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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why are people on here so invested in tearing down a public school they know nothing about. I’m very confused.

My kid’s Spanish is improving by leaps and bounds at MacFarland which is our #1 goal. Kid is in accelerated classes and loves their teachers.

And we’re thinking McKinley for HS but I do love your broad speculation. [/quote]

What are the accelerated classes at Macfarland? It’s not tearing the school down to want to ensure your kid gets appropriate instruction. [/quote]

+1.  The facts are the facts with the poor PARCC scores that is a valid concern.  I would not call that tearing the school down.  But to say that a school offers accelerated classes when kids can’t even work on grade level is misleading.  Posters are rightly questioning that.

It’s pretty obvious to me that there are lots of families posting here with kids in DCPS bilingual schools that feed to McFarland and are pretty defensive and angry about any negative comments at all.  I would argue you should also be questioning the above if you are considering McFarland.

Asking hard questions and for accountability is not tearing a school down.  [/quote]

Agree. But I’ll add - I am actually not even expecting accelerated classes. I really just want to know if they group the grade level kids together. The stats show they have about 40 grade level/near grade level kids in each year. [/quote]

Guess who would be well equipped to answer these questions?[/quote]

Guess who is desperately trying to silence discussion?[/quote]

'Silencing' is so funny. What would you do if you or your child used reddit to write their research papers or to source information at work? It's not the best source, especially when its so easy to just dial a phone number.

Here is the number:  (202) 671-6033
Their principal is Lucas Cooke. lucas.cooke@k12.dc.gov[/quote]

Do you know basic logic? The fact that I am seeking information from one source does not mean I will never seek information from another source. And of course, sometimes anonymous sources have better information. Your clear goal here is to stop this discussion. Why?[/quote]

If I wanted to know how grade level students at a school were grouped together, which is a fair and objective question, I would ask someone at the school who handles rostering, go to an open house or talk in person to people who are familiar with the school. I don't think that anyone could argue that an anonymous person online is a better source of information on a question like that.

[/quote]

Do you think the school would tell the truth, or do you think it would be an acronym-riddled salad of gobbledygook with a side of "equity" scolding that doesn't provide the information the parent actually wants? I know what I would expect.[/quote]

I think they'd tell the truth. But I think its funny how little you think of DCPS yet still find the need to post on the board so much.[/quote]

Is this board only for people who think highly of DCPS? To me, since I don't believe anything DCPS says, this board is highly valuable as a somewhat credible source of information. Some of it is wrong, but some of it is true and some of it is things DCPS is unwilling to say.[/quote]

DP. If you don’t believe anything DCPS says, then why are you contemplating putting your kid in a school run by DCPS?

Relatedly, what is it about McFarland in particular that makes you so interested in it? If you are asking questions out of a sincere desire to learn more, then there must be [i]something[/i] about McFarland that you like. Otherwise, it presumably wouldn’t even be on your radar. So what do you see as the positives of the school, if any?

[/quote]

1) Because DCPS might still be our best option. I'm just not a credulous person, I don't tend to unquestioningly believe what I'm told and that would be true of any school. I like where I live and I don't want to move, and I'm not someone who's always seeking the very best tippy top school of all. I just want it to be adequate.

2) I like the Spanish program, I like that it's our feeder school so we'd have a lot of continuity of classmates, and I like its location because it's near my house. I think that some of MacFarland's feeders are already strong elementary schools, and others are becoming stronger and, I hope, sending their graduates into 6th grade better prepared.

MacFarland's test scores are not great, but they are not terrible (when viewed in light of demographics and of COVID's impact). So I think that with a concerted effort, MacFarland can be a really strong school for students of all levels and all backgrounds. But the only way to get there is to be honest about the challenges, and to communicate clearly with parents about all of MacFarland's offerings at every level.[/quote]

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