Bard Early College HS in Ward 7/8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at PARCC scores in wards 7 and 8 doesn't give you a full picture because many ward 7 and 8 students go across town to other highschools.

Yes that’s why I asked about residents.

And the fear I have is that students from the rest of DC, especially high performers, aren’t going to go to Ward 7 or 8 for school in pretty much any circumstance I can imagine.

If you read the WaPo story, they don't really want or expect families from other parts of the city to go there. They are doing this for students who live in Ward 7 and 8

If that’s the plan, the best way to look at this is that they’ll be taking motivation over qualification. Which is often a good choice, but will mean a struggle for staff and students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at PARCC scores in wards 7 and 8 doesn't give you a full picture because many ward 7 and 8 students go across town to other highschools.

Yes that’s why I asked about residents.

And the fear I have is that students from the rest of DC, especially high performers, aren’t going to go to Ward 7 or 8 for school in pretty much any circumstance I can imagine.

If you read the WaPo story, they don't really want or expect families from other parts of the city to go there. They are doing this for students who live in Ward 7 and 8

If that’s the plan, the best way to look at this is that they’ll be taking motivation over qualification. Which is often a good choice, but will mean a struggle for staff and students.

Yep. Bard says they look for potential, and do not admit based on grades and test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at PARCC scores in wards 7 and 8 doesn't give you a full picture because many ward 7 and 8 students go across town to other highschools.

Yes that’s why I asked about residents.

And the fear I have is that students from the rest of DC, especially high performers, aren’t going to go to Ward 7 or 8 for school in pretty much any circumstance I can imagine.

If you read the WaPo story, they don't really want or expect families from other parts of the city to go there. They are doing this for students who live in Ward 7 and 8

If that’s the plan, the best way to look at this is that they’ll be taking motivation over qualification. Which is often a good choice, but will mean a struggle for staff and students.

That's not what the program is about. Read the more comprehensive Atlantic piece which is far more informative than the Post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at PARCC scores in wards 7 and 8 doesn't give you a full picture because many ward 7 and 8 students go across town to other highschools.

Yes that’s why I asked about residents.

And the fear I have is that students from the rest of DC, especially high performers, aren’t going to go to Ward 7 or 8 for school in pretty much any circumstance I can imagine.

If you read the WaPo story, they don't really want or expect families from other parts of the city to go there. They are doing this for students who live in Ward 7 and 8

If that’s the plan, the best way to look at this is that they’ll be taking motivation over qualification. Which is often a good choice, but will mean a struggle for staff and students.

Why would it be a struggle to teach motivated students?

[Anonymous]

Motivated 9th graders with a 5th grade reading level have hard work to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Motivated 9th graders with a 5th grade reading level have hard work to do.

Bard has an admissions process that includes samples of student's critical and creative writing. The program isn't well suited for students who are significantly below grade level. They don't have to look at grades to determine grade level. The writing samples and interviews provide the information needed. In NY, they have a math and essay writing requirement for admissions.

[Anonymous]

I’d love to see somebody get around the mismatch between this program and students who live in Ward 7 and Ward 8 but I’m not seeing a we’ll to draw from at grade level and motivated enough to do this. I would love it if somebody at OSSE or DCPS could put some numbers to this but without any I’m seeing this school as a ghost town or faking it with students who don’t belong in early college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at PARCC scores in wards 7 and 8 doesn't give you a full picture because many ward 7 and 8 students go across town to other highschools.

Yes that’s why I asked about residents.

And the fear I have is that students from the rest of DC, especially high performers, aren’t going to go to Ward 7 or 8 for school in pretty much any circumstance I can imagine.

If you read the WaPo story, they don't really want or expect families from other parts of the city to go there. They are doing this for students who live in Ward 7 and 8

If that’s the plan, the best way to look at this is that they’ll be taking motivation over qualification. Which is often a good choice, but will mean a struggle for staff and students.

Why would it be a struggle to teach motivated students?

Because their academic level would vary widely, with most significantly behind. Because of how poorly DCPS has served them. They are probably delightful kids but to get them onto a true Early College level in four years seems like it would take a ton of work and funding.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone in Bard DC leadership have firsthand experience in DC? Do they realize how small the pool is of all high school kids, regardless of location and talent?

