The Middle School Problem

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I’ll add if you have a student that is driven and smart, they can succeed at a number of schools. I went to gang infested middle school where some peers were pregnant in 8th grade. Probably 25% performing. There was no school choice. It was either that school or private which was not an option. Not only did I succeed, I excelled and got into one of the top magnets in the state. The school (teachers and admin) weren’t bad, they did what they could with the student population that had. They knew who the serious students were and they made sure we got what we want scholastically and socially. Try to check out your IB, see if they have advocates within the building. You may be surprised.

M

I get this. BUT, as you said, there was no choice. We have choice. And when choice exists, it becomes extremely hard to send your child to this type of school. You want the best for society, but you also want the best for your kid. And for society, your choice makes little impact. But for your kid, it makes a huge impact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few approaches:

1 - do not let Deal / Hardy take any kids who do not have current rights to them. Audit HARD enrollment. If policy is if you move OOB during elementary school you no longer have rights to the feeder pattern - enforce it.

You need to get a critical mass of kids at the other middle schools. The only way you do it is cut off path to Deal / Hardy.

You first.

(I hear you, but my primary responsibility is to my children, not to society's children. And when those interests are in conflict, I'll choose my own kids 100% of the time.)

You say that like you truly believe that it is either your kids or everyone else’s kids. Are you educated? Do you value education? Do your kids attend school regularly? Do they do classwork and homework? Did you read to them as babies and toddlers? Do you provide adequate food and a safe living environment? Do you volunteer with their schools, attend events, participate in parent groups?

If so, you are already choosing your kids, every day. Some people make those choices within a school that has a lot of kids whose parents make different choices, and the reality is that your kids will succeed in that environment just fine. I did. My husband did. At least one PP above did. It always gets talked about here that your choices are to choose a wealthy school or put your own kids at risk for the good of other people’s kids. I do not believe that that is the choice in front of you, but obviously, you do.

So, without choosing “society’s children” over your own, what are you doing to contribute positively to the education landscape in DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole city should be outraged. It wouldn't occur to a lot of other places/cities that they need to fight and constantly lobby for safe, 50-90 % at grade level or higher. But in DC this is the case it is sad. But then we keep voting in that don't seem to do much about it.

The middle class middle students are concentrated at one middle school in the city. This leaves a very small amount of kids sprinkled at Hardy, SH, and charters. The remaining students are in deep poverty and don’t have adequate support and facing things at home that you can’t even imagine. If middle schools are 90% at risk are you really blaming the school or city that only 1/3 of those students are at level? You should be advocating for social justice, affordable housing, and jobs before even you can see the impact in the schools.

What does that even mean? How does "social justice" magically turn an uneducated single parent with too many children to support, few basic skills, and (perhaps) a substance abuse problem into a responsible citizen and effective parent?

Do you think that uneducated single moms drop from the sky, or do you think that a larger social context plays a role in their development? For example - if a boy starts getting followed around by store clerks who think he’ll steal stuff and stopped by police (including being held at gunpoint) by the time he’s 12, do you think he’s more or less likely to be a « responsible citizen »? If a family is only shown apartments in high crime areas (despite their ability to pay the rent elsewhere) do you think they are more or less likely to raise kids who are « responsible citizens »?

[Anonymous]

Yes. The lack of quality middle school options is hurting DCPS.

Let me give you an example - my family.
We are in a top rated elementary school with a long long waitlist. We like it and our son is having a great great experience. We’re decently engaged with the PTO. We’d stay in this school no problem.

BUT, the middle school feeder pattern is not good. So every year we play the lottery and list Lafayette, Murch, Janney, Bancroft, Oyster, etc. If we got into a school like Lafayette we’d probably enroll.
Why?
Access to Deal.


The lack of middle school options is holding back DCPS’s elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. The lack of quality middle school options is hurting DCPS.

Let me give you an example - my family.
We are in a top rated elementary school with a long long waitlist. We like it and our son is having a great great experience. We’re decently engaged with the PTO. We’d stay in this school no problem.

BUT, the middle school feeder pattern is not good. So every year we play the lottery and list Lafayette, Murch, Janney, Bancroft, Oyster, etc. If we got into a school like Lafayette we’d probably enroll.
Why?
Access to Deal.


The lack of middle school options is holding back DCPS’s elementary schools.

Then you should be lobbying to end OOB feeder rights. There are at least 30 OOB kids at our WOTP elementary school. Half black and half white. Almost all really good students with involved parents. This must be similar to other WOTP schools. There are probably 400ish of these kids spread across the Ward 3 schools. These kids could be the foundation of a great EOTP middle school. It’s not a question anymore about being the first family to be forced to try it, it would be hundreds of families. It’s really the only way out of this mess.

