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Basic Child Literacy Cannot Be too Much to Ask of Richmond City Public Schools

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sherlockj
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by James C. Sherlock

Half of Black 4th graders in Richmond public schools couldn’t read in 2019. That is not OK.

It is way past time to demand both better performance and accountability. Clearly neither the city of Richmond nor the Commonwealth has done that effectively.

So I have filed formal complaints with the federal government to see if the Departments that provide federal money to the Richmond City Public School District can establish accountability for how all of that money has been spent.

Jason Kamras currently serves as the Superintendent of Richmond Public Schools (RPS). He has first-rate credentials — National Teacher of the Year in 2005, undergraduate Princeton, masters in education from Harvard. Worked in leadership positions in D.C. Public Schools before coming to Richmond.

He is the highest-paid superintendent in Richmond history at $250,000 annually. His initial three-year contract was slated to expire this summer.  He just received a 4-year extension on a split 6-3 vote by the Richmond School Board.

The performance of Mr. Kamras’ Richmond School District is cataclysmically bad.  

In the national gold standard National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) statewide Grade 4 Reading test administered to Virginia 4th graders in 2019, half of the Richmond Public Schools Black students tested scored “below basic,” meaning they were functionally illiterate. Only 16% of Black students scored proficient and 3% advanced.

Hispanic students did better than Black students, even though 43% of them were below basic as well. Twenty-two percent of white students and 14% of Asian students were in the below-basic category.  

Now, I remind readers that we are talking about 4th graders. Nine-year-old kids.  Who can’t read.

We spend a lot of time here talking about Governor’s schools, other magnet schools, AP classes and equal access to those and other advanced programs. For the kids in Richmond schools who can’t read in 4th grade, all of that might as well be written on the back side of the moon.

I am not here to criticize Mr. Kamras. I have not followed his tenure, so I have no basis on which to do that. A split school board voted for continuity. That might be the right decision. We’ll see.

SOL performances in Richmond Schools have been flat or declining since at least the 2016-2017 school year. Kamras inherited a tragic mess and he has not yet been there a full three years.

But at some point the overarching focus on racial “equity” in schools statewide, centered currently on critical race theory, curriculum revisions, fewer standardized tests, subjective grading and quotas for advanced courses, must pivot and make sure that 4th graders can read.  

The reasons why these children can’t read involve more than the schools. Got it.

But for Richmond City schools, it is fair to ask where all the money, federal, state and local, to help kids avoid these outcomes has gone over the years. Start with federal Department of Education money.  

How were all of the annual federal dollars for disadvantaged kids — money appropriated under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 — spent all these years?

Move on to Richmond’s Head Start programs funded by the federal Department of Health and Human Services. I note that Richmond City Schools grabbed $811,139 in 2020 federal COVID-related supplemental Head Start money.   

Same questions for both programs. How was it spent? Who spent it? Who received it? Was there any oversight? Accountability?

Do Richmond’s Mayor and City Council even inquire about these results?  

Does Virginia’s Attorney General notice either the results — Article VIII of the Virginia constitution requires that “Public schools of high quality to be maintained” — or ask where all the money went? He could investigate but hasn’t.

The state and federal governments cannot leave the Richmond City School District to fail. Throwing money and letters at it to do better has clearly not been enough.

I personally am beyond tired of watching this.

I have today filed formal complaints today with the federal Department of Education’s Civil Rights Division and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Head Start and asked them take a look. This essay and the Virginia DOE page on the Richmond City School quality profile will give them a place to start.

I’ve recommend a comprehensive multi-year audit of the spending of federal funds by the Richmond City School District.  The federal government is great at audits.

Bottom line — basic child literacy cannot continue to be too much to ask of Richmond City Public Schools. It simply can’t.

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26 responses to “Basic Child Literacy Cannot Be too Much to Ask of Richmond City Public Schools”

  1. JL Avatar
    JL

    Mr. Sherlock, the results for 8th Grade Reading are as bad as they are for the 4th Grade. Further, based on the report, learning in Math gets worse the farther one progresses in Richmond schools. (13% Below Basic for all students in 4th Grade, 25% in Below Basic for all students in 8th Grade; 24% Black students in 4th Grade, 44% Black students in 8th Grade.)

