It bodes well for the future that there are kids with enough intelligence and moxie to gracefully pull off telling the adults in charge (parents, teachers, principals, chancellors of education) that the current state of D.C. high schools could use a little work, and that they’d like to do a ninth-grade year at their only-to-eighth-grade [...]
It bodes well for the future that there are kids with enough intelligence and moxie to gracefully pull off telling the adults in charge (parents, teachers, principals, chancellors of education) that the current state of D.C. high schools could use a little work, and that they’d like to do a ninth-grade year at their only-to-eighth-grade middle school to, you know, prepare.
Shaw Middle School had, until recently, been a sketchy educational institution. Now it’s amazing, the kids love it, and they see no reason to leave their wonderfully overhauled school if the high school options have yet to be improved.
The kids ended up in Michelle Rhee’s office, the chancellor who—if her reputation is to be believed—doesn’t take anyone’s crap and rarely goes in any direction but her own.
In the end, it was impossible to say no to children who were telling her that D.C. educators had done such a good job bringing high standards and creative teaching back to Shaw that they wanted to get more of it before moving on. “It’s maybe not the right decision for the system,” said Rhee, who had to make many last-minute adjustments, “but it is the right decision for those kids.”
By letting 90 students remain [at Shaw] for one more year, Rhee is acknowledging that some of the high schools they might attend still need work. “I wasn’t in a situation where I could look these kids in the eyes and say, ‘I have a really good option for all of you to go to high school’ ” next year, Rhee said. But she said the schools that would most likely take them, such as Cardozo, Dunbar and Roosevelt, were improving and would be ready for them as 10th-graders.
So. Damn. Cool. I’m proud of the whippersnappers and the grown-ups.
Further Reading:
Some Happy D.C, 8th-Graders Moving Up Without Moving On
Rhee Tackles Classroom Challenge
Posted by Alexa Harrington
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