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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]is it worth changing from a jefferson feeder to a hobson feeder?  distance is about the same.[/quote]

I'm sure you will hear from Jefferson boosters on here... but if you care about the size of the cohort of high performing kids & the size of the cohort of truly low performing kids, SH is a no brainer. ELA is where the huge difference is and that's the skill that's more transferable to the non-tracked classes like science & social studies. SH has 6% of kids getting 1s on PARCC... Jefferson has 26%. So, in one setting, your kid's class might have 1 or 2 kids *way* below grade level (illiterate or close to it, if we're being honest); in the other, it's fully 1/4th of the class. On the flip side, SH has over 50% of kids at grade level for ELA, so even the non-tracked classes are majority kids who have the tools to do the work; at Jefferson, it's just over 1/3.[/quote]

A few responses to this:

* You are judging the two schools based solely on 2018-19 PARCC data and no other factors. I would suggest that there is far more to consider when weighing school options, particularly since none of that test data reflects the performance or aptitude of [i]any[/i] of the kids who currently attend either school.

* While you are correct that the 2018-2019 data showed a significant difference in ELA proficiency (56% at Stuart-Hobson versus 37% at Jefferson), you did not mention that the math proficiency of the two schools was very similar that year (23% and 21%, respectively).

* The percentage of Jefferson students receiving a 1 in ELA in 2018-2019 was actually 23%, not 26%. I realize that it's a small difference -- and that it wasn't a good number in any case. But if you're going to rely solely on 2018-2019 PARCC data to judge the schools, at least be accurate, particularly if you're going to use phrases like "fully 1/4th."

* I would argue that math is more transferable to science than is ELA. And if f you're going to classify kids as "illiterate" for receiving a 1 on ELA, then how do you classify those who received a 1 in math in 2018-2019 (17% at Stuart-Hobson and 23% at Jefferson)?

* It bears repeating that all of these numbers are from 2018-2019 and do not in any way reflect the performance or aptitude of any of the current students at Jefferson or Stuart-Hobson.

* In the latest U.S. and World Report rankings, Jefferson is the considered third best standalone DCSP middle school, behind only Deal and Hardy. Stuart-Hobson is fourth in that category. Point being, those of us in Ward 6 have relatively good options for middle schools, despite all of the complaining of some on here.

* Regardless of which school may be "better," I don't think it's worth uprooting a kid from his or her current elementary school [i]just[/i] for a change in the feeder pattern. For the past couple of years, Stuart-Hobson has been relatively easy to get into through the lottery. For 2021-2022, it made 91 waitlist offers for sixth grade. The year before that it made 135. (Some of the current students at Jefferson received waitlist offers for Stuart-Hobson but remained with Jefferson, while some kids who had been Jefferson-bound switched to Stuart-Hobson. Each family had its own reasons for its decision.)

[/quote]

Jefferson booster is here!  [b]I said if you care about the size of the high performing cohort and low performing cohort; some may not and have other things they value more.[/b] I specifically said ELA is where the huge difference is, so I’m not sure where you get that I didn’t acknowledge I was talking about ELA specifically. Math has very little transference to the BS middle school science class both schools are doing. This isn’t BASIS real physics. It’s like Earth Science at most. There’s a reason that ESes drill reading even to the detriment of math. Innumeracy doesn’t make you unable to read your science textbook… you know what does? (You’re right about 23 v 26; my apologies.)[/quote]

You said that "if you care" about these factors, then it's a "no brainer." You are apparently disregarding everyone who does, in fact, care about these factors but who also takes into account other factors in considering schools. It's not as simple as "caring" or "not."

Apologies accepted.

[/quote]

Yeah, sorry. If you care at all about the size of the cohorts, I think it’s a no brainer. No apologies from me. Jefferson has too many really low performing kids and not enough high performing ones. No apologies for that reality.[/quote]

You are apparently treating the 2018-2019 PARCC data as the end-all-be-all for determining how well students are performing at a given school. You apparently have no direct experience with Jefferson or with how kids there are placed in specific cohorts. Citing PARCC data that anyone can easily look up themselves adds absolutely nothing of value to the conversation.

Look, I get it that you chose not to send your kid(s) to Jefferson. That's perfectly fine. The school is not for everyone -- nor is any other school.

As long as we're going to play this game, why don't you tell us which middle school you [i]did[/i] choose. Then those of us who have no experience with that school can tell you what's wrong with it.

[/quote]

This is the problem with Jefferson boosters. Talking about the size of various cohorts at the school is not an attack on you or your choices.[/quote]

Please. I'm not buying your “aw shucks, I’m just discussing the size of cohorts” routine. You’re going far beyond that. You’re asserting that it’s a “no brainer” for anyone who cares about this issue to not choose Jefferson. As if those of us who send our kids there simply don’t care. That [i]is[/i] an attack, whether you intend it to be or not.

In any event, you have no personal experience with the school or with how students there are placed in cohorts for their math, ELA, science and social studies classes. You therefore don't have anything of significant value to add to the discussion. Yet here you are. Again and again.

[/quote]

NP. You sound silly and defensive. What you have just argued is that citing data and drawing conclusions based on that data is an "attack" on you because the conclusions don't result in choosing the school you chose. That is childish. It also tells us you are incredibly insecure about the choices you made - that's an issue for you to work through with your shrink, not something that other who want to have an open discussion about public education need to be wary of. [/quote]

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