Sigh, yawn, oh my. These are the typical responses I give when responding to the district. I am often critical of the district and if you are reading my posts for the first time and are skeptical, I get it and I am okay with it. Here is the thing go back and read any of my posts and compare them with the districts rebuttal. The district always paints a rosy picture and teacher after teacher, the people on the front lines always agree with me.
Terrie Stahlman is obviously a bureaucrat and one that makes three times what the average teacher makes. She can sit back and talk about grade recovery as if it was a good thing and I admit the concept is not a bad one, but she can’t really tell you how it undermines teachers and inadequately prepares children for the future and the reason is because she is not in the classroom and I am betting she has never been in one or it was a very long time ago. SHe can sit back and make six figures and say look at us, our graduation rate is going up and up. SHe is like the arms dealer who says, I just sell the guns, I don’t pull the trigger.
Lets talk honestly for a moment something the district refuses to do. At the end of the day I could care less if a kid remembers all the parts of the cell or the causes of World War I. When in college I learned half the stuff if not more just so I could pass the test but you know what, I could pass the test. I showed up, I studied, I did the work, I put the time in.
Grade recovery requires the opposite of students. It tells kids, don’t worry about coming, showing up, making much of an effort or not being a dick. It tells kids, hey be a dick (if you bother to come) and fail the class but don’t worry we’ll give you another chance and then another chance after that.
Terrie Stahlman might not know it or acknowledge, six figures is a good reason to protect it, but grade recovery as it is used is bad for the system and people that stick up for it are just as bad. sHe is wrong to protect a program that is bad for our kids.
If I sound angry it's because I am. I am so angry that our system instead of preparing kids for life hurts them.
Chris - you're a teacher, do your homework. Dr. Terri Stahlman is an accomplished woman who in fact started her career in the classrooms of DCPS. She was also a principal and a former regional superintendent before being tapped to run Technology with the charter to connect the millions spent in the district on hardware, software and support to measurably improving student achievement. Since you obviously don't know who "she" is, how can we expect to believe that you anything else about that which you write? Get your facts straight sport.
ReplyDeleteThere are 11 thousand people in the district, I don't know them all but I do know that the vast majority of them think grade recovery as used is bad for our kids.
ReplyDeleteIt does not matter who Terri Stahlman is or her impressive background. We don't need to know everything about a person to evaluate what they are doing now. The fact is grade recovery as it is being used in this county is WRONG. Compass Odyssey cannot replace an entire 9-wks. Most students are not stupid. They know an easier deal and will take it. BTW Everything Chris G. says here is true about grade recovery. I can say this without writing a bio on him just as he did not need to write a bio on Terri to speak truth about DCPS's grade recovery policy.
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