Ward 6 Needs to Boot Joe Weedon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fact that one of the first things Mr. Wilson did is make sure (via the school budgets) every middle school offered Algebra is really, really significant.

If you feel like your child is not being challenged at school go directly to the teacher and then principal. Talk to the LSAT and the instructional sup. Visit schools that you think do challenge the kids and then demand the same.

I am sure the teacher evaluation program Impact has some flaws but what it did do is significantly raise the median quality of teachers if you will. DCPS is keeping and attracting excellent teachers.

What middle school in DCPS doesn't offer Algebra? That's already done.

People want to segregate their higher SES kids from the rest -- if not at a different bldg than in a track. Short of that they won't be happy.

[Anonymous]

No, parents want their at grade level/above grade level kids to be challenged. Academic level usually correlates with SES but not always. I don't think parents would care if their kids went to class with smart, motivated students from a lower SES at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, parents want their at grade level/above grade level kids to be challenged. Academic level usually correlates with SES but not always. I don't think parents would care if their kids went to class with smart, motivated students from a lower SES at all.

I think the point here is that you LIVE IN DC. Not in an enclave with all high SES or "motivated" low SES students. It is appropriate to want your child to be taught appropriately. It is inappropriate to push for segregated solutions in Ward 6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If we were rich, we would live near and use the privates in upper NW. Just because we are white and educated does not mean we are rich.

+100. Pulling in a respectable government salary hardly makes one rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we were rich, we would live near and use the privates in upper NW. Just because we are white and educated does not mean we are rich.

+100. Pulling in a respectable government salary hardly makes one rich.

It makes you very privileged compared to the families with which you share public institutions in gentrified areas (schools, streets, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we were rich, we would live near and use the privates in upper NW. Just because we are white and educated does not mean we are rich.

+100. Pulling in a respectable government salary hardly makes one rich.

It makes you very privileged compared to the families with which you share public institutions in gentrified areas (schools, streets, etc).

Hardly. The average home price in my school district is more than 800K. Our school's FARMs rate is less than 10%, and dropping year on year. The families with which I share public institutions generally seem to make more than we do, and we make six figures combined. The fact is, some neighborhoods in NE and SE DC are no longer gentrifying: they are gentrified. Patience for socially engineered solutions in DC public schools is at an all time low in such neighborhoods.

As a person of color who graduated from a middle/high school (Boston Latin) where the student body was around 8% AA in a city where the public school population was at least 1/3 AA, I'm enormously grateful that political bleeding hearts didn't rule the day in setting admissions policies governing my city's several "exam schools." Most of my AA classmates went on to Ivies, blue chip liberal arts colleges, top engineering programs, the military academies etc. My 300 year-old alma mater generally dispatched more graduates to each Ivy every year than any other school in the country (public or private), and still does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, parents want their at grade level/above grade level kids to be challenged. Academic level usually correlates with SES but not always. I don't think parents would care if their kids went to class with smart, motivated students from a lower SES at all.

I think the point here is that you LIVE IN DC. Not in an enclave with all high SES or "motivated" low SES students. It is appropriate to want your child to be taught appropriately. It is inappropriate to push for segregated solutions in Ward 6.

And what will be the result if there is no sort of tracking or programming for creating cohorts of mostly on grade level students? Extreme segregation as people move away in search of that. So you have some sort of segregation anyway. How about a solution where students who can't move away at least. S edit from all sorts of families using the neighborhood school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, parents want their at grade level/above grade level kids to be challenged. Academic level usually correlates with SES but not always. I don't think parents would care if their kids went to class with smart, motivated students from a lower SES at all.

I think the point here is that you LIVE IN DC. Not in an enclave with all high SES or "motivated" low SES students. It is appropriate to want your child to be taught appropriately. It is inappropriate to push for segregated solutions in Ward 6.

And what will be the result if there is no sort of tracking or programming for creating cohorts of mostly on grade level students? Extreme segregation as people move away in search of that. So you have some sort of segregation anyway. How about a solution where students who can't move away at least. S edit from all sorts of families using the neighborhood school?

You act like history began when you gave birth.

What "happens" is what you see now. As the school populations change, the offerings change (see Hardy or MacFarland's dual language program).

But UNTIL and UNLESS you enroll your kids, you aren't going to get the programs that match your kid's abilities. DCPS tried that on the Hill/Ward 6 and it didn't work. I'm referring to Eastern HS where DCPS went through a lengthy and expensive process to become an IB school because high SES parents said that sort of rigorous programming + upgraded facilities -- were what would induce them to enroll. And no one did, because the IB program isn't 'proven' or scoring high enough on IB exams or whatever other excuse. DCPS held up its end of the bargain; Hill parents balked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, parents want their at grade level/above grade level kids to be challenged. Academic level usually correlates with SES but not always. I don't think parents would care if their kids went to class with smart, motivated students from a lower SES at all.

I think the point here is that you LIVE IN DC. Not in an enclave with all high SES or "motivated" low SES students. It is appropriate to want your child to be taught appropriately. It is inappropriate to push for segregated solutions in Ward 6.

And what will be the result if there is no sort of tracking or programming for creating cohorts of mostly on grade level students? Extreme segregation as people move away in search of that. So you have some sort of segregation anyway. How about a solution where students who can't move away at least. S edit from all sorts of families using the neighborhood school?

You act like history began when you gave birth.

What "happens" is what you see now. As the school populations change, the offerings change (see Hardy or MacFarland's dual language program).

