Talk to me about McKinley

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We toured McKinley and I think it would be a good fit for my white kid. He wouldn't be the only, and the currently available statistics are a bit behind.

My son's generation of kids was one of the first much larger classes of charter schools to come online. The kids in his class have been in public schools since PK3. Also, this generation of parents has been and will be open to trying out unknown quantities. To be realistic, since test scores are no longer a factor for SWW. Banneker is getting harder to get into and there's more demand.

As more white kids stay in DC for high school, mark my words, McKinley Tech (which is a good school getting even better) will get more and more diverse every year until it reflects the diversity of DC students attending high schools.

I had a very good feeling touring there.

I would suggest that parents who have no actual experience with it beyond looking at the test scores zip it.

How old is your kid and what grade? I think my experience thus far in a DCPS MS is at least as relevant as yours. I have zero doubt that there are many great kids, administrators and teachers at McKinley. But you’re fooling yourself to think that the education is on par for college-bound kids. Test scores matter unless the school tracks, which DCPS does not do (except math). I may have no actual experience with McKinley but I think the notion that we should be happy with “unknown quantities” for our kids’ high school education is just frankly astonishing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, in case you've forgotten, Jackson Reed isn't selective at all. It's just white.

The excellent neighborhood schools in the suburbs aren't selective either; anyone who can afford the expensive houses in their districts can attend. Like Jackson-Reed. It's no secret that students from rich families do better on average.

Jackson Reed isn’t “white” and neither are the high performing schools in the suburbs around here. Feel free to put your money where your mouth is and send your kid to Dunbar though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We toured McKinley and I think it would be a good fit for my white kid. He wouldn't be the only, and the currently available statistics are a bit behind.

My son's generation of kids was one of the first much larger classes of charter schools to come online. The kids in his class have been in public schools since PK3. Also, this generation of parents has been and will be open to trying out unknown quantities. To be realistic, since test scores are no longer a factor for SWW. Banneker is getting harder to get into and there's more demand.

As more white kids stay in DC for high school, mark my words, McKinley Tech (which is a good school getting even better) will get more and more diverse every year until it reflects the diversity of DC students attending high schools.

I had a very good feeling touring there.

I would suggest that parents who have no actual experience with it beyond looking at the test scores zip it.

LOL! This is such wishful thinking…….

If you don’t have strong middle schools, you won’t get strong high schools. That applies to selective high schools in this town too. Standards in this city is so damn low.

BTW although McKinley says it’s a selective school, everyone gets in.

This actually isn't true. I work at a DCPS middle school and we had students who didn't get in. No waitlisted and NOT accepted. Student who put McKinley above other schools and simply got into one of their lower ranked schools on the list. Please stop telling this particular thing. As it is false.

Below is the data for you. No one on the waitlist. They could not even fill all their seats. They filled just under 60% of all seats.

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2446/viz/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData_draft/MSDCPublicDisplay

Yes, I totally get this. I can also share with you the list that we get from MySchoolDC that shows where students did and did not get accepted! I can also say that these are students who did go to their interview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because of parents whose behavior looks for the sure thing then notes the collective dynamic that does not lead large numbers of them to engage.

People talk about a lot of sides of segregation and discrimination, I think somebody should look harder at this unwillingness to take a leap of faith away from status group herd behavior. Because in DC I think it’s very real.

My expectation is that the teachers teach the student body they have. If they have students with drive, experience, technical abilities, they can work with that. None of our kids are doing technically jaw dropping STEM work at 14.

Is your kid at McKinley? My experience so far “taking a leap of faith” at a “diverse” DCPS is that it is in no way academically where it should be, and I’m not willing to continue that into HS.

So you are at the school currently. You are a white family. You are not impressed and will be leaving? Please share more specifics about what about the school has not been good enough for your child.

