APS: Four options for Ed Center seats: STEAM, Performing Arts, Early College or IB expansion

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone on this listserv says the county will never create another HB Woodlawn. I frankly think after taking the survey that people need to ask that this be considered. What is the point of an expansion of an Ed Center if it ends up underenrolled? We want an option that people want, so that overenrollments in existing comprehensive schools drops. This is not complicated! If 4% of the list gets into HBWoodlawn right now, open up a second school on a progressive education model, and reduce overcrowding with a school that parents want to send their children to.

I could not get into any of the four options listed. If IB continues at WL, how does IB at Ed Center change anything? None of the other options make a lot of sense to me. They smell to me like programs begging to be under-filled, while enrollments surge at the other schools.

Not everyone wants HB, and I'm glad the county is considering creating opportunities for those students as well instead of catering solely to the would-be HB crowd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone on this listserv says the county will never create another HB Woodlawn. I frankly think after taking the survey that people need to ask that this be considered. What is the point of an expansion of an Ed Center if it ends up underenrolled? We want an option that people want, so that overenrollments in existing comprehensive schools drops. This is not complicated! If 4% of the list gets into HBWoodlawn right now, open up a second school on a progressive education model, and reduce overcrowding with a school that parents want to send their children to.

I could not get into any of the four options listed. If IB continues at WL, how does IB at Ed Center change anything? None of the other options make a lot of sense to me. They smell to me like programs begging to be under-filled, while enrollments surge at the other schools.

Not everyone wants HB, and I'm glad the county is considering creating opportunities for those students as well instead of catering solely to the would-be HB crowd.

NP.

Which one of options do you think would have solid demand?

I'm with PP. Make it something like HB where we actually have demand.

[Anonymous]

DP

The only option they've proposed that I think makes any sense is IB, but only if it expands the program so that more students can have access. That's what people want--out of their base school to a "better" program. I think a second HB would also be popular. There's no pent up demand for these other programs, despite what some SB members seem to think. This is Arlington, land of the striver. Not sure why APS staff and the SB can't understand that. For those not inclined to enter "pressure cookers", that's what the neighborhood schools are for. And if they want to draw people out of their base schools, it has to be something BETTER than they could get nearby. That's how this works. Otherwise get some spines and redraw the boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:. If IB continues at WL, how does IB at Ed Center change anything?

Well, it would mean using a building that can hold 600 students being used for a program that has far fewer than 600 students. It means assuming that IB teachers only teach IB classes. It means making a decision without any awareness of this actually works.

So Pat Murphy probably thinks it's a great idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is early college?

Every graduating high school senior would also graduate with an associate's degree.

Seems useless

For kids going to public university, they can skip two years of instruction, which can save a huge amount of tuition. For some families and kids with modest academic aspirations it can work well.

My HS had it, so I had almost two years of community college credit; but I went out of state to a more rigorous private university and the credits were worthless. As academics, it was a mixed bag, I think better than most Honors courses, but not as valuable as AP/IB. But without the high stakes of the AP test to get credit, which again for mainstream academics is a good deal.

Are there hundreds of students like this whose needs aren't or won't be met by the Career Center/Arl Tech? Don't they pretty much offer the same thing and have the same vibe? For the kids who either already know what field they'd like to work in upon graduation and want to accelerate their ability to earn a living and/or for the students who aren't on the highly selective university track?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone on this listserv says the county will never create another HB Woodlawn. I frankly think after taking the survey that people need to ask that this be considered. What is the point of an expansion of an Ed Center if it ends up underenrolled? We want an option that people want, so that overenrollments in existing comprehensive schools drops. This is not complicated! If 4% of the list gets into HBWoodlawn right now, open up a second school on a progressive education model, and reduce overcrowding with a school that parents want to send their children to.

I could not get into any of the four options listed. If IB continues at WL, how does IB at Ed Center change anything? None of the other options make a lot of sense to me. They smell to me like programs begging to be under-filled, while enrollments surge at the other schools.

Not everyone wants HB, and I'm glad the county is considering creating opportunities for those students as well instead of catering solely to the would-be HB crowd.

NP.

Which one of options do you think would have solid demand?

I'm with PP. Make it something like HB where we actually have demand.

I think STEAM would have a lot of appeal, and I think there could be a substantial draw for the early college program as well, especially for groups outside of the particularly affluent N.A. crowd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone on this listserv says the county will never create another HB Woodlawn. I frankly think after taking the survey that people need to ask that this be considered. What is the point of an expansion of an Ed Center if it ends up underenrolled? We want an option that people want, so that overenrollments in existing comprehensive schools drops. This is not complicated! If 4% of the list gets into HBWoodlawn right now, open up a second school on a progressive education model, and reduce overcrowding with a school that parents want to send their children to.

I could not get into any of the four options listed. If IB continues at WL, how does IB at Ed Center change anything? None of the other options make a lot of sense to me. They smell to me like programs begging to be under-filled, while enrollments surge at the other schools.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone on this listserv says the county will never create another HB Woodlawn. I frankly think after taking the survey that people need to ask that this be considered. What is the point of an expansion of an Ed Center if it ends up underenrolled? We want an option that people want, so that overenrollments in existing comprehensive schools drops. This is not complicated! If 4% of the list gets into HBWoodlawn right now, open up a second school on a progressive education model, and reduce overcrowding with a school that parents want to send their children to.

I could not get into any of the four options listed. If IB continues at WL, how does IB at Ed Center change anything? None of the other options make a lot of sense to me. They smell to me like programs begging to be under-filled, while enrollments surge at the other schools.

Not everyone wants HB, and I'm glad the county is considering creating opportunities for those students as well instead of catering solely to the would-be HB crowd.

NP.

Which one of options do you think would have solid demand?

I'm with PP. Make it something like HB where we actually have demand.

I think STEAM would have a lot of appeal, and I think there could be a substantial draw for the early college program as well, especially for groups outside of the particularly affluent N.A. crowd.

STEAM is not an actual thing. It's just what all curriculum should be, hence why all neighborhood ES are now going to be called "STEAM." It's just what the ordinary curriculum is/should be. And both STEAM and early college sound too much like Arl Tech/Career Center. WHY DO WE NEED SO MANY OF THESE PROGRAMS?!?!?! How about we try to let Arl Tech grow first, and see if it even can before creating a replica. Also, I live in South Arlington. I don't want anything for my children other than a traditional college track HS program, and won't send them further from home unless it's to a program that they can't get closer to home. And STEAM/early college isn't it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is steam different, in practice, from a normal high school that has science/tech and arts classes?

Also, how is it in any way possible that Arlington would have three population for a performing arts high school? I love FAME as much as the next person, but is that practical here?

Why wouldn’t it be practical? Is Arlington devoid of creative people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is steam different, in practice, from a normal high school that has science/tech and arts classes?

Also, how is it in any way possible that Arlington would have three population for a performing arts high school? I love FAME as much as the next person, but is that practical here?

Why wouldn’t it be practical? Is Arlington devoid of creative people?

Yes. Are you new here?

[Anonymous]

I'd be curious how many people try to lottery into HB because they really like the format, and how many do it because it's a better learning environment in terms of not being massively overcrowded and lost in the shuffle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd be curious how many people try to lottery into HB because they really like the format, and how many do it because it's a better learning environment in terms of not being massively overcrowded and lost in the shuffle.

Isn't that the same thing? It's a smaller school, all the adults basically know all the kids, the TA format and first-name thing lets kids form closer, more trusting relationships with teachers--it's all part of the format and size.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd be curious how many people try to lottery into HB because they really like the format, and how many do it because it's a better learning environment in terms of not being massively overcrowded and lost in the shuffle.

Isn't that the same thing? It's a smaller school, all the adults basically know all the kids, the TA format and first-name thing lets kids form closer, more trusting relationships with teachers--it's all part of the format and size.

Without judging, let's say I'm not a fan of the egalitarian, call teachers by first names, open campus concept. BUT, I don't want my child lost in the shuffle of a mega HS like the three comprehensive HS's are becoming, so we enter him in the HB lottery anyway. ArlTech is another small program, and that in itself might be compelling to people, even if the fundamental format isn't their first choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone on this listserv says the county will never create another HB Woodlawn. I frankly think after taking the survey that people need to ask that this be considered. What is the point of an expansion of an Ed Center if it ends up underenrolled? We want an option that people want, so that overenrollments in existing comprehensive schools drops. This is not complicated! If 4% of the list gets into HBWoodlawn right now, open up a second school on a progressive education model, and reduce overcrowding with a school that parents want to send their children to.

I could not get into any of the four options listed. If IB continues at WL, how does IB at Ed Center change anything? None of the other options make a lot of sense to me. They smell to me like programs begging to be under-filled, while enrollments surge at the other schools.

+1.

By the fall of 2021, APS projects that Wakefield will have 2,316 students, Yorktown 2,282 students and Washington-Lee a whopping 2,906 students. And this is all assuming that Arlington Tech is a success and 700 students are enrolled. The SB absolutely must come up with a plan for the Ed Center and the additional seats at the career center that will actually attract lots of students who are within the W-L boundaries and eventually the Wakefield boundaries, since those are the two HS projected to be most overcrowded in the next decade.

Meanwhile, in the fall of 2021 HB's high school component is projected to enroll 440 students. And by the fall of 2026 when Wakefield is projected to have 2,947 students, Washington-Lee 3,127 students and Yorktown 2,336 students - well, HB's high school will still be at 440 students. So unless an HB style program at the Ed Center or career center actually enrolls between 700 and 800 high school students, another HB at either location will not reduce overcrowding to the degree needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone on this listserv says the county will never create another HB Woodlawn. I frankly think after taking the survey that people need to ask that this be considered. What is the point of an expansion of an Ed Center if it ends up underenrolled? We want an option that people want, so that overenrollments in existing comprehensive schools drops. This is not complicated! If 4% of the list gets into HBWoodlawn right now, open up a second school on a progressive education model, and reduce overcrowding with a school that parents want to send their children to.

I could not get into any of the four options listed. If IB continues at WL, how does IB at Ed Center change anything? None of the other options make a lot of sense to me. They smell to me like programs begging to be under-filled, while enrollments surge at the other schools.

+1.

By the fall of 2021, APS projects that Wakefield will have 2,316 students, Yorktown 2,282 students and Washington-Lee a whopping 2,906 students. And this is all assuming that Arlington Tech is a success and 700 students are enrolled. The SB absolutely must come up with a plan for the Ed Center and the additional seats at the career center that will actually attract lots of students who are within the W-L boundaries and eventually the Wakefield boundaries, since those are the two HS projected to be most overcrowded in the next decade.

Meanwhile, in the fall of 2021 HB's high school component is projected to enroll 440 students. And by the fall of 2026 when Wakefield is projected to have 2,947 students, Washington-Lee 3,127 students and Yorktown 2,336 students - well, HB's high school will still be at 440 students. So unless an HB style program at the Ed Center or career center actually enrolls between 700 and 800 high school students, another HB at either location will not reduce overcrowding to the degree needed.

These numbers are huge (and probably underestimate the actual numbers given APS's poor track record). If another HB were to be opened at Arlington Tech and the Ed Center, trust me there would be enough interest. The other types of programs all strike me as blah.