How does your DCPS help advanced students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the problems with acceleration in the lower grades at schools like Brent is that it won't be supported in the upper grades. Even Walls wants kids who come in with advanced math skills to go back and retake stuff they've already mastered. They have a half-baked math placement test but it's a joke, basically it's cover for the fact that they can't handle accelerated students.

I believe it. Looks to me like push will come to shove over math placement at Walls in the next couple of years, with dozens of BASIS kids who took algebra before 8th grade (including half a dozen who took it in 5th!) testing in. Walls is going to come under new pressure to give serious math placement tests, and to permit advanced math classes where most of the students are white or Asian. If they continue to balk, parents may well sue. I hope that a class action suit is the result, one that will embarrass DCPS nationally.

So much hyperbole and silliness.

Dozens at Walls from BASIS? There are only 120 kids per grade at BASIS at most; half stay for high school, and not all 60 who leave wind up at SWW.

Parents can't sue DCPS over this - there is no right to anything of the sort.

Don't threaten - convince the SWW principal that more advanced classes will help their USNews rankings and so forth. You will get much more traction.

It is my understanding that Walls is giving math placement tests and making kids repeat AP World History because of DCPS central office calling the shots and not because of the principal who must follow their guidelines in regards to this.

I will just say that DCPS is losing potential students over this stupid policy and therefore DCPS should not complain about losing students to charters. Differentiation, my ass! How about keep the students down so that we don't have to many kids exceeding!

Actually, I think it's because the DC Code of Municipal Regulations (DCMR) doesn't allow kids to earn high school credit while in middle school outside of a few exceptions such as foreign language and math. Why don't you call your city council member's office instead of bitching on here?

[Anonymous]

It's actually more bureaucratic than the DCMR.

Students coming from BASIS haven't officially taken AP World History because the College Board doesn't allow that moniker to be applied to a class taught outside of a high school.

BASIS teaches the AP World History content to all 8th graders but simply calls the class "World History." Some students (not all) opt to take the AP exam rather than a final designed by their teacher. This is perfectly legitimate from the College Board's perspective - anyone can take their tests, regardless of whether they took a class called "AP whatever." But these BASIS students will never have "AP World History" on their school transcripts, even if they stay at BASIS. And wherever they attend high school, they will have to petition the College Board to retrieve their grades if they want to submit to a college (College Board holds onto grades for 4 years). Obviously the BASIS team knows the hoops to jump through to make this happen.

This is why DCPS high schools don't recognize the BASIS students 8th grade world history credit as a high school credit, even if students pass the AP exam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's actually more bureaucratic than the DCMR.

Students coming from BASIS haven't officially taken AP World History because the College Board doesn't allow that moniker to be applied to a class taught outside of a high school.

BASIS teaches the AP World History content to all 8th graders but simply calls the class "World History." Some students (not all) opt to take the AP exam rather than a final designed by their teacher. This is perfectly legitimate from the College Board's perspective - anyone can take their tests, regardless of whether they took a class called "AP whatever." But these BASIS students will never have "AP World History" on their school transcripts, even if they stay at BASIS. And wherever they attend high school, they will have to petition the College Board to retrieve their grades if they want to submit to a college (College Board holds onto grades for 4 years). Obviously the BASIS team knows the hoops to jump through to make this happen.

This is why DCPS high schools don't recognize the BASIS students 8th grade world history credit as a high school credit, even if students pass the AP exam.

It is still bullshit IMO since as long as a student passes the AP exam with a 3 or greater then it should be obvious that they learned the AP World History material and should not have to repeat the course. They should be offered an alternative AP history course to take seeing as they offer multiple such courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the problems with acceleration in the lower grades at schools like Brent is that it won't be supported in the upper grades. Even Walls wants kids who come in with advanced math skills to go back and retake stuff they've already mastered. They have a half-baked math placement test but it's a joke, basically it's cover for the fact that they can't handle accelerated students.

I believe it. Looks to me like push will come to shove over math placement at Walls in the next couple of years, with dozens of BASIS kids who took algebra before 8th grade (including half a dozen who took it in 5th!) testing in. Walls is going to come under new pressure to give serious math placement tests, and to permit advanced math classes where most of the students are white or Asian. If they continue to balk, parents may well sue. I hope that a class action suit is the result, one that will embarrass DCPS nationally.

So much hyperbole and silliness.

Dozens at Walls from BASIS? There are only 120 kids per grade at BASIS at most; half stay for high school, and not all 60 who leave wind up at SWW.

