New Ward 3 Middle School ???

[Anonymous]

Again, here we go with this, if there's no white students in attendance at a DCPS building, then we are doomed and gloomed.

This quote got me thinking ....

Is there a single DCPS that has no white students in the attendance and is better than doom and gloom? I'm not so sure.


I started going through the DCPS "Schools At A Glance" and looking at the enrollment-by-race charts. There are several 100% black schools and, well, they are doom and gloom in the academic success department.

I know, Banneker. With its admission tests cut-off and rigorous entrance procedures that cherry picks students like a private school.

But what about the general entry DCPS that are all-black? Is there one with a DC CAS score over about 30%?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Again, here we go with this, if there's no white students in attendance at a DCPS building, then we are doomed and gloomed.

This quote got me thinking ....

Is there a single DCPS that has no white students in the attendance and is better than doom and gloom? I'm not so sure.


I started going through the DCPS "Schools At A Glance" and looking at the enrollment-by-race charts. There are several 100% black schools and, well, they are doom and gloom in the academic success department.

I know, Banneker. With its admission tests cut-off and rigorous entrance procedures that cherry picks students like a private school.

But what about the general entry DCPS that are all-black? Is there one with a DC CAS score over about 30%?

So basically, your question is, "Not counting the all-black schools that are successful, are there any all-black schools that are successful?" A future GOP pollster!

[Anonymous]

the question is, is there a neighborhood school that doesn't have selective admissions, that is all black, that is successful?

I'd nominate Shepherd Elementary which has several (like 2 or 3) white students, a few more hispanics.

If the filter is absolutely zero children of any race but AA, I don't think you'll find a school with anything approaching "good" Dc-Cas scores.

[Anonymous]

No, my question is, is there one, single all-black school in DCPS that is general admission?

[Anonymous]

^^ that is anything but doom and gloom?

[Anonymous]

Well, when "all black" is proxy for "85% plus" free and reduced price lunch, yeah.

High poverty schools in DC tend to be all African-American and tend to be a hot mess. However, there are all poor white schools in other places that are disasters too.

Poverty brings problems. In DC the face of poverty tends to be African American.

So it goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where does Mary Siddall send her own kids to school in DC?

The older is at Washington Latin and the youngers at Ross ES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, when "all black" is proxy for "85% plus" free and reduced price lunch, yeah.

High poverty schools in DC tend to be all African-American and tend to be a hot mess. However, there are all poor white schools in other places that are disasters too.

Poverty brings problems. In DC the face of poverty tends to be African American.

So it goes.

Well said.

It's the poverty, stupid.

But DCPS is too stupid to figure it out.

They insist it's the stupid teachers

[Anonymous]

Shepherd is a mess of a school and most of the children are MD residents. I do mean most. The potential for Shepherd is so much greater than the reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Again, here we go with this, if there's no white students in attendance at a DCPS building, then we are doomed and gloomed.

This quote got me thinking ....

Is there a single DCPS that has no white students in the attendance and is better than doom and gloom? I'm not so sure.


I started going through the DCPS "Schools At A Glance" and looking at the enrollment-by-race charts. There are several 100% black schools and, well, they are doom and gloom in the academic success department.

I know, Banneker. With its admission tests cut-off and rigorous entrance procedures that cherry picks students like a private school.

But what about the general entry DCPS that are all-black? Is there one with a DC CAS score over about 30%?

So basically, your question is, "Not counting the all-black schools that are successful, are there any all-black schools that are successful?" A future GOP pollster!

I was with you until you brought politics in. Your blanket assumptions render the rest of your argument less effective.

[Anonymous]

A new middle school in the Palisades would be fantastic. If it is anything like the Key School, there would be no need to pay for private school or move to Maryland - at least until it is time to send DD and DS to Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Cleveland Elementary School in Shaw. Not completely black, has about 30% hispanics but no whites. Has over 50% + proficient/advanced in reading and around 70% proficient or higher in math. But it's essentially a middle-class nabe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A new middle school in the Palisades would be fantastic. If it is anything like the Key School, there would be no need to pay for private school or move to Maryland - at least until it is time to send DD and DS to Wilson.

Not so fast. Key has always been "fine" up until 3rd grade or so. There hasn't been much pressure on it to be really great academically b/c most families pull out and pay a lot of money for a good 4-12 or 6-12 school. Having a real public MS path will just bring much more scrutiny to Key's program (in addition to the MS program). I've heard plenty of Key boosters (privately) discuss whether or not such a path really would be "good enough." Just imagine the backlash if such a school is built (which I think it a ridiculous waste of money for a city that just doesn't have it) and the community doesn't actually use it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Just imagine the backlash if such a school is built (which I think it a ridiculous waste of money for a city that just doesn't have it) and the community doesn't actually use it!

Ain't that the truth? And not an unlikely outcome, judging from the Hardy debacle and looking ahead to a better economy and the dawning realization that, for all the hype, Rhee didn't leave DCPS better than she found it. (Lew's a different story, but shiny new facilities only stay shiny and new so long and if what's going on inside those facilities isn't very impressive, you'll have lots of Ward 3 parents questioning whether they want to stick with DCPS.) At any rate, Palisades is an insane place for a MS -- it's on the edge of town in an area with minimal public transit (and nasty traffic during AM rush).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Just imagine the backlash if such a school is built (which I think it a ridiculous waste of money for a city that just doesn't have it) and the community doesn't actually use it!

Ain't that the truth? And not an unlikely outcome, judging from the Hardy debacle and looking ahead to a better economy and the dawning realization that, for all the hype, Rhee didn't leave DCPS better than she found it. (Lew's a different story, but shiny new facilities only stay shiny and new so long and if what's going on inside those facilities isn't very impressive, you'll have lots of Ward 3 parents questioning whether they want to stick with DCPS.) At any rate, Palisades is an insane place for a MS -- it's on the edge of town in an area with minimal public transit (and nasty traffic during AM rush).

When the gentry tires of the palisades middle school, it will fill with plebeians, despite the commute, as such schools have in the past. The gentry will feel a warm sense of noblesse oblige, as they watch their school fill up with well-behaved black and brown children.

However, when the next recession hits, the cycle will repeat itself. These same privileged people will use their advanced degrees to rationalize why those children should leave what is after all, a school meant for their own offspring and paid for with their own higher taxes. And so it goes.