Reply to Parent Essay critical of DCI

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]"why are 8th graders being given a 5th grade reading list"?  because for most 8th graders in DC, they are on a 5th grade level but have bee passed on year to year to be another teachers problem.    What the writer needs to understand is that if DC actually challenged kids the achievement gap would only widen and that cannot happen.   Until DC actually comes up with real rigor and not "honors for all" (what a joke at wilson), this isn't going tp change. To the teachers, the writers kids are just fine, they wil test well and sit quietly why they are trying to teach basic grammar and writing to kids who should have learned it 4 years earlier. [/quote]

Sure but most feeder kids are on grade level in this case. It’s a shame they can’t track. My parents did zero supplementing and since I was in an advanced track I think it was fine. I don’t expect to supplement or even prod terribly much.[/quote]

Are you kidding me. [b]No way would DCPS do tracking or allow charters to do it which is funded by the city. [/b] They want to artificially narrow the achievement gap, not widen it.  That’s why DCPS schools are such a disaster.  At least in charters there are a higher cohort of at grade level and above level kids and they have more flexibility to try to create their own and more progressive curriculums.[/quote]

You are correct, and it really is a crime. Tracking or challenging accomplished kids will "increase the gap" so it is off the table. The shameful goal is LCD for all. "Everyone is equally uneducated" - win![/quote]

You're wrong, PP, dead wrong.  Stuart Hobson and Hardy middle schools have already tracked extensively for several years now.  Both schools offer honors classes for foreign language, math and ELA (both), and Hobson also tracks for social studies and science.  Only around 1/3 of students in those middle schools are placed in honors classes.[/quote]

It’s good SH has honors classes but apparently it’s easy to get in.  Basically all middle class kids get in.  [/quote]

OK, but it's still a big deal for a DCPS MS EotP not to mix kids who need extensive remediation in ELA, science and social studies classes with those who work at or above grade level.  We wouldn't have left DCI and enrolled at Hobson (which is around the corner from our house) if this weren't the case.  Our student's commute to Hobson is all of 1-minute, and she works with tutors around 5 hours a week to add challenge.  We're hanging on in the City because of Hobson and the arrangement is working well. Would I like a full-blown GT program in DC for a strong student? Absolutely.  Do I feel like I need to move because I don't have one?  No.  To us, Hobson's honors classes trump DCI's mixed-ability classes.  Our kid used to commute at least half an hour to DCI each way - not worth it for the rigor (mostly lack thereof) on offer.[/quote]

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