Baltimore student passes 3 classes in 4 years, ranks near top half of class with 0.13 GPA (See Staff Post)

[golguin]

Sounds like it's a failure of the schools, teachers, parents, and students.

I'm not sure how parents can be so out of touch to not know anything. I'm not sure how any student can expect to make money in future without any kind of skills or ability to learn at school. I'm not sure how any teacher or school system could not see that this would blow up in their face.

 

[Cenauru]

Are people going to just gloss over what kind of school has an "above average" of a 0.13 GPA? You think the school cares if they're letting students continue after failing classes? What kind of neighborhood has a 0.13 GPA average school, you gonna tell me this is a well funded school that has the student's best interests in mind with parents who made the choice to pick this school as part of a list of options?

Are people really gonna say that the "real" issue are the parents and kids? This piece is intentionally framing this as an individual problem and not a systemic one born from intentionally keeping people and districts in poverty.

 

[uncredited male mk2]

'How are you doing in school son?'

'I am in the middle of the pack.'

 

[Addie]

School district funding numbers are hard to go by because school funding is tied to a) property taxes and b) what's called ADA/ADM (average daily attendance of students).

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I don't mean to be glib here, but I'll ask the follow-up...

This is West Baltimore. It is the opposite of a rich neighborhood. There's likely not much in the way of property tax revenue. And the attendance rate of that school was 61%.

Given those factors, is $5.3 million normal for a poor neighborhood with less than 2/3 of students attending?

I can't tell whether this is an underperforming school, an underfunded school, or both. I just know it's an awful situation.

Also, for everyone blaming the kid and the mom... literally two students out of the entire 434-student class were considered proficient in English, while more than 1/3 of the student body skipped out on classes. Even if the kid were held back, it's exceedingly unlikely he would've learned anything there.

 

[Ducarmel]

School is shitty for not having a system to make sure these kids parents know exactly about their child's performance and attendance, especially when they are on track to flunk.

But still i wont fully blame the school mom should have at least made a couple of parent teacher conferences, and the son needs to learn personal responsibility fast.

I'll add that I'd like to see him graduate and sent to a trade school. I see no merit in forcing him to repeat those grades in a crappy environment isolated from his peers (people his age). People have survived not taking 12th grade Calc before. Otherwise it'd be a waste of some of the highest potential years of his life.

Click to shrink...

Is this really a solution, despite his school not doing much for him he still showed a lack of personal responsibility.

Unlike his HS who should have been holding his hand to get him through his time there, a trade school is not going to hold his hand he will be 100% responsible for his performance.

 

[anamika]

It's a mess and another reminder that linking school funding to property taxes is the wrong way to go. Rich kids, who already have all the advantages in the world continue to flourish while students whose parents are poor will flounder. It's a broken system that exacerbates rather than helps students overcome income inequality.

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Can't believe this is still a thing in a developed, first world, richest country in the world. This school sounds like trash. Probably full of disinterested, tired teachers who are not bothered about whether these kids attend school or not.

But yeah, the parent also shares some blame. She expected the terrible school to do everything while she focused on making money to feed her 3 kids. Without a good education and opportunities one ends with 3 kids and 3 jobs to support them.Which, again - the situation starts off bad for those 3 kids right at the very beginning. Systemic inequality continues this cycle of poverty.

 

[Sadsic]

Sounds pretty much like Season 4 of The Wire, sad that none of these issues have been corrected since that season aired like 15 years ago

 

[Addie]

School is shitty for not having a system to make sure these kids parents know exactly about their child's performance and attendance, especially when they are on track to flunk.

But still i wont fully blame the school mom should have at least made a couple of parent teacher conferences, and the son needs to learn personal responsibility fast.



Is this really a solution, despite his school not doing much for him he still showed a lack or personal repsonsibility.

Unlike his HS who should have been holding his hand to get him through his time there, a trade school is not going to hold his hand he will be 100% responsible for his performance.

Click to shrink...

