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What Really Happened At Ballou, The D.C. High School Where Every Senior Got Into College
https://wamu.org ^ | 11/28/2017 | Kate McGee

Posted on 11/28/2017 5:31:43 PM PST by BackRoads775

Brian Butcher, a history teacher at Ballou High School, sat in the bleachers of the school’s brand new football field last June watching 164 seniors receive diplomas. It was a clear, warm night, and he was surrounded by screaming family and friends snapping photos and cheering.

It was a triumphant moment for the students. For the first time, every Ballou graduate applied and was accepted to college. The school is located in one of D.C.’s poorest neighborhoods; it has struggled academically for years and has had a chronically low graduation rate. In 2016, the school graduated only 57 percent of its seniors according to data from D.C. Public Schools (DCPS), slightly up from 51 percent the year before. For months after June’s commencement, the school received national media attention, including from NPR, celebrating its achievement.

But all the excitement and accomplishment couldn’t shake one question from Butcher’s mind:

How did all these students graduate from high school?

(Excerpt) Read more at wamu.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: cultureofcorruption; dc; education; fraud; publiceducation; publicschools; taxes; wamu
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To: BackRoads775

Just 2 hours ago I was sitting in a faculty meeting, and one of the issues was “how many of our kids are failing.” Our administration is at least honest enough to admit that kids who don’t come in and don’t do the work can’t pass, but there is still tremendous pressure on us. And right now, 50% of our kids have multiple D or F grades on their report cards.


21 posted on 11/28/2017 6:09:33 PM PST by A_perfect_lady
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To: BackRoads775

And people wonder why a high school diploma doesn’t mean anything. SMH


22 posted on 11/28/2017 6:11:52 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Conservatives love America for what it is. Liberals hate America for the same reason.)
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To: BackRoads775
This happens in majority white schools too. Our local middle school hasn't held a student back in years. Pass them on, don't want them with younger students.
Special ed students turn in test with their essay answers word for word the same. Test taken with their “resource” staffer. High schools send kids to alternative schools or let simple online work substitute for real classes. To keep dropouts from making their graduation rates look bad, they mark them as withdrawing to be homeschooled.
23 posted on 11/28/2017 6:14:38 PM PST by fungoking (Tis a pleasure to live in the 0zarks)
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To: BackRoads775

The so called colleges that accepted these high schoolers are frauds. How much in student loans did these graduates receive that went to pay tuition at these colleges?


24 posted on 11/28/2017 6:21:40 PM PST by freedom1st
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To: DuncanWaring
Any bets on how many of the 164 “graduates” will have 4-year degrees five years from now? I’m guessing 1-10 ... at most.

According to the story only 16 of these 164 students were known to have even actually enrolled in college.

25 posted on 11/28/2017 6:21:42 PM PST by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60's....You weren't really there)
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To: BackRoads775
“I felt at a point around getting toward winter, I ain’t have be there no more,” she said. “I felt like I graduated at that point.”

Yup.

26 posted on 11/28/2017 6:32:05 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (Headline: Muslims Fear Backlash from Tomorrow's Terror Attack - Mark Steyn)
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To: BackRoads775

And how did they do in college. Did the get social promotions there too?


27 posted on 11/28/2017 6:33:35 PM PST by aquila48 (Bookmark)
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To: BackRoads775; All

Thank you for referencing that article BackRoads775. Please note that the following critique is directed at the article and not at you.

As a side note to this thread concerning colleges, patriots please consider the following.

In the context of the referenced article, colleges are regarded as “institutions of higher learning,” a reward for continued self-betterment.

On the other hand, in these troubled times, colleges are better regarded as indoctrination centers, many colleges graduating thousands of entitlement-minded “Peter Pans” every year.


28 posted on 11/28/2017 6:39:52 PM PST by Amendment10
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To: BackRoads775

The Trump administrstion needs to make a BIG issue of this.