Simply put the teachers feel no responsibility to prepare the kids for selective HS and college because 90% of the kids are not taking that route. Because of this the level of instruction is set much lower than at a school where more is expected. Kids permitted not to do work in class, to turn in 1-sentence answers. Teachers who just take the day off and let kids be on screens all class if they feel like it. Some teacher very good but overall little effort. A few teachers VERY bad in a way that would not be tolerated at a more affluent school.

Oh, are we saying that affluent schools don't tolerate bad teaching? This is demonstrably false! Even at Jackson Reed and Bethesda Chevy Chase. Please stop with this narrative. As, unfortunately, bad teachers exist everywhere. I wish there were none, but the reality of it, is that they do.

[Anonymous]

For the record, McKinley’s PARCC scores are higher than Jackson-Reed’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the record, McKinley’s PARCC scores are higher than Jackson-Reed’s.

Not surprised. It's clear that this poster is focused on something other than facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, in case you've forgotten, Jackson Reed isn't selective at all. It's just white.

The excellent neighborhood schools in the suburbs aren't selective either; anyone who can afford the expensive houses in their districts can attend. Like Jackson-Reed. It's no secret that students from rich families do better on average.

Jackson Reed isn’t “white” and neither are the high performing schools in the suburbs around here. Feel free to put your money where your mouth is and send your kid to Dunbar though.

It's quite a bit whiter than McKinley Tech at this point. Which was the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because of parents whose behavior looks for the sure thing then notes the collective dynamic that does not lead large numbers of them to engage.

People talk about a lot of sides of segregation and discrimination, I think somebody should look harder at this unwillingness to take a leap of faith away from status group herd behavior. Because in DC I think it’s very real.

My expectation is that the teachers teach the student body they have. If they have students with drive, experience, technical abilities, they can work with that. None of our kids are doing technically jaw dropping STEM work at 14.

Is your kid at McKinley? My experience so far “taking a leap of faith” at a “diverse” DCPS is that it is in no way academically where it should be, and I’m not willing to continue that into HS.

So you are at the school currently. You are a white family. You are not impressed and will be leaving? Please share more specifics about what about the school has not been good enough for your child.

Simply put the teachers feel no responsibility to prepare the kids for selective HS and college because 90% of the kids are not taking that route. Because of this the level of instruction is set much lower than at a school where more is expected. Kids permitted not to do work in class, to turn in 1-sentence answers. Teachers who just take the day off and let kids be on screens all class if they feel like it. Some teacher very good but overall little effort. A few teachers VERY bad in a way that would not be tolerated at a more affluent school.

Oh, are we saying that affluent schools don't tolerate bad teaching? This is demonstrably false! Even at Jackson Reed and Bethesda Chevy Chase. Please stop with this narrative. As, unfortunately, bad teachers exist everywhere. I wish there were none, but the reality of it, is that they do.

Bad teachers exist everywhere, but at a school where the majority or even a strong minority of kids are going on to good colleges, the school is not going to be permitted to let major subjects fall through the cracks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the record, McKinley’s PARCC scores are higher than Jackson-Reed’s.

Now do AP scores

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We toured McKinley and I think it would be a good fit for my white kid. He wouldn't be the only, and the currently available statistics are a bit behind.

My son's generation of kids was one of the first much larger classes of charter schools to come online. The kids in his class have been in public schools since PK3. Also, this generation of parents has been and will be open to trying out unknown quantities. To be realistic, since test scores are no longer a factor for SWW. Banneker is getting harder to get into and there's more demand.

As more white kids stay in DC for high school, mark my words, McKinley Tech (which is a good school getting even better) will get more and more diverse every year until it reflects the diversity of DC students attending high schools.

I had a very good feeling touring there.

I would suggest that parents who have no actual experience with it beyond looking at the test scores zip it.

How old is your kid and what grade? I think my experience thus far in a DCPS MS is at least as relevant as yours. I have zero doubt that there are many great kids, administrators and teachers at McKinley. But you’re fooling yourself to think that the education is on par for college-bound kids. Test scores matter unless the school tracks, which DCPS does not do (except math). I may have no actual experience with McKinley but I think the notion that we should be happy with “unknown quantities” for our kids’ high school education is just frankly astonishing.

