McKinley Tech - a great school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can we start incorporating the FACTS into this conversation?

1)McKinley Tech was 4.7% white in 2024-2025.
It was also 4.7% white in 2023-2024

That's more than 50% higher than 3%, so please stop repeating that false number.

2) There are UMC students who attend that school.
Few UMC WHITE students attend, but quite a few UMC black students do.

In DC shorthand, we know that generally, white students in DC are UMC but that does not mean that no black students are UMC. Stop equating the two.

I know that because, well, McKinley Tech is 38.1% economy disadvantaged. That means the majority of students do not fall into that category. Some, in fact at least 20% I would guess, are at least UMC (you've got to include the 4.7% of white students plus a decent share of the others). If UMC wasn't so predominantly black, you wouldn't assume this. So don't, because it's not true.

3) McKinley Tech's stats are already similar to both Duke Ellington and Banneker's.

It's fine with me if you don't want to send your kid there for whatever reason: location, demographics, academic offering. Just don't act like it's because it's an inherently inferior school when it's really because you don't want your kid to be ia school where they are one of the 5% of white students.

Also, McKinley Tech's CAPE scores (which won't be reflected on the MySchool DC page went up 22% in English last year. So, even if CAPE scores are your main objection, you should keep in mind that they are a moving target and headed in the right direction.

My kid is of East Asian ancestry, like me. Impossible, right? Ridiculous conversation.

It is ridiculous. I am Asian and was the only Asian in my elementary, middle and high schools growing up. I dealt with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Original Poster here again: this convo has diverted, as always on this forum, into some strange spitting match about scores. My son is happy, loves his teachers, the syllabi are all reasonably challenging and quite interesting (IMHO), and there are plenty of academic options for all levels. He also reports fewer disruptive behaviors than his experience in other DCPS or charter schools he attended. The students seem respectful and attentive and I understand (from other parents) there are fewer issues with drugs, vaping etc than other high schools. It’s also smaller than other high schools in the DMV. What’s not to like? Perfect and a guarantee for Harvard? Nope. But I don’t care about that. So if others are looking for a solid option, consider McKinley the same way maybe DCI or others.

Other freshman PP here. I hope we meet soon, if we haven’t already!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the earliest grade that you can take AP Cal? What are their AP Cal and AP science scores?

What about their SAT score averages?

I don't know about AP Calculus and when you can take it. You would probably need to call the school and ask for that particular information.

In terms of granular AP data, I don't know where to find it, but the overall AP summary for DCPS for 2023-2024 is here:
https://dcps.dc.gov/publication/ap-score-data-sets

Their AP scores are comparable to Banneker and Ellington. They have a very high AP participation rate as AP tests are required for AP classes, which I don't think it the case everywhere.

DCPS SAT scores can be found here:
https://dcps.dc.gov/publication/dcps-data-set-sat

And, again, McKinley Tech's results are quite comparable to DESA and Jackson Reed, which parents on DCUM consider to be viable options.

Only 50% kids are getting 3 and up in AP exams.

SAT average is only 998 with only 494 in math??

No, there not many advance math kids from stats above.

998 is A B Y S M A L

Yes for regular school. Even worst for selective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Original Poster here again: this convo has diverted, as always on this forum, into some strange spitting match about scores. My son is happy, loves his teachers, the syllabi are all reasonably challenging and quite interesting (IMHO), and there are plenty of academic options for all levels. He also reports fewer disruptive behaviors than his experience in other DCPS or charter schools he attended. The students seem respectful and attentive and I understand (from other parents) there are fewer issues with drugs, vaping etc than other high schools. It’s also smaller than other high schools in the DMV. What’s not to like? Perfect and a guarantee for Harvard? Nope. But I don’t care about that. So if others are looking for a solid option, consider McKinley the same way maybe DCI or others.

Is the default track Calc AB in 12th grade? Is BC offered?

Just curious as I can’t find the information and others do want to know.

McKinley offers non-AP calculus, AP calc AB and BC. They also offer probability and statistics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the earliest grade that you can take AP Cal? What are their AP Cal and AP science scores?

What about their SAT score averages?

I am a teacher and Wells sent a kid there two years ago who took AP Cal in 9th grade. You can take AP Cal as early as you are eligible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...and also location. It is not at all convenient to Ward 3.

