Parents beware!

Are there any “Bad Schools” in Washington?

If you were to listen to school administrations in this state you would think that there were not! The Obama administration has now required all states to identify the bottom 5% of their schools as “In need of improvement.”

Since this state is listed as 43rd out of 51, DC is counted as a state in this survey, based on high school completion it would suggest that if you are in the bottom 5% of the schools you could be labeled as “Bad” in my opinion. In fact I would suggest that being in the bottom 50% of Washington’s schools might be “Bad” if the schools were measured against all of the nation’s schools.

While we have heard, in the Federal Way School District, that “All of our schools are good” we only have to look at a nearby district to find two middle schools that have made the list of schools “In need of improvement.” Some of our middle schools are not that much better.

Looking at the web-sites of these schools I find the following descriptions of the advantages of these schools:’

“Creates responsible, lifelong learners in a safe and respectful environment where all are inspired to excel, value their community, and celebrate diversity.”

Or

“We have a fantastic school and staff and for this reason, it should not be a surprise that staff and student relationships are positive and our overall focus as a school is the success of every student. Establishing and maintaining healthy relationships among students, parents and staff is a key component to our success.”

Would these descriptions cause parents to have any reason to not send their kids to these schools? I can’t detect any reference to the actual situation! Would you be willing to send your child to these schools based on this information? It sure sounds like a great place to go to school doesn’t it? Some parents in this district have figured this out. At one school over 150 students left for another middle school.

Well, let’s take a close look at the achievement scores at these two schools.

In Math school A has 29.1% of its kids meeting Washington State’s minimal math standards. 7.3% of which “Exceed Standard.”

In Science School A has 24.5% of its students meeting standard. 3.9% of these students “Exceed Standard.”

In Math school B has 27.7% of its students meeting standard. 8.9% of these students “Exceed Standard.”

In Science School B has 20.9% of its students meeting standard. 4.3% of these students “Exceed Standard.”

It looks like your child would have about a 1 in 3 chance of meeting expectations if you send them to one of these schools. Sound like a good choice? I don’t think so!

Did you see any warning of this if you were a parent? Certainly not from the school district!

This nearby school district has some puzzling reactions to this. It has hired a consultant to offer them suggestions on how to change these scores. The suggestions of this consultant have been put into a plan to raise the achievement scores by 10 points! How many of us would be satisfied with these odds? Would you be willing to send you kid into surgery with a surgeon with these odds? ( 30% in Science) I don’t think so.

There is an irony in this. This school district has one of the most highly recognized schools in the State! The school has attracted national attention for its successes. If this school has such success, it is clear that success is not a mystery in the school district, and yet they cannot seem to transplant this to these two middle schools. Or is it that they simply don’t have the fortitude to make changes in these middle schools that are clearly destroying more children than they are educating?

Middle schools, in most cases, are a risky situation. More kids “fail” to make the transition to secondary schools than we are willing to admit. Certainly in these two schools. What if we were to put a warning on all of the school doors of these middle schools similar to the warning on a cigarette pack? Odds of getting cancer from smoking one pack of cigarettes can’t be as high and the odds of not succeeding in these schools!

Why isn’t something more drastic being planned for these schools? Changing these schools probably requires a different relationship with parents than these schools currently have, and the schools are reluctant to address this.

Schools are as good as the will of the parents. Schools that want to do well need to understand this. Proper parenting of middle school kids can produce marvelous results!