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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Although I hate the low academic standards, my real issue is with the violence in and near the school. [/quote]

Do you think your child specifically would be pulled into this?[/quote]

NP.  It's unpleasant to witness and can be really traumatic. It disrupts the learning environment and wastes instructional time.  And nearby people do sometimes get hurt in a scuffle just by being in range   It's not because anyone thinks their child is going to be invited to partake in a carjacking.[/quote]

My child was not happy in his elementary school where there were frequent behavioral disruptions, including thrown chairs, even though he was never directly involved.[/quote]

All sounds alarming and unfortunate. Didn't know there was this kind of violence at the schools mentioned except for Latin. Why doesn't Latin face the same thing? Is it because the school is smaller?[/quote]

Charter school means the families have to be motivated enough to transport their kids & fill out paperwork.[/quote]

That’s not it. Functionally half of DC Public School students attend charters. Even more go to Out of Boundary DCPS schools. So a MAJORITY of DC parents are willing to fill out applications and arrange transporation.[/quote]

Yes, half of parents are willing to do this.  And the kids of families where parents are not able to be involved in this way, family is in crisis, family has criminal justice system involvement, family is experiencing housing insecurity, etc. are concentrated in the by right schools that fully half of DC parents are jumping through hoops to avoid.  The resulting cohort at those schools has all kinds of behavior and social issues at a much higher rate than they would if so many parents didn’t go to charters or OOB options.  Get it?[/quote]

Have DCPS provide some G and T in elementary and tracking in MS and HS and you won’t have parents with options choosing charters.  Until then families will do what is best for their kid.

So talk to DCPS because they are not meeting the needs of ALL kids, just the bottom.  That’s all they care about so why should families care about their poorly performing IB schools?[/quote]

Not to take this thread off topic, but NO.  We do not need G&T tracking in elementary.  these are little kids still--they don't need to be divided and segregated.  If you are really worried about your kid's needs being met, you might argue for lower rations or more aids in classrooms, but not tracking.  As kids get older and schools get larger, there is room for kids to go into classes that meet their level more (e.g., are you ready for Algebra in 7th or 8th or whatever), but that is really not necessary in elementary.  We are a family with means, and would prefer to keep segregation out of our nice EOTP Title 1 school.  [/quote]

I was in G and T and it started in 3rd grade.  This is not little kids,  3rd is when the achievement gap really widens and a teacher cannot effectively teach when kids are 3-4 levels apart.  Also it’s not fixed.  Kids can move into G and T.

If you tracked, those kids that can’t read yet could all get more targeted support in the classroom with more aides, etc..

Tracking is not what causes segregation.  It’s not supporting the kids more who need it and socially promoting everyone every year.

The kids who get the shortest end of the stick when you don’t track is the low income smart kid.  My family was poor and I was on FARMS.  I was tracked and did well.  Things would have been different if I was not because my family did not know much about education and could not support at all at home.

There are many school districts who have successful tracking programs with a large portion of low SES kids.  So no, if done right it actually helps low SES kids the most.

[/quote]

My niece was in the DCPS G&T program in the 90s and was tracked from about 2nd grade (I think), she clearly remembers her cohort in ES and MS. She went onto Banneker and is very successful. She credits accessibility to a G&T program for much of her academic success.[/quote]

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