- Parents await answers on D.C. schools cheating case
- Kenyan McDuffie talks education and growth
- Violent Math Problems Lead To Teacher's Firing from Center City Public Charter School's Trinidad Campus [Center City PCS is mentioned]
Parents await answers on D.C. schools cheating case
USA Today
By Greg Toppo and Marisol Bello
March 2, 2012
Almost a year after the District of Columbia began investigating schools for possible cheating on standardized tests, parents are still waiting for the findings, but the school system's leader says there was no widespread cheating.
D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson said last week that "allegations of widespread cheating are harmful because they're unfounded."Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson told the D.C. City Council last week that "allegations of widespread cheating are harmful because they're unfounded." This week, she told a testing conference that no matter what the investigation finds, it may not mean much, because there is no "nationally acceptable statistical analysis" to figure out when scores are suspect.
The D.C. inspector general began investigating last March after USA TODAY reported high rates of changed answers on tests in many D.C. public schools from 2008 to 2010. Testing experts say high rates of erasures warrant examination.
Robert Wilson, the former DeKalb County, Ga., district attorney who co-led an investigation of Atlanta school tests, said, "It did seem that possibly she was laying the groundwork that maybe the results from that investigation won't be as concrete as some people would like."
The Atlanta investigation found evidence of cheating at 58 schools, mainly by teachers and administrators changing wrong answers, and a "culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation" for low scores."If you do a really thorough and vigorous investigation … you certainly should be able to come out with some fairly concrete things," Wilson said.
Henderson, 41, took over Washington schools last year from chancellor Michelle Rhee, who resigned to lead a non-profit group that lobbies state and national lawmakers to change how teachers are evaluated and paid, among other issues.
The federal and D.C. inspector generals would not comment.
Nathan Saunders, president of the Washington Teachers Union, said investigators have questioned at least 12 teachers from at least three schools. He said all denied cheating. The issue "remains a cloud over the data," he said.
Marvin Tucker, whose daughter attended one of the schools with high erasures, said Henderson's comments made no sense because the results of the investigation haven't been released yet.
"I think they are trying to cover up what's been going on," he said.
Pamela Jordan, whose daughter attended a school with high erasures, worries that officials are not serious about investigating whether educators cheated.
"As a parent, I'm very concerned about … the accuracy of the test scores," Jordan says. "If they are allowed to do that without any accountability, what else is going on? We are consumers of this and we are not getting the best information."
Kenyan McDuffie talks education and growth
Greater, Greater Washington
By Steven Glazerman
March 1, 2012
With a special election for the Ward 5 seat on the DC Council coming up on May 15, the candidates are hot to deliver their messages and woo voters. Kenyan McDuffie, whom Greater Greater Washington endorsed 2 years ago, is starting to articulate ideas for how he might lead Ward 5.
McDuffie speaks to Ward 5 residents. Image from video by Tom Bridge.
With development opportunities at the McMillan Sand Filtration site, near the Brookland Metro, and along Rhode Island and New York Avenues, there is a lot of change coming to Ward 5 that needs stewardship, oversight, and community input.
McDuffie expressed a commitment to "livable, walkable" communities, nodding his cap to Councilmember Tommy Wells, who uses these words a lot. I hope he, and by extension the residents of Ward 5, do more than use the words.
Ward 5 is home to massive big box development with large surface parking lots, fast-moving commuter roads like Rhode Island and New York Avenues, busy intersections, and has perhaps the least amount of bicycle infrastructure and Capital Bikeshare coverage in the city.
Yet it also has three Red Line Metro stops and the Met Branch trail, and room for new transit-oriented development. McDuffie also mentioned a priority of "solving traffic problems" associated with development. I hope that he, and other candidates in Ward 5, understand the benefits of changes which slow down cars but benefit travel by transit, on foot and by bicycle.
Ward 1 and Capitol Hill provide good examples of residential and retail density with bike infrastucture that create desirable destinations and connections between adjacent communities. The tree-lined streets of residential Ward 5 can have the best of both worlds—good urbanism while preserving a sense of suburban tranquility.
McDuffie has made education a key point of his candidacy, creating an education priorities page on his website. He says he will "tackle truancy," "prepare students for higher education," and "increase vocational programs."
At a recent meet-and-greet, someone asked about the disposition of vacant or underutilized DCPS school buildings. McDuffie gave what I consider the "correct" answer without hesitating: make sure that operators who have shown themselves to be effective at educating kids have a fair crack at the buildings, and if that avenue is exhausted, seek a deal that is good for the city in terms of generating the most revenue.
As with most campaign platforms, the lofty pronouncements may be on the right track but don't delve into as much detail. It's easy to promise to address big problems, but harder to specify exactly how, (or how to pay for any changes). The challenge for voters is to read between the lines and guess what the candidates will do if and when they sit on the council.
The education priorities page does not address school modernization, school funding, or the equity and adequacy issues raised in the recent DC Public Education Finance Reform Commission report (and covered in the Washington Post). It also does not address any of the various education proposals that Kwame Brown has floated in the past few weeks. Will McDuffie side with Brown or take a different approach? What about the other Ward 5 hopefuls?
I look forward to hearing more about the specifics of McDuffie's views, and what the other Ward 5 candidates and at-large candidates running in the April primary have to say. I hope they will write position papers on their website, post on this blog, and even engage with voters in comments.
Violent Math Problems Lead To Teacher's Firing from Center City Public Charter School's Trinidad Campus [Center City PCS is mentioned]
News Now WUSA9
By Peggy Fox
March 2, 2012
The teacher who sent home those violence-laced math problems at Center City Public Charter School's Trinidad campus in Northeast D.C. has been fired as of Thursday.
"I was absolutely distressed," says Dr. Beverley Wheeler, the CEO of Center City PCS, which oversees its Trinidad elementary school in NE.
The stories deal with fantastically morbid and violent topics. In one story, a tiger catches Africans, Americans and Indians and cooks them in ovens.
"It doesn't follow anything we do. We are about character, excellence and service and I found them to be violent and racist," said Wheeler.
Wheeler says instead of using the resources provided in the school for the mandated 20 homework problems on Monday, the third grade teacher downloaded them off the HomeschoolingParadise.com website. She says the teacher used "bad judgment."
Several parents have insisted that the teacher, who they say is a minister, would never have sent those problems home, unless someone made her do it.
"Not true," said Wheeler. She explained that the mistake was worthy of firing because parents trust the school to look at what they're putting in front of their children.
She said that even if a teacher were told to send those problems home, she or he should question it.