Reply to Will this finally get DCPS to create magnet schools?

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Reply to "Will this finally get DCPS to create magnet schools?"

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[quote=Anonymous]From following many similar discussions over the years it seems evident that the DCPS establishment for one thing suffers from some off-base thinking along the following lines:

1.) Magical thinking around in-class differentiation to support the high achievers and the struggling kids along with the rest - they like to think they can do in-class differentiation but the reality of it is that very few teachers can actually do a good job at in-class differentiation.  The reality of it is that most teachers just teach to the middle and the students at the top and bottom are ignored.

2.) "A rising tide to lift all boats" where rather than magnets or other things to support high achievers they want to keep them there to serve as exemplars and tutors for the other students - but it's not the high achiever's job to fix the problems that the other kids are having, not to mention that the high achievers are probably already working their tails off to get their good grades and now the teacher wants to "reward" them by bogging them down with helping other students.

3.)  "Magnets and G&T programs are racist" yet as pointed out above, the PARCC 5 scorers are quite a diverse bunch.  Are there instances of magnets or G&T programs being disproportionately dominated by one ethnic group?  Yes.  And ironically it's typically asians, not whites.  But that's a function of external factors, like demand exceeding supply resulting in wealthier people moving to the geographies eligible to apply, along with how they set the system up and how it can be gamed.  But that said, it's not an insurmountable challenge and should not be a show stopper. [/quote]

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