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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Except you are averging the feeder schools school wide average not the average of its 5th or 6th grade class. You are also assuming that 100% of each school went onto attend DCI and surely there was some attrition for different reasons.[/quote]

PP here who posted those numbers.  I analyzed them that way because overall school data is the best that's available.  Of course a more granular view into each individual class would be ideal, but there is nowhere public I have seen with that kind of data.  If you have access to that information feel free to post it.  Otherwise the data on the initial year at DCI will be available next fall.

My larger point was combating the idea that these schools are somehow exclusive in some nefarious way.  I was responding to the person who discussed them perpetuating the cycle of poverty.  Other posts have been in a similar vein.  Is there a higher percentage of middle and upper income families at these schools than other charters?  Yes.  But its nothing like the richest DCPS schools, which have FARM rates in the 5-10% range.  And remember, those schools are quite literally exclusive in that if you can't afford to live in their boundary, you can not go there.  For these charters, you have to fill out a one page form online.  Is there self-selection that tilts the applicant pool to be richer and whiter than the DC child population average?  Absolutely, anyone who didn't admit that is fooling themselves.  But many of these schools purposefully advertise and do sessions in parts of the city where they have fewer students so that they can be an option for kids from all over the city.

I think the larger issue is that some see schools like Latin, DCI, Basis, as siphoning off the richer families as they get into middle school.  There's no doubt that that has been happening.  But that process has been going on even before there were any charters in DC.  People with money and options would either leave DC, or send their kids to private or parochial schools.  And now these charters are giving more options to everyone, including the lower income families who couldn't leave easily, and couldn't afford private or parochial schools.  It's not a perfect system by any means.  But it seems to be combating the racial and socioeconomic segregation of the city better than what has happened in the past.  I'm open to suggestions of better ways to achieve successful, mixed income public schools.  But it's a tricky balance to maintain.  [/quote]

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