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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I agree that schools with high levels of poverty have more difficulties.
Where I disagree is the idea that AH contributes to this problem- I think that AH improves school outcomes.

Could you distribute AH throughout the county?  I think Arl has tried pretty hard to do this.  Yes- it does rely on converting cheap market rate AH to CAF's- but again I think this improves school outcomes- not the opposite.

Should you do away with neighborhood schools in order to even out FARMS rates at various different schools?  I think people can legitimately disagree about this one.  I can see both sides of the argument.

I think the more interesting and realistic discussion is about whether or not school outcomes are really worse for the nonFARMS kids in predominantly FARMS schools.  [b]Are they getting a lesser education than their income peers in less significantly FARMS schools? [/b]  
[/quote]

We stuck with it but I think my kid got a lesser education in K, 1st, and 2nd than he would have in a north Arlington school. He got a lot of pull out from the RTG starting the second week of kindergarten but it didn't change the fact that he came into school being able to read and do math and literally no other kid in his class could, and he stayed ahead of them for a couple of years. If he had been average in his class, he would have done different things, more things, with his class. At the end of the day, I don't know that it is going to make a material difference in, say, his SAT scores. But he could have had a richer educational experience if he hadn't been in a class where half of the kids came in speaking little or no English (and not just Spanish at home--lots of different languages, which is its own challenge) and almost none came in with any type of prior schooling. I'm not saying they had behavioral problems or their parents weren't committed to their educations or anything like that. But there's no question it was not the experience other kids have, and if I had the chance to do it over I don't know if I would have chosen to live in south Arlington (and yes, it was a choice.) [/quote]

I was about to respond and say that we can already see that the educational experience is lesser, but also, sufficient (for now). We are taking it year by year and evaluating as we go. Are the later elementary years better? We are anticipating that they might be worse. If it stays par-for-the-course, or even improves (as the current ESL students learn English and "catch up"), we might be in better shape than we expected.

PP, did your child go through all the way to middle and high school? [/quote]

We switched to a choice program, and then got our younger child in the choice program as well when he started school. The handful of other middle class kids in the K and 1st classes also switched to other schools -- I don't know if they went to choice programs, private, or got transfers, but none of them stayed.

It is tough when your kid can read a book (like a Magic Treehouse book) and the year-long goal for the rest of the class is to learn 20 sight words (and, if, but, yes, go...). You want your kid to be excited about learning.

And, honestly, playdates are tough. When kids live in apartments, they have plenty of friends nearby, and their moms often don't drive.  [/quote]

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