Latin - diversity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting at 5th grade rather than 6th grade means a lot of DCPS families are not going to consider. I know a good handful of black kids, some EA, who tried to get into Cooper at 6th because they stayed at their local ward 5 school through the end.

The open house for Cooper last year had two kids asking if the math classes were advanced enough (both white and black). If you have a kid who is not on grade level, that makes you question if it's the right place.

Those parents made a choice. That's how school choice works. In this case, they are even dumber than an average dumb parent because as EA families their kids were all but assured seats.

The result here isn't racist and it isn't a violation of principles or equity. It's parents making bad choices and their kids paying the price.

Both BASIS and Latin want more diversity in their student body. Maybe having the lottery at 6th grade, when many parents apparently would prefer to have their kids move to middle school, is one way to do it.

Pick a lane here. Helping kids escape lousy ES is why we have charters. Remediating lousy ES educations (you know, the ones you have never heard of) is why those schools start in 5th. The people who have ES they like and would remain in through 5th are not the kids you and your faux outrage buddies pretend to advocate for. Or are you suggesting that we need to be even more Brent kids at BASIS and Latin?

I don't know. I'm exactly this -- we love our DCPS elementary but don't like the middle. My kid is in 4th now and is really sad at the thought of not finishing our his elementary school career at his current school. We would love to stay for 5th and then lottery for the whole lot (Latin plus good DCPS middle schools) but the fact that Latin starts in 5th makes the calculation harder.

I used to have the same feeling: We want the middle and HS experience (in our case, Basis) but were disappointed for our child to miss 5th at a strong ES where he was doing well. But the other day I asked if he missed his ES got an unequivocal no. He really likes the faster paced learning. And I would think that would be even more so for strong students at weak elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good point above. We have neighbors of many years who bailed on Latin for Walls, seeking a much bigger cohort of high-performing high school students. The kid was admitted to an Ivy this past spring.

I have had kids graduate from both Latin and Walls. The one from Walls is at an Ivy. Latin is a better education and a better school by miles.

What makes Latin better by miles. In your experience compared to Walls?

[Anonymous]

We can get sidetracked on which schools are better. As for diversity, people apply for Latin who would never consider EL Haynes, which makes it that much more difficult to lottery in and skews the diversity metrics. In a public lottery that’s just the way it goes and griping from the sidelines about marketing just shows that you don’t understand the situation. (Especially when it’s so obvious people were ready to light pitchforks about transportation and then had to meekly retreat once they learned about the shuttle.)

This. The lottery favors those who have a backup plan if they don't get into their chosen charter---whether it be a move to the suburbs or paying for private or deciding to move IB for Deal/Wilson. All of those backup plans require economic resources. If you are a family whose IB options for MS and HS are unacceptably low-performing (which is pretty much all of the city save for Ward 3), but you are not low income enough to qualify for an EA preference, and not affluent enough to afford a backup plan, then making Latin your first lottery choice may mean getting shut out of any lottery choices and being stuck with your unacceptable IB school. Working class and lower middle class families, most of whom in DC are AA, are having to make this calculation. The lottery algorithm should be recalibrated so that people can list Latin (or Basis, or DCI, or other schools with long waitlists) as their first choice, but not be penalized for doing so. That would help those schools maintain a broad applicant pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We can get sidetracked on which schools are better. As for diversity, people apply for Latin who would never consider EL Haynes, which makes it that much more difficult to lottery in and skews the diversity metrics. In a public lottery that’s just the way it goes and griping from the sidelines about marketing just shows that you don’t understand the situation. (Especially when it’s so obvious people were ready to light pitchforks about transportation and then had to meekly retreat once they learned about the shuttle.)

This. The lottery favors those who have a backup plan if they don't get into their chosen charter---whether it be a move to the suburbs or paying for private or deciding to move IB for Deal/Wilson. All of those backup plans require economic resources. If you are a family whose IB options for MS and HS are unacceptably low-performing (which is pretty much all of the city save for Ward 3), but you are not low income enough to qualify for an EA preference, and not affluent enough to afford a backup plan, then making Latin your first lottery choice may mean getting shut out of any lottery choices and being stuck with your unacceptable IB school. Working class and lower middle class families, most of whom in DC are AA, are having to make this calculation. The lottery algorithm should be recalibrated so that people can list Latin (or Basis, or DCI, or other schools with long waitlists) as their first choice, but not be penalized for doing so. That would help those schools maintain a broad applicant pool.

You just described exactly how the algorithm works. Take a bow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We can get sidetracked on which schools are better. As for diversity, people apply for Latin who would never consider EL Haynes, which makes it that much more difficult to lottery in and skews the diversity metrics. In a public lottery that’s just the way it goes and griping from the sidelines about marketing just shows that you don’t understand the situation. (Especially when it’s so obvious people were ready to light pitchforks about transportation and then had to meekly retreat once they learned about the shuttle.)

