Fenty, Rhee tout minor gains for District’s school system
By: Leah Fabel
Examiner Staff Writer
February 10, 2009
District Mayor Adrian Fenty and schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee touted improvements in graduation and truancy rates Monday — from abysmal to slightly less so.
High school students with more than 15 absences by December, an average of one absence per week, declined by 30 percent from 2007 to about 2,290 students in 2008. At all grade levels, that number fell by 16 percent to 3,430 students.
Overall, however, more than 7 percent of the District’s 46,000 students were chronically truant through December, compared with more than 8 percent in 2007.
Efforts to improve attendance are ongoing, Rhee said, adding that under her watch accurate recording of students’ whereabouts has increased from about 50 percent to 90 percent, allowing the District to better target programs to keep kids in the classroom.
In 2008, about 200 more students graduated than in 2007, bumping the graduation rate from 68 percent to 70 percent by last August.
Of the District’s 17 high schools, 14 increased their graduation rate, but often to still-failing levels.
Graduates from Bell Multicultural High School in Columbia Heights jumped by 14 percent, but that still left more than half of its potential graduates without a diploma. At Northeast’s Springarn High, the graduation rate increased by 6 percent to about 57 percent overall.
“What we need to understand is that we’re not going to see immediate results” from Rhee’s reforms, said Andrew Simon, co-founder of the 650-member D.C. School Reform Now. “What’s important now is managing expectations of what can happen in the short term, while understanding that if long-term improvements are going to be made, we need to continue the work that’s begun.”
The numbers were released as part of a windup to renewed contract negotiations with the Washington Teachers Union. Rhee and union president George Parker have failed to reach an agreement for the past 15 months, but according to Rhee, “We finally have some momentum after being stagnant for so long.”
Parker, whose union submitted a new contract proposal at the end of January, said the slight improvements ought to be applauded but need further analysis.
“Certainly it’s positive if the graduation rate is increasing, but one of the things we have to do is make sure that rate reflects high-quality instruction.”
And he added that more vigilant attendance keeping is a good step but shouldn’t cut into teachers’ planning time.
