Behind DCPS Classroom Doors

I often hear tales from Latino Student Fund kids about their classroom environments.

Some of their stories please me—“My teacher said I did the best out of everyone in the class on our science test this week.”

Some scare me—“My friend taught me how to text message in class without getting caught.”

And others (I hope) are slight stretches of the truth—“Last week, one boy in my class was talking, and our teacher banned everyone from recess for the rest of our lives.”

But what is the whole story? As students head back to school in just four short weeks, what kind of classroom will they be stepping into? How attentive is his teacher to his specific needs? Does her teacher find creative and engaging ways to interest her in the material? Does the administration effectively communicate with teachers to help teachers meet their needs and the needs of the classroom?

In a recent Washington Post article, Jay Mathews toys with the question of what would happen if inspections, conducted by third-party experts, were instituted in D.C. Public Schools (DCPS).  The article was sparked by a recent report detailing what happened when professional inspectors were hired to investigate alleged cheating during the 2011 D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System tests. 

These reports revealed some unpleasant and even embarrassing details about the schools in question; however, they also offered an interesting look into classroom environments, teaching practices and administrative effectiveness that non-students and teachers rarely get to see.  If classroom inspections became the norm, report-style evaluations provided by inspectors could give parents (and tutors) a clearer picture of what goes on during a student’s eight-hour school day. This type of report could be particularly valuable when students and parents are on the hunt for a new school. 

While city-wide inspections probably aren’t in D.C.’s near future, Mathews’ article brings to light the lack of clear and comprehensive resources available for evaluating DCPS.  The analysis that is out there, such as Newsweek’s list of the top 1,000 public high schools in the United States, or The Washington Post’s rankings for D.C. public high schools, is primarily based on test scores and graduation rates.  While this type of information is important, it does not tell the whole story. Many factors are at play when students do well or poorly on standardized exams, and some of these factors, such as the number of students with subsidized lunch plans as a measure of poverty in the school, are taken into account in the above rankings. However, a list of numbers does not tell parents how well teachers nurture and encourage their children, how engaged and excited students are to be in the classroom, or how aware the administration is of the problems and successes of their staff.  

In the absence of inspection-style evaluations, we’ll have to be our own investigators. Keeping an ear to the ground for reputations that often precede teachers and schools is one way to do this. Parent-teacher conferences are also important resources to get to know a teacher, see him or her interact with your student and hear about what is going on in the classroom.

And as far as rankings, perhaps the most complete report currently available on D.C. public and public charter schools is the “QualitySchools: Every Child, Every School, Every Neighborhood” (see Appendices B-E.)  Though this report looks mostly at numerical data, it analyzes schools at all levels K-12 and takes into account a number of factors in order to break schools into four tiers, one being the highest performing, and four the lowest.  It also conducts a neighborhood-by-neighborhood analysis to see how well schools are performing in various areas around the city.

Using these resources and keeping an open dialogue with members of the community, including other parents, teachers, and the LSF staff, we can feel more confident and knowledgeable about the environments the students are returning to in the fall and the new schools they will attend in coming years.    

Make This Summer Count!

We at the LSF hope that everyone had a great July 4^th! Since summer is now in full swing, we want to explore constructive ways for our students to spend their summer to increase their opportunities for higher education and professional development.  This, after all, is the LSF’s mission!  We conducted an interview with Ms. Ashley Memory, Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at a top university, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for advice. Ms. Memory was more than happy to share her insights to help LSF students!

First and foremost, Ms. Memory encourages students to “use summers to pursue activities of great interest to them, whether it is music, sports, or reading and writing.”  Students should “think about what they learned throughout the academic year and think about how the knowledge they gained will help them grow emotionally and socially.”

Ms. Memory also recognizes that how students use their time is up to them. Some students need to work, while some volunteer.  Whatever the case may be, students should use the summer to accomplish their own goals.  Ms. Memory says “summers are so precious, and applicants work so hard during the school year; summer provides a great opportunity to rest, but students should also give some time to grow outside of classroom.”

I was pleasantly surprised by Ms. Memory’s standpoint on the impact of summer activities on college admissions.  Although there are many, many camps out there, Ms. Memory notes that not all students have access to such programs, and fortunately, “participation would not advantage them in terms of admission” to excellent universities like UNC. 

Ms. Memory says “There is not one particular activity we [college admissions staffs] look at. We get some very strong applicants that continue to amaze and surprise us with what they do.”  Ms. Memory gives me hope when she suggests “Students shouldn’t be afraid to pursue a passion instead of trying to not be true to themselves” in order to seem like the “perfect” candidate.  

Ms. Memory is right: you shouldn’t only do something because of how you will be perceived.  Sometimes choosing an activity just to make yourself “look good” can actually make you look bad, because maybe it just doesn’t suit you.  If you are Student Body President, that’s really great! But if you would gain more from programming computers, writing poetry, playing sports, or serving at an animal shelter, then do that instead!

We gained several insights from Ms. Memory’s comments.  For one, students should play to their own strengths, not anybody else’s.  Each individual has a unique personality, goals, passions, and talents.  How boring the world would be if we were all the same!  We are real people, not action figures, and college admissions staffs recognize that!  Also, it isn’t always what you do that matters, but how you do it, and the impact it has on you. 

Ms. Memory concludes “students travel many roads, and some students stand out for different reasons.”  Students should strive for “academic excellence above all else,” and “beyond that, excellence in other areas, citizenship and character.”  She says what matters most is “intellect, talent, curiosity, kindness.” So students, our advice for you this summer is to do whatever it takes to engage those characteristics in yourselves.

We would like to thank Ms. Memory for her time and contribution to this blog post. UNC Chapel Hill is committed to diversity; Ms. Memory told us that students of color make up 30% of this past year's freshman class, and the Latino student population has been growing steadily over the years. Please click here to learn more about UNC admissions! 
                                      

¡Hasta luego, LSF family!