Jefferson Middle School Academy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see why DCPS can't use the PARCC scores to prove the existence of academically proficient students before they enter 6th grade. Once those parents make a commitment to middle school in 5th grade, DCPS could use those numbers to justify hiring teachers to instruct them. AND, if DCPS told 5th grade parents ahead of time that once a sufficient number of students (who meet a certain threshold PARCC score) commit to 6th grade, that teachers will be hired to instruct them, there would be a lot of interest. I guarantee you a bunch of kids would commit to JA under those circumstances.

The "chicken or egg" problem argued by DCPS just doesn't pass logic.

This is only the 3rd year of PARCC testing but I suspect PARCC will be used for some scenarios like application HS admissions. It's harder to use for MS planning because enrollment is so fluid. You don't know which students are committed to staying in boundary and the only strong indicator of MS intent is having an older sibling enrolled at a charter. What happens if a school "plans" for 12 advance kids but half of them bail for BASIS or Latin when the opportunity arises?

You would just request final commitments from 5th graders entering 6th grade some short time after charter school lottery results come out. In reality, the "advanced" kids are going to be applying for very few available seats at select charter schools anyway. I doubt there would be more than 3% variance from the "committed" number and the "final" number, given how few seats they're vying for.

[Anonymous]

They could ask for 'applications' the way Eastern does for its advanced track 9th grade program.

[Anonymous]

So teach tiny honors classes at first. Spend the dough, build the challenge, attract IB kids and watch honors class sizes grow year on year. It's not as though funding is the main problem, given that the city is prepared to sink 25-30 million to sink into the physical plant at JA.

Hints:
Scores of rising 6th graders who live in the catchment area score 4s and 5s on the 5th grade PARCC.
Washington Latin admitted less than 20% of 5th grade applicants this year.
BASIS is unlikely to clear its 5th grade WL for the first time this year.
Ward 6 kids no longer have access to Deal.
Stuart Hobson, Hardy and Two Rivers have long 6th grade WLs.
DCI's 6th grade will soon fill up with students from its language immersion feeders.
Ward 6 families who can't access the above high SES friendly middle schools would take a chance on JA if DCPS were to meet them halfway by creating honors classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So teach tiny honors classes at first. Spend the dough, build the challenge, attract IB kids and watch honors class sizes grow year on year. It's not as though funding is the main problem, given that the city is prepared to sink 25-30 million to sink into the physical plant at JA.

Hints:
Scores of rising 6th graders who live in the catchment area score 4s and 5s on the 5th grade PARCC.
Washington Latin admitted less than 20% of 5th grade applicants this year.
BASIS is unlikely to clear its 5th grade WL for the first time this year.
Ward 6 kids no longer have access to Deal.
Stuart Hobson, Hardy and Two Rivers have long 6th grade WLs.
DCI's 6th grade will soon fill up with students from its language immersion feeders.
Ward 6 families who can't access the above high SES friendly middle schools would take a chance on JA if DCPS were to meet them halfway by creating honors classes.

It's not that simple. Teachers are funded by the per pupil model and getting enough teachers for such small classrooms means making up the difference elsewhere. Even if you're willing to make that well intentioned commitment it would need to be offered across the board and not just JA. On a macro level it would deprive resources needed for other necessary broad goals like remediation for students below level.

I'd prefer a test in academy for 6th grade. It levels the playing field by opening up city wide to eligible students and doesn't put an undue strain on neighborhood schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see why DCPS can't use the PARCC scores to prove the existence of academically proficient students before they enter 6th grade. Once those parents make a commitment to middle school in 5th grade, DCPS could use those numbers to justify hiring teachers to instruct them. AND, if DCPS told 5th grade parents ahead of time that once a sufficient number of students (who meet a certain threshold PARCC score) commit to 6th grade, that teachers will be hired to instruct them, there would be a lot of interest. I guarantee you a bunch of kids would commit to JA under those circumstances.

The "chicken or egg" problem argued by DCPS just doesn't pass logic.

This is only the 3rd year of PARCC testing but I suspect PARCC will be used for some scenarios like application HS admissions. It's harder to use for MS planning because enrollment is so fluid. You don't know which students are committed to staying in boundary and the only strong indicator of MS intent is having an older sibling enrolled at a charter. What happens if a school "plans" for 12 advance kids but half of them bail for BASIS or Latin when the opportunity arises?