I'm curious to know how many families in wards 7 & 8 with high schoolers asked specifically for a new, Bard-style pre-college school.

Who are the private funders behind this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d love to see somebody get around the mismatch between this program and students who live in Ward 7 and Ward 8 but I’m not seeing a we’ll to draw from at grade level and motivated enough to do this. I would love it if somebody at OSSE or DCPS could put some numbers to this but without any I’m seeing this school as a ghost town or faking it with students who don’t belong in early college.

Why? All the parents complaining about Honors for All and overcrowding at Wilson now have a new option. I live on the Hill an absolutely would consider it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone in Bard DC leadership have firsthand experience in DC? Do they realize how small the pool is of all high school kids, regardless of location and talent?

I'm curious to know how many families in wards 7 & 8 with high schoolers asked specifically for a new, Bard-style pre-college school.

Who are the private funders behind this?

The money to start this up is from the DC Eduction Fund. The nonprofit vehicle that DCPS uses to college private dollars. You can look up their donors in the 990 but those reports are only filed annually

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why DC residents should be paying for high school kids to take college-level courses. Wouldn’t it be more effective to introduce more technical programs at high schools to give kids the skills needed to get good jobs when they graduate? College isn’t for everyone, especially if it’s liberal arts.

-Signed by someone with a BA in liberal arts who had to get more degrees in order to land a decent job

I don’t know that students in Wards 7 and 8 should be relegated to a technical, non-college track. But I’m pretty sure I would not send my DC to Bard College. An expensive school that wouldn’t enhance DC’s employability. Really thinking this is just a new business model for Bard.

[Anonymous]

I don't think a lot of people on dcum understand families that live in ward 7 and 8.

For a good chunk of these families, this school could signal development and growth for other things and I personally think many will be on board.

For some families they get nervous at anything that will signal development and growth and will be skeptical.

But I think the majority would want this school in their area regardless of if their child goes there or not. Just as it's been said in here that all of dc residents are stakeholders in dcps and education even if they don't have children, MANY ward 7 and 8 families want new things to come to their ward and would be happy to have this, even if they have no children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I honestly don't know much about Coolidge aside from the graduation scandal. Not sure that's the right comparator for the Bard program but the Bard program is a model that's worked elsewhere, including in Baltimore.

This was the problem with Antwan Wilson -- DC is not Oakland or even Baltimore. Why? Because we're too small, too complicated, and too political.

Baltimore has something like twice the students of DC. It also has a "portfolio of schools" approach to coordinate public and charters. And it doesn't have to perform the roles of both a state and a local education department.

We don't have a DME or a chancellor and our mayor, who's supposed to be in charge, doesn't really know anything about education.

This sounds like the absolute wrong time to do this other than for Bowser's campaigning in Wards 7 and 8. She can claim to have kept a promise of something new for the forgotten people without having actually done it. (Sound familiar?)

Another poster said the Bard idea came from Antwan Wilson. Maybe it should have left with him, too.

Co-locating at Anacostia and giving preference to Wards 7 & 8 might result in something of value to the many bright but underserved kids EotR. They deserve it, but only if it can be done right. [/b]We shouldn't be experimenting on teens.

[b]

Please. Every start up charter school from DCI to Washington Latin has been an experimentation on teens, and parents jumped at he chance to enroll their kids. Why the sudden heartburn now? Does it have anything to do with the fact that the school will not be located in wards 1-4?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think a lot of people on dcum understand families that live in ward 7 and 8.

For a good chunk of these families, this school could signal development and growth for other things and I personally think many will be on board.

For some families they get nervous at anything that will signal development and growth and will be skeptical.

But I think the majority would want this school in their area regardless of if their child goes there or not. Just as it's been said in here that all of dc residents are stakeholders in dcps and education even if they don't have children, MANY ward 7 and 8 families want new things to come to their ward and would be happy to have this, even if they have no children.

I absolutely understand people wanting it in Ward 7 or 8. I just question the utility as there is no sign there are even close to enough students in those Wards who could do the work or really anything like it. So it’s an expensive case of wishful thinking.