+1. The equity problem will be solved if everyone becomes functionally illiterate. And DCPS admin and teachers will be able to award themselves a hefty bonus for finally solving one of the most intractable racial/income issues. |
| +1. Dark but spot on. |
| Not in the big picture. Charters help expand DC's tax base by keeping tens of thousands of upper middle-class families in the District. If you've lived in a gentrifying neighborhood for more than 20 years like I have, you get it. UMC parents of school-age kids EotP mostly left pre charters. |
| The old DCUM conventional wisdom never dies, does it. You be you, 90s parent. |
And yet, in spite of that, you conclude it is indeed THE BEST. Had you the ability to engage in reasoned thought you'd understand that the fact that it is very successful without a library means a library is a nice to have, not a necessary condition for or to success. |
The reason why families leave for charters is absolutely the fault of the mayor, DCPS, etc.. for not meeting the needs of higher performing students. Provide challenging classes and adequate level instruction or tracking and DCPS won’t bleed so man6 middle and UMC families. Full stop. |
In response to the post above. |
| eotp??? |
|
Here is the bottom line for MS EOTP: Basis, Latin, DCI, private, or move. That’s it folks.
|
My kid is at Bruce Monroe, a Title 1 East of the Park, and we have an amazing library and full time librarian who has been there for the five years my kid has attended. The lbirary is always open and kids can come by after school on their own to get books and younger kids kid Library time as a weekly special. |
| to be clear, dc has a very very large number of charter schools that are not just basis and latin. those schools and the system of school choice more generally arguably siphon off public education funds too. |
LOL! Sadly, there is some truth to the above. Recent PARCC scores are terrible and many, many more kids are at the bottom of the barrel. Of course DCPS has no viable plan to help the problem so now even more kids are functionally illiterate to say nothing of being able to do basic math like balance a checkbook. |
Setting aside for a moment that BM is an ES...Yes, and??? Did you hear someone say having a library was bad? I didn't. What was said was that in the grand scheme of what is important to a high quality education and academic success, a library isn't remotely essential. The narrative on BASIS is that even though they have amazing test scores and tons of AP classes and get their kids into amazing colleges with a ton of merit aid..."but it doesn't have a library". P.S. You have a kid in ES so you aren't thinking about these things, but when your kids get older they'll go places by themselves. BASIS is a block away from the main DCPL building - the nicest library in DC. |
Neither the system nor the schools "siphon off" anything. Those schools can't get a dime if parents in DC don't decide with free will and based on available information to send their kids there. That's the part you and others seem to be missing. 50k kids' parents have decided that a charter school is a better option for their kids. And yet the answer from people like you is not that DCPS needs to do a better job. Not that an absence of true AP or advanced classes is causing an issue. Not that a bloated Central that wastes money and resources needs to be truly overhauled. Not that DCPS decided in their infinite wisdom to renovate the HS buildings before the ES buildings. No, apparently the problem is that, faced with available information, parents are choosing charters. The subtext from people like you is that somehow 50k kids are getting fooled and that charters aren't a better choice. OK, stick with that and see where it gets you. Howl at the moon and blame the customer for making the "wrong choice" without bothering to look inward for even a moment. |
I think this post is brilliant. It illustrates the end state for a system that thinks "equity" means the same, not providing a high quality education to all. |