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[quote=Anonymous][quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous]Only time will tell... An application only high-school in Ward - 7 that is to appease what demographic.  Let's see the smart kids are all in Ward 7; who didn't know that *sarcasm*  The same way Ward 7 is awaiting on their Walmart, might as well wait on the application only high-school.  There's three high-schools in Ward 7 so do you turn one into an application only high-school or build another one?

The reference he's on fire...has so many comedic responses for that...He's flaming!!![/quote]

It is actually an application-only middle school -- the OP made a typo. It has been one of the most popular ideas to come out of the DME process. Yes, shockingly, there are smart kids in Ward 7. It is probably not a good electoral strategy for the Bowser crowd to run on Ward 7 kids being stupid and Catania being gay. 
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OP here, yes, MS, thank you for the correction.

This has been one of the revelations for me coming out of the DME process. I used to just assume (as many on DCUM seem to do) that kids and parents are the only thing that matters in a school, and teachers and programming don't matter much. This is the "SES makes the school" theory, and if you subscribe to it, then the corollary is that DC public schools are hopeless in the aggregate because there is too much poverty in the city and not enough educated engaged families to go around.

But I've been reading a lot of education research and the success stories of some of the charters that focus on inner-city demographics, and I am increasingly convinced that programming can make a meaningful difference. Don't mistake it, parental education and motivation still count for a ton.

But for example, application-only schools, dual language schools, IB program, all of this can make a difference east of the Anacostia river, and currently those wards have very little of that. Those programs, combined with the interventions for the "40 lowest performing", which include more instructional hours, I think it can all add up to make a difference, and Catania is really the only or the main DC politician working on these things.

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