This may only be a partial list of reasons; please, add anything else in the comments. The deadline to file to run for the Board is May 19th. Entire Board Majority NOT vetting the Superintendent in any way, shape or form. Even the Seattle Times thought that was wrong. It was just absolute hubris and it was wrong. For the second time in just over a year , board members voted to negotiate a superintendent contract during a special meeting with no opportunity for public comment. This time, they showed an even deeper disregard for their responsibilities as public servants: Aborting a national search for a new superintendent and denying Interim Superintendent Brent Jones a chance to show students, parents and taxpayers that, indeed, he is the best person for the job. Government bodies can’t fast-forward through transparent processes just because they think they know the right answer. One other odd thing about the hiring of Brent Jones - most permanent SPS superintendent contracts ar
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2. The district had NEVER done a good job of serving low income kids. Ditto.
My conclusion: Large scale, top-down management masks the real problems, rarely accomplishes any sort of improvement, ignores struggling kids, but looks good on paper - for awhile.
Let's talk about those pesky graduation rates. One of the keystones of Mayor Bloomberg's campaign this past fall was the improvement of the graduation rates in New York City. He has claimed a rate as high as 70 percent. Here are the facts: New York State Education Department statistics clearly determine that the graduation rate in New York City is 52 percent. Mayor Bloomberg has conveniently invented his own mathematical formula to determine the NYC graduation rate. What he and his chancellor of education, Joel Klein have done is create "Discharge Codes." Discharge Codes are ways of designating students who have disappeared from the city schools as "other than dropouts." In fact, they have invented so many Discharge Codes that they are unable to determine what actually happened to the student. This is a convenient manipulation to obfuscate the graduation rate. So egregious is this activity that Advocates for Children did a study this past year citing tens of thousands of children being listed as "discharged" (not dropped out) yet the New York City administration was unable to demonstrate where these children went. Over the past six years, most of the discharges are students of color. The graduation rate for African-American males is 29 percent.
COMMENTARY: Mayoral control doesn't work and is wrong; January 14, 2010 by William C. Cala, Ed.D,
former interim superintendent of the Rochester City School District and former superintendent of Fairport schools.) http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/news/articles/2010/01/COMMENTARY-Mayoral-control-doesnt-work-and-is-wrong/
All those in favor of Reform, say "aye."
NCLB is working to shine a light on the information. It is making it impossible for the district to claim really big successes without leaving lots of kids behind.
But no, NCLB can't all by itself fix every problem. Personally, I believe NCLB needs more teeth, not fewer.
He is not alone check CAO Enfield's 98% graduation rate for NT Sacramento.
That 98% is on file with cde stats and 95% for another year at NT Sacramento. The reality is about 70% of 9th graders become 11th graders.