Ward 5 is becoming much more diverse, but my family was on the cutting edge of this trend and our kid is now a 10th grader. We were actually the only white family in our census block for a few years! That is no longer the case. I expect more white in the coming decade as more kids who live nearby and are white enter high school.

The other thing is that, even as someone who went to a high school that was very diverse (more black than white students) I was nervous about sending my kid to a school where he would be part of the 4.7% of white students. (The 3% number is wrong and the 4.7% number has held for two years, so white kids haven't been the "onlies" at the school for quite some time if ever.)

But, that said, I went to school in the South in the 90s. Racial tensions were much higher then because segregation was not a distant memory but something fellow students' parents had lived through. I think enough time has passed that it's a bit different now than then. It's pretty easy for us parents to project our experiences onto our kids, but they're really living in a very different time than the one we grew up in.

A bit of history about McKinley Tech -- before school integration, it was a whites-only STEM school and was highly regarded.

After integration, the demographics flipped VERY quickly (became overwhelmly Black within a couple of years, bc whites fled), but the STEM part stayed, so it was one of the only schools where smart, black high school students could take very difficult science courses with real labs, etc. This is a very recent history, of course, and I've spoken to people who lived this (went to McKinley Tech in the 60s and 70s).

It's a good school. It was a white school, and then it was a mostly black school. Now it seems to be actually integrating, which is wonderful -- that was always the goal!

My dad and all his siblings are graduates of MTHS from the 60s!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't this great school far more diverse? Why is it 3% white in a city where whites are more than 40% of the population these days? Just poor PR? Serious question.

Glad your teens are happy there thus far but I'm skeptical. You can shout "strong public options!" all you want. But the inconvenient truth is that few UMC families are convinced.

Original poster here. I had not wanted to get into this but feel I need to address this. As a UMC white mom myself, i was struck that my white friends had almost no info/personal insights on the school while all my AA friends highly recommended it, and rightly so. The only thing I can think, sadly, is the a) frankly bigoted and sadly engrained assumption/fear of being singled out as the “only white kid” has kept white people away and the racist view that majority black schools in NE aren’t safe/good and b) so many kids want to only go to schools with their friends and there is a clustering effect around the same public and charter schools. I’m sorry to be that blunt but otherwise I struggle to understand a rationale that makes sense. Certainly it’s a STEM school and that doesn’t attract all kids. But I struggle to see that as the key reason for the demographic composition.

Overall I just think the school (and the kids that attend) deserve recognition and I had wanted to just flag it for parents who struggled as I did to get sufficient information on it in this forum.

This +100. And it’s true of many other schools in DC. Schools get stuck in a chicken or egg scenario of there aren’t enough white kids, so white parents wont send their kids there, so then there’s never “enough” white kids for those families to feel comfortable. Meanwhile, they’re adding hours to their commute or paying private school tuition when they likely would have had a good experience at that school—as well as gaining the benefits of a stronger local school community and having your kid exposed to a broader range of people. As a UMC white mom of a child at another predominantly Black school, the amount of conversations I have with white parents who say “we wish we could go there, it’s just not there yet” is tiresome.

How much is this about race and how much is it about class?

I want to send my child to schools that have a cohort (at least 25%) of students working at or above grade level in both ELA and math. This almost universally does not happen at schools that are majority at-risk.

McKinley Tech is 38.1% economy disadvantaged, which is not the same thing as at-risk technically, but same basic idea. It's not a Title I.

The CAPE scores for ELA show a large majority of students on or above grade level. The math scores aren't as good, but they do have a lot of kids scoring a 3 so near grade level, and you have to remember that the best math students don't take the math CAPE because they took Algebra I and Geometry in middle school. Weirdly the Algebra II CAPE isn't shown, that's strange.

MTHS is still Title 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't this great school far more diverse? Why is it 3% white in a city where whites are more than 40% of the population these days? Just poor PR? Serious question.

Glad your teens are happy there thus far but I'm skeptical. You can shout "strong public options!" all you want. But the inconvenient truth is that few UMC families are convinced.

