Reply to Segregation in DC schools - charter lottery doesn't help much

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

As noted, I too suspect that's true - but that's not something that can be supported from this data.  For that, you'd need to know where the kids are coming from, where they would have gone instead, the population that applies to charters, etc.  You could get the exact same data here if all of the Ward 7 and 8 charters pulled 5 or 10% of their kids (not at risk) from other wards.  They'd still be lower at risk percentages than surrounding schools but it wouldn't have anything to do with pulling not at risk kids from surrounding schools (and given that kids travel further to charters, you can't really compare the charter next door to a traditional school to that DCPS school and conclude anything about that DCPS school - kids leaving that DCPS school just as likely went to some other charter).  Now, I'm guessing that's not what's happening (pulling lots of not at risk kids from other wards) in most cases - but my point is this data isn't going to tell you that.  And it's dangerous to go around saying data proves things it doesn't.  The authors are using the data to say charters a no less segregated (and I think quite possibly implying they're more segregated - hard to tell).  They're not saying anything about the impact on DCPS at all (though I think that'd be useful to look at). [b] From what I can see, charters are slightly less segregated overall compared to DCPS (based on fewer schools on the extremes), but I don't have the breakdowns I'd need to conclude that at all.[/b]  [/quote]

Exactly, the extremes at either end are the real problem- either schools that are vast majority at-risk (which is a recipe for disaster), or those that have close to zero at-risk (which are by their nature exclusionary).   But the extremes are a symptom of the overall racial and economic segregation of the city, so pretty tough to combat without major policy changes.  It would be interesting to consider the concept that by keeping more middle class families in the public school system (in theory), charters are lowering the overall percentage of at-risk kids in the public schools, and how that would affect all of these numbers.  It's not like there were a lot of kids from well-off families at Stanton or Garfield before charters were around.

Here's my question- what percentage of at-risk kids causes middle class families to flee en masse?  Based on the data, it looks like it's around 25%.  Pretty much all of the "hot" charters which presumably appeal the most to middle class families are below that line.

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