I don't think y'all realize how dire this kid's situation is.

I'm guessing that he was not one of the LITERAL TWO STUDENTS proficient in math or English at that school. Even getting a GED is probably going to be a struggle for him, but it's absolutely his best and only hope.

Maybe he'll discover a love of academic learning, but I would not blame him if this experience soured him on formal education forever.

His best chance at financial success and self-sufficiency is, as samoyed said, picking up a trade, especially one he enjoys.

 

[Stanng243]

Wouldn't the school send report cards every semester? Wouldn't the parent not look for one or expect it?

 

[Deleted member 64609]

Every adult around this boy failed him.

 

[colorblindmode]

I don't mean to be glib here, but I'll ask the follow-up...

This is West Baltimore. It is the opposite of a rich neighborhood. There's likely not much in the way of property tax revenue. And the attendance rate of that school was 61%.

Given those factors, is $5.3 million normal for a poor neighborhood with less than 2/3 of students attending?

I can't tell whether this is an underperforming school, an underfunded school, or both. I just know it's an awful situation.

Also, for everyone blaming the kid and the mom... literally two students out of the entire 434-student class were considered proficient in English, while more than 1/3 of the student body skipped out on classes. Even if the kid were held back, it's exceedingly unlikely he would've learned anything there.

Click to shrink...

I understand. It's just hard to gauge, especially with urban schools like this. Usually the state General Assembly will set a percentage number and will assign funding based on that.

So, as a very basic example, Maryland could say for every 1000 students they get $100k or something.

Like I said, there's a lot of dynamics at play when tracking school district funding. There's also the interplay of local school district funding (which can include large grants or outside funding), the county (if there's more than one school district per county), and the state.

Edit: that being said, it seems like there is a systemic overhaul that's needed at this school at the very least.

 

[EloquentM]

I agree 100%. It's a mess and another reminder that linking school funding to property taxes is the wrong way to go. Rich kids, who already have all the advantages in the world continue to flourish while students whose parents are poor will flounder. It's a broken system that exacerbates rather than helps students overcome income inequality.

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which is why a ton of responses in this thread are diet racist af

 

[ash32121]

0.13 GPA????? The holy heck?

And he is like in the middle too??? I want to see what happened to the kid in the last place. Did that kid even go to school?


I think he should study to get a GED, then go from there, because eh, re doing 4 fucking years in HS sound like a miserable god damn time.

 

[Unknownlight]

Are people going to just gloss over what kind of school has an "above average" of a 0.13 GPA? You think the school cares if they're letting students continue after failing classes? What kind of neighborhood has a 0.13 GPA average school, you gonna tell me this is a well funded school that has the student's best interests in mind with parents who made the choice to pick this school as part of a list of options?

Are people really gonna say that the "real" issue are the parents and kids? This piece is intentionally framing this as an individual problem and not a systemic one born from intentionally keeping people and districts in poverty.

Click to shrink...

Indeed, a lot of posts in this thread are ridiculous. An average GPA of 0.13 across the student body implies an environment so horrible that most students are unwilling to go anywhere near. This isn't an example of "Oh, those lazy teenagers."

 

[EloquentM]

Why has the internet decided that only one person can be responsible for any bad thing?

School can be a failed school while the mother is still a failed mother.

NO excuse for missing as much school as he did. Every school I am aware of/or worked at has pre-scheduled Parent Teacher Conferences multiple times a year, which she obviously did not attend. She also went 4 years without checking on his grades. Hell, at the schools I have worked at you get an automated phone call whenever your student is marked absent. I have never in my career had a successful student with absentee parents. They might scrape by yes. Thrive? Never.

Schools cannot parent your child for you.

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did you even read the article?

 

[Addie]

Sounds pretty much like Season 4 of The Wire, sad that none of these issues have been corrected since that season aired like 15 years ago

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Yep.

And here's the National Center for Education Statistics report for this particular school.

