Monday, July 9, 2012
20% of Dekalb County Seniors failed to graduate
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Kids forget what they learn during the school year over the summer.
"Kids forget what they learn during the school year over the
summer. They all lose some math skills, but when it comes to reading,
poor and minority students fall behind their middle-class and more
affluent peers. This very real loss, called the summer slide, or summer
setback, continues to widen the academic achievement gap."... GFCP
Kids and parents consider summer to be the opportunity to break away from the pressures of school and academics. Many parents will pay large sums to ensure that their kids engage in "fun" activities during the summer. In general, that is not a bad idea, but Summer should also be used to reinforce fundamental Math and Reading skills, to engage in enrichment activities and to expand learning and knowledge in multiple areas.
"The research on summer learning
loss points to a disturbing
relationship between
socioeconomic and racial
disparities, and the achievement
gap. Cumulative summer learning losses
during the early elementary years among
socio-economic groups widen the gap. Since a
larger proportion of the low-income population
are minorities who are less likely to be
able to afford quality summer programs, summer
learning loss tends to be compounded
for poor and minority children." -- GFCP
As the end of Summer rapidly approaches, parents should ensure that their K-12 kids are engaged in some form of academic activity. Summer is a great time to reinforce the fundamentals of Math and Reading. We recommend that parents go the GPS site [click here] and review the standards that their children will have to accomplish in their rising grades. Write down the topics, then go to khanacademy.com and have your child watch two videos per day on each topic. It's simple, it's easy, it's convenient and parents are also encouraged to watch the videos with their kids. A time for bonding and learning. Make a special effort and do this for your child. You won't regret it.
summer. They all lose some math skills, but when it comes to reading,
poor and minority students fall behind their middle-class and more
affluent peers. This very real loss, called the summer slide, or summer
setback, continues to widen the academic achievement gap."... GFCP
Kids and parents consider summer to be the opportunity to break away from the pressures of school and academics. Many parents will pay large sums to ensure that their kids engage in "fun" activities during the summer. In general, that is not a bad idea, but Summer should also be used to reinforce fundamental Math and Reading skills, to engage in enrichment activities and to expand learning and knowledge in multiple areas.
"The research on summer learning
loss points to a disturbing
relationship between
socioeconomic and racial
disparities, and the achievement
gap. Cumulative summer learning losses
during the early elementary years among
socio-economic groups widen the gap. Since a
larger proportion of the low-income population
are minorities who are less likely to be
able to afford quality summer programs, summer
learning loss tends to be compounded
for poor and minority children." -- GFCP
As the end of Summer rapidly approaches, parents should ensure that their K-12 kids are engaged in some form of academic activity. Summer is a great time to reinforce the fundamentals of Math and Reading. We recommend that parents go the GPS site [click here] and review the standards that their children will have to accomplish in their rising grades. Write down the topics, then go to khanacademy.com and have your child watch two videos per day on each topic. It's simple, it's easy, it's convenient and parents are also encouraged to watch the videos with their kids. A time for bonding and learning. Make a special effort and do this for your child. You won't regret it.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Uninformed or disconnected Dekalb County parents doom their kids to failure.....
If you're a Dekalb County parent who believes that your job begins and ends as a parent when you dress, feed and drop-off your child to their local school, then your child is doomed. If you believe that the curriculum offered at your child's school is competitive nationally or even internationally, then you are naive. If you believe that getting A's and B's in a Dekalb county school is a badge of honor, then you have lost your way. If you believe that anything less that "exceeds expectation" or being magnet eligible reflects that your child is learning in school, then you have a long way to go to catch up. If you believe that "schools know best", then your child is destined for a life of mediocrity.
The truth is, Dekalb County is not unique in it's inability to properly educate our young people. Bloated administrations, incompetence, nepotism, low standards, poor quality teachers and uninterested parents are not unique to Dekalb County, but sadly when coupled with parents who have very little understanding of standards of success, of how others prepare their kids or of what it takes to succeed, then you are faced with the failure that is the South Dekalb Alliance of Schools.
