A very interesting report by Maureen Downey on her blog in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about a school in Washington D.C. that will try to raise its low test scores–fast–by turning the kids over to online instruction for half the day. The discussion about the glories of online learning was marred by technical glitches and miscommunication, but no matter.
The best line in the story came from a D.C. public school teacher who knows the school in question well and writes:
Kramer has some students with severe and unaddressed behavioral problems, a significant group (four classes and 1 Emotionally Disturbed) of Intellectually Challenged students, along with a high percent of special needs students (about 35%) that have been formally identified.
I’m willing to venture 10-15% of unidentified students would also qualify. Too bad the class sizes for these kids were larger than what should have been under DCPS guidelines, Blackmon consent, and the WTU contract. With that said, these kids need individual and human instruction and interaction, not a computer.
But, hey, why ask teachers what kids need? What do they know?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I teach high school special education in NYC and we have online credit recovery in our school. Not one of my sped kids came close to finishing an online course. If they can’t read or the work required for everyday school how can they possibly do an online class by themselves? The regular ed kids were also doing poorly and the principal informed us in June that she was looking into some other company for online credit. When will they ever learn?
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@Karen Kugler – I don’t think they ever will. They are just so wedded to the belief that this is a magic bullet. I don’t know what will dissuade or disabuse them of this wrong-headed notion. For a group that loves and worships at the altar of data- it’s troubling that they choose to ignore it. Now if they were liable financially for their mistakes, then this would be a moot point.
In a pilot run of some 40+ students this past school year, Kramer staff members claim success. One kid even raised his grade level by a year. OK. Wow. Based on what metric? In a report on a computer donation this past spring, NBC4 anchor Doreen Gentzler mentioned that as a result of the donation, some students raised their reading scores by 4 levels. I almost keeled over. A miracle. Lets hope this one is a true miracle and not a “DC Miracle” ala Michelle Rhee or disgraced Noyes Educational Center Principal and poster child “Do You Want to Be the Next Wayne Ryan?- Wayne (from 10% to 85% Proficient) Ryan.
Now what about the 87% of students who qualify for free lunch and the +84% of students who are NOT Proficient? What about them? What about this year’s 8th graders who after completing their studies at Kramer will walk one block over to one of the least successful DC high schools- Anacostia (who after 4 years of charter (Friendship) management isn’t breaking records of any sort? If this works at Kramer, then what happens afterwards to these students?
Call me a skeptic. I’ll hope for the best.
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/05/kramer-middle-school-to-institute-online-learning-76462.html
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