Of the 419 students enrolled at Augusta Fells, all 419 were eligible for free lunches. Enrollment is determined by choice lottery. The student-teacher ratio was only 16.76. They had 25 teachers on staff.

All of this suggests to me that the idea of the school was to give a small number of students a chance -- if you have misgivings with a lottery, I agree with you -- and put them in an environment that's arguably well-funded and didn't have an obscene 40 student-1 teacher ratio.

What the fuck happened?

This enrages me.

 

[RomanticHeroX]

I find it hard to blame the kid here. If I could've missed the majority of my days of high school and believe that I would still pass I absolutely would have. He's also a child and children shouldn't be the the only responsible party. There are many systems around him that have failed to lead to this point.

 

[ash32121]

Yep.

And here's the National Center for Education Statistics report for this particular school.

Of the 419 students enrolled at Augusta Fells, all 419 were eligible for free lunches. Enrollment is determined by choice lottery. The student-teacher ratio was only 16.76. They had 25 teachers on staff.

All of this suggests to me that the idea of the school was to give a small number of students a chance -- if you have misgivings with a lottery, I agree with you -- and put them in an environment that's arguably well-funded and didn't have an obscene 40 student-1 teacher ratio.

What the fuck happened?

This enrages me.

Click to shrink...

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK AMERICA?

 

[CDX]

His transcripts show he failed Spanish I and Algebra I but was promoted to Spanish II and Algebra II. He also failed English II but was passed on to English III.

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So the school just let him advance from one class to the next class year after year until he was a senior, then finally, it's NOPE back to the beginning of 9th grade for you and redo everything.

What?

And the school records show he was doing better than half his class?

WHAT?

Perhaps his mother with 3 jobs should've been more attentive, but his school absolutely failed him and seemingly also most of the rest of his class too.

 

[EloquentM]

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK AMERICA?

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Idk why this is so surprising to people when we talk about the black experience in America a ton on this website. Lest we forget about flint, Michigan and other places around the country rotting because the American people and American government continue not to care about people suffering at the feet of a system meant to continually oppress them. There's so many fucking bootstrap posts in this thread. If people actually considered for one moment what the Baltimore experience for those children is like, they wouldn't be blaming the parent.

tons of allies on this site, no wonder minorities feel welcome.

 

[BigWeather]

The Churn indeed. Just makes me so sad.

 

[Addie]

I also find it utterly infuriating that people here are blaming the kid when the evidence shows he's got the equivalent of a 9th grade education. I am not trying to kick him when he's down. But it's twisted to fault him for not making smart, rational choices when he LITERALLLY hasn't been equipped to make them.

 

[EloquentM]

I also find it utterly infuriating that people here are blaming the kid when the evidence shows he's got the equivalent of a 9th grade education. I am not trying to kick him when he's down. But it's twisted to fault him for not making smart, rational choices when he LITERALLLY hasn't been equipped to make them.

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his lineage hasn't been equipped. his mom is working 3 jobs and she "should've been more attentive." Why aren't we talking about why she's working 3 jobs?

 

[Absoludacrous]

School is shitty for not having a system to make sure these kids parents know exactly about their child's performance and attendance, especially when they are on track to flunk.

But still i wont fully blame the school mom should have at least made a couple of parent teacher conferences, and the son needs to learn personal responsibility fast.



Is this really a solution, despite his school not doing much for him he still showed a lack of personal responsibility.

Unlike his HS who should have been holding his hand to get him through his time there, a trade school is not going to hold his hand he will be 100% responsible for his performance.

Click to shrink...

Are you going to talk about personal responsibility for the other half of the entire class that's in a worse situation than him? At what numbers do you start to think that maybe this is a systemic problem that should be fixed, rather than looking at this one kid and telling him that he better grip those bootstraps?

 

[Ducarmel]

I don't think y'all realize how dire this kid's situation is.

I'm guessing that he was not one of the LITERAL TWO STUDENTS proficient in math or English at that school. Even getting a GED is probably going to be a struggle for him, but it's absolutely his best and only hope.

