Comments
todareistobmore t1_j7q7yzn wrote
Maybe worth pointing this out for context: the state's press release about the 2022 data:
> In mathematics, students saw gains in nearly all grades as compared to the prior year’s assessment administered in Early Fall 2021. However, student outcomes have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. In middle school, 17.6% of sixth grade students were proficient in math and just 6.5% of students who took the grade 8 assessment were proficient. The percent of students proficient in Algebra I was 14.5%, below pre-pandemic results of 27% proficient in 2019.
But also, to echo myself, if anybody wants to take Sinclair's numbers seriously, they should be expected to explain why 2000 students from 23 schools is in any way representative of those schools' entire student bodies.
Timid_Teacher t1_j7qlx6k wrote
I teach in Baltimore City too and the ELA curriculum is just at complex. More than half my kids are below grade level for fifth grade, so I don’t know how they expect them to grapple with the curriculum as it is.
DONNIENARC0 t1_j7qc21k wrote
Virginia needs a new acronym guy
ahbagelxo t1_j7qck36 wrote
Lolzz I also went to school in Virginia so growing up I knew SOL as Standards of Learning long before I knew its other more common meaning 😆 The SOLs came out in the 90s and I was among the first test groups in elementary school, but they've had the same name since then. 25+ years of SOL students in Virginia!
fsdtnxh t1_j7qdaxb wrote
Very interesting context! The example questions you provided were definitely harder than I expected…more like Algebra 2 level in Virginia.
ahbagelxo t1_j7qdvty wrote
Yes, a lot of what we teach here in Algebra 1 really aligns more traditionally with Algebra 2 concepts, and Algebra 2 is really the first truly high level math students have access to in high school, so it's no longer practical for the vast majority of students. I truly love teaching math to SWD, but man do I hate how bloated and complex the curriculum is!
A_P_Dahset t1_j7qh5dr wrote
Thanks so much for the additional context. Adds nuance for those of us without kids and/or working outside of the education sector. That said, do you and other educators who feel similarly about the excessiveness of the curriculum have any means of advocating for streamlining it? Is this an issue that's generally tracking with parents? Lastly, does the Kirwan/Blueprint plan address this issue?
ahbagelxo t1_j7qmpsc wrote
Excellent questions and I'll do my best to answer.
>do you and other educators who feel similarly about the excessiveness of the curriculum have any means of advocating for streamlining it?
No, not really. Or if there is a way, I'm not aware of it. The district uses a curriculum called Eureka which, like most things in education, is purchased via a contract. We often comment on how difficult and bloated it is, but even our department leads aren't really able to enact change in this regard. I'm not sure how these products get purchased and approved, but if there's public or in-house comment available, we've never been made privy to it.
We just do our best to make our own choices about how to adjust it. I personally have to trim tons of fat, and I have to do it unofficially because there's no way for me to fit it all in without completely killing my students' interest in math.
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>Is this an issue that's generally tracking with parents?
Alas...in my 4 years in the district I have never once talked with a parent who asked about curriculum or how the provided curriculum is taught. I don't get the impression most parents would even know to ask about this sort of thing. Because I work with SWD, I also tend to work with some of the poorest, least equipped parents, and I just think that questions surrounding curriculum rarely rank on the list of primary concerns for their kids.
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>does the Kirwan/Blueprint plan address this issue?
I...don't know. I know I SHOULD be up to date on this stuff, but I'm just not because it's hard to be on the ground and reading about the ground. Something I need to be better about! But as far as I'm aware, I don't believe this is addressed.
A_P_Dahset t1_j7qos8t wrote
>I'm not sure how these products get purchased and approved, but if there's public or in-house comment available, we've never been made privy to it.
Very interesting. Slightly surprised, but not completely, to hear that input isn't sought from teachers on curriculum selection. Thanks again for these details.
Cheomesh t1_j7qnnto wrote
>I truly love teaching math to SWD
Keep fighting the good fight, you are a better person than I.
sonney88 t1_j7rn0dj wrote
I’m gonna be honest here man the way the world is moving if these kids don’t keep up the future just doesn’t seem that bright for this county I mean I get what your saying but there are kids in India and China that are wizzing through your page 1- 10 curriculum, and I think the underlining issue is not the math, but it’s how it’s taught
ahbagelxo t1_j7rs0x8 wrote
There are certainly issues with how we teach and what we prioritize, but I wouldn't necessarily argue that the whizzing through this type of material is ideal either. The education systems in many countries completely depends on drill and kill. Just rote memorization and practice, with little to no creativity or development of skills beyond those. There's a balance between much of what we see here, and what's offered there. The countries you mentioned also have little to no resources for people with disabilities. Both would be horrible places for most of my students to be born, as they too would be expected to whiz through everything, which just wouldn't be possible for most of them (processing delays, vision issues, dyslexia, etc). I think we need to improve a lot about how and what we teach, but I disagree that the examples you provided are the model we should aspire to.
MinistryofTruthAgent t1_j7s35ow wrote
We don’t teach creativity and development of skills in the US either.
ahbagelxo t1_j7s9f12 wrote
Nope not very well at least. We have like 50 million issues. But one thing we do better than most of the world, but still poorly in many many instances, is ensure our disabled students have access to some kind of education. My disabled friends who have travelled could tell you the US is leagues beyond most of the world, even with it's many many flaws (which I also abhor and could go on and on about). Basically, it's all flawed and messed up systemically but there are still some bright spots (at least in regards to international comparisons) among the many many downsides.
sonney88 t1_j7searz wrote
Yeah but this is just one class room your classroom of disabled kids, the rest of the 27 schools that kids are failing in math are not all disabled kids, and idk about you but when you check these big corporations like Exelon, Verizon, Microsoft and so on those names in the sr executives and fields that require more complex math you see South East Asian, and Asian names
MinistryofTruthAgent t1_j7snll6 wrote
But when you take each education system as a whole, which one is better? Would you rather have 27 schools having 0 students passing math? Or having 27 schools with everyone passing math except those who have some kind of intellectual disability?
sonney88 t1_j7sf2cl wrote
I mean it’s not the model I want our kids to aspire by either but it’s the reality of the fact minus your disabled students, how many of the regular students are grasping the math? Not many all im saying is drill and kill is working and there getting work visas to come and get jobs our kids should be getting while our youth incarceration rate is going up and drop out rate going up as well,
taketheleap22 t1_j7u12y0 wrote
I am curious though if previous generations would have been able to pass these tests. Like was this always an issue and we're just noticing cause we're measuring or is this a new thing. And if it's new why? And when did it begin
Lemonfarty t1_j7sxkrq wrote
How does this complexity compare to the past? Did the curriculum actually become harder? How do you account for schools that have kids that can perform at “grade-level”?
