Reply to How to replicate Ross's success?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So the answer to OP is to have neighborhoods with more million dollar homes?[/quote]

[b]Or to convince more people in those million dollar home neighborhoods to actually send their kids to their neighborhood school.[/b]  Not all of them--some will always choose private or charter (if they snag a spot at LAMB, YY, etc.)--but enough to fill up 1-2 PK classes (having PK3 available is key to get more in-boundary folks). [b] And then, each grade needs to be kept relatively small so that the school can maintain as high an in-boundary percentage as possible. [/b] The good test scores will follow when these higher in-boundary cohorts reach testing grades.

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Well, yes, if your goal is to have a richer school. If your goal is to have a BETTER school for all who happen to attend--a more democratic goal--then you have to do a lot more than just convince nearby rich people to postpone their Sidwell and WIS applications for a few years. Instead, you have to have the teachers, administration, resources, and willpower to bring kids with delays up to speed while simultaneously making sure that those who arrive ahead aren't held back for lack of resources or political reasons. It's complicated stuff, and DCPS has traditionally not shown itself to be up to the task. If Ross actually HAS succeeded in this, I hope the lessons learned will spread far and wide. If its success is just due to a demographic shift, then that's nothing to crow about and says absolutely nothing about the quality of the school.

Your second statement--"each grade needs to be kept relatively small so that the school can maintain as high an in-boundary percentage as possible"--is particularly telling, since it's basically advocating the privatizing of a public school.

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