Maybe he'll discover a love of academic learning, but I would not blame him if this experience soured him on formal education forever.

His best chance at financial success and self-sufficiency is, as samoyed said, picking up a trade, especially one he enjoys.

Click to shrink...

I understand what his situation is, I worked as a paraprofessional for 2 years in NYC before quitting and going to a union trade school myself. Also I was this kid in high school, I'm in a better place now but took a while..

A union trade school may help him out but they are difficult to get in, but I cant imagine a trade school you have to pay out of your own pocket is going to be helpful.

 

[Addie]

his lineage hasn't been equipped. his mom is working 3 jobs and she "should've been more attentive." Why aren't we talking about why she's working 3 jobs?

Click to shrink...

100% agree. I'm not going to speak out of turn about the black experience in West Baltimore. But ignoring that this is a West Baltimore school means we're avoiding the most important part of the conversation.

 

[SilkySm00th]

I mean its clear here that basically no one had the bandwidth to care enough about his education to really do anything about it. If the school doesn't care enough to force the issue theres not a lot the mom can do.

 

[The Lord of Cereal]

This is truly horrific, holy shit. Definitely seems like a huge failure on the part of the school and district.

I'll never forget (okay actually give it a few years and I probably will) that when I was in 8th grade, I had to go to fucking Saturday school after going to a relative's wedding out of town and then also getting bronchial pneumonia, leading to a total of 10 or so absences (I was dangerously close to 15, the cutoff point for promotion iirc). During this time, my parents got 2 or 3 letters home from the school's attendance office informing us of all this and warning of potential police action (and yes, the school was informed and a doctor did excuse the absences when I was sick). Not to mention the multitudes of phone calls and emails as well.

Even when I was in high school, my high school constantly dangled the fact that in order to walk at graduation, we needed to have 95% or higher attendance, and to graduate at all we needed at least 80% I think.


The fact that this isn't even an isolated incident is the worst thing, given that he is ahead of so many of his peers as well...

 

[onyx]

Not shocking at all for me. I was blessed enough to attend good to decent schools in Baltimore (plus my mother is a teacher) but I saw the deterioration of the school system.

I worked with kids there for 9 years and most didn't understand their homework, but teachers still passed them. Honestly, it was hard to motivate some kids to give a damn ,because it's not like the adults some of them grew up with got anything great from their education.

The decline is by design as school budgets get cut while prison and police budgets go up.

Wonder how much something like this comes from anything that would have happened with education the past 4 years, what comes from factors before it, and what the next Sec of Education can do about it

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This is as much if not more of a local and state problem as it is federal. Both the city of Baltimore and the State of Maryland have models of good education that can be applied. People have raised the issues in the Baltimore school system for schools like this and local/state government continues to fail. The problems go beyond the schools though.

 

[Ryuelli]

So they promoted him and then said "No wait you have to start over now"? What kind of idiots are running things there?

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Speaking as a teacher, this doesn't surprise me at all. It's extremely rare that anyone gets held back anymore, and with him finishing his last 2 years (at least, on paper) of high school in a COVID environment, that just invites him to fall through the cracks even more than usual.

I think this is more on his parents for apparently not checking into things over a period of 4 years, but it blows my mind that the school didn't reach out at any point, be it the teachers, the front desk, admin, whoever. If not for him failing, definitely for him not showing up. Funding is tied to butts in seats, so someone who was absent for a very significant chunk of multiple years would have quite literally been costing the school money, and if it were my admin or front desk team they would have been on that extremely quickly.

For instance, where I work, teachers are expected to chase after truant students (online, on the phone, not in person). (And it's bullshit, not my job, like in the contract specifically not my job, but still expected). Then maybe mention it to admins and counselors and maybe they'll lift a finger.

Click to shrink...

I teach at a school in the suburbs of Houston, and it's the same situation here. Teachers should have some type of paper trail to show they tried contacting the parent, the student, whoever, then it falls to others in the building.