SnooRevelations979 t1_j7s86lg wrote
Great post. And thank you for your service to our kids.
MarkinDC24 t1_j7s0fiz wrote
I went to school in Virginia. My math education was heavily dependent on my teachers commitment to teaching math. In some cases, I had teachers that didn’t enjoy math and gave little effort in their presentation of math concepts, formulas, etc.
dualjobs t1_j7sgqxs wrote
I see how complex your examples are for learning disabled highschool freshmen/sophomores. The scores are unfortunately comparative across the state, for example nearly every student in my son's school (Montgomery County) started pre-algebra in 7th or 8th grade.
I think the real disadvantage is the children's study habits and the expectations set at home. I really feel for Baltimore teachers.
Edit: My son attended highschool before COVID.
Mwing09 t1_j7ubnd2 wrote
This is similar even at the elementary level. I don’t think people really understand that the MCAP Math test is almost just as much of a critical thinking/reading comprehension test as it is a math test. And not to say that these skills shouldn’t be nurtured. I just dont think people really understand that failing the Math MCAP doesnt necessarily mean the student doesnt have foundational math skills.
Heres a literal example from an MCAP practice book I have to teach next week: “Last month Columbus Circle Travel sold economy-class airline tickets from New York to Tokyo that cost 1296 each. The same class of ticket from NY to Sydney cost 2592 each. Columbus Circle travel earned 108864 in ticket sales. Select the combinations of tickets that could have been sold”. And then has 5 choices of “___ tickets to Tokyo and __ tickets to Sydney”.
I guarantee a good amount of my elementary students that can do the multiplication/division work will get stumped by “economy class tickets”, “class of ticket”, “Sydney” (thinking its a person), or will just not have the critical thinking skills to figure out what the question is really asking. This is just one example but my point is that the test isnt as simple as giving a multiplication problem and they solve it. The questions are purposely overly complex and deceptive. Again, not saying critical thinking like this shouldnt be taught, I just dont think people really understand what the test looks like and how hard it is for ALL students in Maryland, not just Baltimore kids
bmoreeverything t1_j7r6a0y wrote
Thank you
The_Kalawishis t1_j7x00x7 wrote
lmao this is easy as fuck
[deleted] t1_j7xg2ts wrote
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Matt3989 t1_j7ptn0q wrote
For those who don't know, Baltimore Students can apply to go to any Middle or High School in the City. The program concentrates academic performance levels; The best schools are good, and the worst schools are very very bad.
Students who even remotely values their education (and often their safety) are not going to find themselves in one of the schools mentioned here.
I could go on and on about complaints I have with BCPS, but I just thought that people should understand that this stat is exacerbated by the School Choice Program.
Edit: Not to say that the School Choice Program is bad. It allows students from some of the worse neighborhoods a chance for social and economic mobility, and it allows parents with the means to go elsewhere to still feel comfortable raising a child in public schools here.
It is also very much a: "Leave Entire Schools of Students Behind" program. The Wire had it 100% right here, by the time a student hits middle school, it's too late for intervention.
umbligado t1_j7pw41f wrote
True. But it’s odd to me that Baltimore School For The Arts, a magnet high school, is one of the “zero” schools. Sure it’s tempting to make the assumption that an arts school wouldn’t do well on math, but these kids are actually pretty talented, well rounded academically, and many come from affluent households. Is something off with the reporting? Am I missing something? It simply seems weird.
todareistobmore t1_j7q9go0 wrote
> Is something off with the reporting?
Yes. The reporting says they got data on 2000 students from 23 schools, which is obviously incomplete.
But also apparently the 8th grade proficiency level in 2021 was 6.5% statewide, so the actual difference in the city numbers probably isn't bigger than you'd expect based on pre-pandemic years.
Matt3989 t1_j7pymn9 wrote
Good Point. Same with Carver being a "1% of student's proficient in Math" school, I'm guessing there's some factor in how/when scores are reported here.
But because it's Fox, they'll never link their data.
theyoungbloody t1_j7q1h2y wrote
I hate Fox too, but they literally say in the article where they got their data from > The Maryland State Department of Education recently released the 2022 state test results known as MCAP, Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program.
Hell its even in the photo they have in the article
Mysterious_Table19 t1_j7q3xjv wrote
If you go to the state website the math scores for 2022 are not available yet (only English). Also if you go to the 2021 data some of the schools listed (e.g. Mervo) had barely anyone take the exam (which would make sense since it is for grades 3-8).
Matt3989 t1_j7q275n wrote
And the Link?
I went to the MCAP Website and the MD Board of Ed. Website and neither have access to the data.
Sure it says that Baltimore School for the Arts was one of 150 schools to give the MCAP test, but did they really give it? How many scores did they report?
Or did they just sign up for it and never end up giving it? My SO has given these tests to her classes, and the technology issues from Pearson often end up causing the test to be a lost cause.
theyoungbloody t1_j7q41d6 wrote
Books dont provide links for sources either even after they cite their sources, are they not valid then?
But fine here you go, heres the data: https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/DataDownloads/FileDownload/458
Matt3989 t1_j7q65qh wrote
Great, now show me where that the data is that supports these claims:
Here's what you linked, sorted by Baltimore City schools reporting anything.
What data was Fox using and why isn't their dataset available?
FrankieRedFlash t1_j7qagwp wrote
Not being a troll just curious after reading the thread what your point is. Do you think if Fox linked to whatever data they used it would show that the kids are proficient in math?
Matt3989 t1_j7qe9dz wrote
I think that they are misrepresenting whatever data they have.
MCAP has Math testing for grades 1-8, Algebra 1, 2, and Geometry.
So I'd be interested to know what criteria they're using to measure High school and Elementary school proficiency. This strikes me as nothing more than another 'Project Baltimore' gotcha piece to appeal to their base (majority of whom probably aren't proficient enough in math to grasp statistics).
If it's not? Why aren't they providing the data and methodology.
theyoungbloody t1_j7qadgd wrote
You asked for data, I provided it. Interpret it how you wish. I'm not here to argue with you.
Matt3989 t1_j7qbzip wrote
You gave me some data, and tried to pass it off as the Data that Fox was using, but even given a cursory glance it's clearly not. For example, Baltimore School for the Arts isn't even in the set you linked, not even as an asterisk.
