The public schools in Washington, D.C. continue to set a record for per pupil costs in the nation. The District has long been the most expensive system in the country and reportedly spends roughly $30,000 per student in a system that continues to produce appalling results in national studies. The latest such study is by the respected National Center for Education Statistics which has found that in 2013 83 percent of the eighth graders in these schools were not “proficient” in reading and 81 percent were not “proficient” in math.
The only improvement is marginal at best. The percentage of students who performed at or above the NAEP Basic level was 57 percent in 2013. This percentage was greater than that in 2011 (51 percent) and in 1998 (44 percent). However, this is an extremely low level of performance and 43 percent are below even that level.
What is equally distressing is that this study went with virtually no mention in Washington. Indeed, the Washington Post gave more attention to the discarding of trash bins than this most recent educational data.
D.C. eighth graders scored an average of 248 out of 500 in reading. Mississippi finished next to last with an average of 253.
DC spends more than twice as other large cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas, though figures vary between studies and reports. The figure is derived from dividing total expenditures in Table 1 by enrollment in Table 15 of the Census Bureau statistics. The Census Bureau’s Table 11 puts the per capital costs for elementary schools at over $27,000 up to 2010. (note that this is a different calculation than Table 8 on per capita spending levels).
New York spends $5,353 less per student.
By the way, of that money, only $10,584 per pupil is spent on “instruction” and $1,613 on “instructional staff.”
Whatever the cost, the D.C. schools continue to fail and thousands of students are facing a dim future without basic skills to succeed. Many will be left to a cycle poverty where they lack the necessary skills to succeed in a new and more demanding job market. It is a chilling statistic that is measured in real terms in the lives of thousands of students.
These statistics are truly frightening. D.C. has a long reputation for wasteful and poorly managed systems. This low level of performance is even more striking when it is between two of the most successful school systems in the country: Montgomery (MD) and Fairfax Counties (VA). Clearly D.C. deals with a large number of impoverished students, but that does not explain this continuing failure of this system at such a high cost. Other cities have such impoverished areas and do far better with far less. The city seems to be continuing to discard thousands of students with the same level of care as its recent trash bin scandal. Yet, there remains no serious backlash against the city’s elected officials or demands for a fundamental change in the school system after decades of such poor performance.
Our Impoverished View of Educational Reform
by David C. Berliner — 2006
Teachers College Board
http://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=12106
Excerpt:
This analysis is about the role of poverty in school reform. Data from a number of sources are used to make five points. First, that poverty in the US is greater and of longer duration than in other rich nations. Second, that poverty, particularly among urban minorities, is associated with academic performance that is well below international means on a number of different international assessments. Scores of poor students are also considerably below the scores achieved by white middle class American students. Third, that poverty restricts the expression of genetic talent at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale. Among the lowest social classes environmental factors, particularly family and neighborhood influences, not genetics, is strongly associated with academic performance. Among middle class students it is genetic factors, not family and neighborhood factors, that most influences academic performance. Fourth, compared to middle-class children, severe medical problems affect impoverished youth. This limits their school achievement as well as their life chances. Data on the negative effect of impoverished neighborhoods on the youth who reside there is also presented. Fifth, and of greatest interest, is that small reductions in family poverty lead to increases in positive school behavior and better academic performance. It is argued that poverty places severe limits on what can be accomplished through school reform efforts, particularly those associated with the federal No Child Left Behind law. The data presented in this study suggest that the most powerful policy for improving our nation’s school achievement is a reduction in family and youth poverty.
Elaine – interesting thing about Berliner is that he spent no time in either an elementary or secondary classroom. And the fact that he is Professor Emeritus at the ASU School of Education really puts the nail in the coffin. My B.A.E . is from there and of all the courses I took there, only one was of any value when I started teaching. That was one on writing lesson plans and how to correctly construct a test question. The rest were a complete waste of my time.
Paul,
Evading answering my question about when that NEA charter school was established in Arizona? You answer my question…and then I’ll answer yours.
Paul said: “Elaine – the NEA was complaining about charter schools until that time.”
What time? Can you be more specific about what time that was? Was it 1990? 1995? 2000? 2005?
Elaine – which union did you belong to: ATF or NEA?
Aristotle would not have been considered “proficient” either.
That is the cultural amygdala down through history for you.
Aristotle was the first Ronnie Raygun: “[Aristotle] Believed the mind was located in the heart, which contained all emotions and thinking. The brain was instead a radiator used to cool the heart.”
Pau;
Public Charter schools are included in the DC district.
Paul,
You claimed the NEA was anti charter until it started its own charter school in Arizona. I thought you must have information about that particular school and when it was established. Otherwise, how do you know the NEA was anti charter until that time?
Elaine – the NEA was complaining about charter schools until that time.
WORDMESS alert … it is hungry for my comments.
So …
Elaine – are the charter schools part of DC school district? They would not be here.
Paul
Where do AZ schools rank academically in a national ranking?
Nick
All I can find on Michael Jackson is that he was a commencement speaker at a Nazarene university in Nashville.
What is the story?
44% of public schools in Washington, D. C. are charters…so it appears charters aren’t a panacea for the educational problems plaguing the district.
Paul,
What’s the name of that charter school and when was it established in Arizona by the NEA?
Elaine – There are some 400 charter schools in Arizona. I have no idea which one belongs to the NEA.
Someone is getting testy today.
Nick @ 12:28.
Thanks for your contribution.
Karen @ 12:22.
Not true. See my comment at 12:23.
Because it doesn’t fit the narrative Feynman, sorry Karen.
Paul
IIRC is also used when dealing with a thread that is miles long and having to refer to an earlier upstream comment that addressed some ISSUES rather than snide irrelevant interjections.
Flop
The NEA isn’t anti charter school.
Charter Schools
http://www.nea.org/charter
Excerpt:
Definition
Charter schools are publicly funded elementary or secondary schools that have been freed from some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools, in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each charter school’s charter.
NEA believes that charter schools and other nontraditional public school options have the potential to facilitate education reforms and develop new and creative teaching methods that can be replicated in traditional public schools for the benefit of all children. Whether charter schools will fulfill this potential depends on how charter schools are designed and implemented, including the oversight and assistance provided by charter authorizers.
Elaine – the NEA was anti-charter school until they started their own in Arizona. Funny how that happened.