Intresting Idea! Wilson as a test in Magnet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So....the plan is to create a majority white magnet because the other magnet is too, how shall we say this, urban?

No.

If it assigns slots by Ward, as suggested, then it is impossible that it could be majority white, given the demographics of DCPS.

It wouldn't solve the problem of providing an alternative neighborhood school for upper NW families, but that's not the concern of the proposal.

You have it backward. DC doesn't need an alternative high school for the Wilson neighborhood; it needs an alternative high school for the people who have to travel long distances to go to school in a different neighborhood (Wilson) because they won't go to their neighborhood school.

This. Having said that, Latin/Basis/DCI are all stepping into that role. The market is responding faster than DCPS can or will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC already has six application-only high schools -- Banneker, CHEC, Ellington, McKinley, Phelps and Walls. There are probably already too many for the size of the public school population.

None are test in.

Define test-in. Ellington and Walls have admissions tests, they all have admissions requirements.

Yes, but Walls uses a rather easy admissions test combined with an interview to screen candidates. In NYC, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and other US cities, affirmative action doesn't undergird admissions to the top test-in HS magnets to nearly the same extent as in DC.
The admissions tests are much tougher elsewhere, and interviews are seldom part of the process (because interviews giving screeners a tool to identify and favor minority applicants in the process).

The conversation about revamping Walls' admissions system is an awkward one the city shouldn't shy away from. I'd like to see low and moderate-income AA and Latino applicants benefit from much stronger MS academics, and support at city-run magnet test prep centers providing free test prep to all comers (as in Boston and NYC), to help them compete with more affluent applicants. To some extent, BASIS' MS has begun providing the service.

As things stand, minority applicants to Walls are sometimes given a pass to attend ahead of better prepared white applicants, an arrangement that lends itself to litigation. Sooner or later, a white family whose strong applicant failed to clear the Walls admissions bar, or a group of them, is going to sue. Once Trump gets an affirmative action-hostile justice onto the SC, the lower courts will be less likely to uphold affirmative action-based admissions at any level (public test-in ES, MS, HS, competitive admissions universities and colleges). The change won't be lost on potential DC plaintiffs and their lawyers. Better to move to address the problem than to wait for the courts to get involved.

Banneker's admissions system also leaves a lot to be desired. No test involved.

Just like in MD and VA, some very smart kids don't get a spot at the magnets. But, just as an example, look at the number and demographics of students scoring a 5 on PARCC: it is a very diverse group of kids, just like Walls. There is no reason for you to believe that there are kids there who aren't smart enough to be there, just because there are also smart kids who aren't there. There are more 8th graders scoring 5s on PARCC than there are seats at Walls.

[Anonymous]

Make Stuart Hobson the MS Magnet as an interim step to getting all the selfish idiots on capitol hill to attend their neighborhood school so we can have another Wilson pyramid by now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC already has six application-only high schools -- Banneker, CHEC, Ellington, McKinley, Phelps and Walls. There are probably already too many for the size of the public school population.

None are test in.

Define test-in. Ellington and Walls have admissions tests, they all have admissions requirements.

Yes, but Walls uses a rather easy admissions test combined with an interview to screen candidates. In NYC, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and other US cities, affirmative action doesn't undergird admissions to the top test-in HS magnets to nearly the same extent as in DC.
The admissions tests are much tougher elsewhere, and interviews are seldom part of the process (because interviews giving screeners a tool to identify and favor minority applicants in the process).

The conversation about revamping Walls' admissions system is an awkward one the city shouldn't shy away from. I'd like to see low and moderate-income AA and Latino applicants benefit from much stronger MS academics, and support at city-run magnet test prep centers providing free test prep to all comers (as in Boston and NYC), to help them compete with more affluent applicants. To some extent, BASIS' MS has begun providing the service.

As things stand, minority applicants to Walls are sometimes given a pass to attend ahead of better prepared white applicants, an arrangement that lends itself to litigation. Sooner or later, a white family whose strong applicant failed to clear the Walls admissions bar, or a group of them, is going to sue. Once Trump gets an affirmative action-hostile justice onto the SC, the lower courts will be less likely to uphold affirmative action-based admissions at any level (public test-in ES, MS, HS, competitive admissions universities and colleges). The change won't be lost on potential DC plaintiffs and their lawyers. Better to move to address the problem than to wait for the courts to get involved.

Banneker's admissions system also leaves a lot to be desired. No test involved.

The Walls test is testing 8th graders on Algebra I and Geometry. How is that "easy"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC already has six application-only high schools -- Banneker, CHEC, Ellington, McKinley, Phelps and Walls. There are probably already too many for the size of the public school population.

