Reply to Moving to Capitol Hill/2017 PARCC scores

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. Thanks, this is all super helpful! I wasn't aware of the demographic distinctions a couple people mentioned. It's extra impressive that Maury and Ludlow have improved so much and reached the Brent levels given those factors. [/quote]

Ludlow and Maury haven't reached Brent level demographics. Brent is around 70% white and in-boundary, with a FARMs percentage that's dropped into the single digits this year (after nearly 15 years of steady change). Maury is more than half white with around 30% FARMs. Ludlow is still majority FARMs and around 25% white this year.

You can look at test scores all you want, but changing demographics and FARMs rates probably tell you more about the viability of a school for neighborhood newcomers.  You can find high test scores at schools you wouldn't touch, like KIPP, SEED and DC Prep.  The real difference between Brent and Maury and Ludlow is PTA bucks.  The former have the dough to pay for teachers aides past K, which can make all the difference to parents seeking adequate differentiation in the classroom.  Ludlow's PTA will raise six figures eventually, enough to start paying for classroom aides, but not for a few years.  Ludlow is still a Title 1 school (40%+ FARMs) getting around 100K a year from the federal government to cover costs.  [/quote]

so what makes a school "viable" for "newcomers" in your opinion?

[/quote]
You're being cute or want an honest answer?  Answer: two instructors in the classroom (the second paid for by the PTA) most of the time in all classes, along with strong art, music, performing arts, PE and a designated science teacher (paid for by the PTA for the first couple of years, now by DCPS).  Also advanced math from 3rd grade up, one-two years above grade level.  DC is probably math gifted (did Johns Hopkins CTY math camp this summer).  Yes, we're at Brent.  I'd also use Maury if in-boundary.

[/quote]

First of all, can we please strike the phrase "use a school"?  YOU don't "use" a school.  It's a public good.  Your CHILD attends a school -- the school of the community in which you've chosen to live.

Second of all, it's clear you think race and income are the metric by which a school is "viable" for a white person, and likely the primary factor is race (since you concede you'd never "use" KIPP).  [b]That's just gross and I sure hope you weren't emoting all over facebook about how terrible Charlottesville was.[/b]  [/quote]

not PP but eww . . . You genuinely had me agreeing until that line.  I'm not sure I see the connection with being disgusting by overt racist/anti-semitic demonstration, including violence and intimidation, is in any way equatable to choosing or not choosing a given school for whatever reason.[/quote]

the point is that is easy to be "horrified" by open displays of racism, while not examining what you're doing yourself in your own life. [/quote]

I get the point but it's a clumsy comparison relying on hyperbole.   I too wouldn't use the term "use" for a school either as a school is a community and I'd no sooner "use" a school than I would "use" my neighborhood, religious congregation, work, etc.  Schools shouldn't be transactional.  PP also assumes race is the ONLY factor when it may or may not be one of multiple factors.

Personally I think the above PP statement reeks of classism more than racism.[/quote]

[b]I think it's being pretty willfully blind to claim that race and "class" don't almost fully intersect on the Hill.[/b]  I understand that most parents only have their own child's best interests at heart, but I truly wish that they'd stop and think a minute about what their words and additudes suggest about "those kids" they deem "unviable" as schoolmates for their own children.  No, you are not obliged to enroll your child in any school that you don't want to, but you are obliged to examine where your beliefs come from and the impact of your words.  [/quote]

I don't use or support that language either, but you're taking liberty with both my words and OP's words. OP never said anything about schoolmates being "unviable" or any reference to "those kids".  I find the public school fundraising snobbery offensive and it inherently touches on inequality, including race and class, and I said nothing to suggest the two are mutually exclusive.[/quote]

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