Public education: competing interests, philosophical divide
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Anonymous
We don't know each other obviously on the anonymous internet, but I am nevertheless certain you are young. Young enough to have not lived through the early 70s and been cognizant of what was happening around you WRT public schools. the first "S" in SES is for socio (economic status). right? so by saying 'high SES,' this means that this group of parent-homebuyers has high educational attainment, high career success, high prestige within their careers, high discipline, high drive, high goal-oriented behavior .... regardless of their take-home pay. (the "E" in SES). This ^^^ breed of parent-homebuyer, isn't going to rush right in and "replace" the newly destabilized DCPS system, buying right-priced housing that was 1) existing, & just vacated by departed high SES parents or 2) newly built affordable middle-class SFHs. This ^^^breed of parent-homebuyer didn't get where they are today (remember, great pedigree, not "high paycheck") by settling for good enough, so-so, destablized schools and 1+ hour bus commutes for their 4 year olds. That would be an irrational decision, and adults with the high SOCIO status didn't make it to the top by making a series of irrational decisions. Also? you are way off base on your low estimate about the percentage of high achievers who will decamp to other school districts or private. see, e.g., every. single. US city where bussing occurred |
Anonymous
+100 It is a nice idea in theory until your DC gets sent to a "close" school 2 miles away. This past year we had to walk our 3 year old a mile to his OOB school. At first it was fun, actually for a while it was. But doing that walk in Feb when it is 20 degrees outside and pitch black outside was not fun or even safe. It is a fine neighborhood but we live in the city and stuff happens. We did it for a year and thankfully our first choice came through this year. As much as we love our house and neighborhood, i don't think we would do it for 8 years. The way to get more seats in high quality schools is to get hyper local and find schools that could be turned into good ones so SES families want to go there. There will be a lag before it is totally full of IB students so OOB get in as well. Meanwhile, you are repeating the process at another school. Her Honor offered a "Deal for all," I'd be happy with "An additional Deal." |
Anonymous
| San Francisco tried that lottery ffa no boundaries and no school buses thing. I believe it is a cluster. |
Anonymous
Correct which is why we need a "good" middle school on Capitol Hill to prevent people from leaving Its a tipping point issue. School X is title 1 low scores.... couple people see potential.... high SES comes in..... school is no longer title 1.... becomes hot choice option flips and bam high performing school jsut keep doing that over and over again... its tough to find the initial first movers but they are out there if you look. |
Anonymous
And yet this does not actually do much to raise the achievement of the low-scoring kids, who still need to be educated somewhere. The teachers don't necessarily change; nor does the curriculum, the administration, or the physical school building. The test scores get higher at some schools, but that is not itself an indication of an improvement for DC as a whole. |
Anonymous
Yes, the Hill has been hoping for the "bam!" middle school for about 35 years now. |
Anonymous
And they're typically not willing to stick through for the full run of the school. Sometimes just PK. Then "Bam" your magic flipping looks a lot more like a gradual shift. Which is happening in many schools EOTP. |
Anonymous
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agreeded its a gradual process each one of those stages takes years... but I think for many on this board they feel like it is a suddne change instead of a very gradual process
its waht needs to happen on Capitol Hill instead of people bailing. The nubmers are there for a middle school |
Anonymous
Agreeded. I think the charters are the best for those kids. The SES (highly motivated) parents are also trying to game the system but charters are really about providing an option when none exists not to maybe push your kid to a sllightly better outcome when the neighborhood school is already doing ok |
Anonymous
The overall numbers are there, but the consolidation/coordination is not, and DCPS is willfully blind to that. That's why Latin/Basis/DCI are the preferred middle schools for higher SES families on the Hill. |
Anonymous
Simple example to demonstrate ... In this "no-neighborhood schools" paradigm, where every seat becomes a lottery chance, the Janney Family of AU Park enters the mandatory lottery to find out where their son will attend high school. Their lottery results assign their teen to Dunbar, where a whopping 95% of students are not proficient in math http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Dunbar+High+School The Janney Family rationally decides not to send their capable son to a high school where 95% of students can't add 4 numbers together. The Janney Family puts their brick colonial on the market and moves to a different school district in Maryland or Virginia that has assigned schools. (they can't afford private x 3 kids). Who will purchase their 5-bedroom colonial? a) a childless gay couple or a couple of empty nesters b) a moderate income family of non-profit employees who cares deeply about education c) a high SES couple of lawyers who care deeply about education but, just like the Janney Family, cannot afford $120,000 annual tuition after taxes d) a single woman with no kids, because she loves living in a 5-bedroom house e) an investor, who will rent the large home to several unrelated AU students (see, e.g., 1970 to 1998 Washington DC). |
Anonymous
This sounds like the lament of a Hill parent who would like to have a high performing neighborhood MS option (Deal, as opposed to SH). It simply is not going to happen according to the little model above. DCPS is not interested in allowing families to consolidate and create a high-performing school - it is "exclusionary." Parents who want more than Jefferson or EH don't have the time to build a cohort that flips these low performing schools into high performing ones. The numbers simply are against them. There are a charters that are good at serving academically strong low-income students (KIPP, SEED, DC Prep). There are charters that are good at serving academically strong higher SES students (Latin, Basis, maybe DCI). What's clear is that there is no DCPS model that includes serving students or families that want something more than the absolute bare minimum. That's really all that DCPS offers. |
Anonymous
Sound like San Francisco, which is why there are no middle class families who live there anymore. Giant cities work for the rich and the poor, and no-one in between. |
Anonymous
Oh dear! You mean to tell me that they use worksheets at your competitive-entry school? And your teachers use lower-level vocabulary and lower-level texts during whole class lessons? Out the 7+ hours of school, are you aware that this includes recess, lunch, specials, and transitions? Presumably you would not want those activities to be differentiated. As for the rest, the bulk of our learning time is either modified for ability level, or, if it is whole class, the texts, vocabulary, and conceptual tasks are at or above grade level with accommodations provided for students who need them, as well as challenge activities for students who need more challenge. Maybe you're in the wrong building. |
Anonymous
er, no. You cite the counter evidence in your own post: Deal, a DCPS middle school. True, its test scores are high because of the profile of the students actually sitting in those seats. But a careful look at the course catalog, teacher expectations/feedback, and extracurricular academic options clearly demonstrate that DCPS can offer "something more than the absolute bare minimum." |