Replicating ATS success — what are exact differences

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our neighbors left ATS because they said it was not a good school for their kid who had special needs.

Neighborhood schools ( not all, but many) do a better job with that.

Right. Because ATS is a choice school.

Because it's a self selecting group, that's about 75% of the success right there.

More than 75% I think. Probably 90%. There are some things that can be replicated, but you aren’t going to be able to fix the main ingredient for ATS’s success in narrowing the achievement gap.

If self-selection is the achievement gap fixer, why don't the other choice programs have the same effect?

Yes, and not just other choice programs. The highly educated wealthy parents self selected, too, by buying into the elementary schools in northernmost Arlington.

Yet, I believe all those schools do have an achievement gap for their very few kids who do not fall into the well resourced parent category. There are also gaps for SN kids when I last checked, and ethnic ones as well.
They should have zero problems closing their gaps for those few students, why don't they or can't they?

[Anonymous]

Sorry. The only possible answer for ATS’s success is that really smart parents chose ATS. Closing the achievement gap forever remains a unicorn because poor kids don’t have involved parents. Let’s just stop trying and give everyone a trophy so they don’t feel bad about themselves and call it day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry. The only possible answer for ATS’s success is that really smart parents chose ATS. Closing the achievement gap forever remains a unicorn because poor kids don’t have involved parents. Let’s just stop trying and give everyone a trophy so they don’t feel bad about themselves and call it day.

ATS does have low SES families, which goes to show that anyone can succeed if they do the work and are expected to behave.

Just curious — what are truancy rates at ATS? And how often are there behavior incidents? Do they have parents not show up during P-T conferences?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of these differences only work with home support.

Summer reading...home support.

The instrument...home support.

The dress code...home support.

The homework...home support. Let's be real any homework before about 3rd or 4th grade is a group project with you and your kid.

People discounting what a difference it makes to have a student body filled 100 percent with parents who were motivated and interested enough to get the kids there are just naive.

Sure. A lot but not all of our elementary schools have some of these things. Summer reading, homework, band take some level of parent buy in. I also think more but not all parents would ask their kids do these things if it was expected of them.

And why not weekly progress reports sent home to parents? That doesn’t require parent participation but more parents would know how their kid was doing. It opens the door to regular communication.

Teachers are not going to have time for this because they deal with a higher load of discipline and SN kids than ATS (since SN kids who struggle leave ATS for a school without homework)

There are a TON of SN kids at ATS, it was in this thread, too, around 12%. Do you think ATS has less issues than other lottery schools? Less behavioral struggles than neighborhood schools like, say, Jamestown, Tuckahoe, or Nottingham? I don't think so. Probably has more. There are a lot of ELL students who are new to the US or the parents are brand new to the US, there is a large SN population, and there is a very large poor population. Jamestown, Tuckahoe, Nottingham, etc. so not deal with these challenges, especially not in large numbers.

Would love to compare attendance rates between all the schools. And P-T conference attendance. And rates of behavioral incidents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our neighbors left ATS because they said it was not a good school for their kid who had special needs.

Neighborhood schools ( not all, but many) do a better job with that.

Right. Because ATS is a choice school.

Because it's a self selecting group, that's about 75% of the success right there.

More than 75% I think. Probably 90%. There are some things that can be replicated, but you aren’t going to be able to fix the main ingredient for ATS’s success in narrowing the achievement gap.

If self-selection is the achievement gap fixer, why don't the other choice programs have the same effect?

Yes, and not just other choice programs. The highly educated wealthy parents self selected, too, by buying into the elementary schools in northernmost Arlington.

Yet, I believe all those schools do have an achievement gap for their very few kids who do not fall into the well resourced parent category. There are also gaps for SN kids when I last checked, and ethnic ones as well.
They should have zero problems closing their gaps for those few students, why don't they or can't they?

Just because you’re wealthy doesn’t mean you’re involved. The number of parents in NA schools who didn’t know their child was struggling with reading or math till the later grades is shocking. Like HOW DIDN’T YOU KNOW?

You don’t need a teacher’s written report to know if your child is struggling. Do you not read with your child at home? Or talk about math concepts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry. The only possible answer for ATS’s success is that really smart parents chose ATS. Closing the achievement gap forever remains a unicorn because poor kids don’t have involved parents. Let’s just stop trying and give everyone a trophy so they don’t feel bad about themselves and call it day.