This. The lottery favors those who have a backup plan if they don't get into their chosen charter---whether it be a move to the suburbs or paying for private or deciding to move IB for Deal/Wilson. All of those backup plans require economic resources. If you are a family whose IB options for MS and HS are unacceptably low-performing (which is pretty much all of the city save for Ward 3), but you are not low income enough to qualify for an EA preference, and not affluent enough to afford a backup plan, then making Latin your first lottery choice may mean getting shut out of any lottery choices and being stuck with your unacceptable IB school. Working class and lower middle class families, most of whom in DC are AA, are having to make this calculation. The lottery algorithm should be recalibrated so that people can list Latin (or Basis, or DCI, or other schools with long waitlists) as their first choice, but not be penalized for doing so. That would help those schools maintain a broad applicant pool.

That's how the lottery works right now. If you list Latin first and BASIS second, you could get shut out of Latin but get into BASIS. That's why it is important to list all your choices in order of preference.

It may be that you unfortunately get a horrible master lottery number and are shut out of every choice, but the more choices you list, the better chance you have to avoid your IB, if that is your goal.

[Anonymous]

Since there is no neighborhood preference and it is all a lottery, why is it that so many lower income families are applying to charter schools like EL Haynes and Paul (in Ward 4,nearby) but not Latin. Arguments about transportation, knowledge of lottery etc really wouldn’t apply since all these schools are very close to each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I walked by Latin during their recess and really surprised by the lack of diversity at school. There is some diversity but if kids are admitted by random lottery across the city, it didn’t seem diverse enough at a quick glance. What gives?

Stop creeping on other people's kids.

[Anonymous]

Sorry I live there. And I’m curious about these kids getting shuttled into my neighborhood, who don’t really contribute to my community, think the neighborhood is too “sketchy” to walk around in to contribute to local businesses, but love to go to school here and are getting a wonderful education and learning kindness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I walked by Latin during their recess and really surprised by the lack of diversity at school. There is some diversity but if kids are admitted by random lottery across the city, it didn’t seem diverse enough at a quick glance. What gives?

Stop creeping on other people's kids.

Taking a walk in my neighborhood where I live is not creeping on your kids. Talk about entitled Capitol Hill families. Yikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since there is no neighborhood preference and it is all a lottery, why is it that so many lower income families are applying to charter schools like EL Haynes and Paul (in Ward 4,nearby) but not Latin. Arguments about transportation, knowledge of lottery etc really wouldn’t apply since all these schools are very close to each other.

It’s the other way around, dummy. For the most part, white families are not applying to those schools so there is zero competition for lower income families to get in. Those same families also apply for Latin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry I live there. And I’m curious about these kids getting shuttled into my neighborhood, who don’t really contribute to my community, think the neighborhood is too “sketchy” to walk around in to contribute to local businesses, but love to go to school here and are getting a wonderful education and learning kindness.

I’ve lived in the neighborhood since 2006, don’t send my kids to Latin, but think the school has been a wonderful neighbor and a boon to the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I walked by Latin during their recess and really surprised by the lack of diversity at school. There is some diversity but if kids are admitted by random lottery across the city, it didn’t seem diverse enough at a quick glance. What gives?

Stop creeping on other people's kids.

+1
Very strange behavior

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Latin demographics mirror that of the city. So not sure what you are referring to as lack of diversity. Are there a lot of white kids? Yes, because almost half of the city is white. I think the high school at Latin is 35% white.

According to OSSE’s data, only 12.5% of DC public school students—that’s DCPS and charters—identify as white:
https://osse.dc.gov/page/data-and-reports-0

People always quote this statistic as though it ends the conversation. It doesn't! Half the population is white - so half the students should approx be white. The reason it is not that way at others DCPS/Charter schools is because most of them suck. But at a good one - the white parents buy in and send their kid there roughly proportional to their population numbers.

46% of the total population is white but only 24% of people under 18 are white.

Because white people often move out because they judge the schools to be inadequate. They feel their kids won't be well served. I hope that more young white residents find that staying in DC because the schools are good is an option for them. That should be our goal as a city: to serve all residents. Not to be glad because we get to take the tax dollars of young bar hoppers and then send their kids to the suburbs to be educated. And charters are helping us to make this goal more likely. Unless you just hate white people and hope they leave?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry I live there. And I’m curious about these kids getting shuttled into my neighborhood, who don’t really contribute to my community, think the neighborhood is too “sketchy” to walk around in to contribute to local businesses, but love to go to school here and are getting a wonderful education and learning kindness.

I’ve lived in the neighborhood since 2006, don’t send my kids to Latin, but think the school has been a wonderful neighbor and a boon to the community.

What does Latin do for its neighbors and community?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry I live there. And I’m curious about these kids getting shuttled into my neighborhood, who don’t really contribute to my community, think the neighborhood is too “sketchy” to walk around in to contribute to local businesses, but love to go to school here and are getting a wonderful education and learning kindness.

I’ve lived in the neighborhood since 2006, don’t send my kids to Latin, but think the school has been a wonderful neighbor and a boon to the community.

What does Latin do for its neighbors and community?

Has well-behaved students that aren’t a nuisance to neighbors. They pass my block daily. Would that other schools followed suit.

But it also brings an energy to what was a blighted block.