Original poster here. I had not wanted to get into this but feel I need to address this. As a UMC white mom myself, i was struck that my white friends had almost no info/personal insights on the school while all my AA friends highly recommended it, and rightly so. The only thing I can think, sadly, is the a) frankly bigoted and sadly engrained assumption/fear of being singled out as the “only white kid” has kept white people away and the racist view that majority black schools in NE aren’t safe/good and b) so many kids want to only go to schools with their friends and there is a clustering effect around the same public and charter schools. I’m sorry to be that blunt but otherwise I struggle to understand a rationale that makes sense. Certainly it’s a STEM school and that doesn’t attract all kids. But I struggle to see that as the key reason for the demographic composition.

Overall I just think the school (and the kids that attend) deserve recognition and I had wanted to just flag it for parents who struggled as I did to get sufficient information on it in this forum.

This +100. And it’s true of many other schools in DC. Schools get stuck in a chicken or egg scenario of there aren’t enough white kids, so white parents wont send their kids there, so then there’s never “enough” white kids for those families to feel comfortable. Meanwhile, they’re adding hours to their commute or paying private school tuition when they likely would have had a good experience at that school—as well as gaining the benefits of a stronger local school community and having your kid exposed to a broader range of people. As a UMC white mom of a child at another predominantly Black school, the amount of conversations I have with white parents who say “we wish we could go there, it’s just not there yet” is tiresome.

How much is this about race and how much is it about class?

I want to send my child to schools that have a cohort (at least 25%) of students working at or above grade level in both ELA and math. This almost universally does not happen at schools that are majority at-risk.

McKinley Tech is 38.1% economy disadvantaged, which is not the same thing as at-risk technically, but same basic idea. It's not a Title I.

The CAPE scores for ELA show a large majority of students on or above grade level. The math scores aren't as good, but they do have a lot of kids scoring a 3 so near grade level, and you have to remember that the best math students don't take the math CAPE because they took Algebra I and Geometry in middle school. Weirdly the Algebra II CAPE isn't shown, that's strange.

Last year's CAPE scores, show that 79.4% of McKinley Tech students are BELOW grade level in math and 48% are BELOW grade level in ELA.

Not particularly impressive, especially for a school that has selective admissions and a tech/STEM emphasis.

That's not what the scores show at all! Look at the numbers of students taking each test and you will see that it's pretty small. That's because a lot of the students took Algebra I and Geometry in middle school so they don't take any CAPE test in high school. You need to stop thinking this shows "grade level".

328 took the CAPE last year in high school and only 71 were at grade level. The rest were below grade level.

I'm not sure where you are getting that. I'm looking at the OSSE CAPE spreadsheets for 24-25. It shows 375 students taking an ELA CAPE (so about half the kids, as expected) and 280 meeting or exceeding.

For Math, since Algebra II mysteriously missing, it's hard to say. I see 300 taking a math CAPE and only 80 meeting or exceeding. Yes, that's not very good. But remember, what this shows is the students who are worst at math. The students who were better at math don't take the CAPE in high school. So this is very much not a picture of McKinley Tech as a whole. Try very hard to wrap your head around that.

Most 9th graders still take a math test. I like to look at the 9th grade scores and separate by subject tested.

But CAPE is definitely a less useful metric at the HS level.

Well yes, but some would have taken Algebra II and I don't see it.

Is grade levels in high school an option in this year's data?

Students only had to take Alg II CAPE if that was their first HS class. My son was a sophomore last year and was in Alg II. He didn't have to take CAPE for math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't this great school far more diverse? Why is it 3% white in a city where whites are more than 40% of the population these days? Just poor PR? Serious question.

Glad your teens are happy there thus far but I'm skeptical. You can shout "strong public options!" all you want. But the inconvenient truth is that few UMC families are convinced.

Original poster here. I had not wanted to get into this but feel I need to address this. As a UMC white mom myself, i was struck that my white friends had almost no info/personal insights on the school while all my AA friends highly recommended it, and rightly so. The only thing I can think, sadly, is the a) frankly bigoted and sadly engrained assumption/fear of being singled out as the “only white kid” has kept white people away and the racist view that majority black schools in NE aren’t safe/good and b) so many kids want to only go to schools with their friends and there is a clustering effect around the same public and charter schools. I’m sorry to be that blunt but otherwise I struggle to understand a rationale that makes sense. Certainly it’s a STEM school and that doesn’t attract all kids. But I struggle to see that as the key reason for the demographic composition.

