Right now they fail a few courses, pass a few courses, make things harder for students who do want to try, and often drop out prior to graduation.

Should we have an alternative situation for them? Perhaps something less academic? It is easy to say, “No, that would deprive them of a chance for a high school diploma” but most of them won’t get a diploma anyway, and right now they’re taking down the rest of the school with them.

Maybe using the term “kicked out” was not the right choice, but the way the charter school works is still concentrated on creating a very demanding environment, so only the most motivated and the most concentrated stay.

As you also mentioned students do get dismissed if they flunk grade level twice. Since this is a high school how do they flunk a grade level? Isn’t it credit based? Don’t you only retake the courses you failed? So, how can you fail a whole year?

I guess if we look at it, we still see that charter schools implicitly retain the students who are themselves and their parents well motivated by creating a demanding workload.

I do not have problem with that. It is just that they make themselves look like they have a magic wand. Well, if the magic wand is having school six days a week, eight hours a day, and a bunch of parents and students who are OK with that then I would like to see a public school that runs like that. Public schools do not have the luxury to ask the parents to change their lifestyle so that their students can learn some remedial English and/or Math. Even if they did, I doubt many parents ans students in the real world, would greet such an idea with open arms. If all the parents were that willing, we would not have needed charter schools in the first place.

So, we cannot compare their success to public schools who do not have most of their conditions.

It is not that public school do not want to educate and improve students from underperforming groups, but they do have parents and students who consider school a merely a socializing arena which is I doubt and issue for a charter school.

Quite a few students leave because they find the work too hard and the hours too long; others come from transient families that return to Mexico or move to cheaper areas when jobs become scarce in San Jose. Few students are kicked out.

At district-run public schools, low achievers may be transferred to alternative schools; those who pose serious discipline problems are suspended or expelled. Most are sent to alternative programs or continuation school or sent home to do “independent study.” In fact, DCP has taken a number of students expelled from district-run schools or transferred from regular high schools to alternative programs. (When California adopted an accountability system, all the high schools in San Jose created separate “opportunity schools” for low achievers; their scores aren’t averaged into the home school’s scores.)

I guess my question is if a student ends up ditching the classes at late hours, does graffiti, never does homework, and constantly disrupt class, does he/she stay at DCP?

If you can keep up with us, stay with us. If not transfer to the nearest public school mentality might create wonders for some charter schools. but does not reflect a solution.

DCP knows many of its students aren’t ready for high school work. As I recall, it pretty much forces them to bring their English and math skills up to high school level before they can take high school courses. It offers and requires remedial work.

At my school, there are no remedial courses, no “we know you’re behind; here’s your opportunity to catch up.” Instead, ninth graders start out in high school courses. When they struggle, we offer “extra help” but they are under no obligation to accept it. And no one of us is in a position to offer the sheer amount of catching up that many of these students need.

In my ideal world, you would have to–and would be given the opportunity to–earn the right to attend high school. In most of America, all you have to do is be three years older than you were when you entered middle school.

I am intrigued when you say: “DCP knows its students are behind and forces them to catch up. I wish we could do the same.” What would you say are the barriers that you encounter that DCP has either overcome or not had to contend with?

(I have no comment on this. I just thought someone else might have wondered what the numbers were, as I did.)