So you give me some edgey remark about how "books don't link their data hurr hurr hurr" then condescendingly try to show something that supports your case... and it doesn't.
ConcreteThinking t1_j7qdask wrote
Not trolling I am genuinely interested in your point. Are you saying since it's a Fox news story there are really fewer than 23 schools that have no students proficient in math? If so how much do you think they are lying. Two schools, ten, all proficient?
Matt3989 t1_j7qfpac wrote
I think that they are misrepresenting whatever data they have.
MCAP has Math testing for grades 1-8, Algebra 1, 2, and Geometry. The results are not broken down by age. What criteria are they using for "High School Proficiency"
Judging based on other "Project Baltimore" pieces, I would be very hesitant to trust anything from them. If their numbers are solid, why not include data and methodology?
ConcreteThinking t1_j7qhrru wrote
Maybe so. The one chart from Md Board of Ed they include in the article shows that the average in the city is 7% proficient in math. I guess some schools could be at 0% and others higher since it is an average. Pretty bad. Even the highest scoring county in the state, Carroll, only managed to teach 38% of their students to a proficient level.
theyoungbloody t1_j7qj8vv wrote
Dude, I agree with you its weird, I'm not trying to fight you on that.
You asked for the source, I gave it to you, then you started asking me questions about it, which I dont know.
Mysterious_Table19 t1_j7qq8w9 wrote
These is the "English-Alternate" " and the "Mathematics-Alternate" exams; whatever that means.
Just for context it seems like essentially no one took the "Mathematics-Alternate" exam anywhere in the state (no school had more than 58 tests taken most had none).
Hardly surprising no schools had anyone proficient if no one actually took it.
Acceptable-Mountain t1_j7rqjru wrote
BSA has different entrance criteria that looks more at portfolio/audition than their academic record. The reasoning being that kids can be gifted artistically, but struggle academically. Add to that the whole effing pandemic and the flawed sample size, and it makes sense to me.
[deleted] t1_j7sc4a8 wrote
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Animanialmanac t1_j7q0cer wrote
That’s not completely true, schools that meet their Annual Yearly Progress are open to applications from any student, the lower scoring schools are not open to applications. Also, schools don’t have to accept every student who applies, this means the schools that don’t meet AYP are filled with local students only, while the better schools can accept the better students and keep getting better. It creates a downward spiral for schools, once the AYP isn’t met no students from outside the catchment area can apply, if the school is in a bad area then you have children from a bad area stuck going to the school in the bad area.
Matt3989 t1_j7q1mrb wrote
All students can apply elsewhere, not all schools can take applications. It doesn't change my point.
No one is applying to get into Edmonson.
>if the school is in a bad area then you have children from a bad area stuck going to the school in the bad area.
No you don't, because those students can apply elsewhere, it's the school that cannot take outside students (which none would be applying anyway).
Animanialmanac t1_j7qjhr2 wrote
You lost me with your example, Edmondson-Westside is an application school, students apply to go there.
My point is that students from a bad area have less opportunity during elementary school, test lower, and are less likely to be accepted into better middle and high schools. These students then have to go the middle and high school in their catchment area. So those schools that didn’t meet AYP can’t improve averages by bringing in students from out of the area, and also have the students from the lower performing elementary schools. It’s a downward spiral, that’s my point.
Matt3989 t1_j7qsevc wrote
Many application schools don't have any testing criteria to get into, particular on the Middle school level.
Furthermore, parents of elementary school kids can apply to have their kids go to schools outside of their zone.
Significant_Jump_21 t1_j7rdqt2 wrote
>Furthermore, parents of elementary school kids can apply to have their kids go to schools outside of their zone.
I just made another post about Edmondson-Westside. Tbf I don't think most paents in that area can get their kids to schools outside the zone. I live close to there. It's car centric but not a lot of car owners.
[deleted] t1_j7qhnyt wrote
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PuebloEsNoBueno t1_j7phmju wrote
Baltimore City Schools CEO Sonja Santelises is bringing home nearly half a mil a year in total comp.
Camelbreath18 t1_j7pk13g wrote
Where are the “Mayor” CEO and the School Board they ALL failed the students
Xanny t1_j7pnrhq wrote
Making lots of money and having no responsibilities.
Go4it296 t1_j7pspa5 wrote
Aren't schools mainly state and not city?
Animanialmanac t1_j7pwap7 wrote
No, schools are city or county based. My grandsons are in Howard County schools, the difference is amazing.
VygotskyCultist t1_j7q49zr wrote
Actually, the state oversees a lot of city schools' business after some scandals back in the day. It's a weird mix of local and stat authority that makes it harder to get anything done.
Animanialmanac t1_j7qjnn6 wrote
Oh that’s unfortunate, so much of the city is in disarray and then adding the state as another layer of bureaucracy never seems to help.
rockybalBOHa t1_j7udgzx wrote
They could get the possible person that job, give them the highest school administrator salary in the country, and it wouldn't make any difference in academic performance except maybe at the margins.
SnooRevelations979 t1_j7q4hgf wrote
What's axiomatic in American public schools is poor areas make for poor school performance.
The answer is the same as it was 60 years ago: integration. If not racial, economic. Of course, this isn't politically feasible.
RosalindaPosalinda t1_j7qhrzh wrote
I agree with you here. I have a kiddo that will be going into middle school soon and so I have to participate in this school choice system. It’s frustrating because it really exacerbates the inequities within Baltimore society. The parents that have the time and energy and money are more equipped to navigate this convoluted system to get their kids in the “better” schools. Those kids without that support aren’t likely going to get into Roland Park or an Ingenuity program, or even know to apply to the better charter schools that are available in a lottery system (so not grades dependent). It creates segregation- not fully racial, but privilege segregation.
[deleted] t1_j7xcq11 wrote
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MinistryofTruthAgent t1_j7s3jk5 wrote
Nah. A little bit of correlation doesn’t mean causation. Plenty of poor Asian families still have kids who do extremely well in school. It’s a cultural attitude.
SnooRevelations979 t1_j7s6lit wrote
Great. Do you have some counter examples of schools serving a poor student body (whatever their race) that do well on standardized tests?
I'm all ears.
MinistryofTruthAgent t1_j7sna8s wrote
How economically disadvantaged do you want examples for? What’s the benchmark?
SnooRevelations979 t1_j7soujw wrote
Similar to students in Baltimore City, which has about a 33% child poverty rate.
SnooRevelations979 t1_j7spurp wrote
I also didn't realize that there was a singular Asian culture.