Overall I just think the school (and the kids that attend) deserve recognition and I had wanted to just flag it for parents who struggled as I did to get sufficient information on it in this forum.

My UMC white kid visited and liked it but we are zoned for JR and the commute at normal school times would have been brutal.

Also, JR offers all the STEM classes and STEM ECs as McKinley so there really wasn’t much reason to deal with the commute.

Ya, it doesn't make sense for anyone Ward 3 to really consider the school.

It makes a ton of sense for those of us who are within a couple miles of the school to consider it.

Looking at demographic housing data, this makes the racial demographics of McKinley make a little more sense.

If McKinley offered the classes and facilities that TJ offered, it would be massively in demand.

It serves a purpose in DC, but is far different than any other STEM magnet/application school in any other locality.

FACILITIES! This is a true issue. MTHS building is TRASH. Mostly because they got the renovation (and it wasn't really a renovation) before they started doing these much better renovations now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't this great school far more diverse? Why is it 3% white in a city where whites are more than 40% of the population these days? Just poor PR? Serious question.

Glad your teens are happy there thus far but I'm skeptical. You can shout "strong public options!" all you want. But the inconvenient truth is that few UMC families are convinced.

Original poster here. I had not wanted to get into this but feel I need to address this. As a UMC white mom myself, i was struck that my white friends had almost no info/personal insights on the school while all my AA friends highly recommended it, and rightly so. The only thing I can think, sadly, is the a) frankly bigoted and sadly engrained assumption/fear of being singled out as the “only white kid” has kept white people away and the racist view that majority black schools in NE aren’t safe/good and b) so many kids want to only go to schools with their friends and there is a clustering effect around the same public and charter schools. I’m sorry to be that blunt but otherwise I struggle to understand a rationale that makes sense. Certainly it’s a STEM school and that doesn’t attract all kids. But I struggle to see that as the key reason for the demographic composition.

Overall I just think the school (and the kids that attend) deserve recognition and I had wanted to just flag it for parents who struggled as I did to get sufficient information on it in this forum.

My UMC white kid visited and liked it but we are zoned for JR and the commute at normal school times would have been brutal.

Also, JR offers all the STEM classes and STEM ECs as McKinley so there really wasn’t much reason to deal with the commute.

Ya, it doesn't make sense for anyone Ward 3 to really consider the school.

It makes a ton of sense for those of us who are within a couple miles of the school to consider it.

Looking at demographic housing data, this makes the racial demographics of McKinley make a little more sense.

If McKinley offered the classes and facilities that TJ offered, it would be massively in demand.

It serves a purpose in DC, but is far different than any other STEM magnet/application school in any other locality.

FACILITIES! This is a true issue. MTHS building is TRASH. Mostly because they got the renovation (and it wasn't really a renovation) before they started doing these much better renovations now.

The facilities are not trash. It is not a super modern renovated building but it has solid facilities. It is not TJ and is not trying to be TJ.

[Anonymous]

This is something cheer? Where's the ambition? Bring on the GT programming in DCPS so we can have a TJ one day!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't this great school far more diverse? Why is it 3% white in a city where whites are more than 40% of the population these days? Just poor PR? Serious question.

Glad your teens are happy there thus far but I'm skeptical. You can shout "strong public options!" all you want. But the inconvenient truth is that few UMC families are convinced.

Original poster here. I had not wanted to get into this but feel I need to address this. As a UMC white mom myself, i was struck that my white friends had almost no info/personal insights on the school while all my AA friends highly recommended it, and rightly so. The only thing I can think, sadly, is the a) frankly bigoted and sadly engrained assumption/fear of being singled out as the “only white kid” has kept white people away and the racist view that majority black schools in NE aren’t safe/good and b) so many kids want to only go to schools with their friends and there is a clustering effect around the same public and charter schools. I’m sorry to be that blunt but otherwise I struggle to understand a rationale that makes sense. Certainly it’s a STEM school and that doesn’t attract all kids. But I struggle to see that as the key reason for the demographic composition.

Overall I just think the school (and the kids that attend) deserve recognition and I had wanted to just flag it for parents who struggled as I did to get sufficient information on it in this forum.

My UMC white kid visited and liked it but we are zoned for JR and the commute at normal school times would have been brutal.

