Anonymous wrote:I'm not a charter supporter but is it really fair to blame Latin for the achievement gap at their school? By the time these kids get to middle and high school it's too late. Shouldn't it be the job of the elementary schools to make sure students are ready for middle school?

Yes, it is fair. No one is proposing closing the existing Latin. The question was whether the city should fund a NEW Latin, likely EOTR, because the Latin Board felt a moral imperative to serve more students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

1) WL isn't being singled out. All schools that start at 5th or 6th are also held accountable for disparities in outcomes between different groups.

2) WL has WIDE achievement gap problems with kids who are NOT at risk or ELLs, but simply of a different racial or ethnic group.

3) WL was asking to expand to bring more at-risk students into its LEA. But if they don't have a good record of serving at-risk or minority students particularly well... what is the point?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting this discussion (on the achievement gap) aside, does this mean that Latin definitely will NOT open a second campus during the 20/21 school year?

Yes, I think so. They would be hard pressed to be up and running in less than a year.

Good, the delay will almost certainly help our IB middle school, Stuart Hobson, consolidate gains made in the last two years under the surprisingly academic tracking and neighborhood-friendly new principal. He's established honors classes in half a dozen subjects, along with a transparent, flexible and fair system for admitting students to advanced classes.

With fewer IB and Hobson feeder 4th graders running off to WL for 5th, Hobson will surely pick up more high-performing kids for 6th grade in SY 20-21 than it would have if WL were able to open its second campus that year. The more momentum Hobson gains in attracting IB families, the stronger the program will be.

SH parent here and I disagree. What does that even mean? Principal is strongly invested in outcomes of all students, not just the more affluent IB ones.

Anonymous wrote:To what end? To highlight the fact that WL can't fix poverty in this City and doesn't run a boot camp kill and drill program like KIPP or DC Prep?

Total BS. WL does a good job with all the kids but perhaps the most advanced.

No, they really don't, not when measured on PARCC the same way that everyone else is.

WL's non-white kids, their poor kids, and their student with disabilities are on the whole not doing as well as similar students at DCI, Cap City (neither is a drill and kill boot camp) and other schools. https://www.dcpcsb.org/report/school-equity-reports-0

I'm not a charter supporter but is it really fair to blame Latin for the achievement gap at their school? By the time these kids get to middle and high school it's too late. Shouldn't it be the job of the elementary schools to make sure students are ready for middle school?

To what end? To highlight the fact that WL can't fix poverty in this City and doesn't run a boot camp kill and drill program like KIPP or DC Prep?

Total BS. WL does a good job with all the kids but perhaps the most advanced.

Anonymous wrote:Do you really think that the Latin board, or the DCPCS Board, gives a hoot what "parents demand?" Naive.

Well at least the DCPCSB process seems to have exposed people to data that was clearly available for a long time.

Do you really think that the Latin board, or the DCPCS Board, gives a hoot what "parents demand?" Naive.

Anonymous wrote:latin parent here. I did not attend any of the meetings about the expansion so I can't comment on what was said. I did know there was an achievement gap but didn't realize how large it was.

I am not sure what percentage of teachers who are non-white but DCs have always had at least one non-white teacher, most of whom have been male.

I know one of my DCs took an assessment at the start of 5th grade but parents were not given the results and not sure how this information was used. Not sure if kids still take an assessment.

Thanks PP. I guess the question is what the Latin Board does next. Hopefully more parents will push for details and demand new approaches.

latin parent here. I did not attend any of the meetings about the expansion so I can't comment on what was said. I did know there was an achievement gap but didn't realize how large it was.

I am not sure what percentage of teachers who are non-white but DCs have always had at least one non-white teacher, most of whom have been male.

I know one of my DCs took an assessment at the start of 5th grade but parents were not given the results and not sure how this information was used. Not sure if kids still take an assessment.

Anonymous wrote:Latin parent here. I am not sure what other measures the school can take. Teachers offer extra help sessions after school (and before school for math). They provide mental health counseling (and at a school assembly parents were told about 30% of students have received some kind of support. The school offers free summer school for all kids. The school offers a warm, nurturing environment for students. I am really surprised by the achievement gap.

Did you know about the achievement gap before the expansion hearing? Has the Admin discussed it or shared their efforts to reduce it with all parents?

Anonymous wrote:Latin parent here. I am not sure what other measures the school can take. Teachers offer extra help sessions after school (and before school for math). They provide mental health counseling (and at a school assembly parents were told about 30% of students have received some kind of support. The school offers free summer school for all kids. The school offers a warm, nurturing environment for students. I am really surprised by the achievement gap.

Thanks for chiming in. A couple honest questions. Does Latin give all students assessments when they entering Latin as 5th graders?
What percentage of classroom teachers are non-white?

Latin parent here. I am not sure what other measures the school can take. Teachers offer extra help sessions after school (and before school for math). They provide mental health counseling (and at a school assembly parents were told about 30% of students have received some kind of support. The school offers free summer school for all kids. The school offers a warm, nurturing environment for students. I am really surprised by the achievement gap.

Anonymous wrote:The city desperately needs more good MS seats.

This is a shame.

No one knows for certain what happened or if the lack of a vote had nothing to do with the achievement gap at WL. It is, however, a shame that a school which is one of the most coveted on this Board, is struggling in that way.

I hope PCSB told Latin to redouble its efforts on behalf of non-white kids, and try again in a year or two. Wouldn’t the best outcome be that they do figure out what is going on?

The city desperately needs more good MS seats.

This is a shame.

Not the poster you're responding to, but give us a break.

The PP simply pointed out that opening a new branch of WL will make it that much harder for rising IB middle schools like SH to attract high-performing IB students. It will also make it that much harder for IB elementary schools that don't feed to Deal to retain their 4th graders for 5th. I've been thinking along these lines myself ever since WL announced that they plan to replicate.

It's a fair point and there was no reason to go on the attack. Hope you lay off your holier-than-thou pot shots.