Middle school IB percentage low but few lottery spots offered?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on, when you have favorable school demographics, you essentially have honors classes.

Not having honors classes in "neighborhood schools" is obviously a much bigger problem in this city where most students are low SES than in schools where most are high SES.

Then say what you mean. Objections to SH or EH or Jefferson are not about the lack of honors classes but rather about disadvantaged kids.

This what you're saying, not me.

I was a disadvantaged kid growing up, in NYC. Even so, I had access to stellar GT programs in the public school system from 3rd grade on up. As an adult, I became a government lawyer.

My objections to the way SH, EH and JA work are in fact about the lack of honors classes, particularly for disadvantaged kids who could and would do the work in such classes, with the right supports. The tyranny of low expectations still has a firm grip on DCPS.

Can only speak to SH, but the honors classes available are in play for any student who can handle the work regardless of background.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on, when you have favorable school demographics, you essentially have honors classes.

Not having honors classes in "neighborhood schools" is obviously a much bigger problem in this city where most students are low SES than in schools where most are high SES.

Then say what you mean. Objections to SH or EH or Jefferson are not about the lack of honors classes but rather about disadvantaged kids.

Good for you, 2nd PP, for calling bullsht on this. Educated Cap Hill parents have been whining about needing an invitation-only school-within-a-school for at least a decade.

It’s astonishing to watch, as an outsider (but with kids in DCPS.) You just KNOW that a majority of this Cap Hill parent crowd identifies as liberal Dems working in politics/policy. Yet here they are, advocating for segregated public facilities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on, when you have favorable school demographics, you essentially have honors classes.

Not having honors classes in "neighborhood schools" is obviously a much bigger problem in this city where most students are low SES than in schools where most are high SES.

Then say what you mean. Objections to SH or EH or Jefferson are not about the lack of honors classes but rather about disadvantaged kids.

Good for you, 2nd PP, for calling bullsht on this. Educated Cap Hill parents have been whining about needing an invitation-only school-within-a-school for at least a decade.

It’s astonishing to watch, as an outsider (but with kids in DCPS.) You just KNOW that a majority of this Cap Hill parent crowd identifies as liberal Dems working in politics/policy. Yet here they are, advocating for segregated public facilities

While it is true that because of the demographics of DC, it is unlikely that there would be a substantial white population in non-honors classes, SH absolutely would -- and does -- have a substantial population of AA kids in honors classes. Does that not play into your narrative that this is race-driven?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on, when you have favorable school demographics, you essentially have honors classes.

Not having honors classes in "neighborhood schools" is obviously a much bigger problem in this city where most students are low SES than in schools where most are high SES.

Then say what you mean. Objections to SH or EH or Jefferson are not about the lack of honors classes but rather about disadvantaged kids.

Good for you, 2nd PP, for calling bullsht on this. Educated Cap Hill parents have been whining about needing an invitation-only school-within-a-school for at least a decade.

It’s astonishing to watch, as an outsider (but with kids in DCPS.) You just KNOW that a majority of this Cap Hill parent crowd identifies as liberal Dems working in politics/policy. Yet here they are, advocating for segregated public facilities

What's BS, PP, is tossing a cohort of 8th graders who can easily manage high school level work into the very same DCPS middle school science and social studies classes as a gaggle of students reading and doing math at an elementary school level. This bad arrangement is as unfair to teachers as to families.

Most of us in the "liberal Dems working in politics/policy" on the Hill crowd would be satisfied with a full menu of academic honors classes on offer at a pan-Ward 6 middle school. The classes should be open to all students who can demonstrate that they work at, or above, grade level in individual subjects.

I'm not white, but I thank my lucky stars that I was able to attend a test-in magnet program in NYC as a young person (Hunter College MS/HS). That public facility was far from segregated. Very far.

[Anonymous]

Middle school IB percentages are low with few lottery spots offered because we never got our Alice Deal for All....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And yet, despite only taking families who enter a lottery, and having all the advantages you mentioned, and an easier time kicking kids out, the charter schools you mentioned aren't that different in terms of test scores.

White kids do the best at SH, then DCI, then Latin.

Black kids do the best in DCI, then Latin, then SH.

Latino it's SH, Latin, DCI.

At risk it's SH and DCI, with Latin worse.

In all of these, the differences are somewhat negligible. Clearly if you want language immersion DCI makes sense and if you want to avoid Eastern and don't think your kid will make it into a selective DCPS it feels good to be done through 12th grade with Latin (though in that scenario does your kid really need advanced middle school classes?). But test score wise, there's really no argument that your kid will have a significantly stronger middle school cohort at DCI or Latin than SH. Richer? Whiter? yeah. But academically pretty similar.

What are you taking about? No, it’s not negligible. Look at the PARCC scores from above posters and ELA there is 11-12% difference and math 100%. That’s huge. There are no scores we can see with social studies, science, languages, writing, etc...

You think just comparing ELA works for middle school? I won’t even begin to discuss behavior issues, teachers expectations, curriculum, etc...

Huge difference between the 3.

Do Deal and Hardy have tracked science and social studies classes? I get that BASIS creates cohorts by weeding out kids who can't handle the work, and Latin is small, and sufficiently UMC/white for those parents to think they are leveled cohorts. But DCPS to DCPS?

Once SH gets to 82% students at grade level or above in ELA and 62% in math, then you can make equal comparisons. PP doesn’t seem to understand that if classes are not tracked, the peer group matters even more.

For example, its common sense that when you have 3 out of 4 kids in a science class who are at or above grade level, you are going to be able to teach a more challenging curriculum vs. having 1 out of 5 kids at or above grade level.

I would argue peer group matters even more in a system such as DCPS than just tracking just 2 measly subjects.

[Anonymous]

THIS. DCPS, and neighbors like the one above, can't force or shame any of us on CH into sending our kids to DCPS schools where half the kids don't test proficient and 2 measly subjects are tracked.

It's a pointless exercise, year in and year out.