Once you're in high school, tracking vs non tracking is not an issue. Students are sorted by academic achievement and performance. Kids who can handle them go into AP classes and kids who can't don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the record, McKinley’s PARCC scores are higher than Jackson-Reed’s.

Not surprised. It's clear that this poster is focused on something other than facts.

Specifically for math, PARCC scores are not representative because it doesn’t measure the higher level classes. The AP scores tell the tale there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We toured McKinley and I think it would be a good fit for my white kid. He wouldn't be the only, and the currently available statistics are a bit behind.

My son's generation of kids was one of the first much larger classes of charter schools to come online. The kids in his class have been in public schools since PK3. Also, this generation of parents has been and will be open to trying out unknown quantities. To be realistic, since test scores are no longer a factor for SWW. Banneker is getting harder to get into and there's more demand.

As more white kids stay in DC for high school, mark my words, McKinley Tech (which is a good school getting even better) will get more and more diverse every year until it reflects the diversity of DC students attending high schools.

I had a very good feeling touring there.

I would suggest that parents who have no actual experience with it beyond looking at the test scores zip it.

How old is your kid and what grade? I think my experience thus far in a DCPS MS is at least as relevant as yours. I have zero doubt that there are many great kids, administrators and teachers at McKinley. But you’re fooling yourself to think that the education is on par for college-bound kids. Test scores matter unless the school tracks, which DCPS does not do (except math). I may have no actual experience with McKinley but I think the notion that we should be happy with “unknown quantities” for our kids’ high school education is just frankly astonishing.

Once you're in high school, tracking vs non tracking is not an issue. Students are sorted by academic achievement and performance. Kids who can handle them go into AP classes and kids who can't don't.

Tracking *absolutely* matters because the class will be taught to the average student. Differentiation is a complete myth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the record, McKinley’s PARCC scores are higher than Jackson-Reed’s.

Look at AP pass rates at Jackson-Reed vs McKinley. JR has way better pass rates and kids scoring 4 and 5 and on far more AP tests. 64% of JR kids with 50% of the school taking are passing or above while only 25% of McKinley kids with about 44% of the school taking at least 1 test.

HS PARCC is misleading because I believe it stops Algebra II and you have plenty of JR kids finishing Algebra II in 9th or coming in at precalc, so some of the smarter kids aren’t taking the test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the record, McKinley’s PARCC scores are higher than Jackson-Reed’s.

Look at AP pass rates at Jackson-Reed vs McKinley. JR has way better pass rates and kids scoring 4 and 5 and on far more AP tests. 64% of JR kids with 50% of the school taking are passing or above while only 25% of McKinley kids with about 44% of the school taking at least 1 test.

HS PARCC is misleading because I believe it stops Algebra II and you have plenty of JR kids finishing Algebra II in 9th or coming in at precalc, so some of the smarter kids aren’t taking the test.

exactly. IF they put all the kids at McKinley who can get 3/4/5 on APs together, then it might be acceptablez But they don’t. Note that this group would be diverse not all white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, in case you've forgotten, Jackson Reed isn't selective at all. It's just white.

The excellent neighborhood schools in the suburbs aren't selective either; anyone who can afford the expensive houses in their districts can attend. Like Jackson-Reed. It's no secret that students from rich families do better on average.

Jackson Reed isn’t “white” and neither are the high performing schools in the suburbs around here. Feel free to put your money where your mouth is and send your kid to Dunbar though.

It's quite a bit whiter than McKinley Tech at this point. Which was the point.

The point is that it has more kids who are college-bound and the instruction is accordingly more at a college-bound level. It’s just ignorace and denial to claim otherwise. If you don’t care about your kid having more rigorous instruction that is completely valid - some kids don’t need it and can catch up in college. But nobody on DCUM should enroll their kid in McKinley believing that the academics will be as good as at a school with a bigger grade level/advanced cohort. Some families are fine with this. I am not.