Wilson High -- Principal Selection Meeting/Anyone Go?

[Anonymous]

I missed last evening's community meeting at Wilson to discuss the new principal process with the Asst. Super and others. Anyone go? Anything interesting?

[jsteele]

I wasn't able to attend, but the Wilson Twitter feed had a lot of updates. It looks like the "gay mafia" poster will be disappointed. It was specifically stated that the new principal will not be able to change the rest of the administrative staff and the list of characteristics being sought didn't include "intellectual".

[Anonymous]

Ha ha thanks Jeff

[Anonymous]

Why wouldn't a school head have the authority to make changes on the senior school leadership team? That's daft.

[Anonymous]

The big push from DCPS is for an instructional leader. They want someone who will increase the number of AA and Hispanic students who take AP classes. My impression was more kids in AP classes will close the acheivement gap, according to dcps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The big push from DCPS is for an instructional leader. They want someone who will increase the number of AA and Hispanic students who take AP classes. My impression was more kids in AP classes will close the acheivement gap, according to dcps.

They're just playing with numbers. What does it matter if you shove a kid into an AP course that he or she is unprepared for? Raising achievement requires hard work, not a quick, cosmetic fix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The big push from DCPS is for an instructional leader. They want someone who will increase the number of AA and Hispanic students who take AP classes. My impression was more kids in AP classes will close the achievement gap, according to dcps.

DCPS said it puts the highest priority on instruction one of the six qualities they look for in school leaders. The issue around disparities came up when a parent asked about where Cahall had failed. The % of students of color in AP classes is just ONE of many metrics that show the ongoing achevement gap at Wilson - it's not the only metric. DCPS staff also said that they would share the historical data they looked at so that we as parents could see for the data points for ourselves.

I don't have a problem with trying to increase participation in AP classes. I do have a problem with saddling a new prinicpal with meeting a goal (closing the achievement gap) that virtually no other jurisdiction has been able to figure out how to significantly improve. This is a problem that has existed forever. It was a huge issue for me as an AA parent in deciding to enroll my kids at Wilson. Things have worked out far better than I anticipated but this issue of disparities is one that needs to be addressed. It would be valuable if DCPS could show parents credible examples of promising strategies that have worked in other places. And these strategies have to work but not at the expense of other students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The big push from DCPS is for an instructional leader. They want someone who will increase the number of AA and Hispanic students who take AP classes. My impression was more kids in AP classes will close the acheivement gap, according to dcps.

They're just playing with numbers. What does it matter if you shove a kid into an AP course that he or she is unprepared for? Raising achievement requires hard work, not a quick, cosmetic fix.

Well, I think it really, really matters to the kids who are prepared to be that class, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The big push from DCPS is for an instructional leader. They want someone who will increase the number of AA and Hispanic students who take AP classes. My impression was more kids in AP classes will close the achievement gap, according to dcps.

DCPS said it puts the highest priority on instruction one of the six qualities they look for in school leaders. The issue around disparities came up when a parent asked about where Cahall had failed. The % of students of color in AP classes is just ONE of many metrics that show the ongoing achevement gap at Wilson - it's not the only metric. DCPS staff also said that they would share the historical data they looked at so that we as parents could see for the data points for ourselves.

I don't have a problem with trying to increase participation in AP classes. I do have a problem with saddling a new prinicpal with meeting a goal (closing the achievement gap) that virtually no other jurisdiction has been able to figure out how to significantly improve. This is a problem that has existed forever. It was a huge issue for me as an AA parent in deciding to enroll my kids at Wilson. Things have worked out far better than I anticipated but this issue of disparities is one that needs to be addressed. It would be valuable if DCPS could show parents credible examples of promising strategies that have worked in other places. And these strategies have to work but not at the expense of other students.

Agree PP. I posted about DCPS pushing AP classes, and I don't see that as closing the achievement gap. I don't have a magical answer about how to improve disparities. It is very difficult at the HS level to try to get students caught up if they are behind. And I completely think it's unreasonable to think a new principal will be able to magically close this gap. It is a complex issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The big push from DCPS is for an instructional leader. They want someone who will increase the number of AA and Hispanic students who take AP classes. My impression was more kids in AP classes will close the achievement gap, according to dcps.

DCPS said it puts the highest priority on instruction one of the six qualities they look for in school leaders. The issue around disparities came up when a parent asked about where Cahall had failed. The % of students of color in AP classes is just ONE of many metrics that show the ongoing achevement gap at Wilson - it's not the only metric. DCPS staff also said that they would share the historical data they looked at so that we as parents could see for the data points for ourselves.

