I'm the PP. In a county as geographically tiny as Arlington having children go to a school 3-4 miles from home instead of 1 mile won't really adversely affect anyone. If all schools in the county had a FARMS rate of around 15-20% (likely to be achieved by evenly spreading FARMS students across schools) I bet the overall school system would be vastly improved and the ridiculous north-south educational divide would be finally eliminated. I say this as a N Arlington parent. Missing this basic reform I think grossly undermines half the county schools, and no amount of $$ will fix the problem.

Anonymous wrote:Recently 6 NY City schools were named 2013 National Blue Ribbon schools. 4 of the 6 schools have 40 or more percent of students receiving free or reduced price lunch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:]If ddidly is OPs term of art for statistically significant outcomes, then perhaps this is correct.

OP, better to rely on the vast and consistent empirical research on this subject than one piece of rather irrelevant evidence.

I don't have time to search and find the links to the various studies in peer reviewed journals, but high concentration poverty environments, including in schools, are known to especially affect educational and social outcomes. This is especially notable for low SES students, but interestingly also affects higher SES students put into high poverty learning environments. The studies basically show that all students perform best in environments where there is a lower concentration of poverty.

As an Arlington parent, I find the poverty distribution in the schools is particularly counterproductive and the overall quality of the school system as a whole would probably be vastly improved by have an even distribution of poor students across all schools.

I'm the PP. In a county as geographically tiny as Arlington having children go to a school 3-4 miles from home instead of 1 mile won't really adversely affect anyone. If all schools in the county had a FARMS rate of around 15-20% (likely to be achieved by evenly spreading FARMS students across schools) I bet the overall school system would be vastly improved and the ridiculous north-south educational divide would be finally eliminated. I say this as a N Arlington parent. Missing this basic reform I think grossly undermines half the county schools, and no amount of $$ will fix the problem.

Anonymous wrote:Busing is really ineffective when parents can easily opt out by moving to a neighboring school district. There is some busing in MoCo, and I know lots of parents who have left for Arlington or private because their kids get nothing out of being bused to a high poverty school and they have lots of superior options that still work for their commute in the DC metro area. Honestly, why would a parent choose to send their kids to a school with 80% FARMS and no special programs that's not even convenient to their house? It's a policy that has, generally, failed nationally, and having witnessed it firsthand, I don't think you can successfully persuade the majority of parents to participate. Not going to work. Consequently, the high poverty schools to which those families would otherwise be bused remain and will probably forever remain high poverty schools. Maybe if Arlington was more remotely situated busing would somehow work, but if kids start getting bused out of the schools that their parents hand-picked when they moved to Arlington, then I think you'll just see a redistribution of those families into MoCo or privates. Busing in from higher-poverty enclaves within Arlington (but not out of the higher income areas), on the other hand, might be more politically feasible, but crowding concerns would probably kill a lopsided proposal like that pretty quickly. I, personally, have found it very instructive to witness a community and its resistance to busing. Until you've seen it in action, and the ferocity of the resistance, it may be difficult to appreciate how busing is not the answer. You need to incentivize participation, not make it mandatory.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If ddidly is OPs term of art for statistically significant outcomes, then perhaps this is correct.

OP, better to rely on the vast and consistent empirical research on this subject than one piece of rather irrelevant evidence.

I don't have time to search and find the links to the various studies in peer reviewed journals, but high concentration poverty environments, including in schools, are known to especially affect educational and social outcomes. This is especially notable for low SES students, but interestingly also affects higher SES students put into high poverty learning environments. The studies basically show that all students perform best in environments where there is a lower concentration of poverty.

As an Arlington parent, I find the poverty distribution in the schools is particularly counterproductive and the overall quality of the school system as a whole would probably be vastly improved by have an even distribution of poor students across all schools.

You'd bring back busing? We tried that. Didn't work.

\


Actually, busing did work. Parents just hated it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If ddidly is OPs term of art for statistically significant outcomes, then perhaps this is correct.

OP, better to rely on the vast and consistent empirical research on this subject than one piece of rather irrelevant evidence.

I don't have time to search and find the links to the various studies in peer reviewed journals, but high concentration poverty environments, including in schools, are known to especially affect educational and social outcomes. This is especially notable for low SES students, but interestingly also affects higher SES students put into high poverty learning environments. The studies basically show that all students perform best in environments where there is a lower concentration of poverty.

As an Arlington parent, I find the poverty distribution in the schools is particularly counterproductive and the overall quality of the school system as a whole would probably be vastly improved by have an even distribution of poor students across all schools.

You'd bring back busing? We tried that. Didn't work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If ddidly is OPs term of art for statistically significant outcomes, then perhaps this is correct.

OP, better to rely on the vast and consistent empirical research on this subject than one piece of rather irrelevant evidence.

I don't have time to search and find the links to the various studies in peer reviewed journals, but high concentration poverty environments, including in schools, are known to especially affect educational and social outcomes. This is especially notable for low SES students, but interestingly also affects higher SES students put into high poverty learning environments. The studies basically show that all students perform best in environments where there is a lower concentration of poverty.

As an Arlington parent, I find the poverty distribution in the schools is particularly counterproductive and the overall quality of the school system as a whole would probably be vastly improved by have an even distribution of poor students across all schools.

You'd bring back busing? We tried that. Didn't work.

Anonymous wrote:If ddidly is OPs term of art for statistically significant outcomes, then perhaps this is correct.

OP, better to rely on the vast and consistent empirical research on this subject than one piece of rather irrelevant evidence.

I don't have time to search and find the links to the various studies in peer reviewed journals, but high concentration poverty environments, including in schools, are known to especially affect educational and social outcomes. This is especially notable for low SES students, but interestingly also affects higher SES students put into high poverty learning environments. The studies basically show that all students perform best in environments where there is a lower concentration of poverty.

As an Arlington parent, I find the poverty distribution in the schools is particularly counterproductive and the overall quality of the school system as a whole would probably be vastly improved by have an even distribution of poor students across all schools.