Reply to So, what is wrong with Hardy?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]"I understood your point, PP. I was taking it to its logical conclusion: Don't pass on Hardy because of its lousy DCCAS scores. Pass on Hardy because of its 55% FARMs rate and 13% IB rate. "

Suppose the IB rate for 2014-2015 comes in at 15%, and the FARMS rate is down to 51%?   Would that (combined with academic improvements) convince you to try it? 
[/quote]

While FARMs percentage matters to some degree, I think a key, related, concern for skeptical parents is still the overall achievement level of the NON-low income students.  So to address that concern, let's take a look at the available numbers. If you look at the 2014 DC CAS results, you'll see 103 students in 6th grade, 61 of them (62%) classified as "economically disadvantaged."  The overall test scores for those kids really were pretty good, considering their economic circumstances:  38 (62%) proficient or above in Math and 33 (54%) proficient or above in reading.  Those scores are actually what you want in a diverse school from your low income population!

The scores of the NON-low income (e.g., middle class or above) students were not high enough to pull up the scores of the 62% economically disadvantaged students.  Overall at Hardy 6th grade in 2014, 73 students (71%) were proficient or above in Math, and 63 students (61%) were proficient or above in reading.  But realize that non-low-income students would have to put up incredible scores to create an average higher than that, considering the majority low income population at the school!  Even though DC CAS does not provide data for the "non-economically-disadvantaged" student population, you see based on the low-income scores how hard it would be for the 42 non-low-income students to significantly pull up the scores of the 61 low-income students.

I'll agree that 62% economically advantaged is far too high for a high-achieving school - so, as you point out, prospective parents will desire the % of economically disadvantaged students to be lower (I'm using "economically disadvantaged" as a category rather than "FARMs," because that's what DC CAS uses)  - and if that percentage of low income students goes down then the overall scores would certainly go up immediately.  The key is to attract more students from non-economically disadvantaged families to attend.  Attracting more IB students is the best way to control for that outcome, as the OOB students are a mixed bag of income levels.  If that happens, then the scores could jump up rapidly to near-Deal-like levels.

My conclusion is that there needs to be a more balanced student population at the school (more "diverse," shall we say?) in order to create a higher level of overall achievement necessary to attract more kids from the local neighborhood.  Lowering the number to around 50% economically disadvantaged and increasing neighborhood numbers to at least 25% "true IB" would be a great start, and I think would soon make it a very desirable destination for most parents.  Based on last year's numbers, the school is not diverse enough (economically disadvantaged, non-economically disadvantaged, race) - yet.[/quote]

Hardy is very diverse, thank you very much.[/quote]

The elephant in the room is that real diversity?  Would include more than a token upper-SES caucasian child or two. [/quote]

By the way diversity is thought of in DC, Hardy is already diverse.  Stop whining and accept Hardy.  Or don't.[/quote]

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