You would just request final commitments from 5th graders entering 6th grade some short time after charter school lottery results come out. In reality, the "advanced" kids are going to be applying for very few available seats at select charter schools anyway. I doubt there would be more than 3% variance from the "committed" number and the "final" number, given how few seats they're vying for.

That variance would be well above 3%. Charters are just one outlet as some families plan moves or decamp to private, and the charter waitlists do move until the early portion of the school year. Judging by the typical drop off from 4th to 5th grade that figure would be closer to 40-50% at most schools outside of Deal feeders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see why DCPS can't use the PARCC scores to prove the existence of academically proficient students before they enter 6th grade. Once those parents make a commitment to middle school in 5th grade, DCPS could use those numbers to justify hiring teachers to instruct them. AND, if DCPS told 5th grade parents ahead of time that once a sufficient number of students (who meet a certain threshold PARCC score) commit to 6th grade, that teachers will be hired to instruct them, there would be a lot of interest. I guarantee you a bunch of kids would commit to JA under those circumstances.

The "chicken or egg" problem argued by DCPS just doesn't pass logic.

This is only the 3rd year of PARCC testing but I suspect PARCC will be used for some scenarios like application HS admissions. It's harder to use for MS planning because enrollment is so fluid. You don't know which students are committed to staying in boundary and the only strong indicator of MS intent is having an older sibling enrolled at a charter. What happens if a school "plans" for 12 advance kids but half of them bail for BASIS or Latin when the opportunity arises?

You would just request final commitments from 5th graders entering 6th grade some short time after charter school lottery results come out. In reality, the "advanced" kids are going to be applying for very few available seats at select charter schools anyway. I doubt there would be more than 3% variance from the "committed" number and the "final" number, given how few seats they're vying for.

That variance would be well above 3%. Charters are just one outlet as some families plan moves or decamp to private, and the charter waitlists do move until the early portion of the school year. Judging by the typical drop off from 4th to 5th grade that figure would be closer to 40-50% at most schools outside of Deal feeders.

No, you're not paying attention to the question: how can you assure parents will stick to their commitments between the end of 5th grade and the first day of 6th grade? That's not a wide span of time we're talking about -- your concern about 4th grade numbers is irrelevant to the question. All you have to do, if you're DCPS, is assure committed parents that you're going to offer advanced coursework in 6th grade. That's enough to encourage nearly all of them to keep their commitments, imo.

Not that I have the data, but ask any Ward 3 Principal how many students drop off between the time of their initial commitments and the charter lottery. It's not that much, maybe 10% difference. The variance would be even less than that, if proper reciprocal commitments were made by DCPS.

[Anonymous]

People will still not want to be first. You'd get more uptake but not much. And the parents will safe mayhbis insufficient. The goal post will move.

And I agree with the PP who says you can't just do this at JA. MacFarland and other schools need this too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see why DCPS can't use the PARCC scores to prove the existence of academically proficient students before they enter 6th grade. Once those parents make a commitment to middle school in 5th grade, DCPS could use those numbers to justify hiring teachers to instruct them. AND, if DCPS told 5th grade parents ahead of time that once a sufficient number of students (who meet a certain threshold PARCC score) commit to 6th grade, that teachers will be hired to instruct them, there would be a lot of interest. I guarantee you a bunch of kids would commit to JA under those circumstances.

The "chicken or egg" problem argued by DCPS just doesn't pass logic.

This is only the 3rd year of PARCC testing but I suspect PARCC will be used for some scenarios like application HS admissions. It's harder to use for MS planning because enrollment is so fluid. You don't know which students are committed to staying in boundary and the only strong indicator of MS intent is having an older sibling enrolled at a charter. What happens if a school "plans" for 12 advance kids but half of them bail for BASIS or Latin when the opportunity arises?

You would just request final commitments from 5th graders entering 6th grade some short time after charter school lottery results come out. In reality, the "advanced" kids are going to be applying for very few available seats at select charter schools anyway. I doubt there would be more than 3% variance from the "committed" number and the "final" number, given how few seats they're vying for.

That variance would be well above 3%. Charters are just one outlet as some families plan moves or decamp to private, and the charter waitlists do move until the early portion of the school year. Judging by the typical drop off from 4th to 5th grade that figure would be closer to 40-50% at most schools outside of Deal feeders.

