dp: Absolutely they could have required attendance at MacArthur without J-R grandfathering. School systems do it all the time. What DCPS should have done is gotten the construction and renovations done and opened it with no J-R option a year or two later. Then the lead time would have been long enough not to need grandfathering and the start would have been more solid. The problem now is that instead of Hardy families being excited to attend with their Hardy cohort--which is going well--Hardy families are scared to attend a school with behavior issues and too many kids below grade level. Meanwhile, MacArthur is trying to tout their "rigorous academics" while embarrasingly trying to pitch their AP test averages that barely break 3 as a success. DCPS could have done it well. But DCPS loves to screw things up, so now, yes, it will take years longer for MacArthur to be successful than if they had started it differently. |
DCI is a non starter if you aren’t already in a feeder school so not an option. Latin isn’t that great and is NOT off a metro line. Basis is for a certain type of student. The test in schools can’t take everyone. Macarthur will be fine. And note that the Title 1 status means a lot of extra adults and support in the building. High performing kids will be fine as long as the admin continues to challenge them and ai can attest that it is indeed challenging and rigorous. Macarthur is NOT teaching to the lowest common denominator. |
I hate to break it to you but even at BASIS it isn’t uncommon to have AP class averages in the low to mid 3’s! |
What you don’t get is that the primary goal wasn’t to open up another school for IB families. It was to open up more spots for OOB kids. They succeeded in doing this and then 2 years later, will force IB families to send their kids there. Those who don’t have other options will do so. Those that do have other options won’t but the city will happily continue to collect their taxes. Forcing Hardy families into MacArthur will also open up OOB spots at JR too. So, no they did not screw up. They knew what they wanted to do and succeeded. Alleviating overcrowding at JR was really secondary to get buy in from families WOTP. |
Not PP, but I wish so much there were data available on this! |
This is what is available which is directional. https://dcps.dc.gov/publication/ap-score-data-sets Some quirks...the Oyster data is all 8th graders taking the Spanish AP test since it is an immersion school. |
I do get that, o supercilious one, but what DCPS doesn't get is that opening a school WOTP for OOB kids with few IB kids is pointless. Why ship a bunch of kids across town to a school with a majority of kids below grade level? You can find that closer to home. |
Yup current feeder family. Don't wish to pay St Johns or Gonzaga tuition. This situation feels like Hardy was 5 years ago. |
Agreed. There will be a critical mass of IB families relatively soon (within the next few years). Will be interesting to see the progress after only the first year |
My daughter is there and the teachers and administrators are all super nice and caring and everyone knows each other. I notice that those complaining about MacArthur don’t have children there. |
We got a 9th grade spot a MacArthur OOB last year that we didn't take. I'm complaining because what we learned about lackluster academics and ECs at MacArthur as we researched our options was a deal breaker. MacArthur doesn't teach Chinese, a language we speak at home that our kids have studied in DCPS. We couldn't get straight answers from admins about which AP classes our kid would be able to take which years. We didn't need to send our child there to figure out that the school is iffy academically. It's very nice that teachers and admins are caring and the place is cozy, but that didn't do it for us. I'm not impressed with DCPS' MacArthur roll out myself. |
+1 |
I'm sure that MacArthur is a better option that most IB schools in our city. |
This is nearly always the case for discussions in this subforum. |
If you think I am wrong .Why in the news are kids from MacArthur shoplifting in Georgetown and the Police is offering rewards so they can be arrested. Open your eyes and make sure why some teens are doing inside and outside the School. |