Reply to 50%+ FARMS schools in Arlington

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I've been a PP (I think the less snarky one) that is somewhat skepitcal that my DC could receive an education equivalent to a majority middle/upper income school as in a majority low-income school, even if it has a substantial representation of upper/middle income and is experiencing rapidly shifting demographics.

The boosters of Barrett here make a passioned case, but really I imagine every learning environment (even the most elite prep schools) is going to have drawbacks, and what I'm hearing from those currently in these schools and posting in defense, is what the OP asked for, an honest assessment of the drawbacks...I'd really welcome one of the Barrett defenders here to balance their case, by also talking about some of the drawbacks they've experienced given the somewhat unique demographic mix in the school....[/quote]

I attempted to address this earlier when I talked about the "guilt" about spending extra money on school activities and the fact that the kids getting free-lunch become unintentionally segregated from the others by having to wait in line to get their lunch, but I guess everyone was too busy piling on about how you're damaging your kid by sending them to Barrett.

My DH attended a public school when he was growing up that was so unbalanced economically that it was uncomfortable for him as the child of an upper-middle class family.  I don't feel like that's the case at Barrett.  I think there is a good enough split (basically 50/50) that everyone feels like they fit in.

What I can't say (because I don't believe it is true) is to say that the quality of education suffers because of the linguistic and economic diversity.  They assess all the kids before they start kindergarten and put the higher-functioning ESL kids into mixed classrooms and the lower-functioning ones in a full ESL class. The teachers provide opportunities for all kids to work at their level of achievement, and they are grouped accordingly. Yes, there are some disruptions but from what I've noticed, they don't have anything to do with economic background.  Kids get sent to the principal regardless (and we know plenty from the upper-socioeconomic strata who are troublemakers).

If I truly thought my child would get a higher quality of education from a different school in Arlington, we would have moved. Instead, we stayed in Arlington Forest and built on to our house and plan to send our younger child there as well. It's not about justification - we have the means to make a change but I don't know what we'd be changing for.  I know there are people who feel like if their school isn't the "Blue Ribbon School" then they are compromising their child's education.  I don't feel that way and even though some kids at the school may not score as well as their wealthy, English-speaking counterparts, my child tests just fine compared to children from her demographic.
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