How does DC lottery really work...any inside info?

[Anonymous]

I used to think the lottery was fair. But after COVID and seeing how certain zip codes were given preference for potentially life saving vaccines I no longer have faith in our system. Equity is so baked into DC at all costs that anyone who thinks the school lottery is immune from that is deceiving themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to think the lottery was fair. But after COVID and seeing how certain zip codes were given preference for potentially life saving vaccines I no longer have faith in our system. Equity is so baked into DC at all costs that anyone who thinks the school lottery is immune from that is deceiving themselves.

It’s tough when you lose your ability to trust. But there’s no evidence the lottery is rigged, and a ton of reasons to believe it’s fair. And if you’re asking me to lose faith in the world — well, I’m going to start by assuming that anonymous posters who seem to be trying to stir up trouble are acting in bad faith.

[Anonymous]

The lottery is not rigged and it's very transparent. Now there are interesting ramifications of not considering demographics that you flag. For example, my child is in K at a school on the Hill where the racial makeup of the school has moved from majority black to majority white. This reflects the neighborhood. When we were in prek3 and prek4, the % of white kids skyrocketed from previous years (much more heavily white than the neighborhood). One could make the argument that race or income or other family demos should be considered so ECE has a balanced class reflective of the neighborhood. But prek3 and prek4 aren't a right to attend in boundary and aren't mandated. The universal prek program in DC was set up to not include these demos and I'm not an education researcher so can't speak to benefits or drawbacks. We went to an open house at SWS and were asking why the school is so white and what they were going to do about that...and were honestly told that it's hard because the rules of the lottery don't take into account race. So they are focusing on marketing so all students know about SWS and there's an applicant pool reflective of the city. The schools themselves can't do anything to change the lottery results even if they want to...and some of why they might want to might be for very good reasons.

All this to say, I would take the tin foil hat off. There's some very interesting and important discussions to be had about the lottery, does it lead to equitable outcomes and how to improve school choice and options in DC...but I don't think those are the discussions you're interested in having.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've wondered for years, and I figure there must be a former DCPS employee who knows the answer. So here's my list of questions: does the lottery take into account gender? What about ward? Or is it more like taking a percentage of each ward based on how many applicants from that ward? I have no idea why this isn't common knowledge and seems to be so hush hush, but here if there is someone who has actual details on how kids names are selected, I'd like to know.

There are many clear explanations of the process, including from official DC sources, as well as third part blogs. Watch the myschooldc video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOhe2s4PHbY

read the FAQ about preferences:

https://www.myschooldc.org/node/116

In short, DCPS schools have a slightly difference set of preferences compared to DC charter schools. Charter schools can choose which of the small set of available preferences they accept. They entire process is run centrally, not subject to an individual school's whims. No available preference has anything to do with gender or ward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The lottery is not rigged and it's very transparent. Now there are interesting ramifications of not considering demographics that you flag. For example, my child is in K at a school on the Hill where the racial makeup of the school has moved from majority black to majority white. This reflects the neighborhood. When we were in prek3 and prek4, the % of white kids skyrocketed from previous years (much more heavily white than the neighborhood). One could make the argument that race or income or other family demos should be considered so ECE has a balanced class reflective of the neighborhood. But prek3 and prek4 aren't a right to attend in boundary and aren't mandated. The universal prek program in DC was set up to not include these demos and I'm not an education researcher so can't speak to benefits or drawbacks. We went to an open house at SWS and were asking why the school is so white and what they were going to do about that...and were honestly told that it's hard because the rules of the lottery don't take into account race. So they are focusing on marketing so all students know about SWS and there's an applicant pool reflective of the city. The schools themselves can't do anything to change the lottery results even if they want to...and some of why they might want to might be for very good reasons.

All this to say, I would take the tin foil hat off. There's some very interesting and important discussions to be had about the lottery, does it lead to equitable outcomes and how to improve school choice and options in DC...but I don't think those are the discussions you're interested in having.

The schools can apply to implement Equitable Access preference. If SWS told you there is nothing they can do, they are lying. Many DCPS are doing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The lottery is not rigged and it's very transparent. Now there are interesting ramifications of not considering demographics that you flag. For example, my child is in K at a school on the Hill where the racial makeup of the school has moved from majority black to majority white. This reflects the neighborhood. When we were in prek3 and prek4, the % of white kids skyrocketed from previous years (much more heavily white than the neighborhood). One could make the argument that race or income or other family demos should be considered so ECE has a balanced class reflective of the neighborhood. But prek3 and prek4 aren't a right to attend in boundary and aren't mandated. The universal prek program in DC was set up to not include these demos and I'm not an education researcher so can't speak to benefits or drawbacks. We went to an open house at SWS and were asking why the school is so white and what they were going to do about that...and were honestly told that it's hard because the rules of the lottery don't take into account race. So they are focusing on marketing so all students know about SWS and there's an applicant pool reflective of the city. The schools themselves can't do anything to change the lottery results even if they want to...and some of why they might want to might be for very good reasons.

All this to say, I would take the tin foil hat off. There's some very interesting and important discussions to be had about the lottery, does it lead to equitable outcomes and how to improve school choice and options in DC...but I don't think those are the discussions you're interested in having.

The schools can apply to implement Equitable Access preference. If SWS told you there is nothing they can do, they are lying. Many DCPS are doing it.