Before 2015 parents were fined if their kids missed X days of school, but now the responsibility of getting those kids to show up strictly falls on schools.

New Truancy Law Poised to Put More Pressure on Schools, Parents

When the state's new truancy law takes effect Sept. 1, students will no longer potentially face criminal sanctions for skipping school. But there are new directives for public schools and the courts. This story is part of our 31 Days, 31 Ways series.

www.texastribune.org

 

[Mesoian]

That's strange. I literally teach in a high school and this isn't how it works. In North or South Carolina, at least.

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That's how it works in Mass. If you fail the year, you're held back. There are a couple private high schools that work on a credit basis but...between standardized testing and your overall GPA, if you don't pass, you stay in the grade you're in.

 

[Rackham]

Really sounds like that mother failed too. How do you not see your son's grades for 3 years? You don't even think to ask?

 

[EloquentM]

Speaking as a teacher, this doesn't surprise me at all. It's extremely rare that anyone gets held back anymore, and with him finishing his last 2 years (at least, on paper) of high school in a COVID environment, that just invites him to fall through the cracks even more than usual.

I think this is more on his parents for apparently not checking into things over a period of 4 years, but it blows my mind that the school didn't reach out at any point, be it the teachers, the front desk, admin, whoever. If not for him failing, definitely for him not showing up. Funding is tied to butts in seats, so someone who was absent for a very significant chunk of multiple years would have quite literally been costing the school money, and if it were my admin or front desk team they would have been on that extremely quickly.

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His gpa is .13, he's 62/120 in his class. How is this the parents fault?

Really sounds like that mother failed too. How do you not see your son's grades for 3 years? You don't even think to ask?

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Read the article. Think about where this is taking place, and then ask yourself would this be happening in predominantly white neighborhoods?

 

[gaugebozo]

Somebody had to have known this at a district level. They have data for every assessment a student takes, and the district is heavily online this year.

 

[Absoludacrous]

I hope everyone blaming the mother realizes they're also blaming 58 other parents whos kids are in worse shape.

It's on you if you want to blame 58 black parents in a poor community rather than worrying about what kind of systems are in place to make this situation so prolific.

 

[EloquentM]

Somebody had to have known this at a district level. They have data for every assessment a student takes, and the district is heavily online this year.

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why care when it's literally a bunch of black kids and like era everyone can blame the parents.

 

[Nepenthe]

We're locking this thread to review posts and reports.

 

[Nepenthe]

The original version of this thread had a disappointing number of posters blaming the students and/or accusing the parents of not caring, and many of those posters had clearly not read the article. Not only does a school administrator admit that the school failed here, but when a 0.13 GPA is better than half the class, there are clearly broad systemic failures of a shocking magnitude. Students at this school are not being given a fair chance to succeed.

We're rebooting this thread now in the hopes that there can be a better discussion on the subject, and that people will actually read the article in the OP.

 

[Frankish]

This is crazy. My wife's a high school teacher and if any of her students miss more than one assignment she gets the parents involved. For an entire school to ignore this for three years is some bullshit. And it happening to so many other students speaks to an insane degree of negligence.

If I were a parent in that school I would consider legal action. Students have the right to education and it was robbed from them and their parents by this school.

 

[Everybody Lies]

Season 4 of The Wire covers a lot of the systemic issues here and it will break your heart.

 

[deepFlaw]

Yeah... I seriously don't understand a lot of posts in this thread, not even just the ones that were rightfully actioned. If the school's doing that badly across the board - whether it be the GPA, the attendance, the proficiency in subjects, the ridiculous promoting to the next class after failing - how could it even be possible that it's just down to the individual student and his mom? That really seemed likely to you? Even if it was somehow just him, there'd be systemic inequality in play, but like... it's nowhere near just him.

