Reply to What would an at-risk preference do? New MSDC research paper out

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't think they studied this, but I would support a system that first gave preference to at risk kids whose sibling(s) attend the school and then to other at risk kids.

I wouldn't want the good goal of at-risk preferences to make more at-risk families face situations where siblings would be split up.

Requiring schools with low at-risk percentages to back-fill their classes throughout the year and in every grade would also make a huge difference. There is no reason why Ross, for example, can just choose not to take kids and wind up with a 12-student 5th grade.
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Maybe not Ross, but it does make a huge difference at Mann or Murch, because then all of a sudden you are exploding Wilson High School even further.

Change the OOB slots to at risk slots? Fine. Add at risk on top of OOB slots? Disaster.[/quote]

I'm not saying at-risk on top of OOB. I'm saying that schools should have full classes (DCPS can set a number that is "full"--let's say 22 kids in grades 3-5). If it's the first week of school and Janney's 4th grade classes are 22, 22, 22, and 18 students, take 4 kids off the waitlist and give at-risk kids a preference for those seats.

I get your point about overcrowding at Wilson. My solution to that would be that OOB kids (at risk or not) lose the right to attend the destination schools. So if 4 kids got into 4th grade at Janney OOB, they don't get to go to Deal unless they win the lottery for Deal. Deal is only 70% in-bounds now. They can offer the extra 30% of seats in the lottery, again with an at-risk preference (maybe for half the seats). There could even be a feeder school preference so that some kid would get to stay with their friends. And Wilson is 56% IB. So again there is room for all the IB kids and a group of OOB ones without overcrowding the school at all, as long as OOB kids' right to attend destination schools is curtailed.[/quote]

You are thinking of these school as if they were charters with one entry day. You can't really manage a by-right class with a cap because people come and go in every grade all year long, either because they moved, had to switch schools, were placed by DCPS, or other reasons. Two new kids graders moved in and joined my DC's class last week, which makes about 5 mid year moves in one classroom. Had those seats been "filled" to a cap the class would be way too big now, and then the following year more kids come and the class keeps getting bigger. And the schools know how much mid year turn over they normally have, so there is an art to managing this. Believe me, they aren't leaving seats empty to spite you, they also want to get as many kids access as possible, and they do take kids off the wait list throughout the year, but they have to be realistic about class size and facility space.[/quote]

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