+1. And where schools that fill PK with IB kids/waitlist PK kids have a real choice to make (i.e., risk losing IB families who go elsewhere when they don't get in in PK3/seriously aggravate your IB families), since DCPS won't let them implement EA only for K+ (which I think they should allow), SWS has no excuse at all.

[Anonymous]

Many people replying here are conflating lottery administration and outcomes, which are transparent and fair, with the public policy decisions and outcomes associated with preferences (e.g, equitable access, IB). Some of you are tin foil hat confused; that's unfortunate but understandable. But some of you are intentionally muddying the waters for your own amusement. That's plain mean.

The lottery is fair and transparent. It applies the rules as they are written. Whether or not you think the rules should be what they are is different question entirely. Let's not confuse the two.

[Anonymous]

I think people are also confusing equity with strict racial profiles (and they are presumably using race as a proxy for income, which is sorta racist in itself).

What we need are good schools *throughout* the city and a social services network that addresses the needs of the disadvantaged without dependence on and minimizing the impact on schools. Then most everyone could live anywhere in the city and go to their neighborhood school and be happy. And the lottery and all these other issues would dwindle in relevance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many people replying here are conflating lottery administration and outcomes, which are transparent and fair, with the public policy decisions and outcomes associated with preferences (e.g, equitable access, IB). Some of you are tin foil hat confused; that's unfortunate but understandable. But some of you are intentionally muddying the waters for your own amusement. That's plain mean.

The lottery is fair and transparent. It applies the rules as they are written. Whether or not you think the rules should be what they are is different question entirely. Let's not confuse the two.

Dumb post from a dumb person. Nothing at all added.

[Anonymous]

I will give you some inside information! Every year, we have to remove many fake and falsified applications- duplicate entries using middle names, fake sibling preferences, etc. People are
Always trying to cheat the lottery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to think the lottery was fair. But after COVID and seeing how certain zip codes were given preference for potentially life saving vaccines I no longer have faith in our system. Equity is so baked into DC at all costs that anyone who thinks the school lottery is immune from that is deceiving themselves.

But this makes no sense because the city was transparent about giving those zip codes vaccine preference and explained why they were doing so. You might have found the policy unfair, but it wasn't secretive and the city was very transparent about what they were doing.

So it makes no sense to look at that and think, therefore, the lottery must be secretly rigged in favor of certain kids. Obviously DC feels comfortable being transparent about programs that may seem unequal but which they believe are more equitable. If they wanted to change the lottery to benefit certain populations, they would and they would just say that's what they are doing.

That's basically what the "equitable access" preference for certain charters is, and again, totally transparent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to think the lottery was fair. But after COVID and seeing how certain zip codes were given preference for potentially life saving vaccines I no longer have faith in our system. Equity is so baked into DC at all costs that anyone who thinks the school lottery is immune from that is deceiving themselves.

But this makes no sense because the city was transparent about giving those zip codes vaccine preference and explained why they were doing so. You might have found the policy unfair, but it wasn't secretive and the city was very transparent about what they were doing.

So it makes no sense to look at that and think, therefore, the lottery must be secretly rigged in favor of certain kids. Obviously DC feels comfortable being transparent about programs that may seem unequal but which they believe are more equitable. If they wanted to change the lottery to benefit certain populations, they would and they would just say that's what they are doing.

That's basically what the "equitable access" preference for certain charters is, and again, totally transparent.

Dead on. Poster child for someone confusing whether the rules are applied as designed with whether the design is right. Not the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many people replying here are conflating lottery administration and outcomes, which are transparent and fair, with the public policy decisions and outcomes associated with preferences (e.g, equitable access, IB). Some of you are tin foil hat confused; that's unfortunate but understandable. But some of you are intentionally muddying the waters for your own amusement. That's plain mean.

The lottery is fair and transparent. It applies the rules as they are written. Whether or not you think the rules should be what they are is different question entirely. Let's not confuse the two.

Dumb post from a dumb person. Nothing at all added.

Because you are a conspiracy theorist? Because you think the lottery is rigged? This thread is filled with people talking about equitable access and policy masquerading as discussions of whether the lottery is rigged. If you aren't smart enough to read and understand the words then go play video games and let the adults talk.

[Anonymous]

There are like 100 city agencies and offices that I would accuse of corruption before the lottery. I'm a cynical person by nature, but I do think the lottery is pretty well-done. Funny business with schools is likely to occur *outside of* the lottery, sometimes when it should be conducted through the lottery, but that's not the same thing as the actual lottery being rigged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to think the lottery was fair. But after COVID and seeing how certain zip codes were given preference for potentially life saving vaccines I no longer have faith in our system. Equity is so baked into DC at all costs that anyone who thinks the school lottery is immune from that is deceiving themselves.

But this makes no sense because the city was transparent about giving those zip codes vaccine preference and explained why they were doing so. You might have found the policy unfair, but it wasn't secretive and the city was very transparent about what they were doing.

So it makes no sense to look at that and think, therefore, the lottery must be secretly rigged in favor of certain kids. Obviously DC feels comfortable being transparent about programs that may seem unequal but which they believe are more equitable. If they wanted to change the lottery to benefit certain populations, they would and they would just say that's what they are doing.

That's basically what the "equitable access" preference for certain charters is, and again, totally transparent.

The vaccine access/scheduling sites were easy manipulate—just input zip code and tick that you had prexisting conditions and get an appointment. There were no checks/balances etc. The school lottery is completely different in terms of integrity.