The Gap Between Three APS High Schools

[Anonymous]

PP again - some other interesting statistics:

At Kenmore 512 students (54%) are economically disadvantaged; 205 have disabilities (21%); 384 (40%) are English learners.

With those kind of numbers they still have a 77% pass rate for Grade 8 Reading, 83% pass rate for Grade 8 Math, 76% pass rate for Grade 8 Science. In light of those statistics, I think those results are pretty remarkable.

[Anonymous]

Wait until you see the gap in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait until you see the gap in high school.

Just took a glance at the high school statistics, I'm surprised that ED students seem to do better at Wakefield than at W-L, I wouldn't have expected that based on the way people talk about those schools here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dude, you are all missing the point. When people talk about test scores, what they really mean are test scores for the wealthier kids. And, the test scores for wealthier kids in most south arlington schools are LOWER than north arlington. Yes, white kids at Kenmore generally have lower scores than Williamsburg. Decades of studies show that wealthier kids generally do not perform as well when they are in lower performing schools.

It is clear to me that no one is talking about the scores for poorer kids, because for the most part they are the same across the county. It is generally those schools in the 'sweet spot' of about 30% poorer kids where everyone does well (such as Henry and Oakridge). Otherwise, not so good.

So stop pretending that most of you care about performance of poorer kids.

Could you please provide a link to APS middle school SOL data that shows results for all the schools by race? I have been looking for this and haven't been able to find it.

Some years ago I looked up similar data for Arlington elementary schools (SOL results by school by race) and found that the white students performed equally regardless of school. Unfortunately now I can't find this data online but would like to see actual numbers for the middle schools. TIA

If you go to this site, you can look up any Virginia school and see SOL results demographic data, etc.: http://schoolquality.virginia.gov/

Found it - thank you.

So I looked up 2016-2017 SOLs for Kenmore and Swanson, results for white students only.

Grade 8 English - Reading
Kenmore 95 passed, 49 proficient
Swanson 95 passed, 57 proficient
Williamsburg 93 passed, 57 proficient

Grade 8 Mathematics
Kenmore 88 passed, 83 proficient
Swanson 95 passed, 78 proficient
Williamsburg 93 passed, 48 proficient

Grade 8 Science
Kenmore 93 passed, 70 proficient
Swanson 99 passed, 56 proficient
Williamsburg 99 passed, 60 proficient

So I found this interesting. Swanson did better in math and science pass rate, although Kenmore students were more "proficient," whatever that means.

One other factor to consider is the overall number of white students per school. Swanson had 846 white students vs Kenmore's 282. I'm no statistician but I think that says to me the white Kenmore students had less room for error to achieve similar results (for example on reading, where both groups had a 95 percent pass rate). At Kenmore, 267 students of the 282 had to pass reading, whereas at Swanson 803 of 845 had to pass to achieve the same result (95 percent). That means 42 white Swanson students did NOT pass while only 15 of the white students at Kenmore didn't pass. Amateur analysis here, but these results are not telling me that white students at an "inferior" school are doing less well than their white peers at high-performing schools.

Ha - just noticed you cited Williamsburg- I was looking at Swanson since those are the families who might get switched to Kenmore. Actually looks like white students at Williamsburg did the same as Swanson (see additions in bold above).

Again, we are comparing a group of 907 white students at Williamsburg to 282 white students at Kenmore.

***Just realized my earlier musings aren't accurate since I was looking at 95% of 282 etc when I should've been looking at 95% of just white 8th grade students but regardless, let's sssume it's still proportional.

[Anonymous]

Going back to original post and making two comments as a S Arl parent (zoned for Wakefield):

1) APS puts the same amount per student at all HS but there is an enormous disparity in family ability to contribute whether it is PTA, band booster, etc. This is a huge issue at ever level (ES, MS, HS) and in some cased (see low f/r lunch schools) it is almost as if the parents are building a luxury private school on the bones of the public funding.
2) Wakefield has some exceptional programs - theater and orchestra to name two. What it lacks in extra $ it makes up for with teacher and parent commitment. Will send my kids there without hesitation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Going back to original post and making two comments as a S Arl parent (zoned for Wakefield):

1) APS puts the same amount per student at all HS but there is an enormous disparity in family ability to contribute whether it is PTA, band booster, etc. This is a huge issue at ever level (ES, MS, HS) and in some cased (see low f/r lunch schools) it is almost as if the parents are building a luxury private school on the bones of the public funding.
2) Wakefield has some exceptional programs - theater and orchestra to name two. What it lacks in extra $ it makes up for with teacher and parent commitment. Will send my kids there without hesitation.

We are all aware of your first point. The problem is that the underlying housing demographics give rise to this unless APS were to bus kids all over the county. The entire debate is a balancing act between trying to resolve the disparity without putting a disproportionate burden on some students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going back to original post and making two comments as a S Arl parent (zoned for Wakefield):

1) APS puts the same amount per student at all HS but there is an enormous disparity in family ability to contribute whether it is PTA, band booster, etc. This is a huge issue at ever level (ES, MS, HS) and in some cased (see low f/r lunch schools) it is almost as if the parents are building a luxury private school on the bones of the public funding.
2) Wakefield has some exceptional programs - theater and orchestra to name two. What it lacks in extra $ it makes up for with teacher and parent commitment. Will send my kids there without hesitation.

