Our City School District Needs To Do Better

   As a city school district graduate and freshman at a private liberal arts college, I have beat the odds. Unfortunately, a lot of other students are unable to do the same, and it's not because city school students are not smart enough but because the standards are placed so low on the students that they doesn't consider college as an option. We need a wholesale transformation of the public school system from the old, rusty model that has been installed 50 and 60 years ago. Our school district has has not yet faced the fact that no matter how good the curriculum is, there is nothing to do when education is not being valued. The Truancy rate for kindergarden is 20 percent. The school disctrict should be able to fulfill our educational needs that is going to prepare graduates for college level work.
   The first is teacher quality, such a controversial topic. We all know the positive effects that teachers have on student achievement. On my high school experience, teachers such as Mrs. Hoover, Mrs. Awopetu, Mrs. Gilmore, Mrs Nicholas and Mr. Ocran are some of the teachers that helped me get to where I am today.  Paper qualifications, such as teacher certifications have little to do with what makes a teacher effective. A teacher that is effective is always accessible, whether it is after school, or Saturday school. A great teacher is caring, passionate and respects their students. A great teacher sets high expectations for their high school students and believe in them.
  Instead of focusing on the real issues that the city schools are facing which are poor attendance and low graduation rates, school officials blame the teachers and assess their performance unfairly based on pre or post tests that does not have anything to do with what we learned all year. Never mind all the articles, and the different books we read, and hours spend preparing lessons, they are bad teachers just because I was bored the day of the post test and now their jobs are in jeopardy. There is no such thing as an hero teacher that come to save the public school system, that is unrealistic and unsustainable.
Suddenly being a public school teacher is a bad thing, the negative stigma attached to being a public school teacher overshadow their hard-work and their true intentions of making a difference. The graduation rates are not going to improve by blaming teachers for lack of effort from the students.