[Anonymous]

DCPS Middle Schools don't have honors classes and regular classes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS Middle Schools don't have honors classes and regular classes?

no. They have different levels of math and language and the rest of the classes are all one level.

[Anonymous]

I know this is always shot down, but we need to end social promotion. At least for a one year repeat. I understand the problem with holding back a student so that you have a 12 year old with 8 year olds, etc., but why not holding a kid back one year until their reading improves? No different than the red shirting some UMC patents do.

OR classes like math and ELA are all broken out in MS so students are placed with like students, regardless of age? Base it on the PARCC scores, so the testing isn’t so useless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this is always shot down, but we need to end social promotion. At least for a one year repeat. I understand the problem with holding back a student so that you have a 12 year old with 8 year olds, etc., but why not holding a kid back one year until their reading improves? No different than the red shirting some UMC patents do.

OR classes like math and ELA are all broken out in MS so students are placed with like students, regardless of age? Base it on the PARCC scores, so the testing isn’t so useless.

1) Because the real problem may be that the teacher or school isn't doing a good job with the instruction. Holding kids back won't help with that.

2) Because a lot of them have been held back once already so they're already over-age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS Middle Schools don't have honors classes and regular classes?

no. They have different levels of math and language and the rest of the classes are all one level.

No longer true. Stuart Hobson now has two or three levels for science, ELA and social studies, along with ELA, math and Spanish (which they've had for a decade).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS Middle Schools don't have honors classes and regular classes?

no. They have different levels of math and language and the rest of the classes are all one level.

No longer true. Stuart Hobson now has two or three levels for science, ELA and social studies, along with ELA, math and Spanish (which they've had for a decade).

Interesting! Deal does not and I don't think hardy does either.

[Anonymous]

iMHO, the problem is an unwillingness to aggregate the cohorts from successful elementary schools into middle schools. The reason Deal is good is because all the feeders are strong and the majority of the kids in those schools go to the middle school. Hardy also is fed by strong elementary schools, there have been issues with the families at the feeders trusting the middle but that is starting to change, in addition the kids that have entered it through the lottery are also kids of parents that are making efforts to get their children into a strong middle and so you have a great cohort.

Elsewhere in the city (for DCPS- leaving charters out) the middle schools re fed by a mix of elementary schools, you have SH with enough strong kids to support real honors classes and I hear great things but that is the exception.

There is an unwillingness to say “elementaries a, b and c are doing great, let’s put them on the path to the same middle school so they can form the basis of a strong cohort”. One strong elementary school cannot flip a middle school. And it is about having kids arrive at middle school prepared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:iMHO, the problem is an unwillingness to aggregate the cohorts from successful elementary schools into middle schools. The reason Deal is good is because all the feeders are strong and the majority of the kids in those schools go to the middle school. Hardy also is fed by strong elementary schools, there have been issues with the families at the feeders trusting the middle but that is starting to change, in addition the kids that have entered it through the lottery are also kids of parents that are making efforts to get their children into a strong middle and so you have a great cohort.

Elsewhere in the city (for DCPS- leaving charters out) the middle schools re fed by a mix of elementary schools, you have SH with enough strong kids to support real honors classes and I hear great things but that is the exception.

There is an unwillingness to say “elementaries a, b and c are doing great, let’s put them on the path to the same middle school so they can form the basis of a strong cohort”. One strong elementary school cannot flip a middle school. And it is about having kids arrive at middle school prepared.

That is a really dumb idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I’ll add if you have a student that is driven and smart, they can succeed at a number of schools. I went to gang infested middle school where some peers were pregnant in 8th grade. Probably 25% performing. There was no school choice. It was either that school or private which was not an option. Not only did I succeed, I excelled and got into one of the top magnets in the state. The school (teachers and admin) weren’t bad, they did what they could with the student population that had. They knew who the serious students were and they made sure we got what we want scholastically and socially. Try to check out your IB, see if they have advocates within the building. You may be surprised.

M

I get this. BUT, as you said, there was no choice. We have choice. And when choice exists, it becomes extremely hard to send your child to this type of school. You want the best for society, but you also want the best for your kid. And for society, your choice makes little impact. But for your kid, it makes a huge impact.

No. OP does not have a choice. Hence, her post. Just because there is a choice that exists out there for a few lucky kids, doesn’t mean there is choice.

[Anonymous]

It would take a lot of coordination but this could work

The waiting list for Deal Hardy and Stuart Hobson is in the hundreds every year

All you need to do is communicate with those folks and select a different middle school in the city to "take over"