Parents can't sue DCPS over this - there is no right to anything of the sort.

Don't threaten - convince the SWW principal that more advanced classes will help their USNews rankings and so forth. You will get much more traction.

It is my understanding that Walls is giving math placement tests and making kids repeat AP World History because of DCPS central office calling the shots and not because of the principal who must follow their guidelines in regards to this.

I will just say that DCPS is losing potential students over this stupid policy and therefore DCPS should not complain about losing students to charters. Differentiation, my ass! How about keep the students down so that we don't have to many kids exceeding!

Actually, I think it's because the DC Code of Municipal Regulations (DCMR) doesn't allow kids to earn high school credit while in middle school outside of a few exceptions such as foreign language and math. Why don't you call your city council member's office instead of bitching on here?

At least two dozen BASIS 8th graders left for Walls this year. I expect a few more to make the jump next year. Thinly veiled SWW affirmative action-based admissions practices are risky business for the school in this century. If anybody sues, it will be to challenge admission quotas for whites. This happened at Boston Latin and the famous NYC Magnets 15 years ago. The whites won.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the problems with acceleration in the lower grades at schools like Brent is that it won't be supported in the upper grades. Even Walls wants kids who come in with advanced math skills to go back and retake stuff they've already mastered. They have a half-baked math placement test but it's a joke, basically it's cover for the fact that they can't handle accelerated students.

I believe it. Looks to me like push will come to shove over math placement at Walls in the next couple of years, with dozens of BASIS kids who took algebra before 8th grade (including half a dozen who took it in 5th!) testing in. Walls is going to come under new pressure to give serious math placement tests, and to permit advanced math classes where most of the students are white or Asian. If they continue to balk, parents may well sue. I hope that a class action suit is the result, one that will embarrass DCPS nationally.

So much hyperbole and silliness.

Dozens at Walls from BASIS? There are only 120 kids per grade at BASIS at most; half stay for high school, and not all 60 who leave wind up at SWW.

Parents can't sue DCPS over this - there is no right to anything of the sort.

Don't threaten - convince the SWW principal that more advanced classes will help their USNews rankings and so forth. You will get much more traction.

It is my understanding that Walls is giving math placement tests and making kids repeat AP World History because of DCPS central office calling the shots and not because of the principal who must follow their guidelines in regards to this.

I will just say that DCPS is losing potential students over this stupid policy and therefore DCPS should not complain about losing students to charters. Differentiation, my ass! How about keep the students down so that we don't have to many kids exceeding!

Actually, I think it's because the DC Code of Municipal Regulations (DCMR) doesn't allow kids to earn high school credit while in middle school outside of a few exceptions such as foreign language and math. Why don't you call your city council member's office instead of bitching on here?

At least two dozen BASIS 8th graders left for Walls this year. I expect a few more to make the jump next year. Thinly veiled SWW affirmative action-based admissions practices are risky business for the school in this century. If anybody sues, it will be to challenge admission quotas for whites. This happened at Boston Latin and the famous NYC Magnets 15 years ago. The whites won.

Agreed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's actually more bureaucratic than the DCMR.

Students coming from BASIS haven't officially taken AP World History because the College Board doesn't allow that moniker to be applied to a class taught outside of a high school.

BASIS teaches the AP World History content to all 8th graders but simply calls the class "World History." Some students (not all) opt to take the AP exam rather than a final designed by their teacher. This is perfectly legitimate from the College Board's perspective - anyone can take their tests, regardless of whether they took a class called "AP whatever." But these BASIS students will never have "AP World History" on their school transcripts, even if they stay at BASIS. And wherever they attend high school, they will have to petition the College Board to retrieve their grades if they want to submit to a college (College Board holds onto grades for 4 years). Obviously the BASIS team knows the hoops to jump through to make this happen.

This is why DCPS high schools don't recognize the BASIS students 8th grade world history credit as a high school credit, even if students pass the AP exam.

Bureaucratic horseshit is what it is. If a student took an AP exam and scored a 4 or better on it it shouldn't matter what year they took it. Colleges will accept it, if DCPS won't that only demonstrates their idiocy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's actually more bureaucratic than the DCMR.

Students coming from BASIS haven't officially taken AP World History because the College Board doesn't allow that moniker to be applied to a class taught outside of a high school.

