Anonymous wrote:If you read between the lines, this proposed "policy change" is actually to maintain a version of the Walls admission status quo. If you are OK with Walls as it is right now, you should not have a problem with this "change" because it's essentially preserving the current access path *to sit for the Walls test* for kids from weak middle schools.

The actual policy change was requiring a 4 or 5 on PARCC to sit for the Walls test, which is being implemented for the first time this year. Based on the stats in the article, the PARCC score requirement has changed who is eligible to sit for the test, which may yield an even richer, whiter incoming freshman class - in a school that is already richer and whiter than most in the city.

I'm curious if DC's plan was/is to implement access to the Walls test for the top 15% of kids from each middle school for both DCPS and charter schools - hard to know since they didn't write anything down.

Anonymous wrote:If you read between the lines, this proposed "policy change" is actually to maintain a version of the Walls admission status quo. If you are OK with Walls as it is right now, you should not have a problem with this "change" because it's essentially preserving the current access path *to sit for the Walls test* for kids from weak middle schools.

The actual policy change was requiring a 4 or 5 on PARCC to sit for the Walls test, which is being implemented for the first time this year. Based on the stats in the article, the PARCC score requirement has changed who is eligible to sit for the test, which may yield an even richer, whiter incoming freshman class - in a school that is already richer and whiter than most in the city.

I'm curious if DC's plan was/is to implement access to the Walls test for the top 15% of kids from each middle school for both DCPS and charter schools - hard to know since they didn't write anything down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read today’s Post article on Walls. This notion of admitting any student in the top 15 percent of failing middle schools - in the name of the gods of diversity and inclusion - is jist nuts. The problem for DCPS is that in some schools only 1 percent of students pass the national standardized exam. If you effectively create a quota of at risk students at Walls by waiving academic success criteria, then the result will be diversion of faculty and staff resources to bring underperforming students up to grade level, at the expense of the learning experience of the high performing students. Or the curriculum will be dumbed down. Why DCPS seems hell bent on destroying one of the few standout schools in the District is beyond me. I guess it’s philosophical — it somehow being better to provide ‘equitable and inclusive’ access to mediocrity instead of letting those who have worked hard to achieve reach their full potential.

Di Blasio is doing the same thing in NYC.

It's what identity politics is driving us into.

Every day, we get closer to Harrison Bergeron.

The WaPo article -- and headline -- we're typically tendentious, with the WP propagating woke "correct think." The premisses are accepted without question, as is the change itself, as though no reasonable person would disagree. Apparently the only reason the WaPo thought it was newsworthy is that the families of unqualified kids were the victims... of DC government incompetence. Talk about burying the lede.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read today’s Post article on Walls. This notion of admitting any student in the top 15 percent of failing middle schools - in the name of the gods of diversity and inclusion - is jist nuts. The problem for DCPS is that in some schools only 1 percent of students pass the national standardized exam. If you effectively create a quota of at risk students at Walls by waiving academic success criteria, then the result will be diversion of faculty and staff resources to bring underperforming students up to grade level, at the expense of the learning experience of the high performing students. Or the curriculum will be dumbed down. Why DCPS seems hell bent on destroying one of the few standout schools in the District is beyond me. I guess it’s philosophical — it somehow being better to provide ‘equitable and inclusive’ access to mediocrity instead of letting those who have worked hard to achieve reach their full potential.

Di Blasio is doing the same thing in NYC.

It's what identity politics is driving us into.

Anonymous wrote:I just read today’s Post article on Walls. This notion of admitting any student in the top 15 percent of failing middle schools - in the name of the gods of diversity and inclusion - is jist nuts. The problem for DCPS is that in some schools only 1 percent of students pass the national standardized exam. If you effectively create a quota of at risk students at Walls by waiving academic success criteria, then the result will be diversion of faculty and staff resources to bring underperforming students up to grade level, at the expense of the learning experience of the high performing students. Or the curriculum will be dumbed down. Why DCPS seems hell bent on destroying one of the few standout schools in the District is beyond me. I guess it’s philosophical — it somehow being better to provide ‘equitable and inclusive’ access to mediocrity instead of letting those who have worked hard to achieve reach their full potential.

Anonymous wrote:I just read today’s Post article on Walls. This notion of admitting any student in the top 15 percent of failing middle schools - in the name of the gods of diversity and inclusion - is jist nuts. The problem for DCPS is that in some schools only 1 percent of students pass the national standardized exam. If you effectively create a quota of at risk students at Walls by waiving academic success criteria, then the result will be diversion of faculty and staff resources to bring underperforming students up to grade level, at the expense of the learning experience of the high performing students. Or the curriculum will be dumbed down. Why DCPS seems hell bent on destroying one of the few standout schools in the District is beyond me. I guess it’s philosophical — it somehow being better to provide ‘equitable and inclusive’ access to mediocrity instead of letting those who have worked hard to achieve reach their full potential.

Anonymous wrote:I just read today’s Post article on Walls. This notion of admitting any student in the top 15 percent of failing middle schools - in the name of the gods of diversity and inclusion - is jist nuts. The problem for DCPS is that in some schools only 1 percent of students pass the national standardized exam. If you effectively create a quota of at risk students at Walls by waiving academic success criteria, then the result will be diversion of faculty and staff resources to bring underperforming students up to grade level, at the expense of the learning experience of the high performing students. Or the curriculum will be dumbed down. Why DCPS seems hell bent on destroying one of the few standout schools in the District is beyond me. I guess it’s philosophical — it somehow being better to provide ‘equitable and inclusive’ access to mediocrity instead of letting those who have worked hard to achieve reach their full potential.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC said it was hard. What about yours?

Same. DC also said there was not enough space to write 6 paragraphs.

The essay said specifically to write six paragraphs?

It apparently said, write an intro, 4 paragraphs on the subject and a closing. Per my DD there was much debate among her friends post test over texts about how many paragraphs that meant. My DD was there for 3 hours as were most of her friends. They are all strong students that I would expect to do well so it sounds like a harder test than previous ones.

Do they provide the students with their scores or just whether or not they made it to the interview rounds?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC said it was hard. What about yours?

Same. DC also said there was not enough space to write 6 paragraphs.

The essay said specifically to write six paragraphs?