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[quote=Anonymous]Our son is a STEM guy with dyslexia, and so is going to McKinley Tech.

His weak writing skills would have kept him out of SWS & Banneker no matter where he went to middle school. (Although he probably would had a good chance of getting into SWS back when they used to admit based on the math test alone!)

But many of the other top students got into SWW or Banneker, or in a few cases, private or BASIS. Which is particularly impressive this year, given the unusually high spike in applications/competition this year.

We were initially wary of applying to McKinley Tech as we had heard not-so-great things about the students there. But the math education expert who recommended it for our son explained that it is the middle school that earns it that reputation. He raved about their science and engineering courses/teachers, whom he claimed were among the best in the city across both private and public. (Our son is interested in engineering.) It has an honors math track, an entire engineering dept, and an internship program with extensive connections with local STEM firms.

In other words, it's the same situation as with SH:

1. SURE there are plenty of kids with weaker test scores & skills who don't get into more competitive schools. But those school averages are not a reliable indicator of the quality of education my son will receive. I look for excellent curriculum (Yes, I checked out SH's Algebra curriculum before enrolling him!). I look for excellent teachers, who know how to differentiate: my son needs instruction that meets his needs on BOTH ends, in science/math vs. English/writing. One indicator of this is their students' GROWTH rates on standardized assessments from BOY to EOY. 
...In the end, it will be my individual son's skills, knowledge, and test scores that will determine his fate in college admissions, not the school-wide average test scores.

2. This is the main reason why controlled data/studies show that students from White and/or high-income families essentially have the same test scores, regardless of whether they go to a school that is majority Black/White/high/low-income.

https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/10/19/446085513/the-evidence-that-white-children-benefit-from-integrated-schools?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3u_UEUXa558rG1PjaMj38US_GsHDuOsPTH5zOMkntPzyow_VdcY820I2A

3. Any negligible difference in the quality of academic education is more than compensated by the huge increase in the quality of the socioemotional education and "cultural capital" that the experience will informally provide. These will greatly benefit my son both personally and professionally. (But I'll also try to figure out a way to leverage them in the college admissions process LOL)[/quote]

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