Anonymous wrote:I thought SWS was supposed to defy the traditional school model - and also the traditional mode of evaluation. A whole person approach, not a test score approach.

Sure, but then then most SWS kids eventually go on to apply to college armed w/a portfolio of AP, SAT, SATII etc. test scores. A whole person approach doesn't necessarily mesh well w/college admissions. It can - the Waldorf school kids tend to do well, and home schooled kids sometimes get into top colleges. But overall, too few top DC HS kids get into the sort of colleges the school, the parents, and the kids themselves aim for. Have to agree with the pp who thinks that affirmative action influenced admissions are control at Walls, and that the lack of ES & MS G&T programs is partly to blame.

I thought SWS was supposed to defy the traditional school model - and also the traditional mode of evaluation. A whole person approach, not a test score approach.

Yes, some parents will deludedly think magic just happens in the classroom, that it's entirely up to the teachers and the schools, that everything will be just fine if only their illiterate 74 IQ kid with ADHD is with high-performing kids, and that there is no work or responsibility on the part of their children and themselves, ever.

At some point those parents need a wakeup call and need to get back in touch with reality. Maybe just as well it be in 5th grade at Basis, when their kid fails his comprehensive exams and has to repeat 5th grade, than when their kid graduates high school unable to read, balance his checkbook or get a decent job.

Or, if they want to continue living in dreamland, they can go elsewhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Lastly, Basis does not counsel anyone out.

Ha. Oh, you are serious? I teach 8th grade in DC. I have students who are on a 3rd grade level in math, who come to school 3-4 days a week, who are not on ADHD medicine even though their moms insist that they have ADHD and need all kinds of accommodations. I have students who constantly disrupt, walk out of class, etc. i have students whose parents say they are smart and potentially gifted, even though the kid has an IQ of 74. Do you think these kids will not enroll at BASIS? They will. And when they do, Basis will have no choice but to counsel them out.

As a teacher, I totally agree. While I did not get into this profession to watch my students fail, being in the classroom has shown me that I can only do so much without real support from parents. Teachers have very difficult decisions to make with regards to giving our all to the few students whose skills are so low that they are disruptive to mask their deficiencies, at the expense of the students who are on or above level and can actually access the content. I also think academic tracking is good so long as there are multiple entry points, offering students more advances material and rigor in a variety of subjects and allowing them to work on their level in others. The problem is that until standardized test measure growth instead of aiming to meet some unrealistic level across the board we will continue on this path to nowhere with our educational system.

A member of an Ivy League admissions committee, an old friend of mine, who knows the DC area applicant pool inside and out recently made the following off-the-record observation: if Walls applicants were given a rigorous admissions test, like NYC's SSAT, and admission were based purely on the result, the AA population of Walls would drop from around 50% to 5-10%. And far more Walls kids would be admitted to Ivies, not just 1 or 2 a year to each annually as now, more like half a dozen.

This outcome certainly isn't the fault of the AA students applying to Walls; the blame falls squarely on DCPS for failing to support ES and MS gifted and talented programs. Collectively, it's next to impossible for low and moderate-income kids of any race to compete academically with mostly white upper-middle-class peers, at least in the absence of rigorous G&T education from a young age. Hence, Walls gives many bright low-income minority kids a pass in order to keep the demographics of the school close to those of the city. It's not the worst policy in the world, but you're not going to get a Thomas Jefferson out of Walls with this approach to admissions.

"End most forms of affirmative action admissions (e.g. Walls). "

what is the basis of this?

we needed a solution now, as opposed to whenever DCPS figures itself and its reform out.

The solutions are obvious. Get pragmatic enough to stop trying to raise all boats to admission to college. Copy NYC and Chicago: suppport selective admissions G&T ES and MS programs throughout the city. End most forms of affirmative action admissions (e.g. Walls). Fight to keep upper-middle-class parents in the system from day 1. Don't invite headaches by relying on lottery luck and neighborhood schools to improve matters across the board. Prevent PG County address cheaters from enrolling. Train and pay teachers better to attract top talent. Require MAs of all teachers, like the New England states do. Done.

FDR also said "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."

Anonymous wrote:I have evolved into a NOW parent.

I used to think we needed a strategy, to help foster a plan, to increase capacity, that generates a critical mass, that gets us over the MS hump. Now I just need it to work.

Ironically, opening a good MS NOW might well lead to increased capacity that generates critical mass that gets us over the MS hump...

It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

I have evolved into a NOW parent.

I used to think we needed a strategy, to help foster a plan, to increase capacity, that generates a critical mass, that gets us over the MS hump. Now I just need it to work.

I have evolved into a NOW parent.

I used to think we needed a strategy, to help foster a plan, to increase capacity that generatea a critical mass that get us over the MS hump. Now I just need it to work.

^ I think that was a "whatever" answer everybody.

Anonymous wrote:So, are we saying that DCPS school reform has failed? That it takes more than a good teacher - or even three good teachers in a row - to radically improve educational opportunities for children who don't come from education-oriented homes?

If so, what's to be done about it.

That sounds like a baiting question, and it's come up several times to be ignored, probably for that reason.

But here's my $0.02 - I tend to view DCPS school reform as a "work in progress" and therefore it would be presumptuous to declare it a failure or a success. And regardless, irrelevant discussion point for me and probably many other parents in this thread as I have a student going into a charter, we needed a solution now, as opposed to whenever DCPS figures itself and its reform out.