AA Boys at JKLMM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the most important thing is the quality of education at a school, not the "diversity". I think parents need to focus on this, rather than the percentage of kids who "look" a certain way.

While I agree that the most important thing is the quality of education at a school, diversity is also important. I went to a small (~400 students) middle school that was 95% white. It was very difficult being one of the few non-white kids. My high school was about 80% white and that was a much better experience. I wouldn't want to send my kids to a school where they were one of a few non-white kids.

Diversity is important but still a secondary goal to academic quality I know one elementary school in Northwest that used to put "diverse" as the first item in their mission statement. They rewrote it after a number of parents expressed the view that diversity is the icing on the cake but not the cake itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Janney second grade parent here. This post prompted me to get out the directory during this 2 hour delay.
In Janney second grade:
121 students
4 --black students with black parents
3 --black students with 1 white, 1 black parent
2 --black students adopted to white parents

Are these students biracial or is this a step parent situation where the child has two AA biological parents and a white step parent? I think it's an important distinction. Biracial kids look all kinds of ways, so a blanket treatment for them would be misleading. My biracial kid looks completely white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a daughter, not a son, but I'm not interested in any of the JKLMM set. Looking at Shepherd.

Well, where do you live right now?

Are you the poster from a few weeks back who airily said she was "not planning to lottery into Janney" or similar?

Nope, that one wasn't me.

[Anonymous]

While statistically, Janney might be very white, and as others have said, it really is much more diverse and multi-colored when you take into account the number of students coming from foreign parents, or adopted, or from gay parents, etc., and while we haven't been at the school long, it seems to be very welcoming to all from what I can tell, but then almost all of the parents/families are coming from a similar social-economic background for the most part. to me the lack of diversity at this type of school is really ses based vs, race/ethnicity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious as to why JKLMM doesn't include E!H and S.

Why aren't Eaton, Hearst and Stoddert considered in the same league?

There is a qualitative difference with the JKLMM schools -- just about everyone who attends is in-boundary, and just about everyone who is in-boundary who goes to public school attends. This is starkly different from the rest of public education in DC, where roughly three quarters of kids don't attend their in-boundary school. Eaton and Hearst are dominated by OOB kids so they don't fit that profile.

Stoddert is kind of a mixed bag.

[Anonymous]

I'm at a low-diversity, low FARMS DCPS, and my active, white 1st grader has been labeled the disruptive one in the group over the 2AA boys in his class (both of whom are quite active as well.) No pigeonholing there.

That stated, I do wish there was more diversity but it seems next to impossible to achieve in this city, it's either one or the other - even charters look like this don't they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm at a low-diversity, low FARMS DCPS, and my active, white 1st grader has been labeled the disruptive one in the group over the 2AA boys in his class (both of whom are quite active as well.) No pigeonholing there.

That stated, I do wish there was more diversity but it seems next to impossible to achieve in this city, it's either one or the other - even charters look like this don't they?

Not what was asked. Couldn't help yourself, could you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the most important thing is the quality of education at a school, not the "diversity". I think parents need to focus on this, rather than the percentage of kids who "look" a certain way.

While I agree that the most important thing is the quality of education at a school, diversity is also important. I went to a small (~400 students) middle school that was 95% white. It was very difficult being one of the few non-white kids. My high school was about 80% white and that was a much better experience. I wouldn't want to send my kids to a school where they were one of a few non-white kids.

I see your viewpoint and understand how tough it was being non-white in those settings...... but as a white parent of Janney kids, I am very glad that there are at least some AA and biracial children in my kids classes. I want my kids to relate to black (and other minority) children as peers and friends. Also was happy that my child has had AA teachers to see AAs positions of authority around them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm at a low-diversity, low FARMS DCPS, and my active, white 1st grader has been labeled the disruptive one in the group over the 2AA boys in his class (both of whom are quite active as well.) No pigeonholing there.

That stated, I do wish there was more diversity but it seems next to impossible to achieve in this city, it's either one or the other - even charters look like this don't they?

Not what was asked. Couldn't help yourself, could you?

Sorry, you're right. Adds nothing to the discourse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm at a low-diversity, low FARMS DCPS, and my active, white 1st grader has been labeled the disruptive one in the group over the 2AA boys in his class (both of whom are quite active as well.) No pigeonholing there.