None are test in.

Define test-in. Ellington and Walls have admissions tests, they all have admissions requirements.

Yes, but Walls uses a rather easy admissions test combined with an interview to screen candidates. In NYC, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and other US cities, affirmative action doesn't undergird admissions to the top test-in HS magnets to nearly the same extent as in DC.
The admissions tests are much tougher elsewhere, and interviews are seldom part of the process (because interviews giving screeners a tool to identify and favor minority applicants in the process).

The conversation about revamping Walls' admissions system is an awkward one the city shouldn't shy away from. I'd like to see low and moderate-income AA and Latino applicants benefit from much stronger MS academics, and support at city-run magnet test prep centers providing free test prep to all comers (as in Boston and NYC), to help them compete with more affluent applicants. To some extent, BASIS' MS has begun providing the service.

As things stand, minority applicants to Walls are sometimes given a pass to attend ahead of better prepared white applicants, an arrangement that lends itself to litigation. Sooner or later, a white family whose strong applicant failed to clear the Walls admissions bar, or a group of them, is going to sue. Once Trump gets an affirmative action-hostile justice onto the SC, the lower courts will be less likely to uphold affirmative action-based admissions at any level (public test-in ES, MS, HS, competitive admissions universities and colleges). The change won't be lost on potential DC plaintiffs and their lawyers. Better to move to address the problem than to wait for the courts to get involved.

Banneker's admissions system also leaves a lot to be desired. No test involved.

Just like in MD and VA, some very smart kids don't get a spot at the magnets. But, just as an example, look at the number and demographics of students scoring a 5 on PARCC: it is a very diverse group of kids, just like Walls. There is no reason for you to believe that there are kids there who aren't smart enough to be there, just because there are also smart kids who aren't there. There are more 8th graders scoring 5s on PARCC than there are seats at Walls.

Exactly! My Hispanic kids are extremely smart. Their Hispanic father has a PhD from a top university and naturalized at 20. There are very smart minorities that are smarter than white people! All the folks losing seats at magnets might not be as smart as others. Stop blaming affirmative action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC already has six application-only high schools -- Banneker, CHEC, Ellington, McKinley, Phelps and Walls. There are probably already too many for the size of the public school population.

None are test in.

Define test-in. Ellington and Walls have admissions tests, they all have admissions requirements.

Yes, but Walls uses a rather easy admissions test combined with an interview to screen candidates. In NYC, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and other US cities, affirmative action doesn't undergird admissions to the top test-in HS magnets to nearly the same extent as in DC.
The admissions tests are much tougher elsewhere, and interviews are seldom part of the process (because interviews giving screeners a tool to identify and favor minority applicants in the process).

The conversation about revamping Walls' admissions system is an awkward one the city shouldn't shy away from. I'd like to see low and moderate-income AA and Latino applicants benefit from much stronger MS academics, and support at city-run magnet test prep centers providing free test prep to all comers (as in Boston and NYC), to help them compete with more affluent applicants. To some extent, BASIS' MS has begun providing the service.

As things stand, minority applicants to Walls are sometimes given a pass to attend ahead of better prepared white applicants, an arrangement that lends itself to litigation. Sooner or later, a white family whose strong applicant failed to clear the Walls admissions bar, or a group of them, is going to sue. Once Trump gets an affirmative action-hostile justice onto the SC, the lower courts will be less likely to uphold affirmative action-based admissions at any level (public test-in ES, MS, HS, competitive admissions universities and colleges). The change won't be lost on potential DC plaintiffs and their lawyers. Better to move to address the problem than to wait for the courts to get involved.

Banneker's admissions system also leaves a lot to be desired. No test involved.

The Walls test is testing 8th graders on Algebra I and Geometry. How is that "easy"?

The Walls admission test using 8th grade common core standards. And how do you know the test is easy? How do you know the students who passed the test didn't do just that? I am honestly curious but also a little concerned that the implication is that the students didn't pass the test on their own merit.

[Anonymous]

Talk to academically advanced 9th graders (wherever they've landed for HS) who took the Walls entrance exam while in 8th grade at Deal or BASIS. If you're really interested, find a 9th grader who took trig or calculus in 8th at BASIS. Ask any of these kids if they found any section of the test remotely challenging.

As it happens, I have nephews whose parents are long divorced with one parent living in DC and the other living in NYC. Both boys took the Walls test and the SSAT (NYC's magnet HS test) last year, They gave me a uniform report on the two tests. The NYC test was "three times harder" than the Walls test. I trust their judgement, partly because both scored in the 600s on the SAT (for both English and Math) in 7th grade to quality to attend a Johns Hopkins CTY summer camp. They told me that the Walls test would have challenged them slightly in 7th grade, but by 8th it was a walk in the park. They were offered spots at Walls and Stuyvesant, and stayed in NYC with mom.

