Monday, March 3, 2014

Schools Require A Functional Exchange of Information Too – redqueeninla

Schools Require A Functional Exchange of Information Too – redqueeninla:



Schools Require A Functional Exchange of Information Too

Written by redqueeninla in Education





Several years ago before we were to leave the country for a year one of my children and I tried to visit the middle school she might attend upon our return.  We were stopped 10 feet into the school, before even reaching the front office, by a very formidable old woman who was more than a little bit fierce.  We were not able even to peer into the school to get the slightest sense of it.  All we left the country with, then, was a “visual” gained from the exterior, of a bombed-out-looking, parched and barren, cracked and faded, intimidatingly uninviting (I’m afraid saying “ugly” will hurt the feelings of friends and teachers there) place.
As it happens we have since been a family at that school for four years and can attest it is a diamond in the rough.  What it lacks in sparkle on the outside is truly apparent from within.
But appearances matter, and rumor matters, for random, not-relevant, misapplied information has heavy consequences.  When information is not exchanged, and “fed back” accurately, promptly, relevantly, then systems – all systems — cannot work properly.
One of many issues at LAUSD is that information about schools is simply not being fed back to the system appropriately.  At so many levels.  Starting with