The numbers dwindled further as the sun shone outside, but in the end, 38 remained. They worked extremely hard for five weeks to recover their English credits, and I am very proud of them. Each class was two and a half hours long, and I promise you, there were NO charity grades.

Good job, darlings, and I wish you every success this upcoming school year. (And remember…nine hours of sleep every single night!)

I want to 2nd two of Debora’s other points:
–OUSD could easily aggregate a list of recommended summer camps, as well as age-appropriate reading. Primarily it would benefit the children, secondarily it would benefit the school district. (Gee, does OUSD have an interest in that?);

–OUSD does not require enough science teaching. They even have a program designed by UC Berkeley called FOSS. But is it taught at all schools? No. And is it taught by all the teachers at the schools where it’s supposedly taught? No. That is strictly up to the teachers (who often feel justifiably crammed by Open Court).

These are both two things OUSD could easily do (if they put their minds too it), and that would have a big payoff for both the kids AND the District.

All of that does not need to be in a formal classroom, of course. However, students who want to learn should be given the opportunity to do so. My daughter has learns through almost everything she does. She milks the goats down the street, mucks the goat stall as well. Blythe makes a lemonade stand to earn money for many of the things other young people are given by their families. She works hard at work, volunteering, and school.

What she wants most, though, is to learn. I often hear parents and school officials talk about the universities that have accepted students from OUSD. I believe that students from OUSD have the potential to be accepted to any university in the US and abroad. My ideas about learning and my daughter’s education are not based on university acceptance nearly a decade away. The state of California is very clear that there are science standards for every school year. Blythe loves and values science education. Often OUSD classrooms teach less than half of the science standards, particularly in elementary school. For this reason, Blythe takes her science classes in the summer – not for acceptance to university – but for the pure love of learning. If you watched her in the video you would see that she has pure joy in her chemistry class.

I meant to say that the bar to avoid retention is so low that virtually anyone can pass it(much like the HS exit exam, which is 8th grade level). achievement becomes illusory because the bar has been lowered so much.

The bar to avoid retention is so low that virtually anyone can pass it(much like the HS exit exam, which is 8th grade level). achievement becomes illusory because the bar has been lowered so much.