BASIS teaches the AP World History content to all 8th graders but simply calls the class "World History." Some students (not all) opt to take the AP exam rather than a final designed by their teacher. This is perfectly legitimate from the College Board's perspective - anyone can take their tests, regardless of whether they took a class called "AP whatever." But these BASIS students will never have "AP World History" on their school transcripts, even if they stay at BASIS. And wherever they attend high school, they will have to petition the College Board to retrieve their grades if they want to submit to a college (College Board holds onto grades for 4 years). Obviously the BASIS team knows the hoops to jump through to make this happen.

This is why DCPS high schools don't recognize the BASIS students 8th grade world history credit as a high school credit, even if students pass the AP exam.

I don't think that's true, as lots of homeschoolers prepare for and take AP exams and those are recognized despite not being in traditional high school.

[Anonymous]

^^ Seems painfully evident that DCPS bureaucrats do not understand what ADVANCED PLACEMENT means. It means the course has already been accounted for. The exam score is evidence of it. That alone should be end of discussion.

[Anonymous]

At the link below, the Baltimore Sun article describes about how federal appeals court in MA struck down admission quotas for minorities at Boston Latin, in 1999. A teenage white girl, who had been denied a spot at Latin although her admissions test score was higher than those of admitted minority applicants, brought the suit. She was ultimately offered a spot, several years after she'd been turned away, under a court order. Latin did not take the case to the Supreme Court under pressure from civil liberties groups.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-02-05/news/9902050059_1_school-committee-supreme-court-appeals-court

I can't see SWW getting away with it's blatantly discriminatory, barely concealed "40% quota for whites" indefinitely. Fast-changing city demographics don't bode well for the quota, and a Trump appointee to the high court, or multiple appointees, will position the court to beat down affirmative action preferences in higher education. Test-in public schools around the country will be forced to take notice. What happened in Boston is that, after the ruling, Latin dropped its admissions interview, used since the mid 80s to single out minority applicants for preferential treatment in admissions. Asian families then stormed the program, white enrollment flat lined, and AA and Latino enrollment plummeted, clearly not what the school board had in mind when they persuaded Latin's board not to take the case to the Supreme Court.

What I see happening at SWW within the next few years is that some Cap Hill lawyer parent isn't going to take it sitting down when their strong BASIS or Washington Latin 8th grader is shut out of Walls, not when they can't afford private high school and Eastern and Dunbar are going nowhere for middle-class families. They will file suit in the DC Superior Court, and DCPS will settle with them to avoid further litigation and bad publicity. Walls will then drop its interview, as Boston Latin did. Within a few more years, white plus Asian enrollment at SWW will shoot up, to above two-thirds.

Antwan Wilson, Grosso etc. can try to stem the tide of advanced white and Asian students in DCPS, but they'll fail. Things are too far along now.

[Anonymous]

I think SWW will go to a more complete, holistic admissions criteria to keep it a diverse (not majority white or asian) school. Today it doesn't involve teacher recommendation, an essay or review of extracurriculars.

You also need to keep your mind open to other high quality options, such as Banneker, or even staying at BASIS.

[Anonymous]

^ Likely that more will start staying at BASIS. The first truly full cohort of students is only now hitting high school (ones who started in 5th grade when BASIS opened) - prior to now they only had small partial cohorts since they were filling enrollment from the bottom up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think SWW will go to a more complete, holistic admissions criteria to keep it a diverse (not majority white or asian) school. Today it doesn't involve teacher recommendation, an essay or review of extracurriculars.

You also need to keep your mind open to other high quality options, such as Banneker, or even staying at BASIS.

Don't agree. The national trend is that strong test-in high schools offering "holistic admissions," including an entrance exam like Walls', get sued by whites eventually. This happens because some white kids who are rejected invariably score a good deal higher on the entrance exam than some minorities who are admitted. In this decade, the whites win. Meanwhile, schools offering exam-based admissions that are overwhelmingly white and Asian get sued by civil liberties groups, and the schools win.

Right, high quality options like Banneker, where SAT scores hover around the national average, and BASIS, without a gym, stage, library, high school sports, option to take college classes, or much in the way of an extra curricular program. City parents of strong high school students outside the Wilson District who can't afford privates generally want Walls. They want the school that produced 5 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists this year (versus none at Banneker or Wilson) AND has decent facilities.

When it becomes clearer that most of the strongest 8th grade public school students in the city are white or Asian, but most of the Walls 9th graders are not, fed up parents won't take no for an answer forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think SWW will go to a more complete, holistic admissions criteria to keep it a diverse (not majority white or asian) school. Today it doesn't involve teacher recommendation, an essay or review of extracurriculars.