MinistryofTruthAgent t1_j7swz6i wrote
It’s similar in that a lot of Asian cultures are influenced by Confucianism.
SnooRevelations979 t1_j7tzr8j wrote
You're talking about East Asian cultures, not Asian cultures in general. Most aren't influenced by Confucianism all that much.
MinistryofTruthAgent t1_j7uyjx6 wrote
Vietnam is also influenced by it. A lot of other Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, all had significant migration of Han Chinese people. If you’re talking about Laos, Thailand, Cambodia then I’d agree with you.
SnooRevelations979 t1_j7xexli wrote
Vietnam was under suzerainty of China for a long time, and Singapore is majority Chinese. In the rest of Southeast Asia, the Chinese are a minority -- they often been called the Jews of the area -- and Confucianism doesn't have much pull. (Most Malay Chinese are Hokkien, not Han, btw, but Han Chinese was a made up ethnicity anyway. Nonetheless, my point holds: there is no singular Asian culture.
And back to the original topic, it seems you are comparing Asian immigrants and their children's performance in school and our own city's largely Black student body. Even if it held as a counterpoint to what I originally wrote (which it doesn't), do you really think that's a fair comparison? Koreans are traditionally neck and neck with Greeks as being the most educated immigrants. The first wave of Vietnamese immigrants -- largely Catholic mandarins attached to the allied South Vietnamese government -- did much better academically than the second wave (the less affluent).
But, more importantly, with the exception of refugees (Vietnamese, Lao, Khmer), Asian immigrants have already gone through a self-selection equivalent to being admitted to a magnet school by the very act if immigrating and had the wealth to get here. (Note that the population of China is far less educated than our own.) Your comparing this filterd population with a broader population who was denied education of any sort and their labor stolen for 200 years, and then had another century of Apartheid, before being economically isolated in "freedom"?
Please. Let me know when you've found those poor, high-performing schools, btw.
ValsG t1_j99dnrg wrote
> Hokkien "The Hoklo people or Hokkien people (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ho̍h-ló-lâng) are a Han Chinese[6] subgroup who speak Hokkien,"
Proof-Distribution62 t1_j7r0uq5 wrote
You’re missing the other solution: tax the rich and provide Nordic level of welfare to families. Current system is woefully inadequate and leaves poorest families out entirely in a number of programs. By the way, this is the same answer to the question of how to ameliorate food deserts.
SnooRevelations979 t1_j7rlocd wrote
Sure, the Nordics tax the rich at high levels. But the Nordics also tax everyone else at high levels, too. While the former may be politically doable, the second is not.
And while taxation is one of the reasons Nordic countries are middle class, it's also because until relatively recently they were quite homogenous. And their taxation and welfare systems enjoy broad approval. (In fact, right-wing parties don't even focus on them.) They also don't have the federated government we do.
So, your solution is about realistic as mine.
lsree t1_j7s44l5 wrote
Not to mention they have oil wealth to subsidize their welfare programs (although we have oil too).
WendysNumber6 t1_j7pvfjx wrote
I'm going to be honest I don't think I could pass an 8th grade math class right now without tutoring as I haven't done math by hand in 20 years
suburban_paradise t1_j7qwsuh wrote
At a certain point the students and parents need to be accountable for this. But sure, let’s blame the teachers and curriculum for the 5,000th time.
[deleted] t1_j7x80nb wrote
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brewtonone t1_j7rjb81 wrote
CEO has been at the job for 6 years and no metrics have increased under her tenure.
todareistobmore t1_j7q5lw8 wrote
> Among the list of 23 schools, there are 10 high schools, eight elementary schools, three Middle/High schools and two Elementary/Middle schools.
> Exactly 2,000 students, in total, took the state math test at these schools. Not one could do math at grade level.
If there's one thing everybody can agree on about Baltimore schools, it's that ~85 people's a typical student body size, right?
CallMeHelicase t1_j7qr8gn wrote
How do the parents feel about this? My parents were always hyper focused on grades, and I can't imagine them being okay with me failing math.
JBG1973 t1_j7rtedq wrote
I would like to compare the success of city school students on these tests to the success of Fox news viewers.
As a parent of a student at one of these schools, all of the data that we have suggest that our child is doing just fine in math (math SAT, National merit commended scholar, AP exam scores) so I tend to think that there is something unique about the data set that Fox is misinterpreting.
CallMeHelicase t1_j7srbgo wrote
Thank you for weighing in! It indeed confirms my suspicions that minimally these scores (if they are real) do not reflect actual ability
AffectionatePizza408 t1_j7rgi8j wrote
City Schools ELA teacher here. Not proficient doesn’t necessarily mean that the student is failing math class, grades are entirely separate from state exams. I have many students who pass with D’s but would not necessarily test proficiently on a state test.
I teach freshman English and the majority of my students come to me reading at 5th grade level or below (some far below). Sure, there’s an argument that they should be failed and repeat the course until they read proficiently on grade level, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
lollykopter t1_j8i9l8d wrote
A "D" is considered passing?? 👀
AffectionatePizza408 t1_j8jppuo wrote
Yeah, at least in high schools all you need to pass is 60% (and a surprising number still fail).
brownshoez t1_j7vmqcz wrote
I think thats kind of the main problem... which is also the hardest to fix
lms40044 t1_j7sl3nv wrote
I wonder what their attendance rates are? 🤷🏼♀️
S-Kunst t1_j7tqchl wrote
40+ years ago the city schools needed to cut costs, so it adopted a single general education curriculum, and eliminated most technical, vocational & business programs. They also closed down many libraries, school kitchens, art, music and other non core programs, including after school sports. They sold this to the public as a college prep curriculum. Most students, in the city, need job skills. If the school system would re-establish a job-centric program, including job placement, it would catch on like a school which has a strong arts or athletic program. Students would see their older siblings and neighbor's kids getting jobs via school, and would buy into the program. Money talks, the promise of a ticket to college, when college is not affordable and people leave college with no marketable skills, is real.
Additionally foundation and exploratory courses need to start in middle school not halfway through high school.
bundymania t1_j82j8ig wrote
7 percent citywide in all schools. Good god.
Sad-Honey-5282 t1_j7wtb93 wrote
There's a very simple answer to these issues that would be effective anywhere: restore school corporal punishment
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[deleted] t1_j7pmmhh wrote
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6ixOutOf10 t1_j7ptiwe wrote
“Pay us more taxes”
DecayableBrick t1_j7pvafc wrote
Baltimore city public schools have an enormous amount of funding shoveled into the fire, but it's never enough. The administration and the unions will always demand more no matter how abysmal the results they produce are.
