Reply to Ward 6 Needs to Boot Joe Weedon

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[quote=Anonymous]Yea, OK, 3 English classes in 9th grade...and average SAT scores in the low 300s at the other end. Eastern seniors must take the SAT to graduate. Random guessing on the SAT gets your test taker around a 275.

I've done academic research on how Eastern's IB Diploma program is shaping up.  After two years of IBD testing, their highest points total has been in the mid 20s (on a pass scale of 24-45), the IBD equivalent of around a D+.  Only a dozen Eastern seniors have been taking IBD exams in June.  My time in the building talking to admins, and conversations with the DCPS Teaching and Learning team (the policy and budget people who support public IBD programs), has left me with the strong impression there there is no real interest in the system in attracting high SES/strong IBD students to Eastern. The clear message is, we don't need you Ward 6 snobs and racists here, continue to stay away if you're not satisfied with the set up, because we've already given you all you asked for at Eastern, and much more.

It's much easier to blame the gentrifiers for failing to turn up than to delve into the real issues under-girding racial and socioeconomic segregation in our public schools.  I don't see the situation changing anytime soon. Maybe the next mayor will be willing to roll his or her sleeves up to effect real change, but I doubt it.

I'd like to see SAT cutoffs for 9th graders established and implemented at Eastern to support an IBD Program with a city-wide draw, with preference given for qualified Ward 6 applicants.  The Johns Hopkins MS and HS CTY (Center for Talented Youth) camps have been using the SAT in admissions for decades. With the CTY camps, if an applicant clears an SAT bar for 8th graders, posting scores in the high 500s for both reading and math, they're welcome to enroll in a camp for rising 9th graders.  If they can't clear the bar, they can't enroll.  No grades, GPA, recommendations or interview in the mix, just the acid test - SAT scores.  But, to help all applicants, free SAT prep should be provided a centers/schools city wide to help 8th graders prepare for the test (Boston provides free, universal entrance exam prep to their 3 exam schools, and NYC city provides it for the SSAT test governing admission to their 8 magnet high schools).  There are good models out there that DC could draw on if school leaders were willing to stop playing the blame game with the gentrifiers.

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