Also, JR offers all the STEM classes and STEM ECs as McKinley so there really wasn’t much reason to deal with the commute.

Ya, it doesn't make sense for anyone Ward 3 to really consider the school.

It makes a ton of sense for those of us who are within a couple miles of the school to consider it.

Looking at demographic housing data, this makes the racial demographics of McKinley make a little more sense.

If McKinley offered the classes and facilities that TJ offered, it would be massively in demand.

It serves a purpose in DC, but is far different than any other STEM magnet/application school in any other locality.

FACILITIES! This is a true issue. MTHS building is TRASH. Mostly because they got the renovation (and it wasn't really a renovation) before they started doing these much better renovations now.

The facilities are not trash. It is not a super modern renovated building but it has solid facilities. It is not TJ and is not trying to be TJ.

Why not? Why shouldn't DC have a TJ?

Why does TJ aim to be so relentlessly mediocre? Why can't we have a Chancellor capable of excellence?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't this great school far more diverse? Why is it 3% white in a city where whites are more than 40% of the population these days? Just poor PR? Serious question.

Glad your teens are happy there thus far but I'm skeptical. You can shout "strong public options!" all you want. But the inconvenient truth is that few UMC families are convinced.

Original poster here. I had not wanted to get into this but feel I need to address this. As a UMC white mom myself, i was struck that my white friends had almost no info/personal insights on the school while all my AA friends highly recommended it, and rightly so. The only thing I can think, sadly, is the a) frankly bigoted and sadly engrained assumption/fear of being singled out as the “only white kid” has kept white people away and the racist view that majority black schools in NE aren’t safe/good and b) so many kids want to only go to schools with their friends and there is a clustering effect around the same public and charter schools. I’m sorry to be that blunt but otherwise I struggle to understand a rationale that makes sense. Certainly it’s a STEM school and that doesn’t attract all kids. But I struggle to see that as the key reason for the demographic composition.

Overall I just think the school (and the kids that attend) deserve recognition and I had wanted to just flag it for parents who struggled as I did to get sufficient information on it in this forum.

My UMC white kid visited and liked it but we are zoned for JR and the commute at normal school times would have been brutal.

Also, JR offers all the STEM classes and STEM ECs as McKinley so there really wasn’t much reason to deal with the commute.

Ya, it doesn't make sense for anyone Ward 3 to really consider the school.

It makes a ton of sense for those of us who are within a couple miles of the school to consider it.

Looking at demographic housing data, this makes the racial demographics of McKinley make a little more sense.

If McKinley offered the classes and facilities that TJ offered, it would be massively in demand.

It serves a purpose in DC, but is far different than any other STEM magnet/application school in any other locality.

FACILITIES! This is a true issue. MTHS building is TRASH. Mostly because they got the renovation (and it wasn't really a renovation) before they started doing these much better renovations now.

The facilities are not trash. It is not a super modern renovated building but it has solid facilities. It is not TJ and is not trying to be TJ.

Why not? Why shouldn't DC have a TJ?

Why does TJ aim to be so relentlessly mediocre? Why can't we have a Chancellor capable of excellence?

I mean, Why does *DC* aim to be so relentlessly mediocre?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't this great school far more diverse? Why is it 3% white in a city where whites are more than 40% of the population these days? Just poor PR? Serious question.

Glad your teens are happy there thus far but I'm skeptical. You can shout "strong public options!" all you want. But the inconvenient truth is that few UMC families are convinced.

Original poster here. I had not wanted to get into this but feel I need to address this. As a UMC white mom myself, i was struck that my white friends had almost no info/personal insights on the school while all my AA friends highly recommended it, and rightly so. The only thing I can think, sadly, is the a) frankly bigoted and sadly engrained assumption/fear of being singled out as the “only white kid” has kept white people away and the racist view that majority black schools in NE aren’t safe/good and b) so many kids want to only go to schools with their friends and there is a clustering effect around the same public and charter schools. I’m sorry to be that blunt but otherwise I struggle to understand a rationale that makes sense. Certainly it’s a STEM school and that doesn’t attract all kids. But I struggle to see that as the key reason for the demographic composition.

Overall I just think the school (and the kids that attend) deserve recognition and I had wanted to just flag it for parents who struggled as I did to get sufficient information on it in this forum.