We are all aware of your first point. The problem is that the underlying housing demographics give rise to this unless APS were to bus kids all over the county. The entire debate is a balancing act between trying to resolve the disparity without putting a disproportionate burden on some students.

The only real solution would be a countywide doubleblind lottery.

[Anonymous]

On another active thread people were complaining that due to overcrowding, there is too much competition for slots in band, sports teams, etc. at W-L and Yorktown. This is another reason why better balancing the SES mix across schools is a good idea--there could be a critical mass at each school of kids who are interested in these sorts of resume-building activities to be able to field competitive teams or robust performing groups, and you wouldn't be forcing every UMC kid in Arlington to compete for the same slots in the same school. Getting the three comprehensive schools to better match the demographics of APS through choice/busing support/boundaries should be a win-win for the kids, if the parents would ever get over themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:):

1) APS puts the same amount per student at all HS but there is an enormous disparity in family ability to contribute whether it is PTA, band booster, etc. This is a huge issue at ever level (ES, MS, HS) and in some cased (see low f/r lunch schools) it is almost as if the parents are building a luxury private school on the bones of the public funding.
.

No fucking clue. You do realize how much Arlington spends per student...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:):

1) APS puts the same amount per student at all HS but there is an enormous disparity in family ability to contribute whether it is PTA, band booster, etc. This is a huge issue at ever level (ES, MS, HS) and in some cased (see low f/r lunch schools) it is almost as if the parents are building a luxury private school on the bones of the public funding.
.

No fucking clue. You do realize how much Arlington spends per student...

Dp- do you realize how much money some of the North Arlington PTA’s raise? you really don’t have a clue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:):

1) APS puts the same amount per student at all HS but there is an enormous disparity in family ability to contribute whether it is PTA, band booster, etc. This is a huge issue at ever level (ES, MS, HS) and in some cased (see low f/r lunch schools) it is almost as if the parents are building a luxury private school on the bones of the public funding.
.

No fucking clue. You do realize how much Arlington spends per student...

Dp- do you realize how much money some of the North Arlington PTA’s raise? you really don’t have a clue.

Who cares how much some of the NA PTAs raise? It has no impact on students at other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going back to original post and making two comments as a S Arl parent (zoned for Wakefield):

1) APS puts the same amount per student at all HS but there is an enormous disparity in family ability to contribute whether it is PTA, band booster, etc. This is a huge issue at ever level (ES, MS, HS) and in some cased (see low f/r lunch schools) it is almost as if the parents are building a luxury private school on the bones of the public funding.
2) Wakefield has some exceptional programs - theater and orchestra to name two. What it lacks in extra $ it makes up for with teacher and parent commitment. Will send my kids there without hesitation.

We are all aware of your first point. The problem is that the underlying housing demographics give rise to this unless APS were to bus kids all over the county. The entire debate is a balancing act between trying to resolve the disparity without putting a disproportionate burden on some students.

The only real solution would be a countywide doubleblind lottery.

Just move out of your neighborhood. Why should everyone have to move from the school closest to them to fix things. It would be a huge fair date of tax dollars not to mention cause way more congestion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going back to original post and making two comments as a S Arl parent (zoned for Wakefield):

1) APS puts the same amount per student at all HS but there is an enormous disparity in family ability to contribute whether it is PTA, band booster, etc. This is a huge issue at ever level (ES, MS, HS) and in some cased (see low f/r lunch schools) it is almost as if the parents are building a luxury private school on the bones of the public funding.
2) Wakefield has some exceptional programs - theater and orchestra to name two. What it lacks in extra $ it makes up for with teacher and parent commitment. Will send my kids there without hesitation.

We are all aware of your first point. The problem is that the underlying housing demographics give rise to this unless APS were to bus kids all over the county. The entire debate is a balancing act between trying to resolve the disparity without putting a disproportionate burden on some students.

The only real solution would be a countywide doubleblind lottery.

Just move out of your neighborhood. Why should everyone have to move from the school closest to them to fix things. It would be a huge fair date of tax dollars not to mention cause way more congestion.

. That should be “waste of” not “fair date”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going back to original post and making two comments as a S Arl parent (zoned for Wakefield):

1) APS puts the same amount per student at all HS but there is an enormous disparity in family ability to contribute whether it is PTA, band booster, etc. This is a huge issue at ever level (ES, MS, HS) and in some cased (see low f/r lunch schools) it is almost as if the parents are building a luxury private school on the bones of the public funding.
2) Wakefield has some exceptional programs - theater and orchestra to name two. What it lacks in extra $ it makes up for with teacher and parent commitment. Will send my kids there without hesitation.

We are all aware of your first point. The problem is that the underlying housing demographics give rise to this unless APS were to bus kids all over the county. The entire debate is a balancing act between trying to resolve the disparity without putting a disproportionate burden on some students.

The only real solution would be a countywide doubleblind lottery.

That is by far the most idiotic suggestion in any of these boundary debates. Here's your ribbon.

[Anonymous]

Who ever did the analysis of the sol numbers, thank you.
But the numbers are still lower.