Talk to me about McKinley

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley is NOT trying to be TJ or Bronx school of science and failing. It is trying to be McKinley Tech and succeeding. It is a school accepting of motivated students of varied levels of prior preparation and achievement with a range of opportunities to explore interest in and (for some areas) earn industry certifications in STEM areas. It offers a lot of help landing field specific internships and in engineering very strong extracurricular offerings (I.e. robot and EV car teams that travel nationally and internationally). It is a place that both celebrates the student who through hard work earns a 2 on an AP and the achievement of a stronger student who earns a 5. It also provides exposure to STEM fields that can help both a student going to colllege immediately and a student who isn’t. For example in biotech students prepare for the BACE exam that certified lab techs. This provides a straight out of HS pathway to a decently paying job, exposure to topics that will help in college level lab science classes, and a pathway to a non-scut work college work study job or college internship. It is OK to wish for a TJ style school in DC but please do not fault McKinley for not being what it has no intention of being.

If your student is incredibly lazy and will do a minimum amount of work and not reach their potential if not surrounded by mostly above grade level students then maybe they won’t thrive at McKinley. But if you have a strong student academically that will work hard McKinley will provide challenge for them to excel.

I wish you would get a little more specific by what you mean by “expose.” The goal of school is to teach, not “expose.” Per test scores, McKinley actually is not doing a good job of teaching some kids. It’s high school, not preschool.

Which schools in the United States with McKinley's racial and economic demographics and which don't use standardized tests as part of the admissions process or control their own student pipeline (like, via having an associated ES and MS) have test scores you find acceptable?

I don’t think 75% failing is acceptable. We can do better.

Unless you know what these kids' junior high test score data looks like, you have no idea what kind of progress the school is making with their students. McKinley's math scores are dramatically better than every single high school that their students are zoned for. Some of that is selection. But the part where it doesn't have, say, Banneker's numbers - that's also selection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So seriously, the standard we're setting for McKinley Tech is "how many of its students are going to Caltech?"

Love that.

No, McKinley Tech is fine for many science-focused students. But for the kids who have the potential for CalTech, DCPS does not offer a good solution. Don't those students matter too?

CalTech is only 980 students total...so only about 245 per class. It is my understanding that not a single kid from any DC school (public, private or charter) was admitted to CalTech for the 2023 class. That said, very few applied.

DCPS sends kids to MIT, Ivy League, Stanford, UC schools, Michigan, UVA, etc. every year. Yes, probably 90%+ of those students attend Walls or JR (though McKinley sent some as well...believe the Valedictorian last year is at Cornell). You would agree those are strong schools.

Going to college on the opposite side of the U.S. is not easy. I wouldn’t think many kids would do it unless they have family in CA. The only thing that makes sense is Stanford over MIT to me. Stanford is a feeder into the SV startup scene. The only thing coming out of MIT are inflated egos/self-worth.

What a goofy statement. This MIT grad think you aren't a serious person, not even close. Many of my former classmates are modest types who do absolutely amazing things. I interview applicants to MIT as an alum volunteer. To my knowledge, DCPS generally produces zero MIT admits in a given year, occasionally one or two. In fact, BASIS alone has produced more MIT admits in the last several years than DCPS has in the last decade.

Ok well this is a total tangent. I no longer recruit from MIT for my company. The engineers we have hired have been terrible at everything but telling people where they went to school. They can’t apply what they learned at MIT. Great for you and your classmates but times have changed! You came from a self-motivated generation, new grads not so much. The kids we have hired from big state universities have smoked our MIT grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm close to the parent of a McKinley grad. Family lives in Ward 8. The student graduated from McKinley and received a full ride to George Mason (forensic science). Working full-time at internship turned full-time job while weighing grad school options.

Thank you for the info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McKinley is NOT trying to be TJ or Bronx school of science and failing. It is trying to be McKinley Tech and succeeding. It is a school accepting of motivated students of varied levels of prior preparation and achievement with a range of opportunities to explore interest in and (for some areas) earn industry certifications in STEM areas. It offers a lot of help landing field specific internships and in engineering very strong extracurricular offerings (I.e. robot and EV car teams that travel nationally and internationally). It is a place that both celebrates the student who through hard work earns a 2 on an AP and the achievement of a stronger student who earns a 5. It also provides exposure to STEM fields that can help both a student going to colllege immediately and a student who isn’t. For example in biotech students prepare for the BACE exam that certified lab techs. This provides a straight out of HS pathway to a decently paying job, exposure to topics that will help in college level lab science classes, and a pathway to a non-scut work college work study job or college internship. It is OK to wish for a TJ style school in DC but please do not fault McKinley for not being what it has no intention of being.

