Experience with Macfarland?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:So I'm a PP and my kid is there. Absolutely true that the child can be a noticeable minority (by some lights at least) and this is not a choice all parents make. It was like this in elementary school for us too, so we have some experience here.

Child's experience is very good grades, being helpful to other students regularly. There are, as others are eager to inform, plenty of students who are not succeeding, (though I haven't seen many schools where family background isn't the driving factor in academic achievement). There are probably student body interactions I wouldn't like to see at release time and during school. But they seem to have never affected this child.

Our child has friends. Loves talking about child's teachers and things happening in sports, class, at lunch, field trips, etc., though plenty of time acts like a typical teenager. Isn't looking for change.

Certainly, I have counterfactuals in my mind. It would've been easy for our family to put our kids in private schools and I feel a twinge when I see suburban families talk about their kids in FIRST Robotics, enrichment, and sports teams that are not present at MacFarland or many other DCPS schools. Relatives have shown us the same test scores you talk about and we know there are alternatives.

But it is enough. The child is successful, happy, and not bored. For us, for now, it is enough. I understand the value many of you place on cohorts of succeeding students, strong discipline, developing work ethics, and acceleration opportunities. We have personal values that are countervailing that experience has shown us few share, but I don't want to bring anyone down by bringing them up.

I just say, if it's not off the table for you, come see. Talk to the Principal and staff. Not everyone is going to like what they learn, but I hope more do in the future.

And your HS plan is Walls or private, right?

I would really be concerned that PP’s kid will not be prepared at all for a test in school or private school. The playing field is much much higher than going to a failing middle school and your kid is at the top with no effort because all the other kids are so below grade level.

PP’s kid is going to struggle and will have to either sink or swim.

Why someone would put their kid in a failing school when they have other options is beyond me.

Stop judging, you know nothing about PP’s family.

I can judge all the hell I want. Who are you to tell me not too.

PP is doing his kid a big disservice when he has other options and that’s a fact. What exactly do you know about PP’s family to warrant him having his kid be a social experiment and jeopardizing his kids academic success if he really is above grade level.

Now if his kid is below grade level, well that’s a different story and he will fit right in, at least academically.

This choice is completely up to PP and family, potentially including PP’s kid, and I certainly don’t see why anyone else on this board should worry about it — it’s not harming you if PP sends their kid to a school you think isn’t up to the task, so why would you get so agitated about it?

Not PP, but my parents had a lot of... values, which I guess sort of to their credit they lived out, but I was a lot more negatively affected than they were, and they also would have said I was fine. I absolutely think parents who are going down this statistically route should hear judgement, and so should other ones who are thinking about it. When you're going down the path that most parents in your position spend huge amounts of time and money to avoid, probably you are just wrong, and you should at least understand the alternative perspective. From the happy talk about advanced math classes, I think they genuinely are in denial.

This. BTW, you should look at how DCPS and studies define fine when kids are placed in failing schools. It’s either high school graduation or admission to any college.

That is a really low, low bar. Going to college to many families like ours is the minimum and bottom of the bar, not the top

Not PP, but I’d be happy to look at these studies. Could you please provide links to them?

The evidence I’ve seen shows that upper-income kids at so-called bad DCPS middle schools generally do as well as upper-income kids at so-called good schools. Compare the PARCC data for white kids (a fairly reliable proxy for upper-income in DC) at Deal with those of white kids at other middle schools.

What you have not said is that families supplement to make up for it.

BTW, you don’t have to look far. FCPS did a thorough study and found that the magic number is 20% FARMS or less. More than that and upper incomes kids academics suffer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I'm a PP and my kid is there. Absolutely true that the child can be a noticeable minority (by some lights at least) and this is not a choice all parents make. It was like this in elementary school for us too, so we have some experience here.

Child's experience is very good grades, being helpful to other students regularly. There are, as others are eager to inform, plenty of students who are not succeeding, (though I haven't seen many schools where family background isn't the driving factor in academic achievement). There are probably student body interactions I wouldn't like to see at release time and during school. But they seem to have never affected this child.

Our child has friends. Loves talking about child's teachers and things happening in sports, class, at lunch, field trips, etc., though plenty of time acts like a typical teenager. Isn't looking for change.