We need to just close ATS because it makes everyone else feel bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our neighbors left ATS because they said it was not a good school for their kid who had special needs.

Neighborhood schools ( not all, but many) do a better job with that.

Right. Because ATS is a choice school.

Because it's a self selecting group, that's about 75% of the success right there.

More than 75% I think. Probably 90%. There are some things that can be replicated, but you aren’t going to be able to fix the main ingredient for ATS’s success in narrowing the achievement gap.

If self-selection is the achievement gap fixer, why don't the other choice programs have the same effect?

Yes, and not just other choice programs. The highly educated wealthy parents self selected, too, by buying into the elementary schools in northernmost Arlington.

Yet, I believe all those schools do have an achievement gap for their very few kids who do not fall into the well resourced parent category. There are also gaps for SN kids when I last checked, and ethnic ones as well.
They should have zero problems closing their gaps for those few students, why don't they or can't they?

Just because you’re wealthy doesn’t mean you’re involved. The number of parents in NA schools who didn’t know their child was struggling with reading or math till the later grades is shocking. Like HOW DIDN’T YOU KNOW?

You don’t need a teacher’s written report to know if your child is struggling. Do you not read with your child at home? Or talk about math concepts?

We were one of those families. We thought something was wrong. But we were told to wait and see, then everyone was behind because of the pandemic, then she was making progress. We asked but couldn’t get summer school. Finally got a private diagnosis and tutor. That’s HOW WE DIDN’T KNOW . We trusted APS to do its job and they didn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our neighbors left ATS because they said it was not a good school for their kid who had special needs.

Neighborhood schools ( not all, but many) do a better job with that.

Right. Because ATS is a choice school.

Because it's a self selecting group, that's about 75% of the success right there.

More than 75% I think. Probably 90%. There are some things that can be replicated, but you aren’t going to be able to fix the main ingredient for ATS’s success in narrowing the achievement gap.

If self-selection is the achievement gap fixer, why don't the other choice programs have the same effect?

Yes, and not just other choice programs. The highly educated wealthy parents self selected, too, by buying into the elementary schools in northernmost Arlington.

Yet, I believe all those schools do have an achievement gap for their very few kids who do not fall into the well resourced parent category. There are also gaps for SN kids when I last checked, and ethnic ones as well.
They should have zero problems closing their gaps for those few students, why don't they or can't they?

Just because you’re wealthy doesn’t mean you’re involved. The number of parents in NA schools who didn’t know their child was struggling with reading or math till the later grades is shocking. Like HOW DIDN’T YOU KNOW?

You don’t need a teacher’s written report to know if your child is struggling. Do you not read with your child at home? Or talk about math concepts?

I was that parent. We read books but didn’t have homework from our school. And when you ask other parents what they do, your hear that homework is useless. Now I know better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our neighbors left ATS because they said it was not a good school for their kid who had special needs.

Neighborhood schools ( not all, but many) do a better job with that.

Right. Because ATS is a choice school.

Because it's a self selecting group, that's about 75% of the success right there.

More than 75% I think. Probably 90%. There are some things that can be replicated, but you aren’t going to be able to fix the main ingredient for ATS’s success in narrowing the achievement gap.

If self-selection is the achievement gap fixer, why don't the other choice programs have the same effect?

Yes, and not just other choice programs. The highly educated wealthy parents self selected, too, by buying into the elementary schools in northernmost Arlington.

Yet, I believe all those schools do have an achievement gap for their very few kids who do not fall into the well resourced parent category. There are also gaps for SN kids when I last checked, and ethnic ones as well.
They should have zero problems closing their gaps for those few students, why don't they or can't they?

Just because you’re wealthy doesn’t mean you’re involved. The number of parents in NA schools who didn’t know their child was struggling with reading or math till the later grades is shocking. Like HOW DIDN’T YOU KNOW?

You don’t need a teacher’s written report to know if your child is struggling. Do you not read with your child at home? Or talk about math concepts?

We were one of those families. We thought something was wrong. But we were told to wait and see, then everyone was behind because of the pandemic, then she was making progress. We asked but couldn’t get summer school. Finally got a private diagnosis and tutor. That’s HOW WE DIDN’T KNOW . We trusted APS to do its job and they didn’t.