If your student is incredibly lazy and will do a minimum amount of work and not reach their potential if not surrounded by mostly above grade level students then maybe they won’t thrive at McKinley. But if you have a strong student academically that will work hard McKinley will provide challenge for them to excel.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

I am the OP, and I am also a teacher. I give everyone who responded without answering the question, as asked, a giant F. 10 pages of this.... Where did YOU all go to school? Because you certainly did not learn how to read closely and answer questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McKinley is NOT trying to be TJ or Bronx school of science and failing. It is trying to be McKinley Tech and succeeding. It is a school accepting of motivated students of varied levels of prior preparation and achievement with a range of opportunities to explore interest in and (for some areas) earn industry certifications in STEM areas. It offers a lot of help landing field specific internships and in engineering very strong extracurricular offerings (I.e. robot and EV car teams that travel nationally and internationally). It is a place that both celebrates the student who through hard work earns a 2 on an AP and the achievement of a stronger student who earns a 5. It also provides exposure to STEM fields that can help both a student going to colllege immediately and a student who isn’t. For example in biotech students prepare for the BACE exam that certified lab techs. This provides a straight out of HS pathway to a decently paying job, exposure to topics that will help in college level lab science classes, and a pathway to a non-scut work college work study job or college internship. It is OK to wish for a TJ style school in DC but please do not fault McKinley for not being what it has no intention of being.

If your student is incredibly lazy and will do a minimum amount of work and not reach their potential if not surrounded by mostly above grade level students then maybe they won’t thrive at McKinley. But if you have a strong student academically that will work hard McKinley will provide challenge for them to excel.

This is true for a lot of the so called "bright" kids parents mention here. If a kid wants it, they'll put the work in and get there. There is more than one path to successful. I've hired a few McKinley grads in the Cyber field. All were great and very professional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley is NOT trying to be TJ or Bronx school of science and failing. It is trying to be McKinley Tech and succeeding. It is a school accepting of motivated students of varied levels of prior preparation and achievement with a range of opportunities to explore interest in and (for some areas) earn industry certifications in STEM areas. It offers a lot of help landing field specific internships and in engineering very strong extracurricular offerings (I.e. robot and EV car teams that travel nationally and internationally). It is a place that both celebrates the student who through hard work earns a 2 on an AP and the achievement of a stronger student who earns a 5. It also provides exposure to STEM fields that can help both a student going to colllege immediately and a student who isn’t. For example in biotech students prepare for the BACE exam that certified lab techs. This provides a straight out of HS pathway to a decently paying job, exposure to topics that will help in college level lab science classes, and a pathway to a non-scut work college work study job or college internship. It is OK to wish for a TJ style school in DC but please do not fault McKinley for not being what it has no intention of being.

If your student is incredibly lazy and will do a minimum amount of work and not reach their potential if not surrounded by mostly above grade level students then maybe they won’t thrive at McKinley. But if you have a strong student academically that will work hard McKinley will provide challenge for them to excel.

This is true for a lot of the so called "bright" kids parents mention here. If a kid wants it, they'll put the work in and get there. There is more than one path to successful. I've hired a few McKinley grads in the Cyber field. All were great and very professional.

This is a fantasy. The vast majority of kids in fact need the structure of teachers teaching the content, reinforced through regular homework and tests. When people claim “oh, your kid doesn’t need actual high-level teaching if they are smart!” I really raise an eyebrow. What they really mean is they believe their child doesn’t actually need to make any efforts in MS or HS because they believe they are “naturally gifted”. But at some point this wears off and kids in fact do need to be directly challenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the OP, and I am also a teacher. I give everyone who responded without answering the question, as asked, a giant F. 10 pages of this.... Where did YOU all go to school? Because you certainly did not learn how to read closely and answer questions.

You failed by giving your post the header “talk to me about McKinley.”

That’s what we’ve done.

[Anonymous]

Dude, nobody here knows that shit. Maybe like one guy. But people come here to chat. So they do. You don't like to wade through it, go hang out outside the school at pickup or talk to uh, another teacher, teacher lady.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the OP, and I am also a teacher. I give everyone who responded without answering the question, as asked, a giant F. 10 pages of this.... Where did YOU all go to school? Because you certainly did not learn how to read closely and answer questions.

Funny, but on a board like this, people can talk about what they want. You can ask what you want, but you have no power to control how people respond. Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley is NOT trying to be TJ or Bronx school of science and failing. It is trying to be McKinley Tech and succeeding. It is a school accepting of motivated students of varied levels of prior preparation and achievement with a range of opportunities to explore interest in and (for some areas) earn industry certifications in STEM areas. It offers a lot of help landing field specific internships and in engineering very strong extracurricular offerings (I.e. robot and EV car teams that travel nationally and internationally). It is a place that both celebrates the student who through hard work earns a 2 on an AP and the achievement of a stronger student who earns a 5. It also provides exposure to STEM fields that can help both a student going to colllege immediately and a student who isn’t. For example in biotech students prepare for the BACE exam that certified lab techs. This provides a straight out of HS pathway to a decently paying job, exposure to topics that will help in college level lab science classes, and a pathway to a non-scut work college work study job or college internship. It is OK to wish for a TJ style school in DC but please do not fault McKinley for not being what it has no intention of being.

