Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be different from Banneker because Banneker is a high school, and we're talking about a middle school. Banneker is also not centrally located. If you put the specialized track at a place like MacFarland, it could attract kids from all over the city. The newly-tracked students would certainly not be composed of just "white and asian" kids. There are plenty of academically competent kids all over the city, but not in large concentrations. A special program like this would put them in a group of their academic peers, some for the first time.

A certain number of parents who live around Tenleytown might very reasonably elect to send their kids to such a program: Deal has huge class sizes, and as a whole is simply too big, and also does not really "track" academics very well in terms of advanced classes. It just has more kids at grade level than anywhere else. Arguably, a specialized program at MacFarland would offer a more rigorous education than what you get at Deal, with better student-teacher ratios, in an even more diverse environment.

Banneker is exactly 1.5 miles south of MacFarland. Both are about 6 blocks north of a metro station. So not really any more/less convenient.

But where would those students go for high school? I agree parents MIGHT send them to MacFarland but they aren't prepared for dual language .... and no way will those parents sign onto Roosevelt.

Anonymous wrote:It would be different from Banneker because Banneker is a high school, and we're talking about a middle school. Banneker is also not centrally located. If you put the specialized track at a place like MacFarland, it could attract kids from all over the city. The newly-tracked students would certainly not be composed of just "white and asian" kids. There are plenty of academically competent kids all over the city, but not in large concentrations. A special program like this would put them in a group of their academic peers, some for the first time.

A certain number of parents who live around Tenleytown might very reasonably elect to send their kids to such a program: Deal has huge class sizes, and as a whole is simply too big, and also does not really "track" academics very well in terms of advanced classes. It just has more kids at grade level than anywhere else. Arguably, a specialized program at MacFarland would offer a more rigorous education than what you get at Deal, with better student-teacher ratios, in an even more diverse environment.

Anonymous wrote:If you opened a middle school with Murch, Lafayette and Shepherd as feeders, Deal would be solved.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We already named another way: offer a package of specialized classes with a demonstrated competency requirement in order to get a seat. In effect, it would be a "track" within a school. But it wouldn't be paying students, it would be paying extra teachers.

I'm the cash payment poster. I'm fine with trying some sort of test-in magnet approach to lure kids out of Deal. I even suggested something like that several pages ago. The optics problem it will face is that PARCC scores suggest that a true test-in program will be mostly white and Asian students, and mostly high SES ones. If DCPS can somehow swallow those optics, then it might work.

Like the other poster, I'd worry a little that DCPS couldn't limit application to only Deal students, but since Deal students are the real target, it would need to be set up so it's attractive to NWDC. That probably means putting the program in a building that's close to NWDC and in a relatively safe neighborhood. I suppose MacFarland fits the bill. If the program is placed in SEDC, it's not going to work.

Do you think DCPS would actually do something like that? Will it meet their criteria of equity, excellence and diversity?

How would it differ from Bannaker?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We already named another way: offer a package of specialized classes with a demonstrated competency requirement in order to get a seat. In effect, it would be a "track" within a school. But it wouldn't be paying students, it would be paying extra teachers.

I'm the cash payment poster. I'm fine with trying some sort of test-in magnet approach to lure kids out of Deal. I even suggested something like that several pages ago. The optics problem it will face is that PARCC scores suggest that a true test-in program will be mostly white and Asian students, and mostly high SES ones. If DCPS can somehow swallow those optics, then it might work.

Like the other poster, I'd worry a little that DCPS couldn't limit application to only Deal students, but since Deal students are the real target, it would need to be set up so it's attractive to NWDC. That probably means putting the program in a building that's close to NWDC and in a relatively safe neighborhood. I suppose MacFarland fits the bill. If the program is placed in SEDC, it's not going to work.

Do you think DCPS would actually do something like that? Will it meet their criteria of equity, excellence and diversity?

Anonymous wrote:We already named another way: offer a package of specialized classes with a demonstrated competency requirement in order to get a seat. In effect, it would be a "track" within a school. But it wouldn't be paying students, it would be paying extra teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We already named another way: offer a package of specialized classes with a demonstrated competency requirement in order to get a seat. In effect, it would be a "track" within a school. But it wouldn't be paying students, it would be paying extra teachers.

For only OOB students? That's even worse.

Anonymous wrote:We already named another way: offer a package of specialized classes with a demonstrated competency requirement in order to get a seat. In effect, it would be a "track" within a school. But it wouldn't be paying students, it would be paying extra teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And efficiency is a good goal, but when you talk about spending public dollars disproportionately on the weatlhier/whiter kids in DCPS, you need to take a minute to think about optics even if you have no regard for equity.

I'm the one who proposed the cash payment idea.