In the first place, parents of kids who exceed expectations do not rely solely on schools to educate their children. These parents review the standards from the top schools in the nation, they purchase study aids, take their kids to museums, engage their kids in discussions about school and enroll their kids in enrichment classes. Often in poor and minority communities, parents assume tutors are for only when their kids are failing. Parents of kids who excel know that their kids must be enrolled in after school tutoring or some other source of supplemental learning to push them forward, to challenge them, to make them competitive with the rest of world.
The model of today's US public classroom is simply not conducive to learning. A 1:17 ratio is not optimal even when you have 17 well behaved kids in the classroom and in the last couple of years, that model has become a 1:25, 1:30 or even 1:50 [1 teacher: x students] as was the case in an "elite" South Dekalb High School Math class last Fall. In a classroom of 17 students, you will probably have kids who have no clue, kids who do their home work and pay attention and kids who have already advanced beyond the subject matter. The 1:too many ratio optimally serves the average kid, who will sit, listen and do their homework. The clueless kids are doomed to fail and the outstanding kids are disadvantaged, unchallenged, bored and denied the opportunity to advance in order to be more competitive with elite students from all over the world.
Parents of advanced kids in Dekalb County satisfy themselves with the idea of getting their kids into a magnet program. With 1 or 2 exceptions, magnet students in Dekalb County are often lumped into classes with non-magnet students resulting in the above stated situation; essentially, more of the same. It must be stated that the magnet programs up North, like the non-magnet programs up North are more competitive and offer better results because of involved parents who insist on high educational standards for their children. They also perform better because advanced kids in S.Dekalb continue to be shipped off to schools up North as their panicked parents face neighborhood schools with rampant discipline problems, consistently low achievement, overcrowded classrooms, unprepared and overwhelmed teachers, penitentiary like discipline systems and disconnected parents.
All parents with children in S.Dekalb shools should enroll their kids in enrichment programs like Kumon or Khan Academy or countless other online programs to continue to academically challenge their children. They should find affordable year round study groups where their children can be challenged, where learning is cool and where they can socialize with kids of like minds.
All parents with children in S.Dekalb shools should enroll their kids in enrichment programs like Kumon or Khan Academy or countless other online programs to continue to academically challenge their children. They should find affordable year round study groups where their children can be challenged, where learning is cool and where they can socialize with kids of like minds.
Parents of kids who are struggling MUST take immediate steps to get their kids back on track. Some steps may be drastic but fixing the problem will require nothing less than a commitment to hard work and shared sacrifice. Consequently, we recommend cutting off cable TV. Limiting sugars and junk foods in kids diets. Enforcing a bedtime which will allow for a more energetic and alert student the following day, deleting facebook accounts or severely limiting access [which is close to impossible], finding an effective tutoring service for your child IMMEDIATELY. All tutors are not good, so ask for a 1 week [paid] trial period before you signup or sign any contracts. Look for their ability to evaluate your child, analyze their deficiencies and offer a plan for improvement. Look for progress [even in 1 concept] at the end of 1 week. Video games must simply be taken away and maybe offered 1 day a week. Students should be encouraged to read, or engage with online educational resources like discoveryeducation.com [ask school for username and password], brainpop.com [you may have to pay for this],khanacademy.com [free], or youtube.com [search topic of interest]. There are hundreds of resources online, but we limit our recommendations to these 4 because the options can be overwhelming.
Parents in South Dekalb have to take a long honest look at themselves and make adjustments to ensure that their kids are well prepared for a new and changing world economy. The consequences are dire for unprepared children as world economies continue to struggle, and the world increasingly becomes a global market place where children from all over the world will be able to compete with our children for jobs and opportunities. These new realities leave us with little choice. Either we change today, or our children sink tomorrow.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Math Crisis! Even the best Dekalb County Schools boast high failure rates in Math
In 2011, Dekalb County test scores for the Math 1 and 2 EOCT exams were abysmal. Following, find a chart comparing % failure rate of students in Dekalb County schools [Park View HS Gwinnett is included for comparison] . In other words, the below chart displays % of students who failed the Math EOCT in 2011.
We encourage parents to ensure that kids use some portion of the summer to review Math fundamentals in preparation for their next Math class. Following are links we recommend:-
1 - http://www.khanacademy.com
2- http://youtube.com (search for Patrickjmt videos)
3- http://mathtv.com
There are hundreds [countlesss] other sources, but the above links were recommended by a few parents whose children scored in the top 10% on the EOCT exams.
