DCPS Middle School problem in the Washington Post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if you've noticed, but many long-term DCPS teachers drive German Luxury sedans to school.

Oh, come one. Maybe if they have a wealthy partner. They ain't doing it on their $70k DCPS salary.

Salary range for Elementary DCPS is $27,753-$61,635 according to this source:

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=DC_Public_Schools/Salary/by_Job

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Welcome back, DCUM Snowflake Troll.

Truth hurts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if you've noticed, but many long-term DCPS teachers drive German Luxury sedans to school.

Oh, come one. Maybe if they have a wealthy partner. They ain't doing it on their $70k DCPS salary.

Salary range for Elementary DCPS is $27,753-$61,635 according to this source:

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=DC_Public_Schools/Salary/by_Job

Dc teachers make a lot more than that. That's based on TWO people reporting their salaries.

[Anonymous]

The starting salary is 51k I believe

[Anonymous]

Average DCPS elementary teacher is budgeted as $96,670 (salary + benefits).

See submitted budgets for FY14: http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/About+DCPS/Budget+and+Finance/FY14+Fiscal+Report+Card/Submitted+Budgets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Average DCPS elementary teacher is budgeted as $96,670 (salary + benefits).

See submitted budgets for FY14: http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/About+DCPS/Budget+and+Finance/FY14+Fiscal+Report+Card/Submitted+Budgets.

Yeah, DCPS jobs are seriously well paid, secure, and you get your summers off. PLUS, many of them get five-figure bonuses on top of that:

http://dc.gov/DCPS/About+DCPS/Career+Opportunities/Teach+in+Our+Schools/Compensation


I've had kids in a couple DCPS schools, and I've been very impressed with teachers' overall professionalism and competence. So, my anecdotal impression is that DCPS has quality teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@22:49 you want Banneker students to integrated to get better test scores? Your stats say they don't do well with the SAT but what does your stats say about their college acceptance rate. If they are not attending an integrated college/universityl of your liking, I gather they are destined to be failures. Where do you all come from and why in the hell did you select DC?

Come on. A beanbag could get "accept[ed]" to a college these days if it applied; so, Banneker's college acceptance rate is probably not the correct factor to emphasize when analyzing whether dcps's flagship test-in high school is of highest quality, using best practices, or admitting (yes, I'm about to go there) the objectively smartest kids.

My beanbag was waitlisted at Yale and Harvard, so stop making assumptions about how easy it is for them to get in. It did get an almost perfect score on the SATs though. And it's comfy to sit in while watching t.v..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same issue at Brent. 45 4th graders and something like 11 5th graders

A magnet middle school just makes TOO much sense. But, you know what, a magnet DCPS middle could cut really deeply into the Charters' business. I'd be suspicious of what kind of payoffs are going on to prevent such a thing from happening. Charters are big bucks for the folks who run them.

This is an interesting thought, until I think about what a magnet DCPS would look like initially in comparison to Latin and BASIS and I realize that it would still be my third choice given who would be hired to teach there. Charters have a real advantage when it comes to hiring subject-matter experts, not just classroom managers. However, a legit 3rd choice rather than the abyss would be welcome.

What kind of advantage do Charters have in hiring teachers? DCPS teachers make more money than charters, and also more money than private school teachers. Perhaps you are implying that teachers self-select charters and privates because they perceive it as a less-stress job compared to what DCPS teachers have to deal with, the money be damned. BUT, if DCPS set up a magnet middle, I would not be surprised if subject-matter-expert teachers flew in like moths to interview for those jobs.

I don't know if you've noticed, but many long-term DCPS teachers drive German Luxury sedans to school.

the charter teachers I know are no less stressed than the DCPS teachers I know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same issue at Brent. 45 4th graders and something like 11 5th graders

A magnet middle school just makes TOO much sense. But, you know what, a magnet DCPS middle could cut really deeply into the Charters' business. I'd be suspicious of what kind of payoffs are going on to prevent such a thing from happening. Charters are big bucks for the folks who run them.

This is an interesting thought, until I think about what a magnet DCPS would look like initially in comparison to Latin and BASIS and I realize that it would still be my third choice given who would be hired to teach there. Charters have a real advantage when it comes to hiring subject-matter experts, not just classroom managers. However, a legit 3rd choice rather than the abyss would be welcome.

What kind of advantage do Charters have in hiring teachers? DCPS teachers make more money than charters, and also more money than private school teachers. Perhaps you are implying that teachers self-select charters and privates because they perceive it as a less-stress job compared to what DCPS teachers have to deal with, the money be damned. BUT, if DCPS set up a magnet middle, I would not be surprised if subject-matter-expert teachers flew in like moths to interview for those jobs.

I don't know if you've noticed, but many long-term DCPS teachers drive German Luxury sedans to school.

the charter teachers I know are no less stressed than the DCPS teachers I know.

Then they should be applying for one of those cush DCPS salaries, benefits, and retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@22:49 you want Banneker students to integrated to get better test scores? Your stats say they don't do well with the SAT but what does your stats say about their college acceptance rate. If they are not attending an integrated college/universityl of your liking, I gather they are destined to be failures. Where do you all come from and why in the hell did you select DC?

I'm sorry, but DC has three test-in HS. The same students applying to the test-in HS, will be the same students applying to any test-in MS. There is a reason other than Banneker's SAT scores that are preventing many of you from allowing your children to apply to these HS. It will be the same reasons you will prevent your children from applying to the MS. Banneker, McKinely, and SWW have AP, IB, and advanced classes. Those schools are only as good as the applicants. They accept the best applicants who apply. If your DC is a better applicant and attended, the classes are there for them to take and excel.