I mean, you said it right there. You knew, but were given bad advice. I’m not talking about you. I’m talking to the parents whose kids are failing 4th grade. “I had no ideeeeea my kid can’t read!”

[Anonymous]

You knew. That’s why you got a tutor.

[Anonymous]

would like to know if getting tutors is as common in other places as it is here. when I speak with friends who live outside of the area they are floored when I mention tutors in grade school. are kids at ATS using tutors or is it more commonly found with the other elementary schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our neighbors left ATS because they said it was not a good school for their kid who had special needs.

Neighborhood schools ( not all, but many) do a better job with that.

Right. Because ATS is a choice school.

Because it's a self selecting group, that's about 75% of the success right there.

More than 75% I think. Probably 90%. There are some things that can be replicated, but you aren’t going to be able to fix the main ingredient for ATS’s success in narrowing the achievement gap.

If self-selection is the achievement gap fixer, why don't the other choice programs have the same effect?

Yes, and not just other choice programs. The highly educated wealthy parents self selected, too, by buying into the elementary schools in northernmost Arlington.

Yet, I believe all those schools do have an achievement gap for their very few kids who do not fall into the well resourced parent category. There are also gaps for SN kids when I last checked, and ethnic ones as well.
They should have zero problems closing their gaps for those few students, why don't they or can't they?

Just because you’re wealthy doesn’t mean you’re involved. The number of parents in NA schools who didn’t know their child was struggling with reading or math till the later grades is shocking. Like HOW DIDN’T YOU KNOW?

You don’t need a teacher’s written report to know if your child is struggling. Do you not read with your child at home? Or talk about math concepts?

We were one of those families. We thought something was wrong. But we were told to wait and see, then everyone was behind because of the pandemic, then she was making progress. We asked but couldn’t get summer school. Finally got a private diagnosis and tutor. That’s HOW WE DIDN’T KNOW . We trusted APS to do its job and they didn’t.

I mean, you said it right there. You knew, but were given bad advice. I’m not talking about you. I’m talking to the parents whose kids are failing 4th grade. “I had no ideeeeea my kid can’t read!”

It’s less likely this happens at a school like ATS. Kids are flagged early if they are struggling and Held back if necessary. No “wait and see” BS or misleading report cards. Parents trust schools to tell them if there is a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our neighbors left ATS because they said it was not a good school for their kid who had special needs.

Neighborhood schools ( not all, but many) do a better job with that.

Right. Because ATS is a choice school.

Because it's a self selecting group, that's about 75% of the success right there.

More than 75% I think. Probably 90%. There are some things that can be replicated, but you aren’t going to be able to fix the main ingredient for ATS’s success in narrowing the achievement gap.

If self-selection is the achievement gap fixer, why don't the other choice programs have the same effect?

Yes, and not just other choice programs. The highly educated wealthy parents self selected, too, by buying into the elementary schools in northernmost Arlington.

Yet, I believe all those schools do have an achievement gap for their very few kids who do not fall into the well resourced parent category. There are also gaps for SN kids when I last checked, and ethnic ones as well.
They should have zero problems closing their gaps for those few students, why don't they or can't they?

easy, those kids are not their priority

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:would like to know if getting tutors is as common in other places as it is here. when I speak with friends who live outside of the area they are floored when I mention tutors in grade school. are kids at ATS using tutors or is it more commonly found with the other elementary schools?

Look at comments on DCUM and AEM. A lot of APS parents seek outside tutors for core subjects like reading and math.

Not sure about other parents at ATS but we do not. The homework that is sent home is sufficient practice for our kid. Our teacher flagged some difficulties early and we were able to address. Now we have a 504 and some accommodations that seem to be helping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:would like to know if getting tutors is as common in other places as it is here. when I speak with friends who live outside of the area they are floored when I mention tutors in grade school. are kids at ATS using tutors or is it more commonly found with the other elementary schools?

I think they are 100% common in similar socio-economic circles and urban areas. I have a lot of close friends in NYC and many of their kids have tutors. My friends in Austin, Texas similar lots of tutors.

My friends in rural areas or less education/wealthy areas don't have tutors.
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