Another Brent question
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Anonymous
| sigh-- I mean "We don't need to", not "I don't need to". |
Anonymous
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Most of the above reactions seem over the top to me when all the PP who sparked the debate seems to have argued was that it's next to impossible to provide challenge for a mostly high-SES IB population in the absence of DCPS-sponsored G/T programs and other targetted support for advanced learners.
Currently, the only way for the challenge to come seems to be for high-SES, mostly white, families to band together in schools like Brent, and WotP, which isn't what most parents want to see. The argument runs that if you want true socioeconomic/racial diversity, you need to cater to a variety of kids, not just those who are behind smack in the middle of the Bell Curve, giving them focused DC-CAS prep at the expense of advanced learners. Seems that you guys are shadow boxing, looking for demons in the parent crowd when none exist. Think about it, the real villain is DCPS backed up by cowardly DC pols. The good think about DCUM is that posters can say what they really think, vs. what sounds good at a Brent community event, or at a PTA meeting. |
Anonymous
Actually the person who started this portion of the discussion said she was glad to see diveresity go. |
Anonymous
She also indicated that the only way to provide challenge was to get rid of diversity. That's what the reaction is to not the idea that we need to provide GT programs. |
Anonymous
Yes, in the sense that "diversity" means 99% OOB kids from low SES. |
Anonymous
Glad to see our co-PTA president who has been a tireless volunteer at Brent for years, glad to see the former Olympian who has been a strong parent volunteer over the years and glad to see the dad who volunteered to DJ at many aftercare events over the past couple of years go. Yes good thing these OOB lower SES families are gone. They did nothing for the school but bring down the high SES kids. The thing that gets me is that the way some of the posters are talking you would think that these OOB low SES families did nothing or cared nothing for Brent. These families put a lot into Brent and to be told that it is good to see them go is really fucking harsh. |
Anonymous
Are you calling out the 5th grade class? Look, even if it were true that 99% of the 5thgrade were oob From low SES how exactly does that hurt you? your child? How does it hurt the school? Every child at Brent is an asset to the school, even if in the purely economic sense since the school gets funding per student. "we need to lose some of that diversiTy" strikes me pure bs. |
Anonymous
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Sounds like what we're seeing here is further evidence of the changing of the guard, the generational shift between the early "reformers" and parents of younger kids discussed on the recent "is Brent best?" thread.
I find that parents of older kids tend to assume that we're "all good liberals in it together, celebrating fantastic diversity" when this isn't necessarily the case. Those who enroll their children more for academic reasons than philosophical ones tend to do so quietly, and leave for the burbs or privates somewhere between K and 4th. Having so many low-SES kids in 5th grade has impacted the 2012 DC-CAS scores. Without them, Brent would have seen a higher proficient rate than 72% (a little lower than Two Rivers, but higher than Watkins, at 63%), probably in the 80s like the WotP schools. Parents who check the scores on-line, but don't know that Brent's 5th grade looks very different from the lower grades, can't read between the lines without doing some field research. And having so many kids who struggle in the highest grades acts as a deterrant to a critical mass of high-SES families staying through 5th, not just the MS feeder problem (some of us are heading out of DCPS and DC Charter for MS anyway). I don't get why so posters sound shocked that not every parent is wild about having a lot of low-SES kids in a school in an increasingly affluent enclave. Wouldn't you expect that? We switched from the Cluster mainly to escape rowdy housing project children lacking basic skills who were monopolizing teachers' time. As sorry as I feel for these children, I don't them want them in class with my DC, particularly when I have no guarantee of serious pull-out groups for advanced learners in any grade. We can't have honest discussions about where to go from here if our community focus is on being PC and conforming (you must be a vocal diversity lover to belong, G/T program or not!). |
Anonymous
Just a basic math question. If the 5th grade is the only grade you are talking about in terms of glad to see those kids go, aren't there only less than 20 kids in that class while all other testing grades have 2 classes of at least 18 each class? Seems to me that the small number of 5th graders couldn't have impacted the overall number that much if the testing for the lower grades showed a much higher percentage of proficient. Just for the record, I'm a parent of an older child who is not liberal but still finds the statements here a very sad commentary on the school. |
Anonymous
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+1. If parents want many low SES AA classmates for their kids, no shorage of options! They can rent or buy homes elsewhere in ward 6, in another ward, or lottery into a charter. I find the new generation's thinking refreshing. One can weary of politically correct posturing in dcps. A vibrant new type of diversity is gaining traction at Brent with students from different parts of the US, different countries, Asians and Latinos coming in. Low SES AA students from DC obviously aren't the only ones who can provide the diversity parents crave.
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Anonymous
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"Seems to me that the small number of 5th graders couldn't have impacted the overall number that much if the testing for the lower grades showed a much higher percentage of proficient."
The only way to get the crux of the matter is to look at the break-down of scores by grade and race. That will be possible shortly. No doubt the 5th grade scores had an impact, remains to be seen how great. Sad commentary or not, times they are a changin' on the Hill, so perhaps best to focus on the possibilities. I was once a low SES-AA kid in predominantly white, high-SES school, best thing that ever happened to me. My brother's children attend a suburban Boston public school where OOB kids must score "advanced" on MA standardized tests to be admitted. Almost no controversy about the policy and these kids are welcomed although some are low SES AA kids from projects (coming out of G/T programs, KIPP schools etc). I would embrace such a policy at Brent. |
Anonymous
I don't want necessarily many but I also don't want all high SES kids either. That is a very one sided world vision to present to my kids. |
Anonymous
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The change in class make up from third to fifth grade is shocking. I haven't seen a break down for 2012, but for 2011, in grade three there were 25 blacks and 13 whites; in grade four 20 blacks and three whites; and in grade five 17 blacks and 0 whites. http://nclb.osse.dc.gov/reportcardbygrade.asp#grade_3
You can try and finesse this however you like, but it is pretty obvious the in-bounds folks are fleeing Brent en masse in the highest grades. I would think that this is not a good thing . .. but I suppose folks on DCUM will disagree. |
Anonymous
| 7:26, do you really think that the scores reflect the kids and not the teaching? I think you're wrong to blame the kids from low SES families while assuming that all the teachers are ok, for several reasons. And speaking from personal experience at Brent, we've had some mediocre teachers. teachers who have trouble with basic grammar and spelling (not all, but a few) surely impact the scores as well. |
Anonymous
Last year's 4th and 5th grade classes have always been largely OOB. The 4th gradse class was the first one to have more Hill families, but still OOB. You are correct though about kids pulling out in upper grades. Until the middle school issue is resolved this will continue to happen. |