  2. JL Avatar
    JL

    Mr. Sherlock, the results for 8th Grade Reading are as bad as they are for the 4th Grade. Further, based on the report, learning in Math gets worse the farther one progresses in Richmond schools. (13% Below Basic for all students in 4th Grade, 25% in Below Basic for all students in 8th Grade; 24% Black students in 4th Grade, 44% Black students in 8th Grade.)

  3. Donna Sayegh Avatar
    Donna Sayegh

    I would like to share my experience as a student who had problems with reading comprehension all of my life, starting in grade school. So finally, when I failed a test, I had the courage to ask the teacher why. He read the question. I realized that I didn’t answer the question correctly. I decided to enroll in a reading class at TCC. What I learned is this: I skipped over words that I didn’t know the meaning of….What does that do? It doesn’t allow me to know what the writer is trying to say……………The other thing I learned is to stop at the clause with the comma and ask: What is this trying to say?…..Students need to have dictionaries and understand the words being used to express a thought………This is my thoughts.

    1. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      Nice to hear from a new reader…and I’m sorry that your reading challenges were not recognized far earlier in your education. Those are problems that can be addressed. A sharp-eyed second grade teacher picked up on a problem for my second grade grandson this year and taught him a technique…

      A whole lot is going on with the RPS problems, but overall I think the reading of the written word on a page is failing to compete with all the screens — games, entertainments or TV, doesn’t matter — none of them involve real reading and comprehension skills. And if kids who do not read are being taught by a generation of teachers that faced the same distractions, it doubles your troubles. Reading and vocabulary come from simple repetition. Best thing that happened to me were several years of overseas assignments for my dad in countries where I had no TV and lived in my books.

  4. Donna Sayegh Avatar
    Donna Sayegh

    I would like to share my experience as a student who had problems with reading comprehension all of my life, starting in grade school. So finally, when I failed a test, I had the courage to ask the teacher why. He read the question. I realized that I didn’t answer the question correctly. I decided to enroll in a reading class at TCC. What I learned is this: I skipped over words that I didn’t know the meaning of….What does that do? It doesn’t allow me to know what the writer is trying to say……………The other thing I learned is to stop at the clause with the comma and ask: What is this trying to say?…..Students need to have dictionaries and understand the words being used to express a thought………This is my thoughts.

    1. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      Issues that should have and could have been identified and dealt with in grades 1 or 2. Such a tragedy that wasn’t done for you.

    2. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      Nice to hear from a new reader…and I’m sorry that your reading challenges were not recognized far earlier in your education. Those are problems that can be addressed. A sharp-eyed second grade teacher picked up on a problem for my second grade grandson this year and taught him a technique…

      A whole lot is going on with the RPS problems, but overall I think the reading of the written word on a page is failing to compete with all the screens — games, entertainments or TV, doesn’t matter — none of them involve real reading and comprehension skills. And if kids who do not read are being taught by a generation of teachers that faced the same distractions, it doubles your troubles. Reading and vocabulary come from simple repetition. Best thing that happened to me were several years of overseas assignments for my dad in countries where I had no TV and lived in my books.

  5. sherlockj Avatar
    sherlockj

    Some of the children that could not read were veterans of not only Richmond K – 12 schools, but also Richmond Head Start and perhaps Early Head Start, both of which are controlled by the same RPS bureaucracy that controls K-12. So that it is likely that some of those kids in 4th grade had been taught by RPS for as many as 7 years. And still were illiterate.

    I am an old white guy from Virginia Beach. But sometimes enough is enough and you have to throw a penalty flag.

  6. sherlockj Avatar
    sherlockj

    Some of the children that could not read were veterans of not only Richmond K – 12 schools, but also Richmond Head Start and perhaps Early Head Start, both of which are controlled by the same RPS bureaucracy that controls K-12. So that it is likely that some of those kids in 4th grade had been taught by RPS for as many as 7 years. And still were illiterate.

    I am an old white guy from Virginia Beach. But sometimes enough is enough and you have to throw a penalty flag.

  7. wonderbread Avatar
    wonderbread

    Definitely agree that the current state of RPS is a major struggle, though pre Covid there were some signs of life. I have no idea how you really effect immediate change here short of undoing SCOTUS in Bradley v. School Board, though, lots of us are trying to do our part to shift the district.

    A couple pieces of context on the data.

    1. The flat to drop in SOL scores from 16-17 onward is generally considered to be a the rioting out of SOL cheating scandals, specifically at Carver, but likely at other schools as well.

