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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]They fare as well in SOL scores (basic curriculum--which is a very low learning standard for an average to bright elementary student) but not in learning much beyond that because all schools teach to the middle and at those schools the middle is quite different. Your child of parents with advance degrees will do fine at both schools--if "fine" is what you aspire to. You have fewer families at Barcroft and Randolph who have advance degrees, etc. because those parents usually aspire to more than "fine" for their kids. [/quote]

I'm the PP to whom you are responding.  I guess my question to you is how do we know that these kids will do (on average) on better than fine in South Arlington schools?  We all usually point to test scores - like SOLs - to quantify the difference in performance between non disadvantaged kids in higher performing schools versus lower performing schools.  But, as I already pointed out, that category is much too broad to draw any real conclusions about the performance of affluent kids at lower performing schools.

So, how do we measure their performance - and the gap, if one exists, between their peers at higher performing schools, if not through broad categories of standardized test results?  I don't think we can just say the answer is obvious.  Do we just do so through anecdotal evidence (we see a lot of that on threads like this)?  If a real achievement gap exists, surely there must be more proof?  And I'm not being snarky.  I'm actually interested in figuring out the answer to this question.  Is it that kids learn better when they have bigger peer groups of similar learners?  Is it the availability of after school activities?  Is it, as you suggest, teaching to the middle?  But don't all the Arlington elementaries teach to the same curriculum?  Is it retention of kids from year to year?

I'm genuinely curious about this. 
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