Reply to Are "choice sets" back with Maury-Miner?

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[quote=Anonymous]Just want to be clear that no one from DCPS has suggested choice sets as a solution. It's been floated (I think mostly just on DCUM) as an alternative to the cluster.

I actually think in this specific instance, it could make sense. The identified problem with Maury and Miner is that you have two schools in close proximity where there are stark differences in both demographics and test scores. The goal of the cluster is to eliminate those inequities by merging the populations.

Choice sets would, instead of merging populations, remix them. If everyone IB for either Maury or Miner could rank those two schools in their preferred order and then a computer program could sort them based on lottery number and ranking, you'd presumably get two schools with roughly similar populations demographically (which would also lead to more similar test score results, since I agree with PPs that demographics are the big predictor of test scores, much more than the school you attend). So it would accomplish the DME's goal without having to create a huge cluster school. It would also be easier to phase in -- current students would be grandfathered in but all new seats would be assigned via choice sets.

The big drawback is that I think a lot of families would simply rank Maury first and, if they didn't get it, would use the lottery to go to a charter or OOB. So in the short run it might have almost no impact on demographics. I'm also unsure how it would work if someone was assigned to Miner but wanted to try again for Maury each year until they got it. However, I think in the long run, you'd get enough buy in from MC and UMC families in both boundaries to make both schools desirable enough to really boost IB buy in at Miner, and you'd spread out the at risk student population in a way that would be easier for both schools to manage, istead of the present situation in which the concentration of at risk kids at Miner scares of IB families who are MC or UMC, creating a kind of sinking effect there that can't seem to be reversed.[/quote]

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