My UMC white kid visited and liked it but we are zoned for JR and the commute at normal school times would have been brutal.

Also, JR offers all the STEM classes and STEM ECs as McKinley so there really wasn’t much reason to deal with the commute.

Ya, it doesn't make sense for anyone Ward 3 to really consider the school.

It makes a ton of sense for those of us who are within a couple miles of the school to consider it.

Looking at demographic housing data, this makes the racial demographics of McKinley make a little more sense.

If McKinley offered the classes and facilities that TJ offered, it would be massively in demand.

It serves a purpose in DC, but is far different than any other STEM magnet/application school in any other locality.

FACILITIES! This is a true issue. MTHS building is TRASH. Mostly because they got the renovation (and it wasn't really a renovation) before they started doing these much better renovations now.

The facilities are not trash. It is not a super modern renovated building but it has solid facilities. It is not TJ and is not trying to be TJ.

Why not? Why shouldn't DC have a TJ?

Why does TJ aim to be so relentlessly mediocre? Why can't we have a Chancellor capable of excellence?

I think SWW should be test-in and serve the most advanced students who apply.

It's still great for motivated kids with 1000 SAT scores to have a school. The high schools they're zoned for aren't meeting their needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't this great school far more diverse? Why is it 3% white in a city where whites are more than 40% of the population these days? Just poor PR? Serious question.

Glad your teens are happy there thus far but I'm skeptical. You can shout "strong public options!" all you want. But the inconvenient truth is that few UMC families are convinced.

Original poster here. I had not wanted to get into this but feel I need to address this. As a UMC white mom myself, i was struck that my white friends had almost no info/personal insights on the school while all my AA friends highly recommended it, and rightly so. The only thing I can think, sadly, is the a) frankly bigoted and sadly engrained assumption/fear of being singled out as the “only white kid” has kept white people away and the racist view that majority black schools in NE aren’t safe/good and b) so many kids want to only go to schools with their friends and there is a clustering effect around the same public and charter schools. I’m sorry to be that blunt but otherwise I struggle to understand a rationale that makes sense. Certainly it’s a STEM school and that doesn’t attract all kids. But I struggle to see that as the key reason for the demographic composition.

Overall I just think the school (and the kids that attend) deserve recognition and I had wanted to just flag it for parents who struggled as I did to get sufficient information on it in this forum.

My UMC white kid visited and liked it but we are zoned for JR and the commute at normal school times would have been brutal.

Also, JR offers all the STEM classes and STEM ECs as McKinley so there really wasn’t much reason to deal with the commute.

Ya, it doesn't make sense for anyone Ward 3 to really consider the school.

It makes a ton of sense for those of us who are within a couple miles of the school to consider it.

Looking at demographic housing data, this makes the racial demographics of McKinley make a little more sense.

If McKinley offered the classes and facilities that TJ offered, it would be massively in demand.

It serves a purpose in DC, but is far different than any other STEM magnet/application school in any other locality.

FACILITIES! This is a true issue. MTHS building is TRASH. Mostly because they got the renovation (and it wasn't really a renovation) before they started doing these much better renovations now.

The facilities are not trash. It is not a super modern renovated building but it has solid facilities. It is not TJ and is not trying to be TJ.

Why not? Why shouldn't DC have a TJ?

Why does TJ aim to be so relentlessly mediocre? Why can't we have a Chancellor capable of excellence?

I think SWW should be test-in and serve the most advanced students who apply.

It's still great for motivated kids with 1000 SAT scores to have a school. The high schools they're zoned for aren't meeting their needs.

DC parent here. Let’s be real. SWW isn’t anything close to TJ. Also it is no longer serving the most advanced students with the new changes. I mean 1/3 rd of the kids are not even on grade level in math.

Also those arguing that parents who are not black are racist for not sending their kids to McKinley are doing no one a favor. Data doesn’t lie and are not subjective. 998 or whatever average SAT is terrible. That means a lot of kids are getting even lower than that.

Why do people sugar coat things and not just look at facts as facts. It helps no one the give a pass to DCPS.

Also OSSE is not even considering white parents. Your kids will be “fine” as in get into any college even UDC. McKinley and Banneker’s goals are to serve the poor black kids. That is who they care about.