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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Seems like an impossible political pickle.

Any application/test-in program with admissions geared toward high performing MS students will likely be disproportionately filled with upper-SES white and Asian students, much like Fairfax's AAP program.  That's the really ugly reality of where the history or race and class has led our society.  I'm sure that will continue to shift over time, but it's what we're stuck with now.  No one at DCPS or in the Mayor's office wants a student body that doesn't look like DC in terms of race, maybe in part because they see benefits for students from working in a more diverse student body, and also surely in part because of the political headaches that would come from labeling a bunch of predominantly white and Asian rich kids as the "gifted and talented" of DCPS.

To be blunt, what DCPS really needs is a way to set aside a quota of seats for qualified black and Latino students, but the Republicans on the Supreme Court have blocked that approach to affirmative action.  So the only way I can see it happening is if DCPS can somehow massage the process to create an appropriate level of diversity.  One option is to adjust the application process with interviews that just happen to create enough subjective assessment that allows DCPS to set aside seats.  Another option is to locate the school far away from Wards 3 & 4, so the geographic hurdle discourages enough white and Asian applicants.  A third option I can think of would be create one school that exists on 3-4 campuses spread around the city.  Each campus would likely attract a different mix of races/ethnicities, and no one campus would look like DC's demographics.  But DCPS could treat them as one campus for political optics, and in fact could structure the school in a way that fosters lots of communication and coordination among the campuses.  I actually could imagine a program like that working well for everyone and leading to some really meaningful interactions that accomplish the best aims of diversity.

Interesting problem.  I think there are some possible solutions, but I seriously doubt Mayor Bowser or many other politicians in DC have the guts to try them.[/quote]

They not only lack the guts, they lack the vision and ambition for their city.  The tyranny of low expectations is far better disguised in DCPS than it was a decade ago, but it's still there in a big way.  I hear what you're saying, and like the 3-4 campuses idea, but don't see set asides, quotas or interviews as being optimal.  Some school districts actually add points on entrance exams for FARMs applicants, regardless of race.  But there's a catch, students accepting the points must complete course work, usually free summer school, before enrolling in an effort to get them up to scratch. This approach helps cut down on the resentment and resistance straight up affirmative action programs tend to generate.  When Boston Latin added an interview in the mid 80s, applicant quality dipped markedly and many whites who were counting on the school to stay in the city gave up and decamped to the burbs.  The school got rid of the interview 15 years ago, and Asians stormed in, including many FARMs Asians, putting BL back on top.

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Schools could do set asides/quotas for low income - in DC that would virtually guarantee schools' ability to control/set racial percentages without running afoul of Supreme Court precedent.[/quote]

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