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Doesn't help
Dec. 6th, 2008 07:12 amThe 5 local high schools have formed a group and each developed a signature program. Students are allowed to rank the schools in order of their preference and then the schools chose the students. Demographic concerns (and gender balance) are definitely considered in the choosing of students by the schools. Grades don't matter, if a student's grades are good enough to allow them to enter high school, they can be chosen. If all spaces are filled, the child will go to the geographically assigned school (even if it is overcrowded).
This was supposed to reduce overcrowding, reduce white and to a certain extent female flight, and balance the demographics of the schools. A new school was added to the system at the same time.
Overcrowding still exists, there is still white flight from the whole system (these 5 schools), and there is an increase in poverty in the whole system (these five schools). Many if not most of the students rank the same school at the top. The biggest and most popular school has spaces for 2,885 students and is overcrowded to about 3,000. The new school has spaces for 1,526 and is not acknowledged to be overcrowded (Although, most students think it is).
Now, what is really going on here? The schools aren't preventing the growth of population in this area (how could they?), nor are they preventing increases in the proportion of blacks, Hispanics and Asians in the larger population. They aren't preventing an increase in poverty, either. For the most part, the increase is due to people moving in, rather than more children being born. In fact, I doubt (with the movement of people near an urban center) that many of the graduates are buying houses and finding jobs in the area served by the schools. DC (and its surrounding suburban areas) are known for the high turnover of people (political appointees, military personnel, foreign government personnel assigned to the area, political refugees, and aspiring young people from other parts of the country).
School choice is having very little influence on the changing demographics of the area. The changing demographics are driving change in the schools to a much higher extent than almost any thing that the schools can do. And the most effective thing would be to substantially enlarge the available spaces to the point at which there are more spaces than the maximum number of students. This may well require a completely new school to be built from scratch (at a substantially greater cost than any of the money spent on the signature programs).
This was supposed to reduce overcrowding, reduce white and to a certain extent female flight, and balance the demographics of the schools. A new school was added to the system at the same time.
Overcrowding still exists, there is still white flight from the whole system (these 5 schools), and there is an increase in poverty in the whole system (these five schools). Many if not most of the students rank the same school at the top. The biggest and most popular school has spaces for 2,885 students and is overcrowded to about 3,000. The new school has spaces for 1,526 and is not acknowledged to be overcrowded (Although, most students think it is).
Now, what is really going on here? The schools aren't preventing the growth of population in this area (how could they?), nor are they preventing increases in the proportion of blacks, Hispanics and Asians in the larger population. They aren't preventing an increase in poverty, either. For the most part, the increase is due to people moving in, rather than more children being born. In fact, I doubt (with the movement of people near an urban center) that many of the graduates are buying houses and finding jobs in the area served by the schools. DC (and its surrounding suburban areas) are known for the high turnover of people (political appointees, military personnel, foreign government personnel assigned to the area, political refugees, and aspiring young people from other parts of the country).
School choice is having very little influence on the changing demographics of the area. The changing demographics are driving change in the schools to a much higher extent than almost any thing that the schools can do. And the most effective thing would be to substantially enlarge the available spaces to the point at which there are more spaces than the maximum number of students. This may well require a completely new school to be built from scratch (at a substantially greater cost than any of the money spent on the signature programs).
