Thank you for sharing that. It is right on the mark and is a huge topic of conversation in schools like the Orchard House School.

There are individual students prepared for the 21st century in RPS, especially those that attend the specialty schools like the Governors, IB programs, or schools lead by exceptional principals like Mr. Hudson at Holton , however, in most poor schools, children without educated parent advocates will be deprived of a progressive education. From what I have seen and witnessed in several predominately poor RPS, you would think that they were preparing children for prison or military service. All the multiple choice worksheets and tests are not teaching our children the skills necessary for problem solving, analytical or creative thinking, or the real world. At best, the multiple choice tests are rearing little consumers who will be able to hit the cereal aisle and make a choice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U

in your browser and let me know what you think.

Thanks!

At the pool this summer there has been a lot of talk about public schooling and I’ve spoken to many families who are leaving public education altogether. Why? Because everything is about the SOLs and public education has become militant. One parent said that her daughter is doing okay at Fox but not thriving. Another parent said, after struggling to get her youngest son into Albert Hill, that if she had to do it all over again, she would not send her kids to RPS (all three of her children are in RPS on up to high school). Many are leaving public education for reggio emilia and montessori programs.

Below is a quote from a James River Maven blog and a comment I left with it:

“We haven’t even begun to think about whether the SOL-based education that we give our children will prepare them for the 21st Century issues they will face as adults.”

This is the biggest issue we face. The teaching to the multiple choice test is robbing our children of an education and not preparing them for the real world. I had a conversation with a veteran RPS teacher yesterday about the multiple choice tests -how downtown is demanding that the teachers use them over other testing measures and how the good grades our children are receiving are not reflecting what they really know or understand. I told this teacher that I feel they are lying to us and before I could even finish my sentence, the teacher said, “they are,” and that my concern was, “valid.”

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=35977419&postID=3766786335079411771

Some of these “Powerhouse PTAs” are making mad money like well over $100,000 in a school year. It takes wealthy folk to make that kind of money. This is where the government should step in and help the poorer schools that might not even have one working computer in a classroom or a single after school program other than tutoring on more SOL crap. And think of the field trips poor kids miss out on -kids that have never even left their neighborhoods- while the wealthy children with plenty of travel experience gain more in their wealthy schools.

I spoke with a Dutch friend and he said that their schools have no need for PTAs and that all schools offer the same educational opportunities. This is the way it was when I was a child -what was being offered at my poor to middle class school was no different than the rich school across town. And even today you can see this in parts of Henrico. My sister-in-law’s blue collar school in Glen Allen has the same programs as my friend’s wealthy school in Tuckahoe.

My thought was that they share expertise and provide inspiration.

A variation on the old adage about giving how if you give a hungry [man, woman, child] a fish, they can eat one day. But, if you teach someone how to fish, they never need to go hungry again.

I say as a city we do not strictly adhere to Washington’s policies and take the federal money and distribute it more fairly. The way the public education system is set up now is like giving tax cuts to the rich.

However, GetReal, I do think it would be a good idea to join schools PTAs to help out eachother and to invite children from neighboring schools into their cool after school programs or to share the Acelerated Reading lists, etc. I’ve heard that it takes twelve dedicated people in a PTA to get the ball rolling.

What happens in the classroom should not be dependent on how wealthy a neighborhood is or is not.

I would love to see just how much money each school in RPS receives. One of the biggest differences in schools is that some PTAs absolutely rock when it comes to raising money that benefits all children in the school. And, others simply don’t. Wouldn’t it be nice if the powerhouse PTAs could “mentor” the weaker/poorer PTAs?

What about the schools without a wealthy neighborhood within their zone? The rich won’t go to an out-of-zone poor school. Maybe there wasn’t in-zone and mega-zone lines drawn in her time.

Do the math folks. Non-RPS families are paying twice — once for their city taxes, once for their tuition “tax.”