How things change in a decade!
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Anonymous
That’s a mean gender split at Banneker. 70/30 female/male. |
Anonymous
I’m not a Bowser fan. But I’m terrified about who is potentially next. |
Anonymous
Given the socioeconomic edge of Walls families over those at Banneker, I question whether the higher SAT scores reflect a higher caliber student overall, or better/earlier test prep, which tends to be more common among upper income white and Asian families. I would be more interested in metrics like number of APs and scores on APs and college matriculation stats. SAT scores can be a good 1:1 measure when the populations are broadly similar and have similar test prep experiences, but it can offer wonky comparisons when you are talking about different populations with different SES and cultural attitudes towards test prep. |
Anonymous
Part of Banneker mission is to take a chance on kids on the margin. On average, that isn’t going to work out, but the successful minority are worth it. I think test scores are a pretty good measure of “g” or whatever, I also think that Banneker doesn’t exist to maximize test scores. The problem is that Banneker is one of precious few acceptable options (I don’t think I’m saying anything people don’t know here, this isn’t a revelation). |
Anonymous
| In a decade, hopefully Banneker is one of 10 great choices, not one of 3-4 |
Anonymous
This assumes that voters in DC were presented with options that might have given them better schools. I've lived in DC for 20 years and can only think of a couple council candidates (and ZERO mayoral candidates) who might have fought for something like more tracking in DCPS schools. And the council has minimal control over schools anyway so it kind of doesn't matter. Bowers, who I don't like, beat Robert White in the last mayoral election. White was more "woke" than Bowser and even suggested closing schools to deal with a Covid surge in 2022 (I didn't vote for White). DC voters generally have awful options, in part because DC is a dead end for most politicians. Plus the political culture of the city means that most of our options are chosen for us by a handful of special interests whose backing you need to make a successful run at citywide office. Those special interests are almost entirely very "woke" and the ones that aren't don't care about schools (they are economic coalitions focused on development and business). The only way to effect change in DC schools is to get involved with your schools, advocate loudly via the PTA and other parent organizations, and just generally be a thorn in the side of administration or Central Office until you get what you want. Very few families in DC have the time and resources to do this, and it's hard to organize parents because the lottery/charter system disrupts traditional means for uniting families and the cyclical nature of education makes it hard to get momentum (everyone's kids are constantly aging out). That's why you primarily see momentum at the school level, and only at schools with good IB buy in and an involved parent community (preferably with some financial resources), with specific schools slowly shifting to reflect the demands of families who are consistently in the school for many years. This limits progress to a small number of schools in the district and is why things like IB percentage, owner v. renter percentage within the boundary, and SES of attending families are major factors in whether a school offers challenges to high achievers, tracking for math, academic enrichment beyond remedial tutoring, etc. It's not about voting, as DC voters have minimal options there for structural reasons. |
Anonymous
Parents need to get together, get organized and make our voices heard. We do have numbers. We need to use them. We vote more than the young transient types. |
Anonymous
What socio-economic edge? DCRC has the percent of economically disadvantaged at Walls at 7%, while it still just 24% at Banneker. Both seem like good options based on that key metric. |
Anonymous
The last Mayor to try was Fenty, with Chancellor Michelle Rhee. She was a very imperfect person, but she actually had high ambitions for the school system and wanted it to be more challenging, to serve all students well, and to hold teachers and students to high standards. I agree there is no one in local politics right now who cares about the public school system. No one. Bowser enjoys spending many millions of dollars to renovate buildings (and enrich developers) but that has no impact on the learning. |
Anonymous
I agree both are good options. But they have very different school populations based on SES. Not only does Banneker have fully 25% of its populations coming from an economically disadvantaged background, but among the student population outside that designation, Walls students are much more likely to come from families with significantly higher incomes or generational wealth. Banneker has traditionally served middle class and UMC black families who view the school as the best public option for high achieving black kids. Kids who aspire to Banneker but don't get in often wind at less expensive parochial high schools because their IB options are usually not viable options for high achieving kids and parents are unlikely to be able to afford tuition at competitive private schools. A major reason the female to male option at Banneker skews so heavily female is that there are fewer affordable options for parochial HS for girls in this area. Walls families, however, skew wealthier and are significantly more likely to live in Ward 3, with the priciest real estate in the city and the one boundary high school that offers real opportunities to high achieving students (and which is impossible to lottery into at the HS level). However many Walls families don't really even consider J-R as a backup to Walls, and will send their kids to competitive (and $$$ private schools) if their kids didn't get into Walls. Alternatively, they might move into one of the more expensive parts of the MD or VA suburbs in order to take advantage of HS there, which also have much higher average SES than Banneker. This isn't in the numbers provided by the district because for a variety of reasons, the district is never going to parse middle class, upper middle class, or wealthy families in the district -- they only measure economically disadvantaged students who receive some kind of assistance. But that doesn't mean it's not true or obvious to people who are paying attention. This may change over the next 10-20 years as even UMC families are priced out of competitive privates and housing costs continue to spiral upward making it harder to buy into the best schools without true wealth. |
Anonymous
Agree, Fenty was the only mayor I can think of who was ambitious about education and genuinely cared about high achievers. Rhee was imperfect but I actually think you need an imperfect person to effect that kind of change. The school system is better than it was before she came along. But she also prompted a hardcore backlash and there are still people who will spit on her name in this city. You can see that backlash in the mayoral choices since Fenty, in the way the district responded to Covid, and in the continued refusal to address the needs of advanced or high achieving students, from any SES background, in DCPS schools. |
Anonymous
Disagree. This city votes for and is run by Democrats who all share the same assumptions about schools, which are: 1. The primary purpose of schools is not to educate all students, but to fight inequality 2. Any system, whether it's tracking or gifted schools, that results in white kids tending to go to one place and black kids tending to go to another place, is inherently racist and must be avoided at all costs 3. No real plan to reduce racial disparities in academic achievement except to reduce standards so that no one can fail 4. A belief that social promotion is necessary because the social consequences of flunking kids, regardless of how little they learn, is devastating 5. The teachers union is your ally and its opinion is important Those are all political decisions. It's also why Michelle Rhee was so incredibly controversial. Because she did not share those assumptions. |
Anonymous
Walls also skews heavily female, so that’s not different between the two schools. Walls may have some SES differences relative to Banneker but it may not be as starkly different as you’re making it out to be. |
Anonymous
Are you honestly trying to make an argument that 7% and 24% are functionally equivalent? |
Anonymous
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I’d also point out (something everyone hates) that for some reason independent of class, Black students do much worse on testing. The demographics of SWW vs BBHS: 23% black vs 69% an actual multiple of 3.
So view school outcomes with that lens as well. |