I agree with you PP, why the hell did these people come to DC if they don't want their snowflakes integrated with all those Black kids. You really are no different that the generation before you. You know the ones that ran to the suburbs and privates to get away from those nigras.

WE came to DC to help run our country and many of us came from properly functioning cities, so we are a little shocked how badly run parts of this so-called "city" are. WE don't like the suburbs and we don't like your tired mindset of you-get-what-you-get and this-is-how-we've-always-done-it in addition to your racist revisionism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How would DCPS build up middle schools now or in the future if pretty much all of us have agreed we don't want our kids going to a school that qualifies for title one status. They could have everything done right and I think most of us would reject it because it served poor kids. Given the percentages in the system, it would appear that nothing is possible unless middle and upper class parents will let their kids go to school with poor kids. I get why this is an issue, I left a title one school, but I also recognize DCPS is a bit screwed.

DC is not the only city to face this and other cities have come up with ways to attract and retain those parents including test-in and magnet schools. They just don't want to use those models here for political reasons.

Name the cities and models. San Francisco, Boston and New York use controlled choice models. I have mixed feelings about those options. Are there others?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:@22:49 you want Banneker students to integrated to get better test scores? Your stats say they don't do well with the SAT but what does your stats say about their college acceptance rate. If they are not attending an integrated college/universityl of your liking, I gather they are destined to be failures. Where do you all come from and why in the hell did you select DC?

I'm sorry, but DC has three test-in HS. The same students applying to the test-in HS, will be the same students applying to any test-in MS. There is a reason other than Banneker's SAT scores that are preventing many of you from allowing your children to apply to these HS. It will be the same reasons you will prevent your children from applying to the MS. Banneker, McKinely, and SWW have AP, IB, and advanced classes. Those schools are only as good as the applicants. They accept the best applicants who apply. If your DC is a better applicant and attended, the classes are there for them to take and excel.

I agree with you PP, why the hell did these people come to DC if they don't want their snowflakes integrated with all those Black kids. You really are no different that the generation before you. You know the ones that ran to the suburbs and privates to get away from those nigras.

WE came to DC to help run our country and many of us came from properly functioning cities, so we are a little shocked how badly run parts of this so-called "city" are. WE don't like the suburbs and we don't like your tired mindset of you-get-what-you-get and this-is-how-we've-always-done-it in addition to your racist revisionism.[/quote

Don't feed the troll. There is no reasoning with a calcified mind-set.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with the previous posters who say charters are only attended by kids whose parents self-selected in. I know of many families at MANY charters who chose the charter without looking at it, thinking about it, or investigating it simply because it was near their house or near a care-provider's location. You would be amazed at how many families at language immersion schools have no idea their kid is learning chinese in an immersion model or french or spanish at LAMB or Elsie Whitlow Stokes.

Interesting point. The brothers of the kid I tutor ended up at a charter because their tutor met someone on metro who worked there so the boys went there. Later I found out that it was not a high-performing charter but the parents didn't question it. They also assumed that the kid I tutored would go there but she wanted to go with her friends to the charter her middle school fed into. She ended up going to the different charter with her friends. It was probably a better school than the one her brothers went to but it's hard for me to know because they would never answer my emails or phone calls! Plus they kept sending her with her classmates on college tours when the kid is not going to be able to handle college. This drives me crazy! She's a great kid who is not getting the specific support she needs. But that's another issue.

At any rate, this pp has a good point. My student's parents are good, responsible parents in that they're making sure their kids go to tutoring and go to school but they really don't know whether one charter is better than the other.

How educated are the parents?

I don't know. May or may not have high school degrees. Possible that Dad has some college but I doubt it. We don't discuss their educational background.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And it is not just about middle class parents not wanting to go to school with poor kids. It is more about the miserable academic preparation so many of those kids have gotten through DCPS. I would take a school full of poor kids if they were motivated, worked hard and had the basics down to move ahead.

If this was a true statement, more white people would apply to Banneker.

Possibly, my kids are too young now, but frankly I am really put off by the unimpressive SAT scores that Banneker students get year after year.

When your kids are old enough, just go to an open house there. This was a few years back (so things may have changed) but I was extremely impressed by the school. It was held on a Saturday, well-organized, students and faculty and administrators were all in attendance. They kept apologizing for some faculty not being there because they were off at an International Baccalaureate workshop. The students gave tours of the school. They were polite and well-spoken. It was completely different from my usual experience with DCPS disorganization. (In contrast, the Walls open house was held at GW and was very disorganized with no students and just a couple of faculty in attendance.) The big mistake they made (in terms of interesting my daughter) was that they kept talking about how hard they worked as opposed to how much they were inspired. Dd was not up for working hard at that time in her life but that's another story. I would have been very happy if dd had gotten into Banneker and wanted to go because it is a serious school with committed faculty and students who work hard.

Seriously, with all of these schools, you need to go see the school and see what's going on for yourself. Then decide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How would DCPS build up middle schools now or in the future if pretty much all of us have agreed we don't want our kids going to a school that qualifies for title one status. They could have everything done right and I think most of us would reject it because it served poor kids. Given the percentages in the system, it would appear that nothing is possible unless middle and upper class parents will let their kids go to school with poor kids. I get why this is an issue, I left a title one school, but I also recognize DCPS is a bit screwed.

DC is not the only city to face this and other cities have come up with ways to attract and retain those parents including test-in and magnet schools. They just don't want to use those models here for political reasons.

Name the cities and models. San Francisco, Boston and New York use controlled choice models. I have mixed feelings about those options. Are there others?

Magnet schools and test in schools are both ways to work schools in the mix that both provide diversity and opportunity for academically motivated/talented students. It does indeed look like DC may try a test in middle school in ward 7