Here's a suggestion. Go to schooldigger.com and look up Walls, then "students." See how the % of white students at Walls has risen only slightly in the last 20 years. Now look into DC demographic info for white and upper middle-class teenagers. Draw your own conclusions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Until we switched from DC CAS to PARCC, those scores were part of the application school process. For more than one school you had to be proficient or advanced to apply.

We should do that again. But I don't see it happening.

So, standardized test scores are not considered for application HS's anymore? Which schools? Or all of them? My older kid applied when they used DC CAS scores but now my younger kid is in middle school so I guess I'm out of the loop - but will be applying for HS in 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC already has six application-only high schools -- Banneker, CHEC, Ellington, McKinley, Phelps and Walls. There are probably already too many for the size of the public school population.

And city-wide there is a glut of high school space, the city overall has far more classroom space than it needs. This is why DCPS won't take Wilson crowding seriously, they see it as a choice on the part of families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Until we switched from DC CAS to PARCC, those scores were part of the application school process. For more than one school you had to be proficient or advanced to apply.

We should do that again. But I don't see it happening.

So, standardized test scores are not considered for application HS's anymore? Which schools? Or all of them? My older kid applied when they used DC CAS scores but now my younger kid is in middle school so I guess I'm out of the loop - but will be applying for HS in 2 years.

Here's the grid. I think the PP was wrong -- they are not submitted to SWW or Ellington, but are for Banneker, McKinley and Phelps-- although it doesn't specify what standardized test.

http://www.myschooldc.org/how-apply/applying-selective-citywide-high-schools

[Anonymous]

Where OP do you propose to send the students that currently go to or have rights to Wilson? How do you propose to get them to actually do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where OP do you propose to send the students that currently go to or have rights to Wilson? How do you propose to get them to actually do that?

No OP, but boundaries would be redrawn, and Wilson becomes a city-wide magnet.

Given the size of the Wilson boundary, they probably wouldn't all be zoned to the same school.

Students could apply to the new Wilson magnet school, or one of the other application school, or go to their new IB.

Whether they do it or not is their choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where OP do you propose to send the students that currently go to or have rights to Wilson? How do you propose to get them to actually do that?

No OP, but boundaries would be redrawn, and Wilson becomes a city-wide magnet.

Given the size of the Wilson boundary, they probably wouldn't all be zoned to the same school.

Students could apply to the new Wilson magnet school, or one of the other application school, or go to their new IB.

Whether they do it or not is their choice.

But what becomes the neighborhood high school if Wilson becomes a "magnet," non-neighborhood, school. Tenleytown would become the only area of the city without a neighborhood school, how fair is that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where OP do you propose to send the students that currently go to or have rights to Wilson? How do you propose to get them to actually do that?

No OP, but boundaries would be redrawn, and Wilson becomes a city-wide magnet.

Given the size of the Wilson boundary, they probably wouldn't all be zoned to the same school.

Students could apply to the new Wilson magnet school, or one of the other application school, or go to their new IB.

Whether they do it or not is their choice.

But what becomes the neighborhood high school if Wilson becomes a "magnet," non-neighborhood, school. Tenleytown would become the only area of the city without a neighborhood school, how fair is that?

Having a failing HS is the same as having no neighborhood school. So how is it fair that your neighborhood has the only decent performing HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where OP do you propose to send the students that currently go to or have rights to Wilson? How do you propose to get them to actually do that?

No OP, but boundaries would be redrawn, and Wilson becomes a city-wide magnet.

Given the size of the Wilson boundary, they probably wouldn't all be zoned to the same school.

Students could apply to the new Wilson magnet school, or one of the other application school, or go to their new IB.

Whether they do it or not is their choice.

But what becomes the neighborhood high school if Wilson becomes a "magnet," non-neighborhood, school. Tenleytown would become the only area of the city without a neighborhood school, how fair is that?

DCP could look to MoCo for viable models dating to the 80s.

Blair Montgomery houses 2 test-in magnets, each with a county-wide draw, and Richard Montgomery houses its own magnet, an IB Diploma program. These several magnets are in such demand that they admit around 10% of 8th grade applicants.

In-boundary students enjoy a preference when applying for magnets because around 25% of spots are reserved for them. There are also theme academies within the schools, some with its own published admissions requirements. If no magnet or academy admits your child at your neighborhood school, they can still attend. They can also apply to the magnets and academies every year they attend in the hopes of filling a spot opened by attrition. Something for everybody at neighborhood schools housing school-within-a-school programs.