Anonymous wrote:Test-in, every time someone makes that statement it makes me cringe. Why is it for some odd reason do people think that idea has not been played around before they moved here to DC? It is not that a test-in would succeed but at what cost because with a population that is majority AA then what would the capacity of the school wound-up holding? Considering the percentage of whites is less than 10% there's no way a school system of this culture would have a test-in school that would benefit that population and neglect the other 90%

So it is OK to neglect advanced learners??? Who said anything about neglecting students who do not test in to a test-in school? DCPS has enough money to have good test-in schools as well as open admission neighborhood schools. As for for figures on the white population, I think you are way off. There are also tons of private school families who would love the chance for a truly rigorous test-in school like TJ. And you forget that there are black students who would benefit from a rigorous test-in school as well.

^^ PP are you not aware that

1- DC has many, many academically high performing AA students who would benefit from a test-in middle school

2- all the test in high schools have a large majority of AA students

3- before tracking was abolished, Jefferson and Hardy were the equivalent of academic test-in schools where the principals hand picked strong students from all over the city and gave them specialized programming. It was exclusively AA students who benefitted from this.

Test-in, every time someone makes that statement it makes me cringe. Why is it for some odd reason do people think that idea has not been played around before they moved here to DC? It is not that a test-in would succeed but at what cost because with a population that is majority AA then what would the capacity of the school wound-up holding? Considering the percentage of whites is less than 10% there's no way a school system of this culture would have a test-in school that would benefit that population and neglect the other 90%

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I support 2-3 test-in middle schools, in easily accessible (and relatively crime-free) areas of the city...say brookland, capital hill, near St Elizabeth's new campus

The scores for walls and banneker aren't impressive, but I think they would be better with better middle school preparation

How are those easily accessible places!! They're nowhere near, say, Dupont!

Not everything has to be in NW....besides which, there is no space round there...

"Space" is negotiable in cities, but sure, not everything needs to be in NW. But really, St. Elizabeth's?!! That might as well be on the moon.

For central city families, "easily accessible" means within a few blocks of Metro or frequently-running ( > every 10 mins. all day) bus routes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I support 2-3 test-in middle schools, in easily accessible (and relatively crime-free) areas of the city...say brookland, capital hill, near St Elizabeth's new campus

The scores for walls and banneker aren't impressive, but I think they would be better with better middle school preparation

How are those easily accessible places!! They're nowhere near, say, Dupont!

Not everything has to be in NW....besides which, there is no space round there...

Anonymous wrote:I support 2-3 test-in middle schools, in easily accessible (and relatively crime-free) areas of the city...say brookland, capital hill, near St Elizabeth's new campus

The scores for walls and banneker aren't impressive, but I think they would be better with better middle school preparation

How are those easily accessible places!! They're nowhere near, say, Dupont!

I support 2-3 test-in middle schools, in easily accessible (and relatively crime-free) areas of the city...say brookland, capital hill, near St Elizabeth's new campus

The scores for walls and banneker aren't impressive, but I think they would be better with better middle school preparation

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think DCPS has any incentive to create a test in middle school when so few of the UMC crowd will send their children to test in high schools and the majority of their middle school students are testing as gifted and talented anyway.

Again, someone not knowing what they're talking about because there isn't really any coherent support for G&T in DCPS.

There is coherent support! Lots of UMC families whining for a TJ to magically appear and DCPS studiously ignoring you.

Anonymous wrote:"DCUM for the millionth time, DCPS has several really good test in high schools (Banneker and Mckinley) that the majority of you won't send your children to because god forbid your kid be the only white kid in the room. "

The problem is that they are not, in fact, really good test in high schools. Look at Banneker's SAT scores (high 400's) Yikes. Look at SWW AP "pass" (3+) rate of 40%. If the results were acceptable, I wouldn't care a rat's a** about race. I don't think kids of any race should have such low achievement and still be persuaded to think of themselves as exceptional performers.

+1000

"DCUM for the millionth time, DCPS has several really good test in high schools (Banneker and Mckinley) that the majority of you won't send your children to because god forbid your kid be the only white kid in the room. "

The problem is that they are not, in fact, really good test in high schools. Look at Banneker's SAT scores (high 400's) Yikes. Look at SWW AP "pass" (3+) rate of 40%. If the results were acceptable, I wouldn't care a rat's a** about race. I don't think kids of any race should have such low achievement and still be persuaded to think of themselves as exceptional performers.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think DCPS has any incentive to create a test in middle school when so few of the UMC crowd will send their children to test in high schools and the majority of their middle school students are testing as gifted and talented anyway.

Again, someone not knowing what they're talking about because there isn't really any coherent support for G&T in DCPS.

Anonymous wrote:DCUM for the millionth time, DCPS has several really good test in high schools (Banneker and Mckinley) that the majority of you won't send your children to because god forbid your kid be the only white kid in the room.

Let's be real. You want test in and high performing but you always want majority white too.

Banneker and McKinley aren't actually test-in.

Anonymous wrote:you've got that model wrong. It's not all winners and losers. Even with rankings, there are clear performance baselines in these testing regimes. Many parents will be fine with their kids in the middle or bottom of a pack where most of the children succeed because they understand the material. If none succeed, who cares if about being on top?

Nothing could be further from the truth. Parents - especially those of presumed to be high performers - are not comfortable with them suddenly not being at the top. And they're also not comfortable telling their child "don't worry about your struggles; it's just because everyone's so smart". Neither is the child comfortable with this. There was a great Morning Edition on this just the other day, recounting the evidence that points to this being a great but unnecessary source of early teenage stress. To add insult to injury, getting a B- in a very difficult course and environment is mostly still regarded as a B-, and doesn't help anyone's cause.

No thank you, call my cynical, but I would not put my child in an all talented, gifted, whatever environment, not for his nor my sanity. Honors, advanced, tracked, G&T pull-outs, extras, anytime though.

I don't think DCPS has any incentive to create a test in middle school when so few of the UMC crowd will send their children to test in high schools and the majority of their middle school students are testing as gifted and talented anyway.

Anonymous wrote:DCUM for the millionth time, DCPS has several really good test in high schools (Banneker and Mckinley) that the majority of you won't send your children to because god forbid your kid be the only white kid in the room.

Let's be real. You want test in and high performing but you always want majority white too.

Banneker and McKinley and SWW cannot hold a candle to TJ. DC needs the equivalent of a TJ for middle school and high school and not for segregation reasons! In order to truly meet the needs of all kids, test in schools with rigorous admission requirements would go a long way to meetings advanced learners who are presently not served well by DCPS to say the least.

Everything is not always about race you know. Did it ever occur to you that there are kids who need a rigorous education who have parents who want to meet that need???