Dumb WaPoo Article on Public Schools

[Anonymous]

Diane Rehm show is discussing right now.

[Anonymous]

By the way, I wasn't looking for white children to make school decisions. I was looking for quality programming and high functioning leadership.

[Anonymous]

Which happened to co incide ( mostly) with diversity in the building--just as the GAO report shows is true around the country

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is one very superficial article. Public schools have generally failed to integrate because they don't offer an acceptable level of safety to all kids. Kids from tougher neighborhoods growing up with drug addition, sex abuse, prostitution, beatings, etc. act out (oftentimes very violently) in the classroom. Public schools and local governments do not offer real solutions to get these kids help and remove them from the classroom until they get "better" (or get to a foster home). So more affluent families choose to go private or move to the burbs, which is de fact segregation. Yes, all you limo liberals in MoCo, Arlington and Fairfax are de facto economic segregationists, and it's perfectly legal. Everyone in private school in DC or in upper-NW is also a de facto segregationist. I assume these groups include most Post staff. So WaPo, why not write about how you are de facto economic segregationists? Look yourselves in the mirror, please.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2016/05/17/on-the-anniversary-of-brown-v-board-new-evidence-that-u-s-schools-are-resegregating/

Wow. So poor kids should either be expelled from school or removed from their parents and sent to foster homes. Got it. OP you REALLY need to move out of DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is a link to the GAO report on which the article is based. http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/676745.pdf

As I read it, the report is saying something pretty similar to what OP suggested. Schools with students that are disproportionately black/Hispanic and low-income do worse on academic achievement measures. People who can afford to avoid schools with low academic achievement measures will avoid them. The people who can afford to avoid those schools are more often white. As a result, segregation increases because of income disparities. Various school districts have tried different tactics to encourage more racial diversity at schools, by giving extra money and better facilities to the schools that are low-income and black/Hispanic. But even those extra resources do not lead to much more diversity.

To me, it seems there are essentially two potential solutions:

1. Decide as a society that we value integration/diversity more highly than academic success. If maximizing integration is the goal, then schools and governments will essentially need to force students to integrate by race and income. This means upper and middle class students will somehow be forced into schools that are academically weaker, all in the name of increased diversity. The hope, of course, is that in more integrated/diverse schools, the academic success of wealthier/whiter students will somehow encourage the other students to academic improvement, but I have not seen much evidence that approach works.

2. Decide as a society that we value academic success for each student more highly than integration/diversity. This means we focus on lifting the academic achievement of each student, regardless of the impact on integration/diversity. That likely means we have fairly segregated schools in the short term, as we abandon efforts at diversity. It means lots of education money gets thrown at increasing the academic performance of black/Hispanic and low-income students. Hopefully, in the long term, it means we succeed in raising the academic performance of the black/Hispanic and low-income groups, so that integration naturally follows. (Speaking personally, I suspect that this approach would lead to more racial integration over time, but would never lead to much income integration because the wealthy will always have more money to spend on things that lead to improved academic performance.)

No, you misread the report and fundamentally misunderstand the legal principals. The point is that segregation is causing minority students to receive worse educations than white students, which is racial discrimination. It's not about balancing academic achievement vs segregation. We already know that segregation based on race that causes a disparage impact is illegal.

[Anonymous]

I would welcome a lawsuit that forced DC to integrate its schools. I was really against the idea of "choice sets" last year, but now I think it's a great idea. It just makes no sense that on Capitol Hill there are schools that are 50% white within less than a mile of schools that are 99% FARMS. I think that integrating Capitol Hill schools would be the best possible solution for everyone. That said I agree with posters that for upper grades and jr highs, DCPS would have to provide programming appropriate for on-grade level kids. I also think we need an even more robust charter sector, but one that is better regulated to ensure that all families have reasonable access to all kinds of charters -- KIPP style and CMI style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would welcome a lawsuit that forced DC to integrate its schools. I was really against the idea of "choice sets" last year, but now I think it's a great idea. It just makes no sense that on Capitol Hill there are schools that are 50% white within less than a mile of schools that are 99% FARMS. I think that integrating Capitol Hill schools would be the best possible solution for everyone. That said I agree with posters that for upper grades and jr highs, DCPS would have to provide programming appropriate for on-grade level kids. I also think we need an even more robust charter sector, but one that is better regulated to ensure that all families have reasonable access to all kinds of charters -- KIPP style and CMI style.