    2. It’s likely that the % rate numbers for 8th graders are worse not because performance gets worse, but because well performing students from affluent families leave RPS for the counties or private school for middle school. There’s been some reversal of this trend, specifically at Albert Hill Middle.

    1. sherlockj Avatar
      sherlockj

      My essay pointed out the status of 4th graders, some of whom had been in the educational care of Richmond Public Schools since Early Head Start just out of the cradle.

      Whatever has been done, it is not enough, not even close.

  8. wonderbread Avatar
    wonderbread

    Definitely agree that the current state of RPS is a major struggle, though pre Covid there were some signs of life. I have no idea how you really effect immediate change here short of undoing SCOTUS in Bradley v. School Board, though, lots of us are trying to do our part to shift the district.

    A couple pieces of context on the data.

    1. The flat to drop in SOL scores from 16-17 onward is generally considered to be a the rioting out of SOL cheating scandals, specifically at Carver, but likely at other schools as well.

    2. It’s likely that the % rate numbers for 8th graders are worse not because performance gets worse, but because well performing students from affluent families leave RPS for the counties or private school for middle school. There’s been some reversal of this trend, specifically at Albert Hill Middle.

    1. sherlockj Avatar
      sherlockj

      My essay pointed out the status of 4th graders, some of whom had been in the educational care of Richmond Public Schools since Early Head Start just out of the cradle.

      Whatever has been done, it is not enough, not even close.

  9. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead V

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8YGITrPMuc

  10. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead V

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8YGITrPMuc

  11. Baconator with extra cheese Avatar
    Baconator with extra cheese

    Elections have consequences. In the RVA the consequences are more severe for children. It’s incredibly sad. Funny how a guy like Tim Kaine had a hand in all this historical mess yet he has skated any political consequences. Hell the guy even lives on Confederate Avenue and no one has ever asked him about it or the dreadful school system he left behind.

  12. Baconator with extra cheese Avatar
    Baconator with extra cheese

    Elections have consequences. In the RVA the consequences are more severe for children. It’s incredibly sad. Funny how a guy like Tim Kaine had a hand in all this historical mess yet he has skated any political consequences. Hell the guy even lives on Confederate Avenue and no one has ever asked him about it or the dreadful school system he left behind.

  13. sherlockj Avatar
    sherlockj

    From my
    United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights
    DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT FORM:

    2. Name of person discriminated against: Black children of Richmond City Schools

    5. Please describe each alleged discriminatory act.
    In the national gold standard National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) statewide Grade 4 Reading test administered to Virginia 4th graders in 2019, half (49%) of City of Richmond Public Schools Black students tested scored “below basic,” meaning they were functionally illiterate.

    Only 16% of Black students scored proficient and 3% advanced.

    Some of these nine-year-old children had been in the educational care of the Richmond School District from Early Head Start through 4th grade. All of them are supposed to be beneficiaries of both Title I and Head Start program funding. And they can’t read at the age of nine.

    Hispanic students did better than Black students, even though 43% of them were below basic as well. Twenty-two percent of white students and 14% of Asian students were in the below-basic category.

    Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) performances in Richmond Schools have been flat or declining since at least the 2016-2017 school year. In every case Black children trailed substantially every other race.

    The state and federal governments cannot leave the Richmond City School District to fail. Throwing money and letters at it to do better has clearly not been enough.

    I recommend a joint audit between the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General (Head Start Program) with whom I filed a complaint today and the Department of Education to determine how federal money was managed by the Richmond Public Schools, who obligated it and who finally received and spent it. Determine the levels of oversight on both spending and performance and assign accountability.

    11. What would you like the institution to do as a result of your complaint — what remedy are you seeking?
    I seek a federal audit to inform the superintendent, the School Board, the City Mayor and the public how the federal funding has been so misspent and how to correct the problem.

  14. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    I don’t whether Kamras is good or not. He has been in the office for only three years, so the failure to teach those fourth graders to read happened before he came along. He now has a four-year contract and, in a couple of years, “his” kids will be taking the reading test. Those will be the results upon which to judge him.