Matt3989 t1_j7q3dgx wrote
Oh yeah, this is definitely the Teachers Union's Fault.
Go back to the GOP meeting with your Union Busting bullshit. God forbid we pay teacher a teacher with a degree, license, and 5 years of experience more than $60k/year.
DecayableBrick t1_j7q4ca6 wrote
Reddit has this blind spot when it comes to unions. They hate the police union and take great umbrage at the overtime fraud and various other games that they play but refuse to believe that other public service unions are doing similar things. This is despite Baltimore city schools failing multiple audits. It's a very strange cognitive bias.
jdl12358 t1_j7q8l66 wrote
In this city, we just experienced a massive overtime fraud scheme that was not possible without the assistance and protection of the police union. Show me the evidence of that happening for teachers in the city. In reality, teachers in the city are having their pay and benefits lag behind the surrounding counties now.
DONNIENARC0 t1_j7qcff2 wrote
I don't think anyone is accusing the teachers of anything, moreso the administration.
The last external audit from 2018 was scathing, found tens of millions in waste, and that the city failed to correct many of these problems from the previous external audit in 2012.
Maybe if North Avenue was actually held accountable and so much money wasn't being wasted annually then maybe these teachers wouldn't have to do shit like paying for classroom supplies out of their own pocket, just for example.
jdl12358 t1_j7qfgeh wrote
The guy above did not make a direct accusation, but implied that the hate Police Unions get from people supportive of organized labor should also target teacher's unions.
I'm a teacher in the city, I'm all too familiar with admin issues. Admin and budget issues happen when teachers aren't a part of the process and North Ave gets staffed by people getting their backs scratched. No better place to look at extremely sketchy budgets and funding than charter schools which exist almost completely to go around the teachers unions and traditional public schools.
DONNIENARC0 t1_j7qfvsb wrote
Ahh gotcha, fair enough. Yeah I honestly don't know which union school admins are a part of, but I'd assume AFSCME?
DecayableBrick t1_j7r6uk7 wrote
Pay raises and new hires were made without proper review.
In 2017, $85,000 of salary adjustments were made by six employees who were permitted to do so without any independent review. One of them “processed approximately 8,500 of these adjustments totaling $14.7 million,” the auditors said, pointing out that “similar conditions were noted in our two preceding audit reports.”
• Poor control of overtime.
In a test of overtime payments for 23 employees, none had been approved in advance as required by policy. During 2016 “these 23 employees individually were paid overtime ranging from $2,821 to $51,849, with total collective overtime payments of $392,813.”
• Overpayments of overtime.
Although identified as a problem in a prior audit, city schools had still not corrected the overtime rate paid to employees in a certain union. The result: excess payments totaling $208,000 in 2015 and 2016.
This is from the link provided. Would you like to update your position given the facts? Keep in mind this was only a test sample where the irregularities were found. The true extent of the problem could be widespread.
TheAlGler t1_j7qxggl wrote
Private Sector Unions = Based.
Public Sector Unions = Meh.
wutuprdrama t1_j7wyqp3 wrote
LMBO 😆 this dude still found a way to blame republicans for this. In frickin baltimore of all places. Wew lad thanks for this I needed a good laugh
Matt3989 t1_j7y7qls wrote
You don't have great reading comprehension do you?
VygotskyCultist t1_j7q4vfc wrote
Here's the current city schools budget. How would you reallocate the money if you're so smart?
Weak_Management_8329 t1_j7qkkqc wrote
I made an account just for this comment. At a quick glance, the budget is 73% salaries. It's pretty easy to pinpoint where you need to reallocate.
I would start with luxury programs such as the Equity Unit and College Readiness. Equity unit, not sure what that's doing in a school system that is primarily comprised of minority students.
I would then move on to the College Readiness initiatives because BCPS students attend college at abysmally low rates and graduate college at even lower rates. It's better to give students a good high school education and no college than a shitty high school education followed by, again, no college. College is for when your students can pass basic proficiency tests, until then it's money down the drain.
I would then start an internal RoI review of highly paid personnel, starting with administrators first and leaving academics for last. Does your work product justify your salary? If not, there is someone out there who will do it for cheaper.
This is one of the highest funded education systems in the country per student. The issue is clearly not a lack of money, it's in how the money is spent.
VygotskyCultist t1_j7rf87a wrote
College Readiness is NOT a luxury. Just because you're seeing the schools with the worst scores doesn't mean there aren't students in the city doing amazingly well. I commend you for actually looking at the budget, but I'm not convinced your approach would fix much.
Also, as a side note, the reason why Baltimore spends so much per pupil is because poor kids are more expensive to teach. Their immediate physical needs (food, clothes, before- and after-care) that can't be provided at home are often provided by the schools. Poor students often need counselors, school nurses, and psychologists at much higher rates than rich kids, also paid for by the school. Do you have any idea how many of my students rely on the school nurse as their source of primary care? Not to mention the fact that many of Baltimore's schools are falling apart and need constant fixes just to be habitable. It's the Sam Vines Boots-Theory at the systemic scale.
Are we paying too much on personnel? Maybe! But there aren't exactly qualified teachers lining up to work in a school system whose main source of media representation is Fox45's smear campaign. Even at the rates we pay now, we can't fill all of our vacancies.
[deleted] t1_j7q7iw6 wrote
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[deleted] t1_j7qzraw wrote
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Beneficial_Pear9705 t1_j7r8onx wrote
only 23?
zta1979 t1_j7rb98r wrote
All I know is fox 45 always bashes the city schools. No suprise they put this out. Lol
_OldBay t1_j7vk85o wrote
So the solution should be to ignore and pretend everything is fine? Interesting take. I think most parents would want schools to actually teach and the schools should be put on blast
zta1979 t1_j7vo8me wrote
I am not saying to ignore. But it is obvious they are unbiased and one sided is all.
_OldBay t1_j7vpmp5 wrote
What's the other side?
Existing_Vegetable17 t1_j7seb7h wrote
When I attended the public schools in Baltimore the teachers taught life skills like how to apply for welfare.
Kalthimor t1_j7tqo1c wrote
Lololololololololol. Tax dollars at work
[deleted] t1_j7ubfjm wrote
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Less-Idea-9376 t1_j7qlras wrote
There is no magic bullet to fix the issue unless everyone plans to take their kids out of public schools. However, the frustrating parts of this are:
- The school districts are actually lowering standards.