That stated, I do wish there was more diversity but it seems next to impossible to achieve in this city, it's either one or the other - even charters look like this don't they?

Not what was asked. Couldn't help yourself, could you?

That poster was offering another perspective, why the snark?

-Not the PP you were responding to

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You'll find the most diversity (in the superficial racial sense) at Murch, the wannabee M that its boosters keep trying to attach to JKLM.

Just curious, why shouldn't "Murch" be attached to JKLM?

NP. Some people correctly point out that, if there can be only one /M/, it should probably be the M school with the higher scores, the better facility, and the higher SES parent body. The clear winner there is Mann. However there may be two /M/ schools in Ward 3. If so, then there's no reason not to throw in Murch. Whose facility is overcrowded, whose parent body is less uniformly high income, and, oddly, whose standardized test scores have fallen every year for the past several years, to the point that they're now lower than a bunch of other schools.

As a neighborhood parent, that last point is the most compelling one. Especially because current Murch parents publicly and proudly announce that they don't care. See previous DCUM threads.

Your facts about scores are out of date, and to to claim anything on DCUM represents all parents from one school is dubious at best. Test scores rose last year while falling at several other JKLMM schools. In years where the tests didn't align with what schools were supposed to be teaching, other JKLMM schools had higher scores. When the two were aligned better last year, Murch's scores rose and others were level or dropped. As a parent, that would worry me that other schools were teaching more to the test. Also, we aren't talking about huge differences in test scores between these schools - less than 5% difference in all these schools being discussed.

BTW, if you are putting a lot of weight on test scores, I hope you also aren't wondering how to opt your children out of any tests DC wants to give. You can't have it both ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious as to why JKLMM doesn't include E!H and S.

Why aren't Eaton, Hearst and Stoddert considered in the same league?

There is a qualitative difference with the JKLMM schools -- just about everyone who attends is in-boundary, and just about everyone who is in-boundary who goes to public school attends. This is starkly different from the rest of public education in DC, where roughly three quarters of kids don't attend their in-boundary school. Eaton and Hearst are dominated by OOB kids so they don't fit that profile.

Stoddert is kind of a mixed bag.

Under this definition so is Murch. I don't know anyone other than Murch parents who really believe it is at the JKLM level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious as to why JKLMM doesn't include E!H and S.

Why aren't Eaton, Hearst and Stoddert considered in the same league?

There is a qualitative difference with the JKLMM schools -- just about everyone who attends is in-boundary, and just about everyone who is in-boundary who goes to public school attends. This is starkly different from the rest of public education in DC, where roughly three quarters of kids don't attend their in-boundary school. Eaton and Hearst are dominated by OOB kids so they don't fit that profile.

Stoddert is kind of a mixed bag.

NP. So you're saying because a school's profile isn't 100% IB, they don't earn a right to be considered just as top notch as JKLM. I call BS. In my perspective (and many non original JKLM parents), Stoddert, Eaton, Hearst should belong there if not more so because they are successful and diverse. PP that asked, many of us have already changed it to EHJKLMMORSS (it's just easier to type JKLM). The old guard doesn't want to allow others into the cool club for fear of it becoming a deluded pool. As if more successful schools will cause their property values to go down in the $100ks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While statistically, Janney might be very white, and as others have said, it really is much more diverse and multi-colored when you take into account the number of students coming from foreign parents, or adopted, or from gay parents, etc., and while we haven't been at the school long, it seems to be very welcoming to all from what I can tell, but then almost all of the parents/families are coming from a similar social-economic background for the most part. to me the lack of diversity at this type of school is really ses based vs, race/ethnicity.

Sorry, the definition of diversity in DC is pretty simple. AA or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious as to why JKLMM doesn't include E!H and S.

Why aren't Eaton, Hearst and Stoddert considered in the same league?

There is a qualitative difference with the JKLMM schools -- just about everyone who attends is in-boundary, and just about everyone who is in-boundary who goes to public school attends. This is starkly different from the rest of public education in DC, where roughly three quarters of kids don't attend their in-boundary school. Eaton and Hearst are dominated by OOB kids so they don't fit that profile.

Stoddert is kind of a mixed bag.

Under this definition so is Murch. I don't know anyone other than Murch parents who really believe it is at the JKLM level.

Oh, it's you again.