No, you're not paying attention to the question: how can you assure parents will stick to their commitments between the end of 5th grade and the first day of 6th grade? That's not a wide span of time we're talking about -- your concern about 4th grade numbers is irrelevant to the question. All you have to do, if you're DCPS, is assure committed parents that you're going to offer advanced coursework in 6th grade. That's enough to encourage nearly all of them to keep their commitments, imo.

Not that I have the data, but ask any Ward 3 Principal how many students drop off between the time of their initial commitments and the charter lottery. It's not that much, maybe 10% difference. The variance would be even less than that, if proper reciprocal commitments were made by DCPS.

charter lottery is largely irrelevant for 6th grade. that's long since shaken out for 5th grade charter entry. The in-demand charters don't take 6th graders. That's not where DCPS is losing students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So teach tiny honors classes at first. Spend the dough, build the challenge, attract IB kids and watch honors class sizes grow year on year. It's not as though funding is the main problem, given that the city is prepared to sink 25-30 million to sink into the physical plant at JA.

Hints:
Scores of rising 6th graders who live in the catchment area score 4s and 5s on the 5th grade PARCC.
Washington Latin admitted less than 20% of 5th grade applicants this year.
BASIS is unlikely to clear its 5th grade WL for the first time this year.
Ward 6 kids no longer have access to Deal.
Stuart Hobson, Hardy and Two Rivers have long 6th grade WLs.
DCI's 6th grade will soon fill up with students from its language immersion feeders.
Ward 6 families who can't access the above high SES friendly middle schools would take a chance on JA if DCPS were to meet them halfway by creating honors classes.

It's not that simple. Teachers are funded by the per pupil model and getting enough teachers for such small classrooms means making up the difference elsewhere. Even if you're willing to make that well intentioned commitment it would need to be offered across the board and not just JA. On a macro level it would deprive resources needed for other necessary broad goals like remediation for students below level.

I'd prefer a test in academy for 6th grade. It levels the playing field by opening up city wide to eligible students and doesn't put an undue strain on neighborhood schools.

Right, if it were simple, we wouldn't have two Ward 6 middle schools that are more than 2/3 empty, and one that's full but 80% OOB.

I'd prefer at test-in MS program myself (having attended one in another East Coast city). But it seems that we can't even discuss that option with DCPS. The macro funding structures are madness. Renovate a building serving 300 kids (rather than the 900 it was built to accommodate) to the tune of $30 million but, oh dear, nothing left over to fund a single honors math class to accommodate students from the feeder (Brent) where 70% of the current students work at or above grade level in math.

So make the commitment DC, and make it across the board. A thriving city is swimming in money for schools, and the federal government still throws money at DCPS. Get Grosso off the Council. Replace him with a Committee on Ed leader who makes the commitment. Deal with the reality that that poor kids need middle-class classmates to grow up upwardly mobile as much as they need remediation. I was a FARMs student who wouldn't so much have considered going to college if I hadn't many high SES classmates all the way from K-12.

[Anonymous]

@17:19 no one is talking about any lottery in 6th grade. We're talking about the gap between elementary and middle schools. Get back on track

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So teach tiny honors classes at first. Spend the dough, build the challenge, attract IB kids and watch honors class sizes grow year on year. It's not as though funding is the main problem, given that the city is prepared to sink 25-30 million to sink into the physical plant at JA.

Hints:
Scores of rising 6th graders who live in the catchment area score 4s and 5s on the 5th grade PARCC.
Washington Latin admitted less than 20% of 5th grade applicants this year.
BASIS is unlikely to clear its 5th grade WL for the first time this year.
Ward 6 kids no longer have access to Deal.
Stuart Hobson, Hardy and Two Rivers have long 6th grade WLs.
DCI's 6th grade will soon fill up with students from its language immersion feeders.
Ward 6 families who can't access the above high SES friendly middle schools would take a chance on JA if DCPS were to meet them halfway by creating honors classes.

It's not that simple. Teachers are funded by the per pupil model and getting enough teachers for such small classrooms means making up the difference elsewhere. Even if you're willing to make that well intentioned commitment it would need to be offered across the board and not just JA. On a macro level it would deprive resources needed for other necessary broad goals like remediation for students below level.

I'd prefer a test in academy for 6th grade. It levels the playing field by opening up city wide to eligible students and doesn't put an undue strain on neighborhood schools.