- Baltimore City traditional schools are held to an even lower standard
- Baltimore City Charter schools often perform better than traditional and BCPSS has AND ENFORCES stringent standards, which results in the better schools being shut down.
jordan3184 t1_j7pwld7 wrote
Rich and powerful of this country wants middle class and lower middle class to stay dumb and work low paid blue collar jobs so they can keep making money and keep getting servants. They don’t provide good program which really lifts the lower class or middle class. They have billions of dollar for war but not for humanity.. Democrats or republican both suck big time
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7pyor2 wrote
Untrue, the rich and powerful know that a highly educated workforce, even if it costs more to pay them, are for more productive (meaning more profit), have longer healthspans (meaning less money paid out by insurance), and work more hours and into older age (meaning less retirement). Elites, at least those with any economic sense, want a highly educated, productive workforce, which is why tax policy encourages spending of hundreds of billions, if not more, on education every year.
jordan3184 t1_j7q1udx wrote
Where is free college education ? If you get student loan you will be poor for rest of your life exceptions are there.
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7q2oq9 wrote
Free or low-cost college education is accessible in many places. Georgia for example, provides tuition-free public university for any undergraduate in-state student who meets the requirements. UGA and Georgia Tech are very, very good schools.
Also, the vast majority of Americans do not and will never have student loans. It’s an uncommon problem. Additionally, per the Cleveland Fed, there’s a wage premium of 84% for students who are college-educated versus those who aren’t. Even with the opportunity cost, it’s largely worth it going to college (and so many people going to college, we see their revealed preferences despite the cost).
jordan3184 t1_j7q31ph wrote
I am not sure you are aware with ground reality.. number for inflation even looks better . 😀
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7q3f7f wrote
I’m an economist by training (if not by practice), I have student loans, and they were 1000% worth it because the wage (and mobility!) premium for having a master’s is much much more than the lack of full-time work I missed out on. I’m very familiar with reality.
Millennialcel t1_j7seg51 wrote
The trillions of dollars for war is because all that stuff is produced in the US and it provides jobs.
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7pl3kt wrote
One in five adults in the United States have a literacy level at or below level 1 of the PIAAC literacy proficiency levels. People at those levels can be considered, for all intents and purposes, illiterate. That number is one in three Baltimoreans. At the same time, the average spending per student in Baltimore is $21,000, an incredibly high number.
Many of these kids and now adults have no home life promoting the value of education, are mentally delayed and stunted due to poor pregnancy and childhood health conditions, have poor impulse and behavioral control, but they innately understand from a young age that they will likely never have any social or economic mobility that will allow them to live a meaningfully better life than their parents.
There is likely no help or recourse for these children or their children or anything else. There’s nothing to be done because nothing can be done. No intervention, no matter how comprehensive, intense, or well-targeted, will meaningfully improve outcomes because these children have reached their full potential.
Low literacy and behavioral issues lead to increased prevalence of criminal activity and other associated antisocial behavior. This costs the city of Baltimore billions of dollars a year in economic costs, due to the fact that it takes a person with a lot of grit, determination, and relatively high tolerance of risk to move here, be economically productive, and raise a family, creating a high barrier for the best and brightest (even with Johns Hopkins). This city is relatively will-integrated and deeply affordable compared to the rest of the East Coast. It should be booming and rapidly growing, but it isn’t.
Well what is to be done if education is irreformable and the kids will never amount to much? Simply put, the city/state/federal government should simply pay them to stay out of society, live comfortably, and avoid interaction with the rest of us. The cost of the integration into the broader economy and society of Baltimore of these kids is far too high relative to their expected lifetime productivity and sociability. Instead, we should pay them to stay out, and let the rest of us create a future here.
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/piaac/measure.asp?section=1&sub_section=3
z3mcs t1_j7pnap6 wrote
> The cost of the integration into the broader economy and society of Baltimore of these kids is far too high relative to their expected lifetime productivity and sociability. Instead, we should pay them to stay out, and let the rest of us create a future here.
Am I reading this right? Are you literally advocating for segregation lol, and using stereotyping to help do it. Please tell me I misinterpreted your comment.
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7po7u1 wrote
Absolutely not, “stay out” was a poorly worded phrase, I was thinking along the lines of basically pay them to stay unemployed, play video games, have a good time, etc. and give them a good home in exchange for not engaging in criminal behavior.
Inevitable_Sherbet42 t1_j7pp95r wrote
>Well what is to be done if education is irreformable and the kids will never amount to much? Simply put, the city/state/federal government should simply pay them to stay out of society, live comfortably, and avoid interaction with the rest of us. The cost of the integration into the broader economy and society of Baltimore of these kids is far too high relative to their expected lifetime productivity and sociability. Instead, we should pay them to stay out, and let the rest of us create a future here.
You do realize this isn't an answer, and that it's not even fully kicking the can down the road further. You're tapping the can lightly.
ScootyHoofdorp t1_j7pwi22 wrote
Holy shit this wasn't going where I expected it to. Your attitude is reprehensible. To just permanently write off an entire swath of the city's population (and by extension millions of Americans in similar situations) as beyond hope is vile and cold. I hope you're never in charge of any kind of policy. The cycle won't be easy to break, but the macroeconomics of this country don't really even allow for us to make a targeted, sustained effort. But that doesn't mean that will always be the case. These are people we're talking about, not unruly pets.
magnoliabluebonnet t1_j7q42sg wrote
It’s legitimately one of the most sociopathic comments I’ve ever read here. Insane that a person actually thinks this way and sees nothing wrong with it.
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7q5210 wrote
oooh sorry my value system emphasizes factoring externalities into total costs and benefits and recognizing that interventions across the board are largely ineffective and thus i come up with different responses to problems and that scares you so you call me names oooh
magnoliabluebonnet t1_j7q6m04 wrote
You have serious issues. Seek help.
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7pxxxv wrote
The students don’t care, the cycle won’t break because these students aren’t going to put the momentum to break it because they understand that their life will not meaningfully, materially improve even if they do get a decent education. They’ve been largely locked into poverty, permanently, and there’s no interventions that can break that. It’s best to provide palliative, post-education resources to make sure that they’re comfortable, safe, and out of the way.
default_laura t1_j7q2f1c wrote
What the fuck is wrong with you?
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7q36al wrote
What’s wrong with recognizing that all people deserve safety, peace, and comfort, irrespective of their (lack of) economic productivity? Not everyone has potential, that’s okay, they should still be well-cared for and thought of.
default_laura t1_j7r6fmq wrote
I am all for UBI, but this is the worst kind of faux benevolence.
