New Report on Racial and Economic Diversity in DC public and charter schools
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Anonymous
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For the wonky among us, the DC Policy Center released a new report yesterday. https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/landscape-of-diversity-in-dc-public-schools/
It considers both racial diversity and also economic diversity. Lots of interesting charts and graphics. Key finding: DC schools are more diverse economically than they are racially. "Students at public schools in D.C. have more exposure to peers from different economic groups than to peers in other racial and ethnic groups. Over half of schools have between 40 percent and 60 percent of students who are at-risk, meaning that many students are attending schools with a balanced share of students from another economic group (see Figure 2). However, 18 schools have very low proportions – less than ten percent – of at-risk students, while just three schools have more than 90 percent of at-risk students. By comparison, the distribution of African American students is extremely imbalanced. Half of D.C.’s public schools have a student body that is at least 90 percent African American, meaning that many students do not attend school with students from other racial or ethnic groups." 54 schools are considered "racially and ethnically diverse" meaning that "the plurality group in each school does not represent more than 61 percent of the student body." The 10 most diverse schools are Wilson HS, Yu Ying, Mundo Verde, BASIS DC, Seaton, Stokes, DCI, Hearst, EL Haynes and Breakthrough Montessori. There are 52 "economically diverse schools" defined as schools where the plurality group (either at-risk students or not at-risk students) represents at least 46 percent and no more than 50 percent of all students The 10 most economically diverse schools are CHEC, Brookland, Center City Cap Hill, Phelps, Langdon, Achievement Prep, Center City Shaw, Chavez, Perry Street Prep, HD Cooke |
Anonymous
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Factoid from this report - in 2017 just 27% of students attended their IB school.
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Anonymous
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I bet close to half of DC neighborhoods are over 90% AA so none of that is surprising to me
It's good that there are few areas with really high at-risk populations which are really hard to educate |
Anonymous
| It is inevitable that DC will have to adopt a random lottery placement system for public schools, like in San Francisco. Neighborhood-based schools are inherently exclusionary. Only with a true DC-wide lottery (with diversity adjustments) will DC achieve equity. |
Anonymous
It is not inevitable. You may not have been here in 2014 when this was suggested and people from every neighborhood rejected the idea. People prefer having a neighborhood school that is easy to get to than achieving racial equity. |
Anonymous
Let's see what Ferebee does. I doubt neighborhood schools will go away for elementary and perhaps middle. But in Indianapolis he eliminated the neighborhood school system for high schools and students apply to the one that matches their interest (technical / vocational, college bound, etc). The vast majority of DCPS high school students don't' attend their IB school -- and DCPS is already moving this way with the application high schools, the new Bard College high school, and not even bothering with a general program for a redesigned Coolidge. |
Anonymous
We discussed San Francisco, and no one with children liked that ultrasegregated mess. |
Anonymous
"have to"? how so? NOBODY who is happy with their IB school wants that destroyed. And that's not just high SES white parents. |
Anonymous
Per the DME in 2017 (cited in the report this thread is about) only 27% of students even go to their IB school, and I doubt 100% of them are happy. |
Anonymous
Agree, but a lot of us are. Destroying functioning (and diverse!) neighborhood schools in the name of diversity would be crazy. Also, what's the IB rate for elementary school? Neighborhood schools are even more important for elementary school, since the proximity allows parents to be more involved (more important in early years). |
Anonymous
But the report notes that even if students aren't attending their IB DCPS, "in practice, students attend schools that are on average a 10- to 16-minute drive from home, depending on their grade." |
Anonymous
Did you read the report or at least the executive summary? None of the Wilson feeder schools (or Wilson) are economically diverse. That is as significant as racial and ethnic diversity. Also the data in this report is 2 years old. Wilson is less diverse now than it was in 2016 and the trend isn't good. |
Anonymous
I'm surprised by this, at least based on experience with our IB, Shepherd. It seems pretty economically diverse to me. |
Anonymous
A 10 minute drive is pretty far, and I don't want to drive, and we don't need more traffic on the streets. I have no issue with methods like set-asides to increase diversity, but destroying functioning neighborhood schools would be shameful. |
Anonymous
Very few neighborhood schools are functional. Why should we preserve an entire dysfunctional system to just save a few unicorns? |