Reply to New opposition petition to the Maury-Miner boundary proposal from DME

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Demographics are (almost always) destiny sadly. Diluting the overall proportion of at-risk kids might in fact make thing easier for current teachers/staff at Miner, and I don’t think that’s an improper metric to consider.

But the impact on the academic outcomes of at-risk kids will likely be nil to negligible, as their problems stem from out-of-school factors that the school - no matter how structured - can’t be expected overcome.

On the other hand, UMC folks might find that things continue pretty much the same for their kids. Sure, maybe less convenient for some and maybe less narrowly “neighborhoody”, but I’m not sure those are factors DCPS should consider at the outset.

At any rate, howl loud enough and it’s probably dead in the water. Congratulations.

[/quote]

This is pretty spot on. I think the fear that many Maury parents seem to have is  misplaced.

There are also whole conversations that I think we're sidestepping because they are uncomfortable. People like to fixate on test scores because they are "hard data" and so the conversation gets focused on whether the cluster would improve test scores for at risk kids, or drag down test scores for high-SES kids. I think this PP is likely correct that it would have minimal impact on either, and you'd wind up with a cluster school where the average test scores are lower than Maury and higher than Miner, but where individual outcomes are unchanged.

But there's also the question of culture, and that's what people don't really like to discuss. The truth is that there are nice things about having your kid at a relatively homogeneous school where most of the other families are similar to yours. It makes friendships easier, both between kids and between parents. It makes it easier for the school to set goals and reinforce culture, because people are more likely to be in agreement on what matters. I know I'm about to get people yowling at me about how diverse Maury is, but I'm not talking about racial diversity. I'm talking about life experience diversity. You can have a racially diverse school that is very homogenous, if the families at that school are all above a certain income and have similar educational and family backgrounds. And Maury is that.

The cluster school will be more genuinely diverse, at least if the populations of the separate schools remained in place. It would be a mix of UMC professional families on the Hill and in Hill East, middle class black families from Wards 7 and 8, low income families from housing projects in the current Miner zone as well as some from across the river. It is harder to make all those people happy and they won't all agree on what school is for or how it should be run. That's either a travesty or an opportunity, depending on your politics and your personal preferences (and just your energy levels, tbh -- it is more socially taxing to have kids at a truly diverse school because your personal interactions require more effort).[/quote]

My kids are at a truly diverse school. It's a Title 1. There are homeless kids, although I didn't know that until looking at the data. It's actually really not a big deal for us at all culturally. I do find it jarring that my kids seem to perfectly filter for other kids with college-educated parents to be their friends. But what I care about that relates to demographics is whether there's a group of kids who are at or ahead of grade level and if my kids are receiving appropriate-level instruction. That's all. I'm not saying other people don't care about culture, but sometimes the test score talk is not a proxy, it's really the thing someone cares about. I also think the other things I appreciate about our school are pretty universal -- the warmth, the community, that everyone seems to know my kids, that the school goes above and beyond when it comes to creative ways of engaging students, that sort of thing. [/quote]

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