Americans be out of work or stuck in low-wage jobs, while employers leave millions of jobs unfilled each year? A big reason is the nation’s college completion crisis—something that is just beginning to get the national attention it deserves. In fact, less than half of America’s college students ever graduate. And the numbers are worse at community colleges, which are the primary providers of education and training for the 29 million middle-skill jobs that pay middle-class wages.
And…
Well-paying jobs that require only a high school diploma have largely disappeared as automation and globalization continue to transform the economy. By 2020, 65 percent of jobs will require at least some postsecondary education. Community colleges serve close to half of all American students, enrolling 10 million students each year, but just under 20 percent earn an associate’s degree within three years.
And…
There are two central reasons that students don’t complete college, and they typically operate in tandem: inadequate preparation and difficulty navigating college.
High school graduates from high-poverty areas are generally not well prepared for college-level work, so they get assigned to “developmental” (remedial) courses in math and English. Working adults who enroll in community college in an effort to advance their careers face similar hurdles, as their academic skills are typically rusty.
Students may be required to take anywhere from one to three developmental courses, which must be taken sequentially and don’t confer college credit. The delay costs students both time and money—developmental courses use up financial aid, which has a lifetime limit, and don’t count toward a degree—and produces frustration and discouragement.
Seventy percent of students assigned to developmental courses never complete college.
District Deeds Synopsis:
All the curriculum shortcuts approved…
All the weak credit recovery strategies deployed…
All the fake Diplomas delivered…
And all our neediest Students from the poorest families as “graduates” of the most struggling schools in the SDUSD are stuck with taking costly remedial classes in college.
And to add insult to injury…just think of it…SEVENTY PERCENT (and probably more) of SDUSD certified “College and Career Ready” Students who enter college will NEVER graduate.
A Kindergarten to College pathway dead end designed through the educational betrayal and lies of Marten and her Trustee gang of incompetents….all covered up with millions of dollars of SDUSD propaganda and legal bills.
No wonder Families AND highly credentialed Teachers AND highly qualified Administrators are RUNNING AWAY from the Marten led SDUSD DEAD END.
We MUST hold Marten and her gang accountable to do better or GET OUT!
Now for our Quote of the Week:
“In a fascist system, it’s not the lies that count but the muddying. When citizens can’t tell real news from fake, they give up their demands for accountability bit by bit.” – Naomi Wolf
Have a great week!!!
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IF
- Your family has been injured by the San Diego Unified School District, go to the District Deeds Complaint Forms page to find instructions to fight for your Civil Rights!
- YOU ARE TIRED OF THE COVER UPS AND LIES BY SUPT. CINDY MARTEN…
Please Click the Link Below and sign the Petition Today and READ the COMMENTS to Support the REMOVAL of Marten by SDUSD Stakeholders!
District Deeds 