Reply to DCPS and “Equity”

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "DCPS and “Equity”"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I was listening recently to someone argue that DCPS lacks equity because the best-performing (and most over-crowded) schools - the Wilson feeder pattern - are in the Upper NW, whereas EOTR schools fail to attract students from there own neighborhood and are routinely closed down due to low enrollment numbers.

Would DCPS be more equitable if Wilson and it’s feeders were also not good enough to attract in-boundary families and they by and large chose privates instead? Would DCPS be more equitable without a citywide lottery that allowed EOTR students to attend schools in other parts of the city?

Obviously, it would be wonderful to have better schools EOTR that could attract EOTR students. But my understanding is that it is not unlike DCPS has tried. Is there something that they haven’t tried which stands a good chance of working?[/quote]

I think you're misunderstanding the equity issue. It's not that schools EOTR are worse, it's that they don't have as affluent of a student body population to do things such as fundraise through a PTA. When the majority of students live in homes with financial insecurity, the academic performance of the students is affected. This has nothing to do with the school itself, the teaching, etc. [/quote]

Right. Hence the question of whether there is anything that DCPS could do EOTR - that is doing elsewhere in the city or which any public school system in America is doing - that would make EOTR schools attractive. I don’t know that there is and I very doubt that redirecting funding from NW to SE would make much of a difference.[/quote]

Yes, absolutely. Commit to actual differentiation. Create a test-in program at one of the EOTP middle schools. Have real advanced classes, not classes you call advanced even though most of the kids aren't even on grade level. Yes, other school systems do this. DCPS won't, of course.  [/quote]

Why would having “real advanced classes” help if “most of the kids aren’t at grade level”?[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics