Reply to what have Hill parents demanded of middle schools?

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Reply to "what have Hill parents demanded of middle schools?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think for Brent it was that Jefferson does a great job remediating the outrageously dismal test scores of Amidon.  If Amidon students went to JEfferson with the a higher level of proficiency, Brent parents would be more likely to give Jefferson a shot.  But is is galling that Stuart-Hobson is actually closer to Brent and more part of Captiol hill neighborhood, yet S-H is not an option.

[b]So, a simplier option is to make S-H a middle school option for those that live in the S-H area.  They could do this by stopping the automatic feed to S-H for those that attend certain elementary schools that feed into S-H out of boundary.

Stopping the automatic feed into a middle school based upon what elementary school you attended for 5th grade would actually reduce many DCPS problems.  [/b][/quote]

The problem with this, from DCPS's point of view, is that it shuts down an escape route for lower-SES families from dismal neighborhood schools.  When >50% of DCPS students can't perform at grade level, that's a more glaring, demanding, urgent issue than satisfying the Brent parents.  It's already a given that the majority of those parents will choose Latin or Basis over SH even if it were an option.[/quote]

I get it now.  More than half of DCPS students are not able to obtain proficiency by fifth grade so the answer is to simply push them along to middle school with fingers crossed they will magically be able to catch up, but not hold back those who are already proficient and above.  That still sounds like social promotion not an "escape route.". The glaring, demanding, urgent issue that DCPS needs  to fix is elementary schools at which the majority of children are not learning.  The Rhee/Henderson regime, with support from tbe anti-union foundations runs by the like of the Koch and Walton families, and enabled by Fenty and Gray, have perpetrated a fraud on DC residents.  Unfortunately it is too late for anyone to do anything for most lower-SES families in terms of education reform.  Despite all the ballyhoo about change test scores across LEAs are overwhelming stagnant, even in spite of a ham-fisted effort to fudge the numbers.  Let's just watch what happens when a new breed stops blaming teachers and unions.  Schools alone cannot ameliorate entrenched societal inequities.  [/quote]

Since this is a conversation about schools, it seems the height of defeatism to say "schools alone cannot ameliorate entrenched societal inequities."

The equation goes something like this:

a) Without dramatic changes to the support and social welfare society provides to the very poor their children are doomed to failure.

b) DCPS (or DC government in general) is not going to dramatically enhance the social welfare programs for the very poor, since DC already spends a massive amount of revenues on ameliorating poverty.

c) Therefore poor children are doomed to failure.

[/quote]

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