Certainly, I have counterfactuals in my mind. It would've been easy for our family to put our kids in private schools and I feel a twinge when I see suburban families talk about their kids in FIRST Robotics, enrichment, and sports teams that are not present at MacFarland or many other DCPS schools. Relatives have shown us the same test scores you talk about and we know there are alternatives.

But it is enough. The child is successful, happy, and not bored. For us, for now, it is enough. I understand the value many of you place on cohorts of succeeding students, strong discipline, developing work ethics, and acceleration opportunities. We have personal values that are countervailing that experience has shown us few share, but I don't want to bring anyone down by bringing them up.

I just say, if it's not off the table for you, come see. Talk to the Principal and staff. Not everyone is going to like what they learn, but I hope more do in the future.

And your HS plan is Walls or private, right?

I would really be concerned that PP’s kid will not be prepared at all for a test in school or private school. The playing field is much much higher than going to a failing middle school and your kid is at the top with no effort because all the other kids are so below grade level.

PP’s kid is going to struggle and will have to either sink or swim.

Why someone would put their kid in a failing school when they have other options is beyond me.

Stop judging, you know nothing about PP’s family.

I can judge all the hell I want. Who are you to tell me not too.

PP is doing his kid a big disservice when he has other options and that’s a fact. What exactly do you know about PP’s family to warrant him having his kid be a social experiment and jeopardizing his kids academic success if he really is above grade level.

Now if his kid is below grade level, well that’s a different story and he will fit right in, at least academically.

This choice is completely up to PP and family, potentially including PP’s kid, and I certainly don’t see why anyone else on this board should worry about it — it’s not harming you if PP sends their kid to a school you think isn’t up to the task, so why would you get so agitated about it?

Not PP, but my parents had a lot of... values, which I guess sort of to their credit they lived out, but I was a lot more negatively affected than they were, and they also would have said I was fine. I absolutely think parents who are going down this statistically route should hear judgement, and so should other ones who are thinking about it. When you're going down the path that most parents in your position spend huge amounts of time and money to avoid, probably you are just wrong, and you should at least understand the alternative perspective. From the happy talk about advanced math classes, I think they genuinely are in denial.

This. BTW, you should look at how DCPS and studies define fine when kids are placed in failing schools. It’s either high school graduation or admission to any college.

That is a really low, low bar. Going to college to many families like ours is the minimum and bottom of the bar, not the top

Not PP, but I’d be happy to look at these studies. Could you please provide links to them?

The evidence I’ve seen shows that upper-income kids at so-called bad DCPS middle schools generally do as well as upper-income kids at so-called good schools. Compare the PARCC data for white kids (a fairly reliable proxy for upper-income in DC) at Deal with those of white kids at other middle schools.

What you have not said is that families supplement to make up for it.

BTW, you don’t have to look far. FCPS did a thorough study and found that the magic number is 20% FARMS or less. More than that and upper incomes kids academics suffer.

Whether they’re supplementing or not (and not all are), upper-income DCPS kids generally do as well as each other regardless of which school they’re attending. That’s what the evidence I’ve seen shows.

Again, I’d be happy to look at any contrary study if someone would provide a link to one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the most pathetic threads that I've seen in a long time. I'd wonder how Jeff would defend this one next time a study comes out against DCUM.

That study was beyond laughable. You don’t defend yourself from a study like that. You wipe your ass with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the most pathetic threads that I've seen in a long time. I'd wonder how Jeff would defend this one next time a study comes out against DCUM.

That study was beyond laughable. You don’t defend yourself from a study like that. You wipe your ass with it.

Doesn’t sound like you know anything about studies then. Or else you are in complete denial.

[Anonymous]

Idk, this is a great case study in how schools stay segregated. Posters are actively trying to convince someone who they've never met and know nothing about to not attend a school.

[Anonymous]

I can’t speak about the motivation of any particular individual. But I have a theory as to why some people feel the need to come on here and trash those of us who send our kids to EOTP DCPS middle schools.

I think many of the trash-talkers made the decision to move or go private/charter because they didn’t consider their in-bound to be a viable option. So when they see other parents on here saying how happy they are with their in-bound, they see it as undermining their own rationale for leaving the system. They say things like, “You can’t possibly be happy, or if you are, you shouldn’t be.” Or they accuse us of being “boosters,” etc.
(And, by the way, they seem very proud of their ability to look up and cite aggregate PARCC data for particular schools.)