But UNTIL and UNLESS you enroll your kids, you aren't going to get the programs that match your kid's abilities. DCPS tried that on the Hill/Ward 6 and it didn't work. I'm referring to Eastern HS where DCPS went through a lengthy and expensive process to become an IB school because high SES parents said that sort of rigorous programming + upgraded facilities -- were what would induce them to enroll. And no one did, because the IB program isn't 'proven' or scoring high enough on IB exams or whatever other excuse. DCPS held up its end of the bargain; Hill parents balked.

That is inaccurate history, pp. Actually, a whole bunch of high-SES parents wanted a test-in school like Boston Latin and then the Eastern alums got all upset and we ended up with a compromise IB program with not that many people understand or care about. The school was closed for so long that interest waned and Latin got better facilities and BASIS opened. That's how we ended up where we are. If Eastern had had a quick partial upgrade and a quick test-in start, it would be completely full right now. DCPS missed the boat.

[Anonymous]

You wanted a test in high school -- and many others simply wanted a more challenging neighborhood/comprehensive high school. There are 5 application schools in DCPS already -- they weren't going to create another one in a comprehensive high school.

DCPS provided rigorous programming at a beautifully renovated neighborhood school. But the high-SES parents fled to an office building downtown and a school miles away that didn't have a gym for 11 years (better facilities?).



No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You wanted a test in high school -- and many others simply wanted a more challenging neighborhood/comprehensive high school. There are 5 application schools in DCPS already -- they weren't going to create another one in a comprehensive high school.

DCPS provided rigorous programming at a beautifully renovated neighborhood school. But the high-SES parents fled to an office building downtown and a school miles away that didn't have a gym for 11 years (better facilities?).

No.

Rigorous programming? Come on, Eastern can't attract the high-performing students to support rigorous programming.

Rather than blame the high SES/white parents for fleeing, why not figure out why they fled and, by extension, what it would take to induce them to stay in neighborhood schools for both MS and HS? Where does the blame get the community? Who's winning your silly blame game?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, parents want their at grade level/above grade level kids to be challenged. Academic level usually correlates with SES but not always. I don't think parents would care if their kids went to class with smart, motivated students from a lower SES at all.

I think the point here is that you LIVE IN DC. Not in an enclave with all high SES or "motivated" low SES students. It is appropriate to want your child to be taught appropriately. It is inappropriate to push for segregated solutions in Ward 6.

And what will be the result if there is no sort of tracking or programming for creating cohorts of mostly on grade level students? Extreme segregation as people move away in search of that. So you have some sort of segregation anyway. How about a solution where students who can't move away at least. S edit from all sorts of families using the neighborhood school?

You act like history began when you gave birth.

What "happens" is what you see now. As the school populations change, the offerings change (see Hardy or MacFarland's dual language program).

But UNTIL and UNLESS you enroll your kids, you aren't going to get the programs that match your kid's abilities. DCPS tried that on the Hill/Ward 6 and it didn't work. I'm referring to Eastern HS where DCPS went through a lengthy and expensive process to become an IB school because high SES parents said that sort of rigorous programming + upgraded facilities -- were what would induce them to enroll. And no one did, because the IB program isn't 'proven' or scoring high enough on IB exams or whatever other excuse. DCPS held up its end of the bargain; Hill parents balked.

That is inaccurate history, pp. Actually, a whole bunch of high-SES parents wanted a test-in school like Boston Latin and then the Eastern alums got all upset and we ended up with a compromise IB program with not that many people understand or care about. The school was closed for so long that interest waned and Latin got better facilities and BASIS opened. That's how we ended up where we are. If Eastern had had a quick partial upgrade and a quick test-in start, it would be completely full right now. DCPS missed the boat.

Exactly right. I sat in on a number of the hopelessly impractical Eastern planning meetings a decade ago and saw the train wreck a mile away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You wanted a test in high school -- and many others simply wanted a more challenging neighborhood/comprehensive high school. There are 5 application schools in DCPS already -- they weren't going to create another one in a comprehensive high school.

DCPS provided rigorous programming at a beautifully renovated neighborhood school. But the high-SES parents fled to an office building downtown and a school miles away that didn't have a gym for 11 years (better facilities?).



No.

Application schools are not the same as test-in. Yes there is a test for some of the application high schools, but a lot of other things are taken into consideration. Test-in means exactly that. If a student scores over a certain mark, they can go, period. DCPS could use all the stupid tests they give to rank teachers as the test. Top level scores? You get an invite. No need to bring in the families to make sure they are "right".

All DCPS students are supposedly taking the same curriculum, so they should all have the same opportunity to master it.

[Anonymous]

How can at grade level kids be challenged in a classroom of most of the kids are performing well below grade level? It can't be done. No parent would put their child in such a position. DCPS and other school districts can't wish away this fact.

[Anonymous]

Why does a high school need to be test-in or even application? High schools have the ability to offer a wide range of programs and classes so that everyone has access to everything.

DC is a education space full of choices and options. I believe DCPS has shown it can attract a huge diversity of families.

To the folks here who are attempting to use shame and guilt - that does not work in attracting families to the Ward 6 middle schools. What works is building and investing in programs that can compete with charters, privates and the schools in the suburbs. DCPS is pretty close.

And finally - Joe Weedon has worked tirelessly to support and improve Elliot Hine and Eastern. I think we owe him thanks.