A very compelling and informative series about the DC public schools appeared this week in The Washington Post.
Extensive data was listed for the system’s 135 schools, and the results were less than encouraging. Such is one reason that newly-elected Mayor Adrian Fenty decided to take control of the public schools, release School Superintendent Clifford Janey, and bring in Michelle Rhee as Chancellor.
These are big and significant changes. The data published in the Post confirms that we also have a big, significant, and horrendously persistent education problem in our midst.
Of course, the lack of success in the DC system is hardly news, and for many years many politicians have been doing a great deal of deck chair rearranging for the voyage of a resurrected Titanic.
Citizens would like to see concerted and coordinated effort that results in positive results. Many in the DC system drop out at young ages and lose any chance of the American Dream. Education, our hope for advancement, eludes them.
Some enterprising investigative journalist or high-minded insider ought to come forth with the keys to the Kingdom, the answer to the debilitating school situation. How can a country as large as ours fail to marry education expertise with public pedagogy in its Nation’s Capital?
Poverty seems to correlate with poor school performance; however, one line of numbers screams out for further analysis. It may be our salvation. Birney Elementary in Southeast DC is the only school with high poverty to have a majority of its student pass or show advanced proficiency in recent standardized math tests. There is some light in the darkness.
Birney’s size is not the smallest. Its student-to-teacher ratio is not the lowest. Its percentage of highly-qualified teacher is far from the highest in the system. Yet the school succeeds, nearly thrives in a perpetuate realm of underachievement.
Yesterday I spoke with Charles Webb, Birney’s acting principal. I asked about the school’s relative success. What approaches are he and the staff taking from which others could learn?
He was humble and self-effacing, saying that the school was “fortunate.” It had many “hard-working teachers” and staff and enjoyed considerable community support with Saturday Academies, tutoring, and groups such as Foster Grandmothers, The Experience Corps (retired individuals), and Heads Up (college students). Discipline was valued at Birney. It has a zero tolerance for bad behavior. The staff has bought in to the agenda and consistently executes it well.
Looking for simple answers is dangerous. If solutions were so easy, all schools would have adopted them long ago.
When I asked about the prior principal, LeRoy Owens, who retired last November, Mr. Webb noted that he had been at Birney for the last 10 years, the first five as assistant principal. He had long lived in the neighborhood and was well acquainted with the community. Some Birney teachers today are instructing children of former students. Thus, a positive ethos of stability has existed for some time. Is that the reason for success?
I challenge Ms. Rhee, investigative reporters, and others to dig deep and determine whether Birney is pursuing a path that other schools should emulate, and emulate right away.
How else can we produce children wise enough to lead?
+++
YETMO: “You’re Entitled To My Opinion,” A Balanced Point of View
"To stimulate thought, debate, and introspection”
Fred W. Apelquist, M.Ed.
Approximately 535 words.
© June 15, 2007