Comments on: OUSD’s latest dropout estimate is higher than ever

By: jessejames

jessejames — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 05:42:22 +0000

There is an area on the report card about returning homework. Teachers can always make contracts for their students, call families, create incentives and have family conferences. This is left to the discretion of teachers. Contractually every month there are 5 hours that go beyond the teachers duty day. 3 of these are for family/parent contacts. The hours don’t have to be documented. So, there are ways to have a system but there’s not any official one.

By: livegreen

livegreen — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 05:34:38 +0000

Jessie, Thanks. I’m also curious whether there’s a similar contract or manner schools can help teachers make sure kids are doing their reading & homework (for younger kids this means a lot of parent involvement). If kids are not, what (if anything) does OUSD do about it?

Of course there’s a lot of instability in some kids lives, but giving the parents a free pass (especially when kids are younger) does nobody any good. I would hope there’s a similar system for parental support to the contracts you mention for attendance.

Is there?

By: jessejames

jessejames — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 05:01:56 +0000

As I understand it, every school should hold SART meetings. I don’t think anyone downtown oversees the process to make it mandatory. Contracts have made a difference for other families I’ve worked with. There hasn’t been enough time to see if it’s worked with these 3 families.

By: livegreen

livegreen — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 05:02:55 +0000

Jessie, So the contracts have not made a dent in the absantees of the 3 boys u mention?

Does every school have a SART official, or r they supposed to?

R there other students & families u have seen this make a difference for?

Sounds like it would make a bigger difference if there were consequences for the families or more resources for schools to do more follow-up.

By: Maria Ku

Maria Ku — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 03:54:10 +0000

Wait a second, didn’t the newest report just told us we’ve been experiencing a HUGE outflow of population out of California in the past few years. Those kids leaving California schools did get automatically counted as “dropouts”, right? Because they did not continue in a California school?

By: jessejames

jessejames — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 02:20:04 +0000

The contract has three parts: what the family will do, student will do and what the school will do. It is signed by the parent, student, administrator and SART representative (me). A review date is set to check on the attendance rate. If the contract is broken, the SARB and district attorney is informed.

I am not certain if the district SARB holds a meeting with the family and/or the case is referred to the district attorney for legal action. I don’t know if the contract is an empty threat.

By: livegreen

livegreen — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 20:25:25 +0000

Jesse, How do district attendance contracts work?

By: jessejames

jessejames — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 18:21:33 +0000

In my class of 23 first graders, I have 3 African American boys who have an absence rate of 15-40% with excessive tardies. These are the only students with dismal rates in my class. There are phone calls home every time they are absent and that is the only repercussion. The easy out is to say that the child is sick and it’s an excused absence. But if a kid is sick 15 out of 60 days, perhaps he should be in the hospital.

Our school doesn’t hold attendance (SART) meetings, so I do it myself. I complete district attendance contracts with families. The message to these 5 and 6 year olds and their families is, I believe, that school isn’t all that important and that the school doesn’t really care whether they are there or not. As we, the families and I, meet to talk about the child’s record, work and the message being sent, I hope to send a different message.

If no one cares about the kindergartner or first grader who misses school, who cares about the high schooler?

By: Works at Oakland School

Works at Oakland School — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 20:34:25 +0000

Can you imagine if we had a competitive, tracked middle school and the same for a high school? A large portion of the kids I know at Bishop O’Dowd would be there. There parents can’t really afford O’Dowd but there is really no other option. If there were a high school that was like the Paiedia program but for 9-12 that would be so fabulous! But I don’t think the idea will ever be put into practice. There is too much kowtowing to the people whose kids wouldn’t be there. If the school board or enough people in Oakland really wanted to see this happen, what would they have to do to make it actually come to fruition? Does any one know? I am afraid it will just be talk because it will never happen.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:39:03 +0000

The problems with the dropout data are described here: “New dropout rate in question” @ http://toped.svefoundation.org/2010/12/09/accuracy-of-new-dropout-rate-in-question/