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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]10:53 you are too reasonable to be in this thread.

There are plenty of parents who move from the DCC area to Bethesda/Potomac only for schools. And there are plenty who stay.

What this report shows (and you really need to read it and the exhibits) isn't that Student A (in this case an intelligent middle to upper SES white kid) performs differently at each school - in fact Student A performs identically at each school. It is that the disparity between Student A and Students B-F fair much differently. And only certain schools have a statistically significant population of minority and lower-income students (or both.)

What isn't measured here are outcomes or intangible educational goals (i.e. diversity.) Outcomes in the case of HS mainly means college admissions. I haven't studied, but anecdotally Student A at Blair or Whitman is basically even - there is not difference in college admission outcome. An ivy level kid is an ivy-level kid, a state school kid os a state school kid, and so on. Outcomes for lower SES an minority vary widely. And in the case of DCC schools may not include college.

So will segregation continue? Sure. But so will diversification. MoCo is increasingly getting different shades, and that is reflected in all but 2-3 high schools in the county. To me the real test ins't today, but in 10-15 years when Olney, Rockville, Clarksburg - basically the remaining affordable parts of the county - become majority-minority, how will that impact the entire school system. And can MoCo figure out a way to serve the Student B-F population while keeping the Student A population among the highest performing in the nation.[/quote]

10:53 here and thank you.

To use your anology, student A may not get the challenge they need at a DCC school.  Therefore, student A's family is likely to pick up and move to Wooton where the student will do equally well but be challenged by the classroom instruction.[/quote]

This is true, but I even in the better schools a huge percentage of the challenge has to be done outside the classroom anyway. Some kids are going to be slackers anywhere, and some will self-challenge. That's partly why there are as many CEOs from state schools as Ivys - the "better" school is never an indication of career or life success. Is it true that a kid who is on the bubble may be able to get more of a challenge at Whitman than Einstein? Sure, of course.

We need to keep in mind too that getting the best teachers at each school is a multi-dimensional process in and of itself. It has to do with school admin, opportunities, parent involvement, teacher challenge, and seniority issues. Student body is pretty far down that list. So Blair gets recent Phd math teachers, but probably not the top echelon English Lit teachers. RM (and any of the schools with IB programs) draws a more international focus. But year by year things change in this regard too.[/quote]

Sadly, many teachers are avoiding schools in the area because of the administration at schools and the lack of student commitment to learning.  [/quote]

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