You are discounting the potential and erasing the agency of entire groups of people based on loose statistics and economic potential. This is not a spreadsheet, it’s a community. Do you not understand how utterly backwards and repulsive this attitude is, or do you just not care?
Have you never gone through periods of growth? Have you never, after guidance and self reflection, made meaningful change?
Sometimes it takes people years, even decades. Sometimes they aren’t able to sustain it. But if they want it, they should always have the choice, they should always have the opportunity. They should never just be written off because some rando decided their stats didn’t look promising. Fucking gross.
Cheomesh t1_j7qpkkq wrote
>there’s no interventions that can break that
Then how the hell did I get out
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7pzjau wrote
oh and tens, if not hundreds of millions of Americans should be written off. they’re unpleasant, unproductive, unimaginative, and/or unintelligent. the negative external costs are higher than their economic value. it does little good to keep them in the workforce, pay them to stay unemployed and quiet, we will all be better off
Xanny t1_j7pohvg wrote
We could even build them their own communities, we can call them "projects", and have their housing subsidized. I'm sure that would work great.
The US tried this shit. You have to break the cycle. It isn't "economically" profitable in the short term to do it. Nothing else works, people will still exist even if you wish they didn't, and we know from history if you just try to leave all the poor people on their own in a corner somewhere their living conditions deteriorate until it takes the whole city down.
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7povqy wrote
My point is, the cycle can’t be broken. It will never meaningfully get better.
officialspinster t1_j7q437i wrote
Oh no, we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas!
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7q4c9n wrote
multiple interventions have been mentioned in these comments. they don’t work. what is your idea?
VygotskyCultist t1_j7q6ie5 wrote
Of course it can, it just takes a massive investment of time and resources. You're just pushing eugenics.
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7q6tcw wrote
Eugenics? I’ve said nothing about reproductive control, completely outside of the discussion.
VygotskyCultist t1_j7q7wxf wrote
You're discussing sequestering people from society based on their heritable conditions. Sounds a lot like eugenics to me.
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7q8e9y wrote
Please tell me, what heritable conditions am I talking about?
VygotskyCultist t1_j7qar32 wrote
You're talking about intergenerational poverty, right? The people in abject poverty you're discussing are born into that. You are writing them off as lost causes who should be sequestered from the rest of us because of their cost to society.
I mean, we'd save money on building ramps, too, if we paid disabled people to stay home. But we don't do that. Because it's bad.
If not literally eugenics, then it's the idea of eugenics applied to economics. "Disabled people shouldn't have kids because it's bad for our gene pool" isn't that different than "Poor people from terrible neighborhoods shouldn't participate in society because it's bad for our economy." It's a bad idea and you should feel bad about promoting it.
Xanny t1_j7q53wq wrote
The poor parts of Baltimore have been naturally depopulating for half a century. If you look at the census data all the areas you would describe as blighted are all losing double digit population per decade. Anyone that can get out does, and anyone that can't probably has a poor life expectancy.
If literally the status quo continues, the city will keep leveling vacant blocks, until all the depressed parts of the city are empty fields. It will just take another century. Simultaneously, gentrification pushes back into these areas on a lot of fronts, and as people find they can sell their run down crumbling houses for enough to move elsewhere with better opportunity they usually will.
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7q5t52 wrote
do the people that get out have meaningfully better outcomes (after adjusting for assumed better income due to being in a more economically vibrant area), or are they still income-adjusted, just as sick and unproductive? additionally, since we’re talking cyclical, are their children better off than they were, or are they actually worse off because poverty is largely unbreakable, it just moved around
Xanny t1_j7q6scy wrote
Yes? Look at the demographics of the county. its going to flip minority white by the next census, a drop from like 80% white in 1980 or so. Blacks that could went right where the whites did a half century earlier once they had the chance.
> poverty is largely unbreakable
I bet if you go back 5 generations in your family you had someone working as a subsistence farmer living in a shack they didn't even own, and today you are probably well educated middle class and white collar. News flash, people do actually get out of poverty. My grandmother was daughter to a tenant farmer and died owning her own suburban house with no material wants, all the cars and vacations she wanted, having worked as a university secretary for 30 years.
A lot of why she did that though was from racism. She was on the winning side of the post war suburban sprawl movement, her husband was a veteran, they had all the opportunity handed to them if they were willing to take it and did.
By comparison the "irredeemable" poor people you are describing have been here for 80+ years in the same cycle of disinvestment. They have lived the same lifestyle for generations with no opportunities offered. And like I said, those that did find opportunity largely took it and left. Go find me a anywhere in the county with the kind of total abandonment that the butterfly has.
Its often as simple as if you can get a bank loan on if you can escape generational poverty or not. My family exists as it does today on the back of guaranteed low rate mortgages for veterans and whites after WW2.
z3mcs t1_j7qb3ze wrote
I've been looking to see a comment like this online since the 1990s. Bless you for posting it. If I had awards to give I'd give you all of them.
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7q7mh9 wrote
You know, this is a good perspective. I’ll go do more research.
Xanny t1_j7qxrp5 wrote
If you want something else to research look into how many dead towns there are throughout the Rustbelt now. They look exactly like the black butterfly of Baltimore and have similar rates of drug use and crime, just they are smaller and more dispersed so its not as concentrated a problem. Those places had the exact same pattern of white flight as resource extraction and factory labor dried up and left, the difference is they were isolated enough to just be abandoned and forgotten for the most part.
The people that lived there had kids that took opportunity to leave like my grandma did, and nobody else wanted to go there as opportunity dried up, so they turned into ruins too. Like they often still have a few people living there, just like the butterfly, but thats because the erosion of a place with capital flight is slow and drawn out.
Its why the opioid epidemic got so bad for white people. It basically took these dying rural areas and towns and beat them to death bluntly with overdosing. Entire states like Kentucky are scarred by it.
jdl12358 t1_j7qe7xb wrote
I'm sorry but where did you get the idea that the county became majority black in 2020?? Not only is it not majority black, it is still majority white at 55%. Even Howard County has dipped below 50% white. Black people don't even make up 1/3rd of the county population. Not to mention that the majority black parts of the county have probably been majority or plurality black at this point for 30 years. I agree with what you are saying because the original guy commenting is talking eugenics, but the county is still majority white.
ltong1009 t1_j7s76kk wrote
Google “Harlem Children’s Zone”. We know exactly how to break the cycle of poverty.
jabbadarth t1_j7ppj98 wrote
First off let's not link foxbaltimore as a source. They specifically write pieces to rile up the county folk and get clicks, they don't actually want to help. Second this is insanely ahortsighted and assumes that all these kids have no chance of ever learning which is bullshit. I mean most won't become doctors but some will and just because most won't doesn't mean they should be abandoned to "play video games", I mean wtf. There are tons of jobs that don't require a high level of education.
