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[quote=Anonymous]It wouldn't work. You gotta stop fantasizing about rules changes or demographics coming to save you. It won't work. I would never have attended such a school in the first place, because I understand that it wouldn't work-- this rule wouldn't deliver the "critical mass" or long-term investment people are hoping for. And even if it somehow did, it wouldn't be enough.

I say this as a former PTA leader at a Title I-- a Title I so troubled that it couldn't even fill up two PK3 classrooms (this was 8 years ago). I used to think about these kinds of rules changes all the time, because I was casting about for something that would make a big impact. But it was a fantasy. A change of principal was key to turning things around. We were thrilled to retain kids from PK3 to PK4. We were absolutely overjoyed (and pretty surprised!) to retain them into K and 1st. Don't discount the benefit of retaining families for a few years! Even a little bit of continuity of kids and of families makes a big difference. Yes, people don't always stay long-- but they often have very good reasons for that, and their support while they attend is often genuine and valuable. I wouldn't want to give it up. A motivated ECE/lower elementary parent group can make a difference even if they don't stay. The funding they bring in, their volunteering efforts, whatever-- the school gets to keep it after they leave. Eventually I left too, but grants I wrote back then are still paying out their term. The walls I painted are still painted. Et cetera.

I'm now at a charter school that is doing pretty well and goes through 8th. And I've learned a lot from that. I've learned that people come and go from DC. Even a well-performing school with a decent middle school will have turnover, because this is a city where people come and go. And every school has people who are unhappy with it-- even if test scores overall are good. The difference is, this school is able to attract strong students, because of its reputation for quality teaching and its adequate middle school. So the school is able to maintain overall academic performance despite turnover. Stopping turnover is impossible. It will not happen.

I've also seen schools with a strong cohort of supposedly committed higher-income parents falter. Two Rivers, CMI, and SSMA are examples. It happens for a lot of reasons but the quality of leadership is at the root. Controlling your own middle school and having a lot of parents who say they will stay is just not enough. The only thing that's enough is 1) quality academics and 2) teachers and staff skilled at managing behavior. Those things stem from leadership, and if you don't have a leader who understands those things and is willing to implement change to improve them, it'll be very hard to see any significant improvement. It breaks my heart when parents work so hard but DCPS or their charter lets them down with poor leadership (Miner, I see you).

Anyway, that's just my take on things, but I hope it is helpful to you, OP. You can get a lot of good advice on this board from people with Title I experience if you ask for it.[/quote]

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