Why is Washington Latin MS now a Tier 2 school?

[Anonymous]

Washington Latin MS moved from Tier I last year to Tier 2 and I don't understand why. The HS is Tier I even though their DC CAS scores are much worse. Can anyone explain this to me?

Especially because Basis got ranked Tier I last year, the first year it was eligible for ranking?

[Anonymous]

Tier scores are more than just DCCAS scores. I think they also take into acct other factors including how well cohorts of kids progress - or dont - over time.

[Anonymous]

This explains the four components of the Tier score

http://www.dcpcsb.org/report/school-quality-reports-pmf

[Anonymous]

Tiers include a measure of improvement. Schools that are already scoring pretty high can have trouble making big leaps that lead to a high improvement score.

[Anonymous]

I am not a statistician, but if this is really the way they rank schools -
so that the better they get, the lower they rank,

that seems really really screwed up for parents just starting to look into schools -
and presumably has other consequences in terms of the way the Charter Board treats the schools
here are the stats on Washington Latin, which from DCUM I understand has been getting better every year and harder and harder to get into - yet
when you pull up the 2014 "performance report" it comes along with a graph showing an absolute downward trend from 2011 (the earliest on the graph) to 2014, when the middle school finally fell to Tier 2



TIER SCORES for Washington Latin MS from the Charter Board performance report



2011 79.3% 1
2012 71.5% 1
2013 65.2% 1
2014 59.4% 2

I am not a math person, but it seems to me that the Basis ranking will have to go in the same direction, and then you will eventually have all the top charter MS and HS in DC on a downward trend ending up in Tier 2 because they cannot improve very much anymore? Is that correct?

In 2014 Washington Latin had the third highest DC CAS scores - Deal was #1, Basis #2
In 2013 Washington Latin was #2 (Deal #1, Basis #3)
I understand that DC CAS scores are not the be all and end all, but in MS you don't have APs or anything else....

Shouldn't the charter board change their emphasis on improvement to avoid this kind of absurd result for high performing schools?
What am I missing?
Can we have the Hardy economist or someone else explain to me how this is fair to these schools in any way?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tiers include a measure of improvement. Schools that are already scoring pretty high can have trouble making big leaps that lead to a high improvement score.

If the students are already high scoring coming in then there is no improvement, so I guess the school is not making any improvement they are just maintaining. I don't know, just a guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tiers include a measure of improvement. Schools that are already scoring pretty high can have trouble making big leaps that lead to a high improvement score.

If the students are already high scoring coming in then there is no improvement, so I guess the school is not making any improvement they are just maintaining. I don't know, just a guess.

what an incredible blind spot by the Charter Board.
how incredibly stupid of them to make this matter enough that it pushed Washington Latin MS into Tier 2 this year........

[Anonymous]

Regardless, Washington Latin is the school of choice for almost every DC resident.

[Anonymous]

The waiting list numbers say it all. It is almost impossible to get in past 6th grade. The waiting list numbers for both 5th and 6th are in 3 digits. Regardless of their rating, it is the most popular middle/high school in the district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regardless, Washington Latin is the school of choice for almost every DC resident.

except for those with STEM kids, like ours. We are at Basis, and would not consider Latin. So we were lucky.

[Anonymous]

What is a STEM kid, and why can't they attend Latin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regardless, Washington Latin is the school of choice for almost every DC resident.

No it's not. No one in my Ward 3 neighborhood sends their children to/talks about Washington Latin. Just because it's popular in your neck of the woods doesn't mean it's sought after by everyone/most parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is a STEM kid, and why can't they attend Latin?

STEM = science, technology, engineering, math.

Middle schoolers at Basis are required to do 9 hours of science (3 bio, 3 chem, 3 physics) each week. That's more than is available at Washington Latin. A kid who knows he/she is interested in science could certainty go to either school but Basis kids have to take more science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless, Washington Latin is the school of choice for almost every DC resident.

No it's not. No one in my Ward 3 neighborhood sends their children to/talks about Washington Latin. Just because it's popular in your neck of the woods doesn't mean it's sought after by everyone/most parents.

So where are the white kids at Latin coming from? Serious question. Capital Hill?

[Anonymous]

See this map from the charter school board. Washington Latin is toward the bottom of the set.

http://dcist.com/2014/12/where_the_students_who_attend_the_c.php