Reply to Given the rigor of Basis, was it ever expected to be for every kid in the District?

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Reply to "Given the rigor of Basis, was it ever expected to be for every kid in the District? "

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. If there is not more to this story then what was printed in the WP (and that’s a Big If)  then it shouldn’t be taboo to say/think that the school was designed at the outset to be a place for very hard working and/or advanced kids, in a race/class/sex neutral way. Why tip-toe around?   [/quote]

I think it's because that's pretty much the basis of the whole charter debate - instead of investing resources into neighborhood schools in order to bring these types of specialized programs to those schools, is it better to pull the resources out and just create specialized schools? When you put the resources into neighborhood schools, there's the idea that a rising tide lifts all boats; when you pull resources out and create specialized schools, it can seem like a quick fix that will help the few who are able to gain access to the school, but ultimately won't help create a stronger school system.

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No, that is a completely revisionist view of the debacle.  Other than the JKLM schools in Ward 3, DCPS has been a mess for decades.  Seriously, as far back as Brown v. Board of Ed. when the two segregated schools districts in DC had to unite, and white parents abandoned the city in droves - that's how long.  And before you get all racist about that, bear in mind that the second wave of middle and upper-middle class families to abandon the city in droves was AA families for wide-open spaces in PG county.  The problems in DC in general, and DCPS specifically, have been ignored by a lot of people for a long time.

Occasionally a politician would give lip-service to quality in education, but the well-unionized DCPS work-force would come out screaming.  DCPS became a de facto job security nest for people who often didn't actually live in DC.

In any event, what changed the educational climate (and it took about 10 years) was for charter schools to come in and basically say "Fine, you won't educate them.  We will."  This was never about the city or the community refusing to invest in neighborhood schools.  If that were true, there would be some tony charters in Ward 3.  More importantly, DCPS wouldn't spend more $$ per student than any district in the entire United States and still have such dismal results.  The city's laws became very charter-friendly and more of them developed.  It's actually that simple.  So charter schools have led the way with innovation.  Michelle Rhee tried to respond, maybe it was too much too soon.  Maybe she was tone-deaf.  It's history now, so I don't know how much it matters, but the bottom line is that the city still spends anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 more to educate students in DCPS, and with weaker results.  To suggest that this is some large conspiracy to de-invest from neighborhood schools is untrue and uninformed.[/quote]

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