As time goes on, more and more cracks have begun to show in ex-D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s educational reforms. Even as investigations into the citywide standardized test cheating scandal continue, the focus turned this week to the sad state of many middle schools in the District.
Problems with D.C. middle schools stem from several factors. One cause is an increased enrollment in D.C.’s kindergarten and preschool programs, something that hasn’t happened in decades. Meanwhile, Rhee closed the doors on 23 middle schools in 2008, keeping with her ideology of shutting down underperforming schools. This left many areas without enough middle school space for all their students. Ward 5 lacked a junior high school altogether.
Subpar conditions in middle school have consequences. It is widely recognized that D.C. students often do not enter high school fully prepared. Half do not graduate on time.
Since Rhee’s solution was to eliminate the traditional middle school in these communities, the District created 17 (one has been added since) preschool to eighth grade campuses to fill the void. The DCPS team hoped these new schools would slow the flow of students—especially wealthy ones—from leaving DCPS because of deficient middle schools.
Rhee also cited research that students generally perform better in a PS-8 environment. However, the findings were based on standardized test scores, hardly a reliable measure of achievement and student growth. The research she used is heavily disputed in the academic world.
So far, the schools have performed well in one respect: parents are pulling their middle-school aged kids out of DCPS at decreased rates. The more important question of student achievement, however, has still gone unanswered.
The DCPS middle schools, whether they serve grades PS-8 or 6-8, are still performing along with typical socioeconomic expectations. That is, the schools in poorer areas are still struggling, no matter what their format, and the ones in wealthier areas are carrying on just fine.
For example, barely a quarter of students at the Winston Education Campus, a K-8 school in Southeast, are proficient in math and reading. In contrast, the proficiency level is 90 percent at Alice Deal, a traditional middle school in Ward 3.
It’s plain to see that this solution isn’t working so far. Wealthier students still have a much better chance at a quality education than poor ones, whether it is because they live within the better school’s boundaries or because they have parents who can drive them across town to class each day. A lottery system allowing for out-of-boundary children to attend the District’s best middle schools has been good for those lucky enough to be accepted, but it has been negative for those left behind.
The worst schools languish with lower enrollment, both because of parents leaving the District and students attending other DCPS schools through the lottery program. Their per-pupil funding suffers because of it, and they are left with old buildings and technology, a want of money to replace them, and the most challenged children—often the ones whose parents were not involved enough to enter the lottery.
The effects on extracurricular programs and elective classes are enormous. Alice Deal students can choose from Spanish, French, and Mandarin Chinese, and it has nine sports and countless activities available through the school—including fencing and African drumming. Go across town to the Brookland Educational Campus at Bunker Hill, though, and there is one part-time Spanish teacher, three sports options, and chorus.
If the goal is securing educational opportunities for all, “school choice” is clearly not a viable option.
Neither are these PS-8 campuses. They may keep students in the District, but real improvement will only come to these disadvantaged schools once the District and the nation as a whole take a holistic look at the causes of educational inequality. It is impossible to separate the struggles of poverty from the struggles of students at Brookland or Winston.
Programs like Sweat Equity, which this column addressed two weeks ago, are a good start, but on the whole there are simply not enough resources from all levels of government going to fight poverty and the root causes of educational struggle.
Good teachers are important. Testing is important. But crafting a safe, secure community environment that allows students to thrive is as meaningful as anything. Unfortunately, assistance programs for the poor have been cut on both the state and local levels nationwide, as have education budgets.
Sooner or later, leaders in D.C. and throughout the nation will figure out that fixing education doesn’t require shifting students around to different buildings or better schools within a District. It requires making educational needs, anti-poverty programs and civil society projects funding and legislative priorities. Until they do, generations of D.C. citizens will continue to struggle through their separate and unequal education facilities.
Let Gavin know how you got schooled at gbade@georgetownvoice.com
