Interesting article about school quality when demographics factored out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@Anonymous at 11:09am

I hear you on test prep but I just googled Thomson and it is apparently an IB primary years school. (The only one in DC...?) Can't just be drill/kill all day I imagine?

Exactly, and they have Chinese and Spanish. So many of the downtown parents are driving their kids to white charters all over the city - with a great school right there. So...what does that say about these liberated downtown parents?

From what I have heard from "liberated families" is they don't want to put up with the behavioral problems (foul language, unpleasant home life that gets discussed, etc). There is also a fear that their child will get picked on or become a target of anger. I am reporting this but do not agree with these statements, just so we are clear. They don't want anything to interfere with their child's learning.

So there are no behavioral problems in schools with lots of white kids?

Some, but nowhere near as many. It is not a social norm of awful behavior. And there are fewer behavior problems among the parents, like hitting their kids at school or threatening school staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@Anonymous at 11:09am

I hear you on test prep but I just googled Thomson and it is apparently an IB primary years school. (The only one in DC...?) Can't just be drill/kill all day I imagine?

Exactly, and they have Chinese and Spanish. So many of the downtown parents are driving their kids to white charters all over the city - with a great school right there. So...what does that say about these liberated downtown parents?

From what I have heard from "liberated families" is they don't want to put up with the behavioral problems (foul language, unpleasant home life that gets discussed, etc). There is also a fear that their child will get picked on or become a target of anger. I am reporting this but do not agree with these statements, just so we are clear. They don't want anything to interfere with their child's learning.

So there are no behavioral problems in schools with lots of white kids?

Some, but nowhere near as many. It is not a social norm of awful behavior. And there are fewer behavior problems among the parents, like hitting their kids at school or threatening school staff.

Perhaps not so much that mental health problems are absent in middle/high SES settings, but they're more likely to be internalizing (anxiety, eating disorders, etc.), whereas in lower SES settings there's increased prevalence of externalizing (ADHD, conduct, etc.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@Anonymous at 11:09am

I hear you on test prep but I just googled Thomson and it is apparently an IB primary years school. (The only one in DC...?) Can't just be drill/kill all day I imagine?

Exactly, and they have Chinese and Spanish. So many of the downtown parents are driving their kids to white charters all over the city - with a great school right there. So...what does that say about these liberated downtown parents?

From what I have heard from "liberated families" is they don't want to put up with the behavioral problems (foul language, unpleasant home life that gets discussed, etc). There is also a fear that their child will get picked on or become a target of anger. I am reporting this but do not agree with these statements, just so we are clear. They don't want anything to interfere with their child's learning.

So there are no behavioral problems in schools with lots of white kids?

This is offensive. We're at a Title I school and have not seen anything like this from students or parents. We're at a well-run Title I school where the principal whips kids in shape, and that may be the difference. But please do not generalize. As shocking as this may be to you, low-income parents also care about their children's education and well being.

Some, but nowhere near as many. It is not a social norm of awful behavior. And there are fewer behavior problems among the parents, like hitting their kids at school or threatening school staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@Anonymous at 11:09am

I hear you on test prep but I just googled Thomson and it is apparently an IB primary years school. (The only one in DC...?) Can't just be drill/kill all day I imagine?

Exactly, and they have Chinese and Spanish. So many of the downtown parents are driving their kids to white charters all over the city - with a great school right there. So...what does that say about these liberated downtown parents?

From what I have heard from "liberated families" is they don't want to put up with the behavioral problems (foul language, unpleasant home life that gets discussed, etc). There is also a fear that their child will get picked on or become a target of anger. I am reporting this but do not agree with these statements, just so we are clear. They don't want anything to interfere with their child's learning.

So there are no behavioral problems in schools with lots of white kids?

This is offensive. We're at a Title I school and have not seen anything like this from students or parents. We're at a well-run Title I school where the principal whips kids in shape, and that may be the difference. But please do not generalize. As shocking as this may be to you, low-income parents also care about their children's education and well being.

Some, but nowhere near as many. It is not a social norm of awful behavior. And there are fewer behavior problems among the parents, like hitting their kids at school or threatening school staff.

We are at a Title I as well. That is how I know. Low income parents do care. But some of them think hitting their kids is a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@Anonymous at 11:09am

I hear you on test prep but I just googled Thomson and it is apparently an IB primary years school. (The only one in DC...?) Can't just be drill/kill all day I imagine?

Exactly, and they have Chinese and Spanish. So many of the downtown parents are driving their kids to white charters all over the city - with a great school right there. So...what does that say about these liberated downtown parents?

From what I have heard from "liberated families" is they don't want to put up with the behavioral problems (foul language, unpleasant home life that gets discussed, etc). There is also a fear that their child will get picked on or become a target of anger. I am reporting this but do not agree with these statements, just so we are clear. They don't want anything to interfere with their child's learning.