If your student is incredibly lazy and will do a minimum amount of work and not reach their potential if not surrounded by mostly above grade level students then maybe they won’t thrive at McKinley. But if you have a strong student academically that will work hard McKinley will provide challenge for them to excel.

This is true for a lot of the so called "bright" kids parents mention here. If a kid wants it, they'll put the work in and get there. There is more than one path to successful. I've hired a few McKinley grads in the Cyber field. All were great and very professional.

This is a fantasy. The vast majority of kids in fact need the structure of teachers teaching the content, reinforced through regular homework and tests. When people claim “oh, your kid doesn’t need actual high-level teaching if they are smart!” I really raise an eyebrow. What they really mean is they believe their child doesn’t actually need to make any efforts in MS or HS because they believe they are “naturally gifted”. But at some point this wears off and kids in fact do need to be directly challenged.

Yeah. It's BS to say that bright kids are only allowed to reach their potential if they also happen to be blessed with early-onset executive function, but we'll pull out all stops to support average and struggling students.

It's total BS, and yet it's DCPS's philosophy.

All students deserve actual teaching and appropriate challenge and structure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley is NOT trying to be TJ or Bronx school of science and failing. It is trying to be McKinley Tech and succeeding. It is a school accepting of motivated students of varied levels of prior preparation and achievement with a range of opportunities to explore interest in and (for some areas) earn industry certifications in STEM areas. It offers a lot of help landing field specific internships and in engineering very strong extracurricular offerings (I.e. robot and EV car teams that travel nationally and internationally). It is a place that both celebrates the student who through hard work earns a 2 on an AP and the achievement of a stronger student who earns a 5. It also provides exposure to STEM fields that can help both a student going to colllege immediately and a student who isn’t. For example in biotech students prepare for the BACE exam that certified lab techs. This provides a straight out of HS pathway to a decently paying job, exposure to topics that will help in college level lab science classes, and a pathway to a non-scut work college work study job or college internship. It is OK to wish for a TJ style school in DC but please do not fault McKinley for not being what it has no intention of being.

If your student is incredibly lazy and will do a minimum amount of work and not reach their potential if not surrounded by mostly above grade level students then maybe they won’t thrive at McKinley. But if you have a strong student academically that will work hard McKinley will provide challenge for them to excel.

This is true for a lot of the so called "bright" kids parents mention here. If a kid wants it, they'll put the work in and get there. There is more than one path to successful. I've hired a few McKinley grads in the Cyber field. All were great and very professional.

This is a fantasy. The vast majority of kids in fact need the structure of teachers teaching the content, reinforced through regular homework and tests. When people claim “oh, your kid doesn’t need actual high-level teaching if they are smart!” I really raise an eyebrow. What they really mean is they believe their child doesn’t actually need to make any efforts in MS or HS because they believe they are “naturally gifted”. But at some point this wears off and kids in fact do need to be directly challenged.

Yeah. It's BS to say that bright kids are only allowed to reach their potential if they also happen to be blessed with early-onset executive function, but we'll pull out all stops to support average and struggling students.

It's total BS, and yet it's DCPS's philosophy.

All students deserve actual teaching and appropriate challenge and structure.

It’s not just executive function, but also the content of the curriculum & teaching that matter. I am very perplexed by people who seem to think that kids should be able to teach themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley is NOT trying to be TJ or Bronx school of science and failing. It is trying to be McKinley Tech and succeeding. It is a school accepting of motivated students of varied levels of prior preparation and achievement with a range of opportunities to explore interest in and (for some areas) earn industry certifications in STEM areas. It offers a lot of help landing field specific internships and in engineering very strong extracurricular offerings (I.e. robot and EV car teams that travel nationally and internationally). It is a place that both celebrates the student who through hard work earns a 2 on an AP and the achievement of a stronger student who earns a 5. It also provides exposure to STEM fields that can help both a student going to colllege immediately and a student who isn’t. For example in biotech students prepare for the BACE exam that certified lab techs. This provides a straight out of HS pathway to a decently paying job, exposure to topics that will help in college level lab science classes, and a pathway to a non-scut work college work study job or college internship. It is OK to wish for a TJ style school in DC but please do not fault McKinley for not being what it has no intention of being.

If your student is incredibly lazy and will do a minimum amount of work and not reach their potential if not surrounded by mostly above grade level students then maybe they won’t thrive at McKinley. But if you have a strong student academically that will work hard McKinley will provide challenge for them to excel.

