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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous] think people were looking at 5th grade math because that's the metric OP used, based on her concerns about her Black child entering Piney Branch. But, let's look at something else. I guess the opposite of 5th grade math is 3rd grade English, right? So here are the scores for that group.

[b]Piney Branch - met and exceeded[/b]

Black - 19%

Hispanic - 25%

[b]Rolling Terrace - met and exceeded[/b]

Black - 19%

Hispanic - 11%

[b]East Silver Spring - met and exceeded[/b]

Black - 43%

Hispanic - 40%

[b]Flora Singer - met and exceeded[/b]

Black - 47%

Hispanic - 17%

None of this is meant to get into a pissing match over which ES is "best" but OP has a very legitimate concern as the parent to a kid of color. The resistance on this thread to acknowledging her concern as legitimate is troubling. [/quote]

To me, and I am not highly trained in statistics, it looks like ESS is doing something "right" - I don't know if you can compare the demographics of PB and Flora Singer as particularly equivalent.  That's part of why I wonder if it's the small school size that makes a difference at ESS.  Flora Singer had 19 African American 3rd graders tested.  PB had 80.  That's pretty different demographics.  [/quote]
If you're highly trained in statistics, you're aware there are a couple of problems with these statistics. They are allegedly based on a test that's been discredited and specifically for results for 5th-grade math only. The OP picked them specifically to make their case. This is often referred to as cherry-picking and is now way representative of anything.[/quote]

OP here again. I looked at other grades and scores and they all looked bad. For purposes of my post I tried to pick one stat as an example that I thought was "fair" to the schools. To me, 5th grade math seemed like a fair data point because I assumed a 3rd-grader's test results could be more a function of where they went to school previously or what they learned at home than the scores of a 5th grader. Maybe that's wrong, but as the PP showed, that data point is also bad for Piney Branch! And I picked math because I thought language access issues might not be as acute on a math test (i.e., a person with limited English skills could do well on a math test, but it might be more difficult to do well on a test based on your English language skills). If someone could show me the "non-cherry-picked" statistics that shows Piney Branch is not doing much much worse at educating black children than ESS I'd be happy to see that! Really though, I'd love to know what's behind the difference in scores, because from my (untrained) perspective I am concerned and I can't explain these scores just from SES. Maybe folks are right that it's just ESS doing an exceptionally good job, or that the lower student count makes it easier to teach. If that is the case though, it does make me question my belief that the larger school size will not negatively affect my child's learning. I want to know if I'm making a mistake thinking my child will get a good education at Piney Branch. Maybe I need to be thinking more seriously about private school.

Anyway, I appreciate the people who recognize that I'm just trying to understand what's going on because I have a black son that would go to Piney Branch rather than thinking I have some nefarious purpose. [/quote]

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