First, I don't necessarily think most of the payments will go to wealthy white kids. Several people have already posted here that there's no way they'd move from Deal to MacFarland for even $10,000 per year. A wealthy family will be less motivated because the money is a smaller proportion of their income. I suspect the people most likely to change schools for a cash payment will be families who have only moderate income, so the money is more enticing. And to the extent white families are afraid of leaving Deal because of a fear of other neighborhoods and other races (as some have claimed here), I suspect that tilts the payments toward more non-white families that live outside of NWDC. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the family most likely to take this payment for a move to MacFarland is one that lived EOTP and not far from MacFarland, but which managed to get into the Deal feeder system via grandfathering or OOB or because they live someplace like Shepherd Park. THey're families who would love a functioning MS close to home, but who stick with Deal only because the local MS is not yet safe enough. The cash payment might be enough to push them over the edge. The payment program would be open to all eligible for Deal, so there's nothing that limits the payment to wealthy white students. Wealthy white families that are sick of Deal overcrowding might take it. But plenty of others will too.

Second, I think the cash payment is all about equity. It's giving equal opportunity to every family at Deal, regardless of income. It's aimed at boosting the cohort of students and benefits at an EOTP schools, at the expense of WOTP Deal. It's exactly the sort of thing DCPS has been doing by spending on programming at EOTP schools, but it's just trusting families to use the cash wisely themselves rather than paternalistically spending it for them on wasted school programs they don't really want.

I'm not sure I agree with this statement, but I think it does capture the heart of why I feel this is a very poor idea. There are many families in DC who would love the opportunity for their child to attend middle school at Deal but who are not at a feeder or in bound. What makes Deal-eligible students more worthy of public dollars than any other student in DC? DC has an obligation to all public school students in the city, why focus more resources on Deal-eligible students which seems to be your only criteria for cash payments?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And efficiency is a good goal, but when you talk about spending public dollars disproportionately on the weatlhier/whiter kids in DCPS, you need to take a minute to think about optics even if you have no regard for equity.

I'm the one who proposed the cash payment idea.

First, I don't necessarily think most of the payments will go to wealthy white kids. Several people have already posted here that there's no way they'd move from Deal to MacFarland for even $10,000 per year. A wealthy family will be less motivated because the money is a smaller proportion of their income. I suspect the people most likely to change schools for a cash payment will be families who have only moderate income, so the money is more enticing. And to the extent white families are afraid of leaving Deal because of a fear of other neighborhoods and other races (as some have claimed here), I suspect that tilts the payments toward more non-white families that live outside of NWDC. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the family most likely to take this payment for a move to MacFarland is one that lived EOTP and not far from MacFarland, but which managed to get into the Deal feeder system via grandfathering or OOB or because they live someplace like Shepherd Park. THey're families who would love a functioning MS close to home, but who stick with Deal only because the local MS is not yet safe enough. The cash payment might be enough to push them over the edge. The payment program would be open to all eligible for Deal, so there's nothing that limits the payment to wealthy white students. Wealthy white families that are sick of Deal overcrowding might take it. But plenty of others will too.

Second, I think the cash payment is all about equity. It's giving equal opportunity to every family at Deal, regardless of income. It's aimed at boosting the cohort of students and benefits at an EOTP schools, at the expense of WOTP Deal. It's exactly the sort of thing DCPS has been doing by spending on programming at EOTP schools, but it's just trusting families to use the cash wisely themselves rather than paternalistically spending it for them on wasted school programs they don't really want.

OP here. I think perhaps some OOB families might take advantage of this. However, if I know my neighbors at all, Shepherd Park and similar upper 16th St. neighborhoods would not go for this. At all. Most families with school-age kids are upper middle class, at minimum. Many already have their kids in expensive private schools, judging by the number of GDS and other private stickers on cars--this is part of the reason Shepherd is underutilized by IB families (along with families opting for HRCS). There is no way $1,000 or even $10,000 would entice these families. I haven't lived here long, but I really doubt that idea would go far here.

Anonymous wrote:

And efficiency is a good goal, but when you talk about spending public dollars disproportionately on the weatlhier/whiter kids in DCPS, you need to take a minute to think about optics even if you have no regard for equity.

I'm the one who proposed the cash payment idea.

First, I don't necessarily think most of the payments will go to wealthy white kids. Several people have already posted here that there's no way they'd move from Deal to MacFarland for even $10,000 per year. A wealthy family will be less motivated because the money is a smaller proportion of their income. I suspect the people most likely to change schools for a cash payment will be families who have only moderate income, so the money is more enticing. And to the extent white families are afraid of leaving Deal because of a fear of other neighborhoods and other races (as some have claimed here), I suspect that tilts the payments toward more non-white families that live outside of NWDC. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the family most likely to take this payment for a move to MacFarland is one that lived EOTP and not far from MacFarland, but which managed to get into the Deal feeder system via grandfathering or OOB or because they live someplace like Shepherd Park. THey're families who would love a functioning MS close to home, but who stick with Deal only because the local MS is not yet safe enough. The cash payment might be enough to push them over the edge. The payment program would be open to all eligible for Deal, so there's nothing that limits the payment to wealthy white students. Wealthy white families that are sick of Deal overcrowding might take it. But plenty of others will too.

Second, I think the cash payment is all about equity. It's giving equal opportunity to every family at Deal, regardless of income. It's aimed at boosting the cohort of students and benefits at an EOTP schools, at the expense of WOTP Deal. It's exactly the sort of thing DCPS has been doing by spending on programming at EOTP schools, but it's just trusting families to use the cash wisely themselves rather than paternalistically spending it for them on wasted school programs they don't really want.