29 posted on 11/28/2017 6:39:56 PM PST by Socon-Econ
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To: PhiloBedo

Yep


30 posted on 11/28/2017 6:47:08 PM PST by Bigg Red (Vacate the chair! Ryan must go. Dump McConnman, too.)
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To: bgill
I entered my teaching career after a 25 year career in software. I am determined to remain an “outsider looking in” on “BIG Education”. After 12 years I have reached a diagnosis. Students have lived their entire life with every outcome predetermined - success! Everyone gets a trophy, no one loses, everyone is passed on to the next grade - regardless of merit. It will get worse.
31 posted on 11/28/2017 6:50:57 PM PST by goo goo g'joob
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To: BackRoads775
The school...

The students...


32 posted on 11/28/2017 6:52:27 PM PST by aquila48 (Bookmark)
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To: nopardons

That opens the door to investigation of the industry that is accommodating folks who shouldn’t bee in college at all. And underneath that issue is the matter of federally guaranteed student loans - which puts the taxpayer at risk for these games.


33 posted on 11/28/2017 6:59:56 PM PST by Wally_Kalbacken
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To: DuncanWaring

What makes you think the colleges will do anything different than what Ballou High School did?


34 posted on 11/28/2017 7:01:40 PM PST by Robert DeLong
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To: dr_lew

““Cheating” isn’t the word. Cheating would be an honorable alternative to this scenario, insofar as it would mean that the cheating individuals recognized and respected the standards to be achieved, to the extent that they tried to pretend that they had met them.

In this case, the subject individuals did NOTHING ... made no effort whatsoever of any kind, to meet any standards, or even pretend to meet them, but were nevertheless awarded the distinctions due to those who actually had met them.

This represents, as described, a complete collapse of the educational establishment, in this regard. And we know how “collapses” go, ... they spread.”

would like to know which colleges/universities accepted these students?


35 posted on 11/28/2017 7:07:19 PM PST by IWONDR
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Having a HS Diploma doesn’t say much.

Not having one tells it all.


36 posted on 11/28/2017 7:09:09 PM PST by Mr.Unique (The government, by its very nature, cannot give except what it first takes.)
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To: Amendment10

I agree. But on an uplifting note, I know a millennial who works as many hours as she can get in a restaurant and is almost done with her first semester at a community college taking welding classes. She loves it, and I can tell she will be great at it. She’s one of those people who anyone with a brain would hire in a minute for ANY job, because she can adapt, learn, and produce. She’ll likely be making more per hour than many of her contemporaries in the future.


37 posted on 11/28/2017 7:12:26 PM PST by KJC1 (Illegals: One hand out and the other one flipping us the bird)
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To: Wally_Kalbacken

Yes, it certainly does do that! But WILL that happen?


38 posted on 11/28/2017 7:13:18 PM PST by nopardons
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To: Governor Dinwiddie
Gaudeamus Igitur

Had to look it up ...

Let us rejoice, therefore,
While we are young.
After a pleasant youth
After a troubling old age
The earth will have us.

Well, I'm still at the rejoicing stage! Old age or not.

39 posted on 11/28/2017 7:31:07 PM PST by dr_lew (I)
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To: BackRoads775
This is really something.

A quote from the article:

An investigation by WAMU and NPR has found that Ballou High School’s administration graduated dozens of students despite high rates of unexcused absences. WAMU and NPR reviewed hundreds of pages of Ballou’s attendance records, class rosters and emails after a DCPS employee shared the private documents. The documents showed that half of the graduates missed more than three months of school last year, unexcused. One in five students was absent more than present — missing more than 90 days of school.

The kids weren't even bothering to show up for school, and they still passed!

Further on in the article, a possible financial motive is mentioned. If teachers and administrators are rated "highly effective", they can receive $15,000 to $30,000 in bonuses.

40 posted on 11/28/2017 7:39:17 PM PST by jeannineinsd
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