Anonymous wrote:Im just curious, since we are talking about Arlington, what do the people who wont send their kids to high FARMS schools think about schools like Key and Science Focus? These are popular with upper middle class white kids, but also have FARMS rates over 25%. Does the application process make those families more highly motivated to excel?

25% is not too bad but at the upper limit, the original school is 50% which is awful.

Anonymous wrote:

Do you really think that scoring is racist or something? It's an agnostic measure of the student's abilitiy.

Actually, it is commonly accepted that standardized tests are indeed, culture bound and are inherently biased to favor certain populations. So, no, your standardized test is not at all an agnostic measure of anyone's ability.

How do you propose we determine student ability, ask their parents, psychic reading?

Sci Focus is 20% FARMS, but it has some of the best test scores in Northern Virginia. Arlington Traditional has a high FARMS rate as well, but it also outperforms most Northern Virginia schools. At Key, the language immersion program is popular.

No one applies into Science Focus. It is a neighborhood school for families that don't want language immersion. It used to have a lottery for transfers from Taylor and Jamestown, the other team schools. But the school is a victim of its own popularity, and there is no room for transfers. Many of the middle class Mongolian American families in Arlington send their kids to Science Focus.

Im just curious, since we are talking about Arlington, what do the people who wont send their kids to high FARMS schools think about schools like Key and Science Focus? These are popular with upper middle class white kids, but also have FARMS rates over 25%. Does the application process make those families more highly motivated to excel?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recently moved to N Arlington. I'm zoned to a school that is 50%+ FARMS. Frankly, no matter what the boosters say, I'm just not comfortable with schools with demographics that skewed- I hesitate to believe that stats like that won't affect both socialization and education for my DC. So I will not even consider the elementary school literally a block from my new home in a couple years when DC starts school.

I'm sorry but you sound like a complete snob. My guess is that you live in Arlington Forest. I have a lot of friend's who live there and send their children to Barrett and they will not put up with your stinky attitude. Get your head out of your ass.

I think it swings either way- I would say it's a perfectly legitimate choice for someone to choose not to send their kids to a Title I school they're home happens to be mapped to...that doesn't sound like the threshold for snobbery...likewise, perfectly fine to also be satisfied with a Title I school that has a rep for providing good education...I think you can swing either way and it's a fair personal choice...

There are more tools on this board than at a Stanley factory.

Anonymous wrote:I recently moved to N Arlington. I'm zoned to a school that is 50%+ FARMS. Frankly, no matter what the boosters say, I'm just not comfortable with schools with demographics that skewed- I hesitate to believe that stats like that won't affect both socialization and education for my DC. So I will not even consider the elementary school literally a block from my new home in a couple years when DC starts school.

I'm sorry but you sound like a complete snob. My guess is that you live in Arlington Forest. I have a lot of friend's who live there and send their children to Barrett and they will not put up with your stinky attitude. Get your head out of your ass.

Do you really think that scoring is racist or something? It's an agnostic measure of the student's abilitiy.

Actually, it is commonly accepted that standardized tests are indeed, culture bound and are inherently biased to favor certain populations. So, no, your standardized test is not at all an agnostic measure of anyone's ability.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I'm 14:12 and I neglected to mention that the white 5th graders also scored 100% passing rate on ALL of their SOL tests as well (math, science, reading).

Looks to me like the ESOL issue is the issue, not the teaching.

True but think of all the wasted resources being burnt up teaching esol to 50% of the students.

This remark makes me sick. Heaven forbid your child need any special resources, ever. Would you say the same thing about special needs kids? Or even gifted kids? Arlington probably "wastes" a lot of resources on all those GT and AP kids....

I, for one, am fine with Arlington providing a good, free education to ALL of its students.

Good for you, I won't move to a school with more than 25% FARM, but that's just my opinion. I would rather have my kid be challenged by higher performing student then be one of the higher performing students that is attempting to drag up the low performers.

I more thing before you call me racist, I am not white, I am a minority of mintorities, mixed race. I dont give a shit about what color the students are, I care about stats and scores.

I for one think that focusing just on stats/scores is incredibly short-sighted. I don't dismiss them entirely but there's more to a school than stats/scores, unless you view children as robots who're fed information and are programmed to regurgitate it quickly and efficiently.

That's all the more reason to be careful in considering to send your upper-income kid to a majority low-income school...their state test scores may look alright (due in no small part to what you do at home), but they may be missing out on a lot of the fundamental peer learning and reinforcement that their cohorts are benefitting from in schools with FARMS population in the 30% range or lower (i.e. reflecting the demographic range of the state and county itself). Kids thrive by emulating EVERYONE around them, not just the teachers, and I think that is where a majority low-income school founders, not just for the rich kids but also for the poor kids...really APS should re-structure school boundaries so that all school are no more than 1/3 FARMS...municipalities in other parts of the country have tested this and had great results for everyone...that would mean bussing kids around a little more and providing some county-wide equity....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 14:12 and I neglected to mention that the white 5th graders also scored 100% passing rate on ALL of their SOL tests as well (math, science, reading).

Looks to me like the ESOL issue is the issue, not the teaching.

True but think of all the wasted resources being burnt up teaching esol to 50% of the students.

This remark makes me sick. Heaven forbid your child need any special resources, ever. Would you say the same thing about special needs kids? Or even gifted kids? Arlington probably "wastes" a lot of resources on all those GT and AP kids....

I, for one, am fine with Arlington providing a good, free education to ALL of its students.

Good for you, I won't move to a school with more than 25% FARM, but that's just my opinion. I would rather have my kid be challenged by higher performing student then be one of the higher performing students that is attempting to drag up the low performers.

I more thing before you call me racist, I am not white, I am a minority of mintorities, mixed race. I dont give a shit about what color the students are, I care about stats and scores.

I for one think that focusing just on stats/scores is incredibly short-sighted. I don't dismiss them entirely but there's more to a school than stats/scores, unless you view children as robots who're fed information and are programmed to regurgitate it quickly and efficiently.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 14:12 and I neglected to mention that the white 5th graders also scored 100% passing rate on ALL of their SOL tests as well (math, science, reading).

Looks to me like the ESOL issue is the issue, not the teaching.

True but think of all the wasted resources being burnt up teaching esol to 50% of the students.

This remark makes me sick. Heaven forbid your child need any special resources, ever. Would you say the same thing about special needs kids? Or even gifted kids? Arlington probably "wastes" a lot of resources on all those GT and AP kids....

I, for one, am fine with Arlington providing a good, free education to ALL of its students.

Good for you, I won't move to a school with more than 25% FARM, but that's just my opinion. I would rather have my kid be challenged by higher performing student then be one of the higher performing students that is attempting to drag up the low performers.

I more thing before you call me racist, I am not white, I am a minority of mintorities, mixed race. I dont give a shit about what color the students are, I care about stats and scores.