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Re: [Phys-L] Private schools



So, let's talk Magnet schools... essentially they were the first charters. My city has three magnet high schools whose scores are tops in the city and among the leaders in the local area. I would have loved to have ended my career there but the other physics teacher was "Mr. Physics" in the city and had taught physics for 20 years and happened to be very good at his job. IF I had bee =n selected to teach there I might still be in the city. But, that's beside the point... let's talk about what happened to those students... they entered by lottery (check); their parents were interested in entering the lottery (check); they had to maintain standards of academic performance or behavior (check); if they misbehaved or were caught cheating or slacked off too many report cards they were booted out (check); when they were booted out they returned to their neighborhood high school (check); several children were somehow admitted and were booted out and it turned out that their parents were relatives of a local politico (check).

Don't get me wrong... the public schools here are in such trouble that I think these parents who were motivated to enter the lottery are to be commended. But let's not stick our heads in the sand and pretend that the system is not gamed in favor of parents who are motivated and interested enough to find the best options for their kids.


On Jul 9, 2012, at 11:39 PM, LaMontagne, Bob wrote:

Again, I'll say what I said to Marty - Do you guys make this up as you go along?

The lottery is over the entire district. In Providence the ethnic makeup is essentially 25 percent each of white, Hispanic, black, and Asian. The school we partner with mirrors that mix - with a slight preponderance of blacks - probably because it is located next to what was a few years ago a predominantly black housing project. I would guess that there was a greater awareness of the existence of the school and hence a larger number of entries in the lottery. That housing project has recently transitioned to a Hispanic majority so I would expect that that in a few years that will be reflected in the lottery as well. Again, as I said to Marty, a student may be suspended from the school for behavior problems but not deported to another school - it may be a charter, but it is still part of the public school system.

What evidence do you have that anyone "gamed" the lottery? That is quite a charge to make without some kind of evidence - even anecdotal.

Bob at PC

________________________________________
From: phys-l-bounces@mail.phys-l.org [phys-l-bounces@mail.phys-l.org] on behalf of John Denker [jsd@av8n.com]
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2012 6:00 PM
To: Phys-L@Phys-L.org
Subject: Re: [Phys-L] Private schools

On 07/09/2012 12:56 PM, LaMontagne, Bob wrote:
Our charter schools in RI admit students by lottery.

That's nice. However ...

A) I'm no expert, but as I understand it, the lottery only applies
to the students who have applied _to a given school_ so there are
unlimited opportunities for gaming the system by influencing who
applies and who doesn't.

B) We need to watch out for selective _retention_ even if there is
not strongly selective admission. It is the easiest thing in the
world to chase a given student out of the school if somebody decides
that student is "undesirable" or "bad for business".

The rules say "In Rhode Island, all charter schools must reflect the
demographics of the districts within which they are located."
http://www.ride.ri.gov/commissioner/charterschools/character.aspx

However, in some ways that makes some of the worst problems even worse,
not better, because of the enormous variations from neighborhood to
neighborhood. It makes it illegal to have a diverse school in a non-
diverse district.
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