    Jim, I appreciate your enthusiasm and your initiative, but I am not sure an audit of the spending of federal funds will help. What is needed is for someone who knows how to teach reading to evaluate what Richmond teachers are doing wrong and what they are doing right. Recent research has shown that the old-fashioned method of teaching phonics, not sight-reading like I was taught, is the best way to teach reading. https://www.scilearn.com/the-science-of-reading-the-basics-and-beyond/

    The division, and the whole state, needs to focus on the basic skill of reading. They would do well to examine what the state of Mississippi is doing. Not only was Mississippi the only state in which student test scores improved in 2019, those scores improved remarkably. https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/mississippi-rising-partial-explanation-its-naep-improvement-it-holds-students

    1. sherlockj Avatar
      sherlockj

      I don’t disagree with your perspective. It largely matched my own. But I have been closely watching the performance of Richmond schools for more than a decade, and it only gets worse. I figure a bit of direct federal attention will at least shake them up, and it might find somebody’s brother-in-law is getting Head Start contracts from the city.

      The federal complaints are the only action that an individual citizen can take that have any impact. And they will look at state oversight to see where that has been, since they send the Title I money to the state for distribution and management. It is past time.

    2. Matt Hurt Avatar
      Matt Hurt

      I disagree that an audit of teacher practices will yield anything that can lead to better outcomes. It is valuable to evaluate teacher practices when you have a teacher problem. This can be evidenced when you have some teachers performing well, and others not. In this case, the problem is obviously systemic, in that the entire division is not performing to expectations. When you encounter systemic issues like this, you need to evaluate the leadership, such as the superintendent and the school board. I don’t have a clue about the tenure of individuals who serve on their school board, but if the same folks keep getting elected, that tells me that the citizens of Richmond are satisfied with the outcomes that they get. Obviously the board is satisfied with Kamras’ performance as they just renewed his contract.

      While I understand Jim’s outrage at what is going on, I also understand that an analysis of the use of federal funds will yield little helpful information. The feds have those funds locked down so tight, and there are so many layers of bureaucracy that 17 bean counters up the line (a little hyperbole, but not much) have to approve every transaction made with those funds.

      I keep going back to the expectations thing. If folks expect different outcomes, changes will be made until those different outcomes are realized. If folks think this is the best that can be done, the status quo will be maintained.

      1. sherlockj Avatar
        sherlockj

        You are correct about program performance monitoring in audits, and I corrected my statement above.

        But RPS must have on file with VDOE an approved plan for Title I money expenditures that includes descriptions of the general nature of services to be provided, how program services will be coordinated with the regular program of instruction, additional assessments, if any, used to gauge program outcomes, and strategies to be used to provide professional development.

        I have filed a FOIA request to get the latest version of that plan. I will see what it says, and in particular what assessments, if any, are used to gauge program outcomes. Since VDOE approves such plans, if it doesn’t require program outcome assessments, we will find out. If it does, then VDOE is responsible for monitoring those assessments. Either way, we will have learned a lot.

        The Office of Head Start (OHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), a component of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), administers the Head Start program.

        Services for children ages 3–5 are funded by a Head Start award and services for pregnant women and children ages 0–3 are funded by an Early Head Start award.

        OHS makes Head Start awards to local public, nonprofit agencies, and for-profit entities known as Head Start Agencies (HSA). The awards are made for a period not-to-exceed 5 years. A HSA such as Richmond Public Schools may enter into an agreement with a delegate agency (subrecipient) for delivery of Head Start services; however, the HSA (pass-through entity) retains legal and fiscal responsibility for the grant.

        By federal law and regulations, HSAs must establish and implement procedures for the ongoing monitoring of their own Head Start and Early Head Start operations, as well as those of their delegate agencies, to ensure that these operations effectively implement Federal regulations, including procedures for evaluating delegate agencies and procedures for defunding them. Grantees must inform delegate agency governing bodies of any identified deficiencies in delegate agency operations identified in the monitoring review and assist them in developing plans, including timetables, for addressing identified problems.

        I have submitted a FOIA request to RPS for their monitoring plan.

        The Head Start program has found a relatively high incidence of program governance issues at the HSA level. OHS specifically has found a high correlation between HSAs that fail to comply with the program governance requirements and HSAs that have serious fiscal problems, which puts both the HSA and the Head Start programs they administer at risk.

        Since RPS is an LEA for Title I funds and an HSA for Head Start funds, I have filed complaints with both agencies and suggested a combined audit. It can’t hurt and might help.

  15. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    I don’t whether Kamras is good or not. He has been in the office for only three years, so the failure to teach those fourth graders to read happened before he came along. He now has a four-year contract and, in a couple of years, “his” kids will be taking the reading test. Those will be the results upon which to judge him.

