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Thanks for sharing. I listened to this podcast when it came out earlier this month. What is going on with DISD is just like what they are describing in the podcast. It's interesting when people come on here to ask advice on where to live or send their kids to school. For example, in Dallas, people always recommend the same areas, which are predominantly white or have at least have a large white population (I have been guilty of this as well). People will then also only recommend schools with large groups of white kids.
Segregation in our neighborhoods and schools are still so prevalent today. We say we want diversity or we are not racist, but we then turn around and say I would never put my kids in that school with a large economically disadvantaged (ED) minority population. We say it's because of test scores and school ratings, and then say the teachers are bad because of the scores and ratings. However, people are unwilling to dig deeper and see all of the factors that involve a school's success.
I went to DISD schools all my life. However, I did a hardship transfer to the schools I went to because they were "more white." I went on to be a part of the TAG program and took pre-AP and AP classes. However, majority of the students in these programs and classes were white. Most of us in my classes went on to 4 year universities and some went on to top tier universities in the country. In K-12, all my schools' PTA were made of a primarily white parents. The DISD schools that were considered the least desirable were those who were practically 100% ED minorities. I have also noticed the schools that get the most maintenance are those who have the white families. South Oak Cliff High School, a school made up of almost 100% black and Hispanic students, was literally falling apart. They had leaks, sagging ceilings, mold, tiny classrooms, and broken bathrooms. The school should have been condemned a long time ago. Thankfully, it finally was rebuilt a few years ago. Meanwhile, my old high school was on it's second brand new wing and just announced they were going to get a new arts wing, sport wing and second gym. My high school has a wealthy white women lobbying for it's upgrades. South Oak Cliff had to be falling a part to finally get noticed.
I don't know how to fix these problems. I think so many factors play into school inequality like racism, classism, funding, poverty, parent involvement and the school itself. However, I think the first step is for all of us to educate ourselves and be willing to step out of our comfort zones a little bit.
Thanks for sharing. I listened to this podcast when it came out earlier this month. What is going on with DISD is just like what they are describing in the podcast. It's interesting when people come on here to ask advice on where to live or send their kids to school. For example, in Dallas, people always recommend the same areas, which are predominantly white or have at least have a large white population (I have been guilty of this as well). People will then also only recommend schools with large groups of white kids.
Segregation in our neighborhoods and schools are still so prevalent today. We say we want diversity or we are not racist, but we then turn around and say I would never put my kids in that school with a large economically disadvantaged (ED) minority population. We say it's because of test scores and school ratings, and then say the teachers are bad because of the scores and ratings. However, people are unwilling to dig deeper and see all of the factors that involve a school's success.
I went to DISD schools all my life. However, I did a hardship transfer to the schools I went to because they were "more white." I went on to be a part of the TAG program and took pre-AP and AP classes. However, majority of the students in these programs and classes were white. Most of us in my classes went on to 4 year universities and some went on to top tier universities in the country. In K-12, all my schools' PTA were made of a primarily white parents. The DISD schools that were considered the least desirable were those who were practically 100% ED minorities. I have also noticed the schools that get the most maintenance are those who have the white families. South Oak Cliff High School, a school made up of almost 100% black and Hispanic students, was literally falling apart. They had leaks, sagging ceilings, mold, tiny classrooms, and broken bathrooms. The school should have been condemned a long time ago. Thankfully, it finally was rebuilt a few years ago. Meanwhile, my old high school was on it's second brand new wing and just announced they were going to get a new arts wing, sport wing and second gym. My high school has a wealthy white women lobbying for it's upgrades. South Oak Cliff had to be falling a part to finally get noticed.
I don't know how to fix these problems. I think so many factors play into school inequality like racism, classism, funding, poverty, parent involvement and the school itself. However, I think the first step is for all of us to educate ourselves and be willing to step out of our comfort zones a little bit.
Interesting points. One of the reasons I found the Long/Woodrow data interesting is that it is somewhat unusual to see trends in that direction. Usually if a school has a majority minority population you see white enrollment decline accelerate (even in wealthier areas, for different reasons, see all the threads about South Asian populations in Coppell and Frisco). Woodrow/Long and their feeder pattern are seeing the opposite and it isn’t really due to gentrification or displacement as most of these neighborhoods were established affluent neighborhoods to start with. Rather you are seeing a lot of young families move into these neighborhoods and stay as their children get older.
The interesting question is how much of that is due to all of the efforts DISD undertakes to attract affluent parents (Magnet choice schools, IB program, etc.) and how much would have happened naturally.
Yes, the Woodrow feeder pattern is something to study. I agree and wonder if the increase in white students is also related to DISD’s efforts to bring more choices and programs to families and kids. I wonder why we aren’t seeing this trend in NW Dallas? There is a large group of white families in NW Dallas that are also in the middle to upper middle class realm. Many will put their kids in DISD elementary schools like DeGoyler and Withers, but they will either put them in private school or one of the TAG schools starting in middle school. Therefore, you see this huge decrease of white students at the middle schools like T.C. Marsh. Then, it slightly increases in high school (at W.T. White) but no where near the numbers you saw in the elementary schools. You also see a huge disparity in test scores and ratings within feeder patterns because of this migration of students in higher economic classes not staying.
This also makes me wonder if all of these new schools and programs aren’t really helping who they were designed to help (ED minorities). It seems higher income white students are taking advantage of these programs more so than ED minorities. If that’s true, why aren’t ED minorities being properly represented? Is it because they don’t know their options? Is it because they struggle academically more because they have to deal with outside environmental factors that others don’t have to worry about? Since these programs may be across town, is there a concern about transportation? Is it possible that DISD is creating more of the same problem (segregation)?
One example came to mind is Booker T. Washington (BTW). It has had a problem with non-DISD students getting accepted into their school through fraud. However, BTW doesn’t have enough DISD kids applying to fill their programs. Is this because many DISD students can’t afford outside school training in the arts? Probably. So, DISD says they will solve the issue by vetting the applications more thoroughly. However, DISD kids are still not qualified. So, maybe the real solution would be to create a K-8 art school for DISD students. However, I could see where there would be more of the same issues there.
Unfortunately, ED minorities seem to always get the short end of the stick and many times, people’s efforts don’t really solve the issue.
One school that DISD has gotten right is the Irma Lerma all-girls school. I believe it’s in South Dallas. Majority of the student population is made up of ED minority students. They see a 100% graduation rate with every student going to 4 year universities and many of them going to top tier universities. This school has been rated within the top 10 in Texas year after year. These ladies are definitely beating the odds and are showing us that public education can help those who are disadvantaged.
Woodrow is the only campus in Dallas County that has an increasing % of white students (even the HP % is going down).
If you go back to the Woodrow class of 2013, ~39% of the white graduates graduated college ready*; this was 35th in the Metroplex of ~175 high schools (I'm not counting private, charter, or magnet schools all of which require applications and make data hard to find). For the class of 2018, which is the most recent