I supported the idea of choice sets when it first came out. I'd love to understand how/why your change of mind came about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would welcome a lawsuit that forced DC to integrate its schools. I was really against the idea of "choice sets" last year, but now I think it's a great idea. It just makes no sense that on Capitol Hill there are schools that are 50% white within less than a mile of schools that are 99% FARMS. I think that integrating Capitol Hill schools would be the best possible solution for everyone. That said I agree with posters that for upper grades and jr highs, DCPS would have to provide programming appropriate for on-grade level kids. I also think we need an even more robust charter sector, but one that is better regulated to ensure that all families have reasonable access to all kinds of charters -- KIPP style and CMI style.

I supported the idea of choice sets when it first came out. I'd love to understand how/why your change of mind came about.

DId it ever progress far enough for a draft sets to come out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would welcome a lawsuit that forced DC to integrate its schools. I was really against the idea of "choice sets" last year, but now I think it's a great idea. It just makes no sense that on Capitol Hill there are schools that are 50% white within less than a mile of schools that are 99% FARMS. I think that integrating Capitol Hill schools would be the best possible solution for everyone. That said I agree with posters that for upper grades and jr highs, DCPS would have to provide programming appropriate for on-grade level kids. I also think we need an even more robust charter sector, but one that is better regulated to ensure that all families have reasonable access to all kinds of charters -- KIPP style and CMI style.

I supported the idea of choice sets when it first came out. I'd love to understand how/why your change of mind came about.

DId it ever progress far enough for a draft sets to come out?

Yes - the proposal specified the choice sets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would welcome a lawsuit that forced DC to integrate its schools. I was really against the idea of "choice sets" last year, but now I think it's a great idea. It just makes no sense that on Capitol Hill there are schools that are 50% white within less than a mile of schools that are 99% FARMS. I think that integrating Capitol Hill schools would be the best possible solution for everyone. That said I agree with posters that for upper grades and jr highs, DCPS would have to provide programming appropriate for on-grade level kids. I also think we need an even more robust charter sector, but one that is better regulated to ensure that all families have reasonable access to all kinds of charters -- KIPP style and CMI style.

High SES whites would never send their kids to KIPP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would welcome a lawsuit that forced DC to integrate its schools. I was really against the idea of "choice sets" last year, but now I think it's a great idea. It just makes no sense that on Capitol Hill there are schools that are 50% white within less than a mile of schools that are 99% FARMS. I think that integrating Capitol Hill schools would be the best possible solution for everyone. That said I agree with posters that for upper grades and jr highs, DCPS would have to provide programming appropriate for on-grade level kids. I also think we need an even more robust charter sector, but one that is better regulated to ensure that all families have reasonable access to all kinds of charters -- KIPP style and CMI style.

I supported the idea of choice sets when it first came out. I'd love to understand how/why your change of mind came about.

I think it was the discussion of consolidating Ward 6 middle schools, plus a crappy experience at our "white" DCPS, that made me realize that 1) even if "flipped" schools are working for elementary, jr high & high school are still a big issue; and 2) "flipped" was not synonymous at all with school quality for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would welcome a lawsuit that forced DC to integrate its schools. I was really against the idea of "choice sets" last year, but now I think it's a great idea. It just makes no sense that on Capitol Hill there are schools that are 50% white within less than a mile of schools that are 99% FARMS. I think that integrating Capitol Hill schools would be the best possible solution for everyone. That said I agree with posters that for upper grades and jr highs, DCPS would have to provide programming appropriate for on-grade level kids. I also think we need an even more robust charter sector, but one that is better regulated to ensure that all families have reasonable access to all kinds of charters -- KIPP style and CMI style.

High SES whites would never send their kids to KIPP.

Sure they would. I guess you've never met a high SES family with a troubled kid ... it does happen, believe it or not!

[Anonymous]

Yes

It's not rocket science

All the white people/high SES but still mostly white actually in public schools are

1. NW
2. Capitol Hill
3. A few select charters which are at least 35% white

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would welcome a lawsuit that forced DC to integrate its schools. I was really against the idea of "choice sets" last year, but now I think it's a great idea. It just makes no sense that on Capitol Hill there are schools that are 50% white within less than a mile of schools that are 99% FARMS. I think that integrating Capitol Hill schools would be the best possible solution for everyone. That said I agree with posters that for upper grades and jr highs, DCPS would have to provide programming appropriate for on-grade level kids. I also think we need an even more robust charter sector, but one that is better regulated to ensure that all families have reasonable access to all kinds of charters -- KIPP style and CMI style.

High SES whites would never send their kids to KIPP.

Sure they would. I guess you've never met a high SES family with a troubled kid ... it does happen, believe it or not!

So why don't they then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes

It's not rocket science

All the white people/high SES but still mostly white actually in public schools are

1. NW
2. Capitol Hill
3. A few select charters which are at least 35% white

What's the problem with 35% white?????? That seems ideal. The confusion here is: are we talking racial desegregation or socioeconomic desegregation? They are not the same thing.