Reply to MCPS Boundary Study Meeting Tonight (12/11) at Julius West @ 7pm

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I do not understand why this is so difficult for people.

-White and Asian kids do just as well academically regardless of the SES or racial demo of a school. If anything, being in a higher FARMs demo would make it easier for them to get into elite schools.

-Studies show White kids in particular actually benefit the most from being in SES and racially diverse schools. Go figure. Most white kids in America go to deeply segregated schools that does not reflect the world they will deal with when they become an adult.

-Residents are entitled to free public school, but they are not entitled to a particular school. If parents have a problem with this, they can do like the rest of white americans and can isolate their kids in a private school.

-You are free to pay for specialized enrichment activities for your child on your own dime.

Don't let your fear of brown and black people and your perception of their respective "cultures" blind you from basic facts.

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My UMC kids are at two different DCC high schools. I would send them again, no regrets, but please do share these studies that show "white" students benefit from schools with racial and SES diversity. To my knowledge there are no good studies that show this. What are they measuring? School performance? I think there are benefits, but they are not things easily quantifiable.[/quote]

Well they certainly aren't hurt by it.  So all this fuss about mixing with black and brown kids has much less to do with academic performance and more to do with unsubstantiated "beliefs". It would be nice to see studies proving why we should *not* work to integrate both racially and SES.

[b]
White students’ test scores don’t drop when they go to schools with large numbers of black and Latino students.[/b]

https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/studies/pdf/school_composition_and_the_bw_achievement_gap_2015.pdf

[/quote]

This subject has little to do with "evidence." I think people will always find a reason as to why we shouldn't seek to find income class and racial balance in schools. The "inconvenience" of busing or not going to the closet school. Concerns regarding peer groups and lack of enrichment activities or advanced classes. If you need a reason, you will find one.

What would be refreshing is if folks were honest. The concern here for those opposed to what MCPS is attempting to do is regarding of the "culture" of lower income black and brown communities.  I don't say this to label anyone who holds these concerns are racist. If you have an honest conversation with black and brown families from higher incomes, they will likely hold similar concerns. My only request is that you vigorously challenge them.

How does it really hurt your child to have a greater mix of kids from different incomes and ethnic backgrounds? Is there evidence that shows it leads to negative outcomes? Does it hurt their chances into getting to their college of choice?

[/quote]

It does lead to negative academic outcomes if the educational standard has to be lowered to accommodate majority of the students in the classroom. It's hard to believe that a richer social experience will lead to better understanding in English or math. I have many colleagues from Europe or Asia countries who grew up in non-diverse environment, whom I don't feel any less open-minded than others. Many have quite impressive subject matter knowledge. Also, Maryland Report Card has student performance statistics for every school. The data don't support that greater diversity leads to greater academic outcome even excluding FARM students.  [/quote]

Having lower income kids in a school does *not* equal "lower education standards" for all kids. Jesus Christ. [b]And again, the data shows that white kids perform similarly in a poor school than if they were in a wealthy enclave school full of high achievers. Since this is true, why does it matter so much? [/b]

If you are concerned with social status stuff and increasing the possibility your kid will have a friend network similar to the wealthy elite, then guess what? That aint going to happen unless you go to elite private schools or hang with that crowd. And....those kids are *not* more academically motivated than anyone else. They are more connected. And if you are in *this* conversation, you aint part of the club.

The data does show that it helps when you include FARMs. Thats the discussion we are having. FARMs in this case and many urban areas = black and latino kids. We wouldn't be having this discussion of schools with high FARMs concentrations were meeting state standards. if the FARMs kids were mostly white, I would support the county in doing the same thing. Funny, though I highly doubt there would be as much push back from the community. Hypothetical of course.[/quote]
In a 'wealthy enclave school full of high achievers' the curriculum is taught either faster, or more in depth, since said high achievers are able to learn the material quicker. So while white kids might still be 'performing' similarly (whatever that means, how do you measure performance, by grades? MAP scores? PARCC scores) their actual take away from the lessons is not the same as it would be in the class full of students who are on par with them academically.
Unless you introduce tracking. But that's also not going to happen.[/quote]

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