In an article about grade recovery Terri Stahlman, the school system’s chief of instructional technology and special services, I believe inadvertently revealed the true aim of the Duval County School District and it’s not one that benefits our children.
From the Times Union article:
But district officials want the second chance that grade recovery provides to reach even more students.
“We’re building success,” Stahlman said, “to get to the goal of graduation.”
That’s’t the districts lone goal, pump them (our children) through and dump them out. They aren’t interested in preparing them for life whether it is the work force, there is no work recovery in the real world or going to college, seventy percent of our recent graduates take remedial classes at Florida State Colleges. The district is all about appearances not about doing whats best for our children.
Grade recovery should be for kids that tried hard and just didn't get it or who were forced to miss a significant amount of class for legitimate reasons and for nobody else because anything else makes a mockery out of education.
I teach in a credit recovery program in Palm Beach County in an after school tutoring program. While I agree that the above comments could be relevant if the program is not run properly, I believe we are helping a broad spectrum of students with a diverse set of needs. There is a home-schooled student who by age should be in a higher grade but was not able to get the proper credits. She is eligible to take her core classes with us and get on track eventually with her age cohort. There is the student coming from Jamaica who did not have all the proper courses on her transcript. She is gradually getting the credits she needs and should graduate with her proper class. There are a number of ESOL students who benefit from the self-paced format plus the one on one help we can give them. There is a young lady who is retaking some courses due to pregnancy and child care issues. She otherwise might not graduate. I agree that there are a few goof-offs who didn't pay attention in class but they have to do the work in our program to get their credits: it is not an easy A. I applaud the effort to diversify the program at our high school to accommodate a variety of student needs and think we need to find more ways so that no "child is left behind".
ReplyDeleteI agree grade recovery does have a role but like how charter schools, stanfardized tests and vouchers have become perveted so does grade recovery when it isn't done right.
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