Reply to Who said there isn't a North-South divide?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Of course it would move the needle. Giving the lower income kids access to more classroom materials and technology, more educational clubs, more enrichment, more this and more that exposes them to new things. Why do you think NA schools enjoy them - they are enriching! They raise expectations and help kids understand the possibilities in the world. If a kid with parents lacking even a high school education is exposed to the enrichment and resources money brings - they are more likely to work hard and study to get that dream for themselves. It isn't handed to them on a silver platter in SA, it is in most of NA. The immigrant children in lower income housing want the American dream, they want it bad. Expose them to it to help them get there. They will work to the bone to get there - that is what makes America GREAT!

Says the grandchild of immigrants who got exposure to that American dream and then worked to the bone to get it. There is not a single person on that side of my family who is now anything but educated with advanced degrees.

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DP. Let's say we give each of the Title I elementary schools an extra $80k in their budgets to make up the difference between what their PTAs can fundraise and what the typical NA PTA can fundraise. For those schools, that represents 1% or less of their annual budget. If that could meaningfully close the achievement gap, I think most people would support throwing an extra $640k per year that way. But let's get serious, $80k isn't going to move the needle at schools like Randolph ($7.4 million budget for FY 2019) or Carlin Springs ($9.2 million for FY 2019). What those extra PTA dollars are really a proxy for is parental involvement/resources. More money tends to correlate with more time and flexibility to give to children both in school and out, and with the money/time to devote to getting their children any additional help they need that the school can't/won't provide. An extra $80k of PTA money can't substitute for that.

One of our kids is a case in point. He was having some issues at school that seemed like big red flags to us, but because he tested above grade level the school declined to evaluate him for special education. Between evaluations and therapies (which we decided to do privately rather than battle the school), over the course of a year we spent over $10k out of pocket to get him the help we needed, and I personally put well over 500 hours into going to therapies, working with him at home, etc., over that same year. The need for therapies has decreased since that first year so it's not so much on an ongoing basis, but it's still a few thousand a year and probably a dozen hours a month of my time. If we didn't have the time and money to put into that, our kid would be struggling more and more until he was failing and the school finally had to acknowledge there was a problem. No amount of PTA money could help our situation, but our ability to give our PTA about $1,000 a year between all of the various fundraisers and me giving time to chair fundraisers that collectively raise another five figures reflects the same underlying privilege that did help our son.[/quote]

+1.  [/quote]

Bits of the truth lie in each poster's responses.  Additional resources absolutely provide more opportunities which all help "move the needle" and provide learning experiences beyond teaching to the tests which is a much stronger focus in our highest FRL schools.  But interactions and influences with socioeconomically diverse peers move the needle even more.  But the needle can only move so far until the child becomes English-proficient. Regular interaction with English-proficient classmates would help facilitate the acquisition of English skills.  Remaining surrounded by family, neighbors, and classmates who all speak the same non-English language doesn't.  [/quote]

But Arlington has made a social pact with those communities predicated on them not integrating.[/quote]

:roll: [/quote]

You know it’s true. Talento will happily tell you how it is.[/quote]

Yes, you can CHOOSE to leave - like she did - IF you are able; otherwise, being with "your community" is critical and it doesn't matter what south Arlington residents who are not part of "your community" think or feel or are impacted.[/quote]

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