Reply to 50%+ FARMS schools in Arlington

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I recently moved to N Arlington.  I'm zoned to a school that is 50%+ FARMS. Frankly, no matter what the boosters say, I'm just not comfortable with schools with demographics that skewed- I hesitate to believe that stats like that won't affect both socialization and education for my DC. So I will not even consider the elementary school literally a block from my new home in a couple years when DC starts school.
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Didn't you know about the school before you moved into the neighborhood?  It seems a bit strange to make a big deal about it now, unless you always planned to go private.[/quote]

PP here- yes I knew and make ample income to go private, so we focussed more on the house and area we liked best rather than the school. It still does annoy me though that the country protects so much low-income housing in some areas of N Arlington resulting in such distortions. It doesn't seem sensible to me that with so many professionals with good incomes priced out of N Arlington that so many tracts of low-income housing remain here- I would much rather have Arlington's low-income protected housing turned into middle-income housing so that the subsidies go to those that really need to stay in the area for their livelihood (municipal works, police, teachers etc.). For the rest, really let the market take its course...if people making $100k/year can't afford to buy here, I don't see why it should be an entitlement for those making $25k. [/quote]

Interesting, I didn't think this was as big of a problem in true North Arlington anymore but in those areas that bordered close to south Arlington. We have  similar problem in Alexandria City.  I agree with your argument and don't think low income individuals are entitled to cheap or free housing in prime real estate areas.[/quote]

Nice of you to decide who should/shouldn't benefit from low-income housing and location thereof.  The diversity of Arlington is what makes it such a great place to live.  The schools in Arlington are great across the board.  Had DC not gone to immersion school (also socio-economically diverse), we'd have chosen Barrett (which is not our neighborhood school).  Snooty, Type-A white parents who're scared of non-white people are going to ruin Arlington.[/quote]

16:52 Here: Guess what- not white and I'm not scared of myself, but scared of what decades of informed research has said about educational environments that are low-income dominant- I'm sorry the research is pretty decisive that it ends up affecting educational outcomes for everyone.
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On the Barrett comment, yes Barrett is what I was referring to. [/b]The Buckingham THs though will number under 150, so they want make up for the demographics resulting from the protected garden apartment complexes. [b]The school is likely to remain majority low-income for some time, and I believe it is also Title I. I don't buy the anecdotes, given that I know so many people convincing themselves that a [u]medicore [/u]learning environment is "good" for their own personal justification.[/b] [/quote]

If you don't "buy" the anecdotes, then I guess you're going to signing your child(ren) up for ATS (should you be so lucky) or Key (but wait, I think they have a decent number of "FARMS" students too) or maybe private school...

Barrett IS a Title I school - there's no hiding that fact.  But I just don't know how you can say it is a "mediocre" learning environment if you haven't even had a child there.  Our child is a student there and has had wonderful teachers and has thrived in a very positive environment that is absolutely meeting his needs.

I also had concerns about Barrett as a school when we first bought in the neighborhood before our kids were born.  We assumed we'd move once we had kids and they became school-age.  In the years before my first started kindergarten, though, the majority of my neighbors not only chose to send their kids to Barrett over other alternatives, but spoke very highly about their experiences with it.  I don't think any of our friends and neighbors are trying to "justify" their choices - I think they, as we, are genuinely happy with the school.  
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PP here- fair enough, people are happy. But are you telling me the school or your child's learning environment has none of the adverse effects associated with majority low-income schools? There is nearly unanimous consensus in the academic and policy literature on education that majority low-income schools produce lower outcomes for students of all socioeconomic backgrounds (I've included an example of a typical excerpt from these types of studies) this on the basis of both quantitative and qualitative assessments of outcomes by highly regarding specialists in the field.

I heartily support the socioeconomic integration of schools, but for me that does not mean a majority low-income school. I understand the demographics in the Barrett area are shifting and this takes time...I just don't have the risk appetite to be at the vanguard.

"2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress suggests:
Low-income students attending more affluent schools scored almost two years ahead of low-income students in high-poverty schools. Indeed, low-income students given a chance to attend more affluent schools performed more than half a year better, on average, than middle-income students who attend high-poverty schools (Kahlenberg, 2009a, p. 1).
Summarizing these results suggests that high-poverty schools produce worse outcomes for both low and middle-income students. Moreover, when low-income students attend middle-income schools their performance, relative to their low-income peers in high-poverty schools, improves dramatically. More than forty years of research has resulted in the same conclusion that the overall socioeconomic status of a school affects the achievement of all its students."[/quote]

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