I'm another white family that lives within walking distance of Thomson (I have a 2nd grader) and couldn't get in. I tried. So the real story on Thomson is that it's a school doing a great job with at-risk kids, NOT that it is a school that white families won't consider. It is also a school with a very large immigrant population - both latinx and Chinese. As of 15-16, it was 50% Hispanic, 20% black, 20% Asian, and 10% other.

If you're walking distance, you're not IB? What is your IB?

Thomson is in easy walking distance (<1 mile) for quite a few families zoned for Garrison, Seaton, Cleveland, and Walker Jones. East side of 6th Street NW is zoned for W-J. West side is Thomson.

[Anonymous]

I don't think anyone's school hunt got more complicated at all from this article. You're not going to get into Thomson OOB, so may as well list IT and not Thomson, and feel happy that they have identical test scores.

[Anonymous]

GGW should pull the article. The authors clearly have no understanding of the lottery, preferences, and feeders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@Anonymous at 11:09am

I hear you on test prep but I just googled Thomson and it is apparently an IB primary years school. (The only one in DC...?) Can't just be drill/kill all day I imagine?

Exactly, and they have Chinese and Spanish. So many of the downtown parents are driving their kids to white charters all over the city - with a great school right there. So...what does that say about these liberated downtown parents?

From what I have heard from "liberated families" is they don't want to put up with the behavioral problems (foul language, unpleasant home life that gets discussed, etc). There is also a fear that their child will get picked on or become a target of anger. I am reporting this but do not agree with these statements, just so we are clear. They don't want anything to interfere with their child's learning.

So there are no behavioral problems in schools with lots of white kids?

Not sure if you've heard, but poverty is not a good thing. At-risk kids whose home lives are not stable have a lot of stuff to overcome, it's stressful, and often it comes out in inappropriate behavior. In a school with a high percentage of at-risk kids, a higher percentage of kids are going to be struggling with a lot of issues outside of school. One of the reasons we seek to mitigate poverty is that it's bad for kids and families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GGW should pull the article. The authors clearly have no understanding of the lottery, preferences, and feeders.

That stuff was extraneous, but the article still highlights important data re which schools are doing better than anticipated with at-risk kids.

While it may not be relevant to your school search, certainly both DCPS and charters should be looking at what these schools are doing and try to emulate it.

The fate of at-risk kids affects everyone with a child in the city. We should applaud those schools that are helping these kids succeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GGW should pull the article. The authors clearly have no understanding of the lottery, preferences, and feeders.

That stuff was extraneous, but the article still highlights important data re which schools are doing better than anticipated with at-risk kids.

While it may not be relevant to your school search, certainly both DCPS and charters should be looking at what these schools are doing and try to emulate it.

The fate of at-risk kids affects everyone with a child in the city. We should applaud those schools that are helping these kids succeed.

Agree 100%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GGW should pull the article. The authors clearly have no understanding of the lottery, preferences, and feeders.

That stuff was extraneous, but the article still highlights important data re which schools are doing better than anticipated with at-risk kids.

While it may not be relevant to your school search, certainly both DCPS and charters should be looking at what these schools are doing and try to emulate it.

The fate of at-risk kids affects everyone with a child in the city. We should applaud those schools that are helping these kids succeed.

It is relevant to why people choose Two Rivers over L-T and why peopke leave L-T in upper grades. They want to basically call everyone a racist and anti-poor for the crime of wanting a good middle school.

[Anonymous]

Thomson has a lot of OOB siblings from before it was "cool" to live downtown. So it's impossible to get in even with proximity (which we had).

Don't forget the MD kids still going there. Since DCPS doesn't care about residency issues (check the MD plates in the am...) no one is getting into Thomson for years to come.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GGW should pull the article. The authors clearly have no understanding of the lottery, preferences, and feeders.

That stuff was extraneous, but the article still highlights important data re which schools are doing better than anticipated with at-risk kids.

While it may not be relevant to your school search, certainly both DCPS and charters should be looking at what these schools are doing and try to emulate it.

The fate of at-risk kids affects everyone with a child in the city. We should applaud those schools that are helping these kids succeed.

It is relevant to why people choose Two Rivers over L-T and why peopke leave L-T in upper grades. They want to basically call everyone a racist and anti-poor for the crime of wanting a good middle school.

I assume this poster is a grumpy TR or ITS parent.

[Anonymous]

The real story -- which GGW missed bc of its own audience -- is how many of the best schools with these students are charters vs. DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thomson has a lot of OOB siblings from before it was "cool" to live downtown. So it's impossible to get in even with proximity (which we had).

Don't forget the MD kids still going there. Since DCPS doesn't care about residency issues (check the MD plates in the am...) no one is getting into Thomson for years to come.

I go by there all the time. I haven't seen any MD plates.