McKinley Tech-- anyone have a student there?
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Anonymous
| May I add they both received full scholarships to pursue their Masters and if they attend a HBCU for additional post graduate degree (Doctorate) that too is also paid in full. ^^^ |
Anonymous
| My daughter and her best friend entered as 9th graders and graduated first and second of their senior class. Both are now juniors at University NC and North Carolina State respectively majoring in engineering. Both were also accepted to Banneker but selected McKinley because of the extra-curricular activities. |
Anonymous
Thanks for sharing that experience. Very compelling indeed! So forgive me for asking: What concentration did she/they choose at McKinley Tech? Did that specialization matter for your child or her friend? |
Anonymous
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We live in the neighborhood and I'm very interested in McKinley Tech as a high school option if my kids end up being interested in STEM topics (and smart enough to get accepted). They are 2 and 5 now, so this is a long way off.
What I don't understand is why there are so few white kids there? Any thoughts? Do the kids come from throughout the city? Is there diversity in terms of SES? |
Anonymous
| The school was not built to attract whites or even produce a demographic of diversity for that matter. You see that guinea pig experiment has failed miserably. Because look at Banneker, Phelps, SWW, Ellington and McKinley all are applications schools and the white populations in those particular schools range from 0% to 8%. Quite frankly there's not enough white students collectively in one upcoming graduating 8th grade class to make a significant impact for a 9th grade class. Then there's the white "scare" of being the one and only at a school that's predominantly black. Now hold onto your seats, they both were destined to attend Eastern High-school but Rhee decided to go into another direction and the scrambled began. As a result Rhee gave all 9th graders primary choice of any school that they wanted to attend. I of course said let's do Banneker and they were accepted but when we visited McKinley it was the school they liked the most. The engineering track started at 9th grade with a high-school interests in computer engineering. As college students one is majoring in electrical engineering and the other is majoring aero-nautics engineering. The FARM population is extremely high but that should not be a deterrent. |
Anonymous
There are very few white highschool kids in DC, period. It's just a small demographic sliver. Those few are in private school, SWW, and - increasingly - Wilson. Keeping your eyes set on only those options just because they make you feel comfortable seems very limiting to me. |
Anonymous
Any thoughts? Did you just move to the area, are you new to urban education? Are you new to DC? Are you incredibly naive? Where do your children go to school now? Hell there's very few "whites" in the catchment area for McKinley period!!!! |
Anonymous
No I am not new to DC, I have lived here for more than 15 years, more than ten of them just a handful of blocks from McKinley. I am somewhat new to thinking about high school options because my kids are young and I would like to know more about McKinley. What I do know, however is that as a selective school there is no "catchment area". You are completely wrong if you are talking about the area around the school having few whites. (Are tiki new to DC? Are you very naive?! Or just rude and ignorant?) It depends block by block, and there are definitely more white people on the NW side just a couple of blocks from the school, but you are looking at a racial breakdown that is close to 50 percent white or higher in some parts of the surrounding neighborhood (the most recent census figures are already way out of date). PP is right, of course that while there has been a huge baby boom in the past five years among higher SES (Most often but not always white) living nearby there are fewer white teenagers around so far. My question was a valid one. There are few great high schools in the city and McKinley seems to get great results. I don't understand why it is not chosen by more white families, regardless of whether they live close by. Personally, if we are stool in the city when my kids are old enough I would definitely consider it. Our inbound option is Dunbar which frankly is appalling. |
Anonymous
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PP, you ask a good question and rightfully get upset at being boxed into some category here. So let's answer that question. Beyond sheer racism, why doesn't a great school immediately draw white families? This is my answer to that question:
School choice patterns beyond preschool and elementary school are very path-dependent, or "sticky" as some will say. As you'll see for yourself soon enough, parents are in a hyper-competitive free market situation for the lower grades because no strings are attached to them or their kids. By contrast, a new up and coming middle or much less high school - excellent results and all - will not just suddenly draw interest. By the time middle and high school rolls around, there are many connections curtailing your options: your kids' friends, your family friends, extra-curriculars, your family and life patterns, etc. I also think that there is a much higher premium attached to reputation (and rankings!) when kids enter high school. Those rankings, too, don't change over night. Expect those changes in mind-set to be slow. Measured by that, McKinley tech is a true phenomenon, going from a school that's unheard of to school students strive for basically over night. |
Anonymous
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I don't think it is racism by any means. It is supply and demand. As long as there are black neighborhoods and white sections of town it will continue. When many feel that one Ward in the city is predominantly white and educated and the other Ward is AA and poor.
You must be a transplanted or newly planted Washingtonian. McKinley has never been a school of being unheard of in any sense of the matter. If you knew the history of the school then it would astound you the McKinley was considered ahead of its time. It was only closed because of the drain of students that were being sent to McKinley, SWW and Ellington at the time. McKinley offered everything and more that many valued in the applications schools of today. The irony McKinley drew the best from around the city and it was not an application school it was a school that attracted academically succecssful students. To say that McKinley became phenomenon over night just let's me know you got here late yourself. Carry on. |
Anonymous
I really don't understand why dcps parents whine about the lack of magnet programs but won't enroll their kids in the relatively high performing magnet offerings dcps already has. It certainly sends a bad message to say "I want a magnet program but only if it has a certain quota of white children" Also SWW is 36%. It seems on dcps a high school needs to be about 1/3 white to be palatable to parents. If mckinley or Banneker had that level of enrollment it would suddenly become a much more popular school on dcum. |
Anonymous
| ^^^I meant to say students that were sent Banneker, SWW and Ellington... |
Anonymous
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Yes, the website is not up-to-date, but McKinley has a relatively new principal and certain changes are in the works. They know about it. It does not negate the fact that the teachers challenge their students, but are also dedicated to their learning and success. We are inbounds for Wilson and after talking to many parents, I felt my student would be left to fend alone there.
DC is one of the small group of white students. He has been in DC public schools, so McKinley felt familiar. The small size, broad curriculum, internship program for seniors, good teachers and focus of the students made the choice feel right. If you have a kid that likes science and math, this could be a good option. McKinley uses blended learning and offers AP classes. They also have a "disinvite" policy. If students do not maintain a B average or have behavior problems, they are not invited back after freshman year. The current sophomore class is 20% smaller than last year. Yes, there is a high FARMS level, but this is also a motivated bunch of kids. You should see some of the juniors - wow! The neighborhood around McKinley is gentrifying which means more middle class people and more white people, FWIW. We live in NW and one thing people have asked us about is whether the neighborhood is safe. From the NoMa metro station, which is a walk up the hill to the school, yes, it is safe. There are many people working in the area with the ATM Bureau and FedEx depot located there. The school security officers also encourage the students to walk together and travel together. The most dangerous thing is getting across New York Avenue in rush hour. DC tells me that the student that was jumped by the Dunbar students had $400 shoes and his iPhone 6 was out. He was mugged about 1/2 mile from the school in the opposite direction from the metro. He just wasn't paying attention. Other info here about admissions is accurate. Expect it to continue to be very competitive. The middle school is in the same complex and has the same administration, but is not a pathway to the high school. |
Anonymous
Holy c---p! That's tougher than most private schools from what I've heard. Are all the HS application DCPS schools like this? |
Anonymous
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I live near McKinley (and have for 4 years now) and I think the neighborhood is fine. Sure, it ain't Kalorama, but it's definitely safe enough for high school students to walk alone to and from the metro. I see McKinley kids every day and have seen bad behavior only a handful of times in 4 years.
Many of my older neighbors are proud McKinley alums-- I am thrilled to hear it's such a good school. |