You also need to keep your mind open to other high quality options, such as Banneker, or even staying at BASIS.

Don't agree. The national trend is that strong test-in high schools offering "holistic admissions," including an entrance exam like Walls', get sued by whites eventually. This happens because some white kids who are rejected invariably score a good deal higher on the entrance exam than some minorities who are admitted. In this decade, the whites win. Meanwhile, schools offering exam-based admissions that are overwhelmingly white and Asian get sued by civil liberties groups, and the schools win.

Right, high quality options like Banneker, where SAT scores hover around the national average, and BASIS, without a gym, stage, library, high school sports, option to take college classes, or much in the way of an extra curricular program. City parents of strong high school students outside the Wilson District who can't afford privates generally want Walls. They want the school that produced 5 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists this year (versus none at Banneker or Wilson) AND has decent facilities.

When it becomes clearer that most of the strongest 8th grade public school students in the city are white or Asian, but most of the Walls 9th graders are not, fed up parents won't take no for an answer forever.

#MAGA, right buddy?? (Make America Great Again) Go to Trump Tower and make out with your Orange God.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think SWW will go to a more complete, holistic admissions criteria to keep it a diverse (not majority white or asian) school. Today it doesn't involve teacher recommendation, an essay or review of extracurriculars.

You also need to keep your mind open to other high quality options, such as Banneker, or even staying at BASIS.

Don't agree. The national trend is that strong test-in high schools offering "holistic admissions," including an entrance exam like Walls', get sued by whites eventually. This happens because some white kids who are rejected invariably score a good deal higher on the entrance exam than some minorities who are admitted. In this decade, the whites win. Meanwhile, schools offering exam-based admissions that are overwhelmingly white and Asian get sued by civil liberties groups, and the schools win.

Right, high quality options like Banneker, where SAT scores hover around the national average, and BASIS, without a gym, stage, library, high school sports, option to take college classes, or much in the way of an extra curricular program. City parents of strong high school students outside the Wilson District who can't afford privates generally want Walls. They want the school that produced 5 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists this year (versus none at Banneker or Wilson) AND has decent facilities.

When it becomes clearer that most of the strongest 8th grade public school students in the city are white or Asian, but most of the Walls 9th graders are not, fed up parents won't take no for an answer forever.

#MAGA, right buddy?? (Make America Great Again) Go to Trump Tower and make out with your Orange God.

Come on, PP. NP here- but the PPP made a really good point, citing facts, and not suggesting what is "right", but suggesting what is likely.

I find it interesting. Should DC be able to socially engineer its schools like this? The lottery for charters is race-blind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think SWW will go to a more complete, holistic admissions criteria to keep it a diverse (not majority white or asian) school. Today it doesn't involve teacher recommendation, an essay or review of extracurriculars.

You also need to keep your mind open to other high quality options, such as Banneker, or even staying at BASIS.

Don't agree. The national trend is that strong test-in high schools offering "holistic admissions," including an entrance exam like Walls', get sued by whites eventually. This happens because some white kids who are rejected invariably score a good deal higher on the entrance exam than some minorities who are admitted. In this decade, the whites win. Meanwhile, schools offering exam-based admissions that are overwhelmingly white and Asian get sued by civil liberties groups, and the schools win.

Right, high quality options like Banneker, where SAT scores hover around the national average, and BASIS, without a gym, stage, library, high school sports, option to take college classes, or much in the way of an extra curricular program. City parents of strong high school students outside the Wilson District who can't afford privates generally want Walls. They want the school that produced 5 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists this year (versus none at Banneker or Wilson) AND has decent facilities.

When it becomes clearer that most of the strongest 8th grade public school students in the city are white or Asian, but most of the Walls 9th graders are not, fed up parents won't take no for an answer forever.

#MAGA, right buddy?? (Make America Great Again) Go to Trump Tower and make out with your Orange God.

Come on, PP. NP here- but the PPP made a really good point, citing facts, and not suggesting what is "right", but suggesting what is likely.

I find it interesting. Should DC be able to socially engineer its schools like this? The lottery for charters is race-blind.

Public schools are allowed to have magnets or schools were students apply for admissions (SWW, Banneker, McKinley, Ellington) because they offer everyone a by-right option at their neighborhood school. The only school where people assert that race plays a factor is at SWW -- the rest of DC's application schools are predominantly AA.