The problems, which are constantly laid at the feet of the school system stem from much more than failing schools. There are certainly some schools that have poor leadership and bad teachers but saying the whole system is failing means that a majority of teachers aren't doing shit amd that's bullshit. Thing is kids go to school for 6 hours a day 5 days a week assuming perfect attendance that's 30 hours a week. Take out 56 hours for sleep and that leaves 82 hours where kids are outside of school. Plenty of those kids have normal family lives with parents who care and have time to help with reading and homework but plenty have parents who are too busy to help or unable to help or no parents or any number of other issues and yet we expect them to get enough information in 30 hours a week while the 82 hours they are generally on their own and free to do what they want.
The solution is a multifaceted one that involves a whole lot more than just a school. We need mentors, community centers, before and after school programs, parenting classes, free childcare, more and better jobs for parents with free Healthcare and paid time off. But instead we just say these kids are hopeless.
I've said this a thousand times but it took us decades to get into this situation with awful policies and disinvestment and racism and segregation amd it will take at least that long to fix it if we start actually trying today.
MedicalSpecializer t1_j7psbk3 wrote
okay let’s not use foxbaltimore.
Per the school district, their 2022-2023 budget is $1.62 billion. They also say they have 76,000 students. That’s $21,300 per student.
https://www.baltimorecityschools.org/node/1597
https://www.baltimorecityschools.org/district-overview
I’m not blaming the school district, system, teachers, or administration. I’m fact, I think most of them are highly competent, caring, and intelligent individuals who want their students to thrive and succeed.
And those community center and after school programs? They improve math skills (good!) but that’s the end of their effectiveness. They have no impact on attendance or behavior, like at all. They don’t work.
https://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/staying_on_track_testing_higher_achievement.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4597889/
These resources don’t meaningfully improve outcomes. This tons of funding isn’t improving outcomes. What do you want to do? It’s not working.
DecayableBrick t1_j7pwddx wrote
They tried throwing a massive amount of resources at a similar school system under order of a court and produced almost no positive results. Kansas city had the highest per capita funding of education and the most opulent facilities probably of any public school system in US history. It's an interesting experiment and anyone discussing school funding should be aware of it.
>Kansas City spent as much as $11,700 per pupil--more money per pupil, on a cost of living adjusted basis, than any other of the 280 largest districts in the country. The money bought higher teachers' salaries, 15 new schools, and such amenities as an Olympic-sized swimming pool with an underwater viewing room, television and animation studios, a robotics lab, a 25-acre wildlife sanctuary, a zoo, a model United Nations with simultaneous translation capability, and field trips to Mexico and Senegal. The student-teacher ratio was 12 or 13 to 1, the lowest of any major school district in the country. The results were dismal. Test scores did not rise; the black-white gap did not diminish; and there was less, not greater, integration.
Cheomesh t1_j7qqpg2 wrote
Man, it really is at home, isn't it.
DecayableBrick t1_j7r62pj wrote
It's something that people in this sub don't want to hear, but yes.
A_P_Dahset t1_j7qchjs wrote
>Low literacy and behavioral issues lead to increased prevalence of criminal activity and other associated antisocial behavior. This costs the city of Baltimore billions of dollars a year in economic costs, due to the fact that it takes a person with a lot of grit, determination, and relatively high tolerance of risk to move here, be economically productive, and raise a family, creating a high barrier for the best and brightest (even with Johns Hopkins). This city is relatively will-integrated and deeply affordable compared to the rest of the East Coast. It should be booming and rapidly growing, but it isn’t.
You're correct on this part; strongly agree. But all the other major east coast cities have already been where Baltimore now is. For that reason I think your proposal isn't the most feasible. Instead, Baltimore's elected officials need to unbury their heads from the sand and actually focus aggressively on growth-oriented public policy and investments to address affordable and inclusionary housing, land use, transportation, and real estate tax reform. I realize this might be asking for much, but given all the cities that are eating Baltimore's lunch, should it be?
Baltimore isn't growing because: we're an old historic city with car-centric Sun Belt city aspirations; our leaders resist fundamental principles of good urbanism; and for some reason said leaders find it perfectly okay to charge us double the price of their competitors for shoddy public service delivery. Baltimore really shows no urgency to sustainably attract economic opportunity to the city. While every student here can't become a world-class scholar, a growing city with more businesses of all sizes, that at minimum pay living wages, could provide more opportunities for steady employment and improved quality of life for less-educated residents.
All this to say that a growing city that is more dense, accessible, and economically competitive can help deconcentrate poverty, which can lead to improved educational outcomes. But leadership needs to have a holistic view of the city and the willingness to move beyond status quo at a faster-than-marginal pace.
ahbagelxo t1_j7q25r1 wrote
City Schools math teacher here who also taught math in Virginia before moving to Baltimore. The math curriculum used by the city is VERY dense and VERY difficult. I teach Algebra 1 to students with disabilities (SWD) and it is essentially impossible for my students to pass this test. Additionally, the MCAP (Maryland's standardized test for math, formally called the PARCC) is considered to be a very difficult standardized test.
In Virginia the standardized tests are called the SOL (yes...that's a real name "Standards of Learning") and while they were still difficult and imperfect, they more directly tested math skills appropriate for a 14 year old. The MCAP questions are incredibly difficult, also often with multiple parts, entirely given on the computer (which is challenging for anyone when it comes to math problems), and the test itself seems to change year by year, which makes it very difficult for teachers to know how to prepare students for the actual test-taking part.
For example, in Virginia, students in Algebra 1 are not required to learn or know anything about sequences. In Maryland, Algebra 1 students are given complex units on sequences that they are expected to learn within just two days. Here is an example of 1 page out of 4 from ONE lesson on sequences, which students would be expected to learn and practice, all within only 1-2 days. Even for students in general education (not SWD), this is a huge ask. Even for kids on grade level. Consider that every Algebra 1 teacher in the district is required to use this material and how they have to adapt it for their learners' needs. And here is how I adapt this very high level ask for my SWD.
This isn't to say that there aren't very real criticisms and discussions needed about a variety of topics: how we teach math, school choice, how and why we test, where funding goes, etc etc etc. But I just wanted to provide the additional context of WHY so many students are failing and what a monumental task teachers have preparing students at any level given the tests and curriculum we are required to use.