We encourage parents to ensure that kids use some portion of the summer to review Math fundamentals in preparation for their next Math class. Following are links we recommend:-
1 - http://www.khanacademy.com
2- http://youtube.com (search for Patrickjmt videos)
3- http://mathtv.com
There are hundreds [countlesss] other sources, but the above links were recommended by a few parents whose children scored in the top 10% on the EOCT exams.
The horribly convoluted School Choice Registration System
I suppose on some level DCSS should be applauded for moving to a more automated way to register and manage students for the school choice lottery but sadly, the system was poorly designed and consequently leads to ongoing problems which parents continue to suffer.
Central data and test scores
I continue to find it baffling that evidence of test scores [ITBS & PSAT] and grades taken and earned in Dekalb County Schools have to be manually walked into the DCSS administrative offices as a part of the student registration process. One would think that if the schools [teachers] simply entered the test scores and grades into a central database, then parents would not even need to visit the administrative offices to interact with mostly unpleasant administrative staff. Parents continue to be frustrated with unanswered DCSS phone numbers and impatient directives to "bring in ITBS scores and grades" to the DCSS admin...which already has that data...somewhere in one of those buildings.
Options 1 and 2 on the School Choice lottery
Recently I had a discussion with a parent of 4 children, 3 of them magnet eligible who were entered into the school choice lottery. As an FYI, only 1 of the 3 eligible children was selected for a magnet program however it was her experience with the system which I found frightening.
Parent x applied to Chamblee Magnet for her child as a first choice and then chose to select SW Dekalb as a backup choice in case there was no hope of admission to Chamblee. Parent x received notification that her child was #4 on the waiting list for Chamblee Magnet, she was elated. After some time of checking daily, she went down to the DCSS office to inquire about the waiting list. By the next working day, she was removed from her enviable #4 spot for Chamblee and unceremoniously assigned a seat at SW Dekalb.
This alarmed parent called and appealed to DCSS "powers that be" and was informed by a less than courteous secretary of the following. "If a parent chooses two options for schools, DCSS will remove student from 1st choice waiting list and assign to 2nd choice available seat. It's written in writing. There's noting we can do. You can join the back of the waiting list if you are insistent on Chamblee." This by the Magnet department's secretary. Not much different from Dr Copeland. This is however an ongoing case, so I will update our readers.
Simply put, it is our position that if the policy is as stated [and we seriously doubt it], then the policy is mindless, administrative folly. A parent should have the option of a second choice option while awaiting the status of their waiting list spot. We will not say much more on this issue until we can clarify the facts. We encourage feedback from parents on this.
Central data and test scores
I continue to find it baffling that evidence of test scores [ITBS & PSAT] and grades taken and earned in Dekalb County Schools have to be manually walked into the DCSS administrative offices as a part of the student registration process. One would think that if the schools [teachers] simply entered the test scores and grades into a central database, then parents would not even need to visit the administrative offices to interact with mostly unpleasant administrative staff. Parents continue to be frustrated with unanswered DCSS phone numbers and impatient directives to "bring in ITBS scores and grades" to the DCSS admin...which already has that data...somewhere in one of those buildings.
Options 1 and 2 on the School Choice lottery
Recently I had a discussion with a parent of 4 children, 3 of them magnet eligible who were entered into the school choice lottery. As an FYI, only 1 of the 3 eligible children was selected for a magnet program however it was her experience with the system which I found frightening.
Parent x applied to Chamblee Magnet for her child as a first choice and then chose to select SW Dekalb as a backup choice in case there was no hope of admission to Chamblee. Parent x received notification that her child was #4 on the waiting list for Chamblee Magnet, she was elated. After some time of checking daily, she went down to the DCSS office to inquire about the waiting list. By the next working day, she was removed from her enviable #4 spot for Chamblee and unceremoniously assigned a seat at SW Dekalb.
