Reports on Schools Cite Student Discontent

Some focus group participants said the reports didn't reflect real insight into the problems.

"They missed certain aspects. People saw the things they wanted to see, more than what was actually there," said Mark Roy, a community member active at Eastern High School who was in a focus group. Roy was part of a movement calling for Rhee to fire the teachers and staff. Instead, she has dismissed Eastern Principal Monica Taylor and plans to phase out the Northeast Washington school grade-by-grade over the next three years, then reopen it under a program yet to be determined. Roy and other community members are appealing the decision.

The larger picture is far from uniformly bleak. Several of the schools facing overhaul possess pockets of genuine promise and have made encouraging starts toward reform, even if recent test scores don't yet reflect progress, evaluators said.

One team praised teachers and staff at Cardozo High in Northwest for "a remarkable job in transforming the culture and climate of the school," with its specialized academies and other programs. Evaluators had similarly strong reviews for the ninth- and 10th-grade academies at Ballou High in Southeast and Roosevelt High in Northwest. Teachers at Miner Elementary and Ronald H. Brown Middle schools, both in Northeast, were commended for their unusually good rapport with students.

But the theme resonating most powerfully in the reports is student frustration with the lack of academic rigor. Although there are always a few inspiring instructors, students -- none of whom were named -- said too many teachers approached their jobs with indifference and low expectations.

"Teachers don't teach us a thing throughout the entire period," said one Lincoln student. "When visitors come, they start working."

At Anacostia High in Southeast, evaluators described a history class exercise where students were prompted to respond to the question, "Where is your favorite place to shop?"

None of the randomly selected students at Dunbar High responded positively when asked whether the school was preparing them for college. Pressed further, they said they didn't even feel ready for the workforce beyond high school.

"Students want to be valued and respected and challenged," said Tracy Y. Martin, Rhee's chief of schools, who oversaw many of the team visits.

Teachers, for their part, reported feeling overwhelmed and demoralized by behavior problems.

At Coolidge High in Northwest, a review team found classroom doors deadbolted to prevent students from coming in late. Teachers at Dunbar, who struggle with a 1970s-era "open classroom" design that features partitions instead of walls, reported that even when security and administrators are summoned, students who don't belong in the classroom "are not required to leave."

In at least one instance, a teacher at Eliot Junior High in Northeast devised what the school report called "essentially a dunce desk," with a sign that read, "Students who lack self-control are students who want to be punished." Evaluators wrote, "This teacher was observed using strategies and techniques that are inconsistent with supporting student achievement." Principal Andre Roach did not return phone messages late last week.