Study: "Discussions of D.C. public school options in an online forum" (yes, this one)

[Anonymous]

Here is the link and the summary. I haven't read beyond the summary and won't comment until I do.

https://www.brookings.edu/research/we-all-want-whats-best-for-our-kids/

Combining data from the online parent forum, commonly known as “DC Urban Moms,” and publicly available school data, this paper explores how an online community, one that appears to be dominated by privileged parents, discusses its local school system.

The results suggest that if there is a market for schools in the District, the commenters on DC Urban Moms are participating in a highly segregated version of it. A large percentage of schools in the District are almost never discussed on the forum, and those rarely mentioned schools have higher rates of poverty and serve students that are almost exclusively Black. The inattention to these schools can be explained only in part by the city’s neighborhood segregation. Moreover, the wealthiest and whitest schools not only have more thorough consideration of their academic and extracurricular offerings, but conversations about these schools are also more likely to refer, rather than to demographic categories, to the people that make up the schools, using words like “moms,” “children,” “families,” and “teachers.” The individuals attending lesser-attention schools are thus doubly invisible to the DC Urban Moms participants. Finally, much of the discussion on the forum focuses on how to gain access to the relatively narrow band of preferred schools. The two mechanisms of school access, residence and the lottery, are not seen as competing strategies, but rather as systems to be used in tandem, in ways that give well-off parents repeated opportunities to self-segregate.

Though school diversity is no panacea for the societal ills that stem from centuries of systemic racism and economic exploitation, the findings present a challenge for opponents of school segregation—and its attendant resource hoarding—and for the hope of a more equal and integrated society.

[Anonymous]

It won't sink in here. It never does. I don't see any opinions being changed here. The only way to counteract them is through engaged political action.

[Anonymous]

Talk about assumptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It won't sink in here. It never does. I don't see any opinions being changed here. The only way to counteract them is through engaged political action.

What's to sink in? Deliberately sending your kid to a worse school? Go for it.

[jsteele]

These folks apparently spent 4 years studying DCUM and never contacted me once. I think they made fundamental errors in their analysis. I strongly reject their primary conclusion. I also suspect that their scraping of the site may be behind some of the strange performance issues we have occasionally had.

[Anonymous]

That makes no sense. Neighborhood segregation doesn’t “explain” the schools of interest on DCUM. DCUM users and NW neighborhoods may be correlated, but that’s not causation.

Meanwhile, DCUM is open to anyone and everyone. Who participates is self-selection, but there are virtually no external, ‘redlining-style’ factors at play.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:That makes no sense. Neighborhood segregation doesn’t “explain” the schools of interest on DCUM. DCUM users and NW neighborhoods may be correlated, but that’s not causation.

Meanwhile, DCUM is open to anyone and everyone. Who participates is self-selection, but there are virtually no external, ‘redlining-style’ factors at play.

Exactly this. I can't believe three Academics missed the most obvious explanation.

[Anonymous]

Brookings has gotten SO sloppy. It was a well-respected think tank once upon a time. Not anymore.

[Anonymous]

I haven’t read the article. But what I can share is that my friend is a very accomplished scholar in the world of education policy. She’s published a number of pieces in prestigious journals and argued sentiments similar to what’s in the Brookings excerpt. And for a good decade I heard about her strong conviction to send her kids to our IB middle school. Fast-forward, her kids now attend private.

Scholars can opine as much as they want. Parents act in the interest of their kids. And the desire to obtain the best education for our kids makes hypocrites of most DC liberals.

Does the Brookings author have kids (upper elementary or older) enrolled in DC public schools? If so, where?....

[jsteele]

This is their conclusion:

The conversations on DC Urban Moms illustrate what other research has also shown: When privileged parents choose, they tend to choose segregation

This is an extremely unfair characterization that completely misses the nuanced and complex reality. It is extremely disappointing to see such drivel presented as serious research.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t read the article. But what I can share is that my friend is a very accomplished scholar in the world of education policy. She’s published a number of pieces in prestigious journals and argued sentiments similar to what’s in the Brookings excerpt. And for a good decade I heard about her strong conviction to send her kids to our IB middle school. Fast-forward, her kids now attend private.

Scholars can opine as much as they want. Parents act in the interest of their kids. And the desire to obtain the best education for our kids makes hypocrites of most DC liberals.

Does the Brookings author have kids (upper elementary or older) enrolled in DC public schools? If so, where?....

Right and how does your friend justify her about face???

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:These folks apparently spent 4 years studying DCUM and never contacted me once. I think they made fundamental errors in their analysis. I strongly reject their primary conclusion. I also suspect that their scraping of the site may be behind some of the strange performance issues we have occasionally had.

They never contacted you at all? That's pretty remarkably bad research. There is so much missing. Just the number of post and thread deletions at a minimum would impact this kind of analysis, and you could offer insight.

How disappointing. I hate shoddy research!

[Anonymous]

All parents look for the best schools for their kids. white and more well-off parents don't want to segregate, want goods schools for their kids so they can get an education and good jobs. the most coveted public HS (excluding application schools) is Wilson, which is over 50% minority kids. talk about segregation.

and all parents do it, look at the number of minority kids who attend Wilson as OOB. my kid's best friend, a AA child, lives on the opposite side of town and her Black parents put her in various public schools through lottery until in 8th grade their child got a spot at Hardy.

I am also not surprised that parents of kids in high poverty areas are less represented on DCUM. lack of computers, Internet access, maybe working two or more jobs our of the house all day makes difficult to even find the forum.

I think the conclusion should have been that when privileged parents (which means any parent who can choose) choose, they choose the best school for their kids they can find. I am not sure where the segregation comes from

[Anonymous]

It was a kind of fascinating read, partly because it did feel like they processed a lot but there were fundamentals they didn’t understand.

[Anonymous]

I mean, I could have told you that.