This alarmed parent called and appealed to DCSS "powers that be" and was informed by a less than courteous secretary of the following. "If a parent chooses two options for schools, DCSS will remove student from 1st choice waiting list and assign to 2nd choice available seat. It's written in writing. There's noting we can do. You can join the back of the waiting list if you are insistent on Chamblee." This by the Magnet department's secretary. Not much different from Dr Copeland. This is however an ongoing case, so I will update our readers.
Simply put, it is our position that if the policy is as stated [and we seriously doubt it], then the policy is mindless, administrative folly. A parent should have the option of a second choice option while awaiting the status of their waiting list spot. We will not say much more on this issue until we can clarify the facts. We encourage feedback from parents on this.
South Dekalb School Watch Parent Survey
Hello, the purpose of this survey is to gather enough data from South Dekalb parents so that we might garner a better understanding of problems, issues and opportunities identified by parents of kids in Dekalb County Schools.
Please take the survey and then encourage 4 of your friends to take it. Our goal is to improve our South Dekalb schools. This feedback is vitally important.
Click here to take South Dekalb Parent Survey
Please take the survey and then encourage 4 of your friends to take it. Our goal is to improve our South Dekalb schools. This feedback is vitally important.
Click here to take South Dekalb Parent Survey
Who are we?
This Dekalb County School Watch blog was started by a small group of concerned parents who buy into the idea of living and educating our children in our own communities. We believe that although currently necessary, the current practice of shipping our best and brightest kids off to schools up North to be educated is less than optimal.
Our goal is to differentiate ourselves from what we see as sometimes biased motivations of the views expressed by many parents on the North side of Dekalb County. Many of these views can be found expressed on the Dekalb Couty School Watch blog.
While we abhor what often seems like biased views from North Dekalb parents, we by no means give the DCSS a pass. Our South Dekalb Schools have been largely abandoned. They lack quality teachers and resources and serve what is often majority poor communities and their resultant problems with no additional resources.
The list of schools meeting AYP in South Dekalb is shameful, our students test scores are underwhelming, our students treated like common criminals in even the best of schools in South Dekalb and often, when we reach out to DCSS administration, we are treated like they are doing us a huge favor.
Nationwide, Black students have the highest dropout rates [near 50%], the lowest college preparedness rate and the lowest college graduation rates. We the parents of South Dekalb are tired of the blame game, we are tired of excuses, we are tired of mediocrity, we are tired of being taken advantage of, we are tired of the North South racial divide, we are tired of the sinking feeling in the pits of our stomach we feel when we find out that our brilliant youngsters didn't make the lottery for Chamblee Charter High School.
Our goal is to create a movement for change in South Dekalb. We want higher academic standards, we want better quality teachers, we want less prison preparedness [stringent and often mindless discipline and punishment] and more visionary leadership, creative thinking, inclusive school management and pride in our communities.
These goals must be accomplished, we have no choice...or we condemn our children to lives of perpetual servitude.
Our goal is to differentiate ourselves from what we see as sometimes biased motivations of the views expressed by many parents on the North side of Dekalb County. Many of these views can be found expressed on the Dekalb Couty School Watch blog.
While we abhor what often seems like biased views from North Dekalb parents, we by no means give the DCSS a pass. Our South Dekalb Schools have been largely abandoned. They lack quality teachers and resources and serve what is often majority poor communities and their resultant problems with no additional resources.
The list of schools meeting AYP in South Dekalb is shameful, our students test scores are underwhelming, our students treated like common criminals in even the best of schools in South Dekalb and often, when we reach out to DCSS administration, we are treated like they are doing us a huge favor.
Nationwide, Black students have the highest dropout rates [near 50%], the lowest college preparedness rate and the lowest college graduation rates. We the parents of South Dekalb are tired of the blame game, we are tired of excuses, we are tired of mediocrity, we are tired of being taken advantage of, we are tired of the North South racial divide, we are tired of the sinking feeling in the pits of our stomach we feel when we find out that our brilliant youngsters didn't make the lottery for Chamblee Charter High School.
Our goal is to create a movement for change in South Dekalb. We want higher academic standards, we want better quality teachers, we want less prison preparedness [stringent and often mindless discipline and punishment] and more visionary leadership, creative thinking, inclusive school management and pride in our communities.
These goals must be accomplished, we have no choice...or we condemn our children to lives of perpetual servitude.
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