Right, if it were simple, we wouldn't have two Ward 6 middle schools that are more than 2/3 empty, and one that's full but 80% OOB.

I'd prefer at test-in MS program myself (having attended one in another East Coast city). But it seems that we can't even discuss that option with DCPS. The macro funding structures are madness. Renovate a building serving 300 kids (rather than the 900 it was built to accommodate) to the tune of $30 million but, oh dear, nothing left over to fund a single honors math class to accommodate students from the feeder (Brent) where 70% of the current students work at or above grade level in math.

So make the commitment DC, and make it across the board. A thriving city is swimming in money for schools, and the federal government still throws money at DCPS. Get Grosso off the Council. Replace him with a Committee on Ed leader who makes the commitment. Deal with the reality that that poor kids need middle-class classmates to grow up upwardly mobile as much as they need remediation. I was a FARMs student who wouldn't so much have considered going to college if I hadn't many high SES classmates all the way from K-12.

The days of the federal government 'throwing' money at DC are over. Have you reviewed the federal budget proposal? Massive decreases in things that DC has come to rely on (teacher development funds, at risk student funds, breakfast and lunch, social workers/psychologists. there is not going to be enough funds to start something new.

[Anonymous]

Something new? You mean attracting neighbors to "neighborhood" middle schools like JA that are dramatically under-enrolled? Wouldn't it be more cost effective to focus on providing the programming that would fill the empty spots, with hundreds of new bodies increasing cash flow than to maintain the cash-strapped status quo in a spiffed-up building?

What's the point of running neighborhood schools in name only? In Boston, the city ditched neighborhood schools in the 70s, as did San Francisco. To this day, public schools families in those cities must lottery into almost every school.

Money is not the true problem - DCPS excels at frittering funds away. The federal government is threatening cuts, yes, but they haven't been made, and may not be.

[Anonymous]

I don't know where some of you friends find find all of these "DCPS says so and so about not providing opportunities for advanced students". Can someone please point to me someone who has said that? Can someone point out a DCPS or DC Gov't official who provided a demonstrable rejection of a petition, etc? I highly doubt it.

[Anonymous]

Also, although DCPS already provides algebra at almost every middle school currently, it will do so in EVERY school with middle grades, whether it be a stand alone middle school or an education campus starting this coming school year. In addition to that, at 3 middle schools, where the majority of "advanced" middle school DCPS students are located (Deal, Stuart-Hobson, and Hardy), geometry is offered in 8th grade and algebra in 7th grade. This is a practice that is spreading in DCPS. So I don't agree that DCPS ignores the needs of advanced students--almost every "gifted" math student, who can take algebra in 7th grade, geometry in 8th grade, can end up taking 2 full years worth of either AP Calculus (AB and BC) or AP Statistics, or join in one of the DCPS dual college enrollment programs for their final two years of high school. I fail to see, as a DCPS employee, how that is NOT meeting the needs of advanced students. Should geometry be offered in more middle schools beyond Deal, Hardy, and Stuart-Hobson? Yes, and I have no doubt that it will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, although DCPS already provides algebra at almost every middle school currently, it will do so in EVERY school with middle grades, whether it be a stand alone middle school or an education campus starting this coming school year. In addition to that, at 3 middle schools, where the majority of "advanced" middle school DCPS students are located (Deal, Stuart-Hobson, and Hardy), geometry is offered in 8th grade and algebra in 7th grade. This is a practice that is spreading in DCPS. So I don't agree that DCPS ignores the needs of advanced students--almost every "gifted" math student, who can take algebra in 7th grade, geometry in 8th grade, can end up taking 2 full years worth of either AP Calculus (AB and BC) or AP Statistics, or join in one of the DCPS dual college enrollment programs for their final two years of high school. I fail to see, as a DCPS employee, how that is NOT meeting the needs of advanced students. Should geometry be offered in more middle schools beyond Deal, Hardy, and Stuart-Hobson? Yes, and I have no doubt that it will.

Your own words disprove your premise because you're acknowledging that math is the only advanced course offered by some middle schools. If an entire school day were a sandwich, kids getting a piece of lettuce on their plates would be good enough, according to you. Me, I'd want my kid (assuming he's hungry) to be provided the full sandwich, or at least some bread with meat, cheese and mayonnaise. Why won't DCPS provide them with the whole sandwich? Just lettuce isn't good enough.