    Jim, I appreciate your enthusiasm and your initiative, but I am not sure an audit of the spending of federal funds will help. What is needed is for someone who knows how to teach reading to evaluate what Richmond teachers are doing wrong and what they are doing right. Recent research has shown that the old-fashioned method of teaching phonics, not sight-reading like I was taught, is the best way to teach reading. https://www.scilearn.com/the-science-of-reading-the-basics-and-beyond/

    The division, and the whole state, needs to focus on the basic skill of reading. They would do well to examine what the state of Mississippi is doing. Not only was Mississippi the only state in which student test scores improved in 2019, those scores improved remarkably. https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/mississippi-rising-partial-explanation-its-naep-improvement-it-holds-students

    1. sherlockj Avatar
      sherlockj

      I don’t disagree with your perspective. It largely matched my own. But I have been closely watching the performance of Richmond schools for more than a decade, and it only gets worse. I figure a bit of direct federal attention will at least shake them up, and it might find somebody’s brother-in-law is getting Head Start contracts from the city.

      The federal complaints are the only action that an individual citizen can take that have any impact. And they will look at state oversight to see where that has been, since they send the Title I money to the state for distribution and management. It is past time.

    2. Matt Hurt Avatar
      Matt Hurt

      I disagree that an audit of teacher practices will yield anything that can lead to better outcomes. It is valuable to evaluate teacher practices when you have a teacher problem. This can be evidenced when you have some teachers performing well, and others not. In this case, the problem is obviously systemic, in that the entire division is not performing to expectations. When you encounter systemic issues like this, you need to evaluate the leadership, such as the superintendent and the school board. I don’t have a clue about the tenure of individuals who serve on their school board, but if the same folks keep getting elected, that tells me that the citizens of Richmond are satisfied with the outcomes that they get. Obviously the board is satisfied with Kamras’ performance as they just renewed his contract.

      While I understand Jim’s outrage at what is going on, I also understand that an analysis of the use of federal funds will yield little helpful information. The feds have those funds locked down so tight, and there are so many layers of bureaucracy that 17 bean counters up the line (a little hyperbole, but not much) have to approve every transaction made with those funds.

      I keep going back to the expectations thing. If folks expect different outcomes, changes will be made until those different outcomes are realized. If folks think this is the best that can be done, the status quo will be maintained.

  16. sherlockj Avatar
    sherlockj

    You are correct, and I corrected my statement above.

    But RPS must have on file with VDOE an approved plan for Title I money expenditures that includes descriptions of the general nature of services to be provided, how program services will be coordinated with the regular program of instruction, additional assessments, if any, used to gauge program outcomes, and strategies to be used to provide professional development.

    I have filed a FOIA request to get the latest version of that plan. I will see what it says, and in particular what assessments, if any, are used to gauge program outcomes. Since VDOE approves such plans, if it doesn’t require program outcome assessments, we will find out. If it does, then VDOE is responsible for monitoring those assessments. Either way, we will have learned a lot.

    The Office of Head Start (OHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), a component of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), administers the Head Start program.

    Services for children ages 3–5 are funded by a Head Start award and services for pregnant women and children ages 0–3 are funded by an Early Head Start award.

    OHS makes Head Start awards to local public, nonprofit agencies, and for-profit entities known as Head Start Agencies (HSA). The awards are made for a period not-to-exceed 5 years. A HSA such as Richmond Public Schools may enter into an agreement with a delegate agency (subrecipient) for delivery of Head Start services; however, the HSA (pass-through entity) retains legal and fiscal responsibility for the grant.

    By federal law and regulations, HSAs must establish and implement procedures for the ongoing monitoring of their own Head Start and Early Head Start operations, as well as those of their delegate agencies, to ensure that these operations effectively implement Federal regulations, including procedures for evaluating delegate agencies and procedures for defunding them. Grantees must inform delegate agency governing bodies of any identified deficiencies in delegate agency operations identified in the monitoring review and assist them in developing plans, including timetables, for addressing identified problems.

    The Head Start program has found a relatively high incidence of program governance issues at the HSA level. OHS specifically has found a high correlation between HSAs that fail to comply with the program governance requirements and HSAs that have serious fiscal problems, which puts both the HSA and the Head Start programs they administer at risk.

    Since RPS is an LEA for Title I funds and an HSA for Head Start funds, I have filed complaints with both agencies and suggested a combined audit. It can’t hurt and might help.

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