It’s not so much of a “Duh!” moment as you might think.
Studies by the Dallas Independent School District indicate that about half of all Dallas fifth grades students are not on the development arc they need to be on to be ready for college upon graduation seven years later. Half of fifth graders are not even ready for middle school.
As Dallas schools focus on getting all students ready for college, they face a daunting challenge uncovered by a new district tracking system: Almost half of fifth-graders are not even ready for middle school.
Roughly 52 percent of the fifth-graders were considered “on track for middle school” at the end of their elementary years in 2008-09, according to a Dallas Morning News analysis of data recently released by the school district.
That seriously impinges on my ability to teach them what they need to know when I get them.
Here’s the newspaper article from the Dallas Morning News. Here’s school-by-school data.
I predict DISD will take hits for “failing” instead of getting plaudits for finding a root source of a much bigger problem that manifests later. Stay tuned.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 