Reply to New to looking at Capitol Hill DCPS. Any majority high SES schools?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]100% agree with the above. To wit:  it has nothing whatsoever to do with the demographics of the students currently there and everything to do with the curriculum, pedagogy, management, expectations and yes,[b] middle school feeder patterns currently in place[/b][/quote]

Can you be more specific?  Is it the new math curriculum or other subjects?  Management as in actions of the principal?  Are there concrete things you can name to improve the pedagogy or expectations?[/quote]

The irony is that the several Hill ES programs with the most momentum--Brent, Maury, Tyler Spanish Immersion--are also the ones with a catastrophic middle school feeder, Eliot-Hine (read no white kids and precious few high-SES kids).  Meanwhile, two schools with a better feed-into Stuart Hobson--are losing high-SES families.  Look at DCPS stats on demographics for Ludlow-Taylor and Watkins and note that the percentage of white kids is three or four percentage points lower at both this year than in 2011.  New charters like Inspire DC are creaming off IB kids at the weaker Hill schools.  Curriculum and pedagogy don't seem to be the problem as much as "management" which, on the Hill at least, includes  PTA-fueled management.   Strong PTAs virtually select their principals these days, and raise funds to hire staff DCPS won't pay for (e.g. Brent's first PE teacher and now a part-time math teacher).

One reason that Brent is doing so well is that the school is on its second kick ass head, while Ludlow-Taylor's princpal turns almost everybody off and Watkins is governed by the increasingly out of touch Cluster management team.  Also, Brent has better facilities and a more robust after school program than the other Hill schools.

You need a good-sized cohort of high-SES families to push for robust change, and pay for extras, at least in the short-term (before DCPS gets onboard).   I disagree that demographics have nothing to do with progress, but concur that demographics alone do not progress make.

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