Reply to Lottery season reminder: your kids don't need to hear about DCUM stuff

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]the pp was not saying participating in the lottery was elitist or classist.  they were saying that the way some people fully write off schools that are not super popular and competitive to get a spot at in the lottery and/or schools with lower student test scores as bad schools to be avoided at all
cost can be driven by anxiety and bias…[/quote]

I don't know about that. My kid went to a title 1 school for elementary, and there was this kind of judgement on upper income parents not to lottery out. But when lower income families lotteried into a better school, no one said anything (because of course they should be trying to find the best educational path for their child).

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The difference is when upper income families leave, they take their resources, and often the time they have to volunteer and be advocates for the school, with them, and there is a real cumulative effect as many families do that, especially as title 1 schools can quickly teeter between having solid or insufficient parent engagement. The other difference is that the upper income family’s child (presuming the school has reasonable leadership and good teachers) is likely to do well at that school or nearly anywhere, while the lower income child may be benefited from being at a school that is more resourced than their in-bounds option.[/quote]

(1) You don't always know a family's income or financial situation. There is often an assumption in DCPS that white families are all "upper income." But we aren't.

(2) Kids have different needs. This board tends to focus on academics, and on pretty narrow metrics for academics (test scores). But a kid can be scoring well in tests and struggling socially. Or they might be losing interest in school due to classroom environment. The idea that what you perceive to be an "upper income" kid will do well anywhere is petty limited. Do well how?

(3) The assumption that upper income (which, again, is usually code for white, whether they are truly upper income or not) have lots of resources, including time, to dedicate to a school is a big one. Especially when you consider that Title 1 schools already get money for extra staff and programs to help serve the needs of at risk kids, and that the sort of volunteering that am upper income parent might do at school might not actually be that welcome or needed at a school with those resources. [/quote]

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