The second and more important item is the story in the Daily News on the plan to get 100% graduation rate. "LAUSD reform effort aims for 100% grad rate. EDUCATION: Coalition of leaders signs pact modeled after successful schools program in Boston." By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer, Updated: 02/17/2010, 08:46:48 PM PST http://www.dailynews.com/ci_14422596
Somehow, I am sure Monica Garcia had a big part in this deal. She's been saying for years that this is the goal of LAUSD, and I think that all during that time, the enrollment has continue to drop and the dropout rate still is dismal. That might be due to the inherent problems with the huge district and the inability it has to respond to new adaptations to the changing situations quickly enough to be useful. That rapidity of response happens at about glacial speed. There is so much disconnect in the District that we might wonder how things cannot be worse.
That Boston model is not too impressive as you consider that the story mentions the length of time it's been going on and the proportions of changes are not too impressive, at least not to represent this as being a clear solution. I agree that gears of societal elements have to mesh to get things improved, but I have said that there have been a lot of little things that could be instituted all along over the years to re-direct the course for a collective improvement. It didn't happen so now they look for a big fix. Too much, too little, too late. That sums up the changes planned, the impact expected, and the time implementation begins.
The parts reported in the story seems to show this plan for 100% graduation is DOA:
It has produced several academic gains for Boston, including increasing college attendance rates from 50 percent in 1985 to 78 percent in 2007.
Still, even after 28 years the agreement has missed the mark on other key goals, like improving the region's graduation rate, which has remained at 60 percent.
Let's see. 50 percent jumping up all the way to 78 percent is nice. A 28 percent gain for all you statistical fans. Unfortunately, it took 22 years of climbing to reach that level. We can't be too impressed with an average improvement of just over 1% a year. In fairness (and you won't get that with politicians using statistics here) there could be some large jumps relative to hitting upon some key parts of the program, and the actual year-to-year data is not shown here, so much of this gain actually could have been happening in recent years, and that WOULD be a good sign.
The other part of the quoted item from the story is that the main item, the graduation rate, is still an anemic 60%. We might match that overall in the foreseable future but it's should already be better than that.
Reading in the reader COMMENTS for this story shows that there's an abundance of negative reaction to this announcement. Maybe smaller, do-able goals would have been more realistic and thus, more supportable by the public, but there's been too much backsliding over the years. I have to say that the teachers are not necessarily the problem, and probably not the problem at all for a lot of schools. It is how all the work force is deployed, and the strategies used and the goals that are set that will have a lot to do with outcomes. Morale might play a bigger role than the subtlety of the topic allows it to be shown in this District.
One comment caught my attention above all the others:
"True Freedom" in Pasadena wrote, "100% grad rate? EASY!
Just kick out half the kids."
At this point I would be favorably impressed with major attention given to promoting literacy and at least giving the students a key to opening up more knowledge on their own. The blame for not learning is not all on the school but when you don't provide ways to remedy such thing, the lack of enthusiasm on the students part should not be any surprise. Each year as students approach some mode of exit from the LAUSD schools, it's one unforgiveable and a huge disservice that many still have not attained even a moderate level of reading abilty.
Reading is one of those areas where improvement happens with continued practice, exercising what's been learned in the preceeding excursions into reading to make progress with improving skills. But for poor readers, the difficulty met in attempts at reading makes them all the more averse to plunging repeatedly into the task. And I think that accounts for what it all creates. It looks like "good readers" will become better readers and "poor readers" will get worse without some intervening acts of somebody else occurring. The job of noticing the poor reading skills condition and seeking a remedy usually defaults to the classroom teachers. Here is one bottleneck to the flow of hoped-for progress. Among teachers without the leadership of a good administration, you have a wide range of skills that may or may not be applied with all due efficiency, nor will all weaker-skilled teachers be aided to shore up their skills in the area to be part of the solution.
That's the problem with a too-large school district and uneven supervision or absence of monitoring. But for the poor or very poor readers, all the reasons don't matter. It's their problem if no one helps now. Well, I think that's important to the drop out rate. Maybe if there was not that "A-G" college track in place, you wouldn't shut off many who would excel in vocational areas given the opportunity. Thank you Mr. Huizar who unhesitatingly takes credit for this "achievement."
There's a statistic that sort of goes with the graduation rate and that's "how many go on to college?" But you don't get much into THIS follow-up question because no one wants to ask it, "How many entering college actually get a degree?" And you can break that down into "WHICH DEGREES?": AA degrees (2 years or a full schedule of classes) or a BA or BS degree (4 years of a full schedule of classes). You have many students never finishing a degree program for any number of reasons. But just getting into college is NOT the answer if weak skills leave a student unprepared for the work level needed or makes the effort a task that is not taken seriously. That last part has to do with "work habits," and THAT really never gets proper attention by parents, teachers and of course the students who need that improvement.
It all affects how they perform academically. Many people may have a course here and a course there and really make a couple of years of progress a being a college student quickly becomes their career. But that side of things really is not the kind of things you hear about very openly when educators talk about getting students into colllege. It should be considered a long time before even if college is not considered. Some training with parents, teachers and students in how to develop good work habits and not try for all-nighters, cramming or other approaches for neglected contact with their assignments over the quarte or semester.
For many of this group of weak readers with or without good work habits, they will be quite defenseless in the struggle to make a productive life for themselves. Unfortunately for too many, the realization of that condition comes too late.
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