‘Frontline’ raises questions about test-score tampering under Rhee

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27. I'm working in DC public schools with "IEP" students

Let me tell you, things are bad. I started at the end of MR's tenure and I was a classroom teacher; some of my 6th graders barely had 1st and 2nd gr. skills. Now I work with older teens who have weak basic skills (some of them also operate on the 1st-2nd gr. level). Turns out they ALL have severe family problems at home, from no parents to living with crackhead parents, alcoholics and family members in and out of jail; some are young mothers and fathers age 16 or 17, some have two little kids already, some sell drugs to make money b/c there are no jobs out there for teens with no skills. I am also wondering if one of my students is a male prostitute due to various things he's said.

So then we (society) change a few deck chairs on the Titanic and expect these kids to perform well on tests. Not gonna happen.

You know what works? Mentoring, tutoring, caring, letting the kids know they can learn and we're there to help them, and working with them one-one to catch them up. But there are too few programs like ours (a non-profit group that sends experienced tutors into the public schools) and too little money to right this ship.

I say, let's build more fighter jets, aircraft carriers, start more wars, and keep making the Pentagon contractors wealthy. And let the schools go downhill even further.