This is true for a lot of the so called "bright" kids parents mention here. If a kid wants it, they'll put the work in and get there. There is more than one path to successful. I've hired a few McKinley grads in the Cyber field. All were great and very professional.

This is a fantasy. The vast majority of kids in fact need the structure of teachers teaching the content, reinforced through regular homework and tests. When people claim “oh, your kid doesn’t need actual high-level teaching if they are smart!” I really raise an eyebrow. What they really mean is they believe their child doesn’t actually need to make any efforts in MS or HS because they believe they are “naturally gifted”. But at some point this wears off and kids in fact do need to be directly challenged.

Yeah. It's BS to say that bright kids are only allowed to reach their potential if they also happen to be blessed with early-onset executive function, but we'll pull out all stops to support average and struggling students.

It's total BS, and yet it's DCPS's philosophy.

All students deserve actual teaching and appropriate challenge and structure.

It’s not just executive function, but also the content of the curriculum & teaching that matter. I am very perplexed by people who seem to think that kids should be able to teach themselves.

Do you have evidence that the content in McKinley classes is not high enough level to enable a well prepared student, intelligent student, or average executive functioning to learn and master content? Evidence provided earlier in the thread was that some McKinley students are scoring 4 and 5 in AP’s by completing the given work without outside tutoring to supplement the classroom teacher’s instruction. Doesn’t that suggest classes are taught at a high enough level and that the teachers are teaching? Does anyone knocking McKinley know a student at McKinley who scored a 1 or 2 but you are convinced would have scored higher had they attended walls?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McKinley is NOT trying to be TJ or Bronx school of science and failing. It is trying to be McKinley Tech and succeeding. It is a school accepting of motivated students of varied levels of prior preparation and achievement with a range of opportunities to explore interest in and (for some areas) earn industry certifications in STEM areas. It offers a lot of help landing field specific internships and in engineering very strong extracurricular offerings (I.e. robot and EV car teams that travel nationally and internationally). It is a place that both celebrates the student who through hard work earns a 2 on an AP and the achievement of a stronger student who earns a 5. It also provides exposure to STEM fields that can help both a student going to colllege immediately and a student who isn’t. For example in biotech students prepare for the BACE exam that certified lab techs. This provides a straight out of HS pathway to a decently paying job, exposure to topics that will help in college level lab science classes, and a pathway to a non-scut work college work study job or college internship. It is OK to wish for a TJ style school in DC but please do not fault McKinley for not being what it has no intention of being.

If your student is incredibly lazy and will do a minimum amount of work and not reach their potential if not surrounded by mostly above grade level students then maybe they won’t thrive at McKinley. But if you have a strong student academically that will work hard McKinley will provide challenge for them to excel.

This is true for a lot of the so called "bright" kids parents mention here. If a kid wants it, they'll put the work in and get there. There is more than one path to successful. I've hired a few McKinley grads in the Cyber field. All were great and very professional.

This is a fantasy. The vast majority of kids in fact need the structure of teachers teaching the content, reinforced through regular homework and tests. When people claim “oh, your kid doesn’t need actual high-level teaching if they are smart!” I really raise an eyebrow. What they really mean is they believe their child doesn’t actually need to make any efforts in MS or HS because they believe they are “naturally gifted”. But at some point this wears off and kids in fact do need to be directly challenged.

Yeah. It's BS to say that bright kids are only allowed to reach their potential if they also happen to be blessed with early-onset executive function, but we'll pull out all stops to support average and struggling students.

It's total BS, and yet it's DCPS's philosophy.

All students deserve actual teaching and appropriate challenge and structure.

It’s not just executive function, but also the content of the curriculum & teaching that matter. I am very perplexed by people who seem to think that kids should be able to teach themselves.

Do you have evidence that the content in McKinley classes is not high enough level to enable a well prepared student, intelligent student, or average executive functioning to learn and master content? Evidence provided earlier in the thread was that some McKinley students are scoring 4 and 5 in AP’s by completing the given work without outside tutoring to supplement the classroom teacher’s instruction. Doesn’t that suggest classes are taught at a high enough level and that the teachers are teaching? Does anyone knocking McKinley know a student at McKinley who scored a 1 or 2 but you are convinced would have scored higher had they attended walls?

Because I am at a school with a similar spread in test scores, and unless every class is tracked, there’s no way they are being taught at the level appropriate for a kid who aspires to a competitive college can handle. Including the AP tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the OP, and I am also a teacher. I give everyone who responded without answering the question, as asked, a giant F. 10 pages of this.... Where did YOU all go to school? Because you certainly did not learn how to read closely and answer questions.

Funny, but on a board like this, people can talk about what they want. You can ask what you want, but you have no power to control how people respond. Oh well.

Thank you, captain obvious.