 

[Unknownlight]

Yeah... I seriously don't understand a lot of posts in this thread, not even just the ones that were rightfully actioned. If the school's doing that badly across the board - whether it be the GPA, the attendance, the proficiency in subjects, the ridiculous promoting to the next class after failing - how could it even be possible that it's just down to the individual student and his mom? That really seemed likely to you? Even if it was somehow just him, there'd be systemic inequality in play, but like... it's nowhere near just him.

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I'd usually blame it on people not reading the article... except that it's right there in the thread title, so instead it's just bizarre.

 

[skullmuffins]

Tragic.

What is going on inside the heads of the teachers and administrators at this school?

I feel like there might be a strong, I don't know, social contagion of apathy among the students? Like I get it, I've been there, if you're surrounded by peers who aren't invested and don't care you're less likely to be invested yourself. And the parents, they're struggling to barely provide for their kids, they don't have the emotional/mental energy to keep up on their kid's algebra homework or whatever. It sucks. Are the teachers tearing themselves apart every night seeing how their students are being failed, or have they also fallen victim to the same mindset as the students, where this is just the way things are?

I don't know what the solution is. I doubt it's as simple as more funding. Might involve integration of sorts? I don't mean strictly racial, but, like, funding aside (btw property tax based school funding is a menace, but we all know that)... it's probably not great to have "rich schools" where most/all the students are well-off and are planning for college and have parents who go to PTA meetings and support their extracurriculars and "poor schools" where literally everyone is from below the poverty line with parents working 3 jobs to make ends meet if they have a job at all. Fuck, even if you get the kids to attend the same school they'll probably end up self-segregating along those lines but at least there would be more of a chance? I don't know. I might be off-base, this is not something I've researched thoroughly or at all, really. Concentrated poverty is devastating. Give poor people more money.

 

[Emergency & I]

I referenced it earlier in the thread, but it should be repeated: please watch Season 4 of The Wire. It's one of the greatest seasons in television history and covers this issue in Baltimore with incredible care.

 

[Ricelord]

The school failed him.
His mother failed him.
But worse of all he failed himself.

edit: read the article,when did they start passing students when they out right fail a class?

 

[Rosebud]

I really hope this student gets all the help he needs. Clearly the school failed him.

 

[Bowl0l]

The original version of this thread had a disappointing number of posters blaming the students and/or accusing the parents of not caring, and many of those posters had clearly not read the article. Not only does a school administrator admit that the school failed here, but when a 0.13 GPA is better than half the class, there are clearly broad systemic failures of a shocking magnitude. Students at this school are not being given a fair chance to succeed.

We're rebooting this thread now in the hopes that there can be a better discussion on the subject, and that people will actually read the article in the OP.

Click to shrink...

I'm confused. Did the school decided to send all their students to redo their course or somehow only one student get caught in the cross fire? I imagine all their graduates diploma should be revoked

 

[Pet]

Explore Augusta Fells Savage Institute Of Visual Arts in Baltimore, MD

We're an independent nonprofit that provides parents with in-depth school quality information.

www.greatschools.org

11% AP participation though o_o. Am curious what the pass rate on tests is.


*edit: per Niche, pass rate for AP is 0%.

 

[Sanka]

I totally get how a parent wouldn't know what their son is doing if he is smart about it and the school did jackshit. Especially if your working, busy with cooking, cleaning stuff up etc. That's how it goes, I grew up similary. How could she even find out when the school was quiet about it?

What I don't get is this. Even if my parents didn't have the time to check up on me they did want to see my end of the year school certificates. Don't you get those in the US?

Well, even if the mother could have done more, the school still gets all of the blame. They are supposed to care for the child for a good chunk of the day. The fact that it even came to this point shows a complete disregard and care for the future of all these kids. This is a systemic and socioecnomic issue, because I don't think the mother grew up that differently herself. It's a cycle that just repeats itself.

Holy shit, this is horrible and goes so deep. This has been going on for decades.

 

[Jonathan Lanza]

Did the school not contact anyone about this? This is like more than a phone call home. This is a school wide announcement.