To the folks who may fall into this category, perhaps it’s time for you to just move on. You made your choice, and I fully respect that. You don’t need to validate your decision by questioning the happiness of those of us who took a different path.

[Anonymous]

LOL! You must be new here because people trash talk about every school including ward 3 schools and charters.

But feel free to send your kid to McFarland. If your kid is working below or way below grade level, he will fit right in. Stakes are much higher in middle school and most people won’t take that risk.

[Anonymous]

My kid doesn’t go to McFarland, but thank you for your concern.

In any event, the PARCC data I’ve seen indicates that upper-income kids in EOPT DCPS middle schools generally do as well as those WOTP.

Some people might not have full confidence that their kids can thrive in certain environments, and that’s totally fine. But it still seems odd to me that they feel qualified to come on here and openly judge schools with which they’ve had no actual experience.

[Anonymous]

But why would our own kids' PARCC scores be the deciding factor? PARCC is just two subjects and there is so much more to a school and its offerings to consider.

[Anonymous]

It's not about getting a good PARCC score! It's about attending a school where the classes are engaging to my DCs, where the material taught is at their level and advanced coursework is available to them. Where they have electives and activities that they like, and where the teaching in non-PARCC subjects is strong as well. If MacFarland is providing that to your DC, I'm glad to hear it. But to say that a school is just as good because kids get the same PARCC scores is to close your eyes to how the school and the kids are doing in most of the subjects, as well as anything else such as the pedagogical approach, the school culture, the after-school options, etc. It's bizarre IMO to not care about that stuff. I genuinely wish you the best at MacFarland. But I don't lack confidence in my children's ability to thrive just because I'm trying to choose a school that will engage them at their level and suit their interests.

[Anonymous]

Then why do you feel the need to continue posting in a thread about a school you have know interest in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Then why do you feel the need to continue posting in a thread about a school you have know interest in?

Not PP but maybe PP has a kid in the feeder elementary school…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not about getting a good PARCC score! It's about attending a school where the classes are engaging to my DCs, where the material taught is at their level and advanced coursework is available to them. Where they have electives and activities that they like, and where the teaching in non-PARCC subjects is strong as well. If MacFarland is providing that to your DC, I'm glad to hear it. But to say that a school is just as good because kids get the same PARCC scores is to close your eyes to how the school and the kids are doing in most of the subjects, as well as anything else such as the pedagogical approach, the school culture, the after-school options, etc. It's bizarre IMO to not care about that stuff. I genuinely wish you the best at MacFarland. But I don't lack confidence in my children's ability to thrive just because I'm trying to choose a school that will engage them at their level and suit their interests.

Again, my kid doesn’t attend McFarland. But he does attend another EOTP DCPS middle school.

I’m not saying that PARCC data is is the end-all-be-all of determining whether a school good. It’s certainly not. But some people on here seem to be assuming that McFarland is not good based solely on PARCC data. Therefore, it’s completely appropriate to point out that upper-income DCPS middle school kids generally perform as well as each other on the PARCC regardless of school.

Now, if we want to talk about non-PARCC factors, that’s great too. What if anything do you know about how McFarland performs with respect to the various other factors you mentioned?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But why would our own kids' PARCC scores be the deciding factor? PARCC is just two subjects and there is so much more to a school and its offerings to consider.

Agreed! So what if anything can you tell us about McFarland beyond its PARCC data?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t speak about the motivation of any particular individual. But I have a theory as to why some people feel the need to come on here and trash those of us who send our kids to EOTP DCPS middle schools.

I think many of the trash-talkers made the decision to move or go private/charter because they didn’t consider their in-bound to be a viable option. So when they see other parents on here saying how happy they are with their in-bound, they see it as undermining their own rationale for leaving the system. They say things like, “You can’t possibly be happy, or if you are, you shouldn’t be.” Or they accuse us of being “boosters,” etc.
(And, by the way, they seem very proud of their ability to look up and cite aggregate PARCC data for particular schools.)

To the folks who may fall into this category, perhaps it’s time for you to just move on. You made your choice, and I fully respect that. You don’t need to validate your decision by questioning the happiness of those of us who took a different path.

Nope, I am sending my kid to the IB. My specific complaint is people who leave out very key information when they say they “love” the school. Also people who actively try to discourage people voicing very reasonable concerns about the schools, like safety and academic quality.