I don't have a problem with trying to increase participation in AP classes. I do have a problem with saddling a new prinicpal with meeting a goal (closing the achievement gap) that virtually no other jurisdiction has been able to figure out how to significantly improve. This is a problem that has existed forever. It was a huge issue for me as an AA parent in deciding to enroll my kids at Wilson. Things have worked out far better than I anticipated but this issue of disparities is one that needs to be addressed. It would be valuable if DCPS could show parents credible examples of promising strategies that have worked in other places. And these strategies have to work but not at the expense of other students.

Agree PP. I posted about DCPS pushing AP classes, and I don't see that as closing the achievement gap. I don't have a magical answer about how to improve disparities. It is very difficult at the HS level to try to get students caught up if they are behind. And I completely think it's unreasonable to think a new principal will be able to magically close this gap. It is a complex issue.

It's completely stupid and if they are don't know that by now, they are in total denial and Wilson and DCPS is in real trouble. It's like being on a death march. Can someone confirm that DCPS actually expects a new principal to narrow the achievement gap by getting more minority kids into AP classes in hs?

Perhaps some clever Wilson parent who has the data and knows statistics can show how this is impossible and a disservice to the Wilson community to use the students in this doomed experiment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldn't a school head have the authority to make changes on the senior school leadership team? That's daft.

to preserve the LGBT mafia, why else?

[Anonymous]

It's like they gave up on the idea that the teachers were bad and have decided the problem must be the principal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The big push from DCPS is for an instructional leader. They want someone who will increase the number of AA and Hispanic students who take AP classes. My impression was more kids in AP classes will close the achievement gap, according to dcps.

DCPS said it puts the highest priority on instruction one of the six qualities they look for in school leaders. The issue around disparities came up when a parent asked about where Cahall had failed. The % of students of color in AP classes is just ONE of many metrics that show the ongoing achevement gap at Wilson - it's not the only metric. DCPS staff also said that they would share the historical data they looked at so that we as parents could see for the data points for ourselves.

I don't have a problem with trying to increase participation in AP classes. I do have a problem with saddling a new prinicpal with meeting a goal (closing the achievement gap) that virtually no other jurisdiction has been able to figure out how to significantly improve. This is a problem that has existed forever. It was a huge issue for me as an AA parent in deciding to enroll my kids at Wilson. Things have worked out far better than I anticipated but this issue of disparities is one that needs to be addressed. It would be valuable if DCPS could show parents credible examples of promising strategies that have worked in other places. And these strategies have to work but not at the expense of other students.

Agree PP. I posted about DCPS pushing AP classes, and I don't see that as closing the achievement gap. I don't have a magical answer about how to improve disparities. It is very difficult at the HS level to try to get students caught up if they are behind. And I completely think it's unreasonable to think a new principal will be able to magically close this gap. It is a complex issue.

It's completely stupid and if they are don't know that by now, they are in total denial and Wilson and DCPS is in real trouble. It's like being on a death march. Can someone confirm that DCPS actually expects a new principal to narrow the achievement gap by getting more minority kids into AP classes in hs?

Perhaps some clever Wilson parent who has the data and knows statistics can show how this is impossible and a disservice to the Wilson community to use the students in this doomed experiment

No. No. This is not what DCPS said. The AP statistics were just an example of one of the metrics they want to see improved. There are other metrics they look at and they agreed to share. The overarching message was that the gap was not being closed quickly enough, not that enrollment in AP would close the gap.

I think analysis of data would be important. These data should be parsed by race/ethnicity, income level, and by feeder schools if possible. I'd also like to see DCPS give us a summary of their analysis as well, so we can compare.

[Anonymous]

How could DPCS think a new principal can close the gap when they can't even figure it out themselves.......

I think an important thing to look at is where the students are when they come in and where they are when they leave- do they improve at Wilson?

I do think there is a big push for students of all levels to take AP classes- think of the ridiculous Jay Matthews rankings.

Despite what

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How could DPCS think a new principal can close the gap when they can't even figure it out themselves.......

I think an important thing to look at is where the students are when they come in and where they are when they leave- do they improve at Wilson?

I do think there is a big push for students of all levels to take AP classes- think of the ridiculous Jay Matthews rankings.

Despite what

The gap was already closing under Cahall -- but apparently DCPS thinks someone else can close it even faster? How's a new principal supposed to do that?