Voice

In my mailbox this past week was a letter of congratulations for helping Maryland achieve its status as the state with the BEST schools in the country. The rest of the day was spent seeing everything that would suggest otherwise.

My main question was: how? How could we possibly be so high, when most of us working in the city could rattle off failing schools like old friends? To see the breakdown, you need only log into Ed Week, where they give you state report cards and everything (Ed Week's Report). Maryland is right on top with Massachusetts for overall. Its two lowest scores are in The Teaching Profession (a 72%, making us 28th), and Standards, Assessments, and Accountability (an 83.9%, making us 25th). We are top ten in the other categories: Chance for Success (88.2%, 5th), K-12 Achievement (82.5%, 2nd), Transitions and Alignment (96.4%, 1st), and School Finance (85.4, 9th).

I wasn't able to find much on how the ratings were done, but the question remains: How can a state whose major city had the fourth-worst drop out rate in the country last year--how can that state be #1? (Graduation Rate)

So maybe it's just statistics, right? Maybe Baltimore isn't significant enough to really drop the overall score.

Let's talk stats.

Here are some population numbers for Maryland: Baltimore City has a population of about 650,000. If you add up the next 12 biggest cities in Maryland, their combined population is about 710,000. (City Populations). So, just talking cities, we've got just about half the population covered.

If we move out to state-wide, Baltimore's 650,000 is now pitted against about 5,600,000. We're still talking 11.6% of the state's population.

Granted, not all of the city schools are bad. But not all of the county schools are that great either. Run over to PG county and look for #1, tell me what you find; numbers-wise they add another 820,000 to the mix, raising our total to 1,470,000, or roughly 25%. (County Populations)

City schools can't be doing that bad, though, right? Again, let's find some data.

Here's an article on how great we're doing on our AP tests. The lowest county score is 21.9% of students passing AP tests; we have 2.7%.

Again, 21.9% vs. 2.7% (and the highest one is 31.4%, if you wanted to know).

The city's graduation rate last year was 34%. Fourth-worst nationwide.

State test scores? Look at this table, and notice the only two scores in the 60's: Baltimore City (65%) and Prince George's (64.5%). (HSA Scores).

But let's not talk about that. Let's not achievement levels in reading or math. Let's not talk about transportation or food or after school programs or soccer fields with bent goals and football games where you can't see the players through the dust. Let's not talk about students getting their tongues cut off in a cafeteria, getting stabbed on school grounds, freezing in 30 degree classrooms, having only leaded water available to drink.

No, no. Let's talk about what's good. We got a 100% on Early Childhood Education! We got a 90% on College Readiness!

The problem is that nobody cares. During a three-part interview of Alonso, Baltimore's new CEO, the recent killing on school grounds comes up.

Here's why we're #1:
"Markel Williams, 15, was stabbed to death by a fellow student outside William H. Lemmel Middle School...All weekend, [Alonso] waited for e-mails from an angry public, calls from activists demanding change, cries from parents who didn't feel safe sending their kids to school anymore. They never came.... A poor black boy with disciplinary problems had been slain at a failing school. It was almost as though it was to be expected."

We have an entire sector of society that doesn't even get a phone call for a brutal killing in a school. Not one. If things aren't noticed for that, why would they be noticed for poor test scores, failing graduation rates, systemic corruption and absolute failure to provide any reasonable education to students?

These things go unseen. Worse yet, they are ignored. They are consciously ignored. How can Maryland celebrate anything when this is going on?

In my mailbox, I'm told we're number one. In my classroom, my ninth grade students are on average at a 5th grade math level. Maybe 10% of all my students (9-12, now) can divide. My 4th grade word problem drills wreak havoc on every class.

I would like to see what schools were rated. I would like to know what Education Week looked at when they gave Maryland its grade. I would like to know what they did not include.

We are #1 because we ignore the 650,000 that make us shudder. We have our pride because we forget those who need the most, because we have accepted that this is the way things are. We are the best because every day we let people live and die unseen. Voiceless.