Big expensive houses, nice cars, clothes, golf... but schools suck. Would this help...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PGPS is very similar to DCPS

There are very few isolated high performing school districts

The rest of the area schools generally suck. People of means send their kids to privates

Michelle Rhee wouldn't change anything

What you need to do is have more of the people with means send their kids to the public schools

It's an SES thing that's the only way the schools will improve

Correct. Reform the school system enough to attract the middle class.

Then the underperforming kids will just be diluted by the middle class kids. Nothing is fixed, just hidden.

[Anonymous]

100% best way to improve test scores would be to guarantee more middle class kids a decent cohort for middle school. Open up more middle school programs by exam for entry, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PGPS is very similar to DCPS

There are very few isolated high performing school districts

The rest of the area schools generally suck. People of means send their kids to privates

Michelle Rhee wouldn't change anything

What you need to do is have more of the people with means send their kids to the public schools

It's an SES thing that's the only way the schools will improve

Correct. Reform the school system enough to attract the middle class.

Then the underperforming kids will just be diluted by the middle class kids. Nothing is fixed, just hidden.

High performing school districts don't educate their low achieving kids well either. They just have fewer of them so it looks like they are doing better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:100% best way to improve test scores would be to guarantee more middle class kids a decent cohort for middle school. Open up more middle school programs by exam for entry, for example.

I totally agree. Admission into a good middle school is a huge issue. The need to start more "School within a School" programs like Bowie's Summit program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PGPS is very similar to DCPS

There are very few isolated high performing school districts

The rest of the area schools generally suck. People of means send their kids to privates

Michelle Rhee wouldn't change anything

What you need to do is have more of the people with means send their kids to the public schools

It's an SES thing that's the only way the schools will improve

Correct. Reform the school system enough to attract the middle class.

Then the underperforming kids will just be diluted by the middle class kids. Nothing is fixed, just hidden.

That's not true. Being in school with middle class kids improves performance of lower income kids. Middle class schools also have more politically active parents and get greater resources. It's not a cure all but it does help a lot. If this wasn't the case then PG schools would be doing much better, since all of the resources are going to lower income kids and there are fewer kids in the school system overall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can't change the students

You CAN change the students IF you change the parents first. It all starts at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't change the students

You CAN change the students IF you change the parents first. It all starts at home.

+1000 - But parents must first see their failures as the first educator of the child. Teachers can only work with what we send through their doors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reason many specialty schools are deemed acceptable isn't that they have a certain program. It is the selection process or barriers to entry that creates a more middle class cohort and stops entry to the program/unprepared kids from entering midyear or midprogram. Also kids who aren't doing well are often counseled out as not being a good fit. For example Montessori prek 3 is how you get into the Montessori schools but you need to provide transportation and it is only half day. That's a big barrier to entry and families that can swing that are a self selecting population. Entry in later years requires

That is partially true but not the whole story. The most highly sought after charter schools in dc are language immersion and Montessori. Not all of them perform as well or have as good test scores as other "regular" charters. It's like code to the middle class that it's acceptable to send your kids there even if they perform poorly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PGPS is very similar to DCPS

There are very few isolated high performing school districts

The rest of the area schools generally suck. People of means send their kids to privates

Michelle Rhee wouldn't change anything

What you need to do is have more of the people with means send their kids to the public schools

It's an SES thing that's the only way the schools will improve

Correct. Reform the school system enough to attract the middle class.

Then the underperforming kids will just be diluted by the middle class kids. Nothing is fixed, just hidden.

I am guessing you didn't intend to say this but please take a step back and realize that you are suggesting schools should be segregated.

So we shouldn't "dilute" the intractable problems of poverty and race by...gasp...allowing poor children of color to attend schools with wealthier families?

And besides, as pp said, all the actual evidence shows that the performance of poor kids actually does rise in economically diverse schools.

[Anonymous]

"And besides, as pp said, all the actual evidence shows that the performance of poor kids actually does rise in economically diverse schools." No proof this quote. Schools and performance improves with high expectation for teaching and learning. Furthermore, you can not tolerate any disruption in the learning process. Students must come to school prepared and ready for instruction. Remember, in schools the dominate learning culture always prevails. Prince Georges County is too liberal and the lawmakers will not give school leaders the power to institute a no nonsense environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"And besides, as pp said, all the actual evidence shows that the performance of poor kids actually does rise in economically diverse schools." No proof this quote. Schools and performance improves with high expectation for teaching and learning. Furthermore, you can not tolerate any disruption in the learning process. Students must come to school prepared and ready for instruction. Remember, in schools the dominate learning culture always prevails. Prince Georges County is too liberal and the lawmakers will not give school leaders the power to institute a no nonsense environment.

Evidence that socioeconomic diversity in schools improves outcomes for poor children:

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/rich-kid-poor-kid-how-mixed-neighborhoods-could-save-americas-schools/260308/

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may13/vol70/num08/Boosting-Achievement-by-Pursuing-Diversity.aspx

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/16/515788673/try-this-one-trick-to-improve-student-outcomes

https://tcf.org/content/report/school-integration-practice-lessons-nine-districts/

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/16/520145780/neighborhood-schools-bill-could-dismantle-louisvilles-integration-efforts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"And besides, as pp said, all the actual evidence shows that the performance of poor kids actually does rise in economically diverse schools." No proof this quote. Schools and performance improves with high expectation for teaching and learning. Furthermore, you can not tolerate any disruption in the learning process. Students must come to school prepared and ready for instruction. Remember, in schools the dominate learning culture always prevails. Prince Georges County is too liberal and the lawmakers will not give school leaders the power to institute a no nonsense environment.

Evidence that socioeconomic diversity in schools improves outcomes for poor children:

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/rich-kid-poor-kid-how-mixed-neighborhoods-could-save-americas-schools/260308/

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may13/vol70/num08/Boosting-Achievement-by-Pursuing-Diversity.aspx

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/16/515788673/try-this-one-trick-to-improve-student-outcomes

https://tcf.org/content/report/school-integration-practice-lessons-nine-districts/

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/16/520145780/neighborhood-schools-bill-could-dismantle-louisvilles-integration-efforts

By sacrificing the middle and excelling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"And besides, as pp said, all the actual evidence shows that the performance of poor kids actually does rise in economically diverse schools." No proof this quote. Schools and performance improves with high expectation for teaching and learning. Furthermore, you can not tolerate any disruption in the learning process. Students must come to school prepared and ready for instruction. Remember, in schools the dominate learning culture always prevails. Prince Georges County is too liberal and the lawmakers will not give school leaders the power to institute a no nonsense environment.

Evidence that socioeconomic diversity in schools improves outcomes for poor children:

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/rich-kid-poor-kid-how-mixed-neighborhoods-could-save-americas-schools/260308/

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may13/vol70/num08/Boosting-Achievement-by-Pursuing-Diversity.aspx

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/16/515788673/try-this-one-trick-to-improve-student-outcomes

https://tcf.org/content/report/school-integration-practice-lessons-nine-districts/

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/16/520145780/neighborhood-schools-bill-could-dismantle-louisvilles-integration-efforts

By sacrificing the middle and excelling

No proof for this statement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"And besides, as pp said, all the actual evidence shows that the performance of poor kids actually does rise in economically diverse schools." No proof this quote. Schools and performance improves with high expectation for teaching and learning. Furthermore, you can not tolerate any disruption in the learning process. Students must come to school prepared and ready for instruction. Remember, in schools the dominate learning culture always prevails. Prince Georges County is too liberal and the lawmakers will not give school leaders the power to institute a no nonsense environment.

Evidence that socioeconomic diversity in schools improves outcomes for poor children:

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/rich-kid-poor-kid-how-mixed-neighborhoods-could-save-americas-schools/260308/

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may13/vol70/num08/Boosting-Achievement-by-Pursuing-Diversity.aspx

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/16/515788673/try-this-one-trick-to-improve-student-outcomes

https://tcf.org/content/report/school-integration-practice-lessons-nine-districts/

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/16/520145780/neighborhood-schools-bill-could-dismantle-louisvilles-integration-efforts

By sacrificing the middle and excelling

My child is in a Title 1 elementary school and is thriving. It honestly depends on the culture of the school and the leadership. Her school does differentiated classrooms so she is in the class with all the TAG and higher achieving students. They challenge each other and she is getting as good an education as our neighbor's kids who are in privates and specialty programs. The SES of the kids in her classroom are all over the place. Two student have parents with PhDs, several of the parents don't speak any English at all and some parents are just not in the picture. The kids from struggling families benefit from being around kids from middle class households. They support each other and lift each other up....which is more than I can say about a lot of the adults on this forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"And besides, as pp said, all the actual evidence shows that the performance of poor kids actually does rise in economically diverse schools." No proof this quote. Schools and performance improves with high expectation for teaching and learning. Furthermore, you can not tolerate any disruption in the learning process. Students must come to school prepared and ready for instruction. Remember, in schools the dominate learning culture always prevails. Prince Georges County is too liberal and the lawmakers will not give school leaders the power to institute a no nonsense environment.

Evidence that socioeconomic diversity in schools improves outcomes for poor children:

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/rich-kid-poor-kid-how-mixed-neighborhoods-could-save-americas-schools/260308/

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may13/vol70/num08/Boosting-Achievement-by-Pursuing-Diversity.aspx

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/16/515788673/try-this-one-trick-to-improve-student-outcomes

https://tcf.org/content/report/school-integration-practice-lessons-nine-districts/

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/16/520145780/neighborhood-schools-bill-could-dismantle-louisvilles-integration-efforts

By sacrificing the middle and excelling

No proof for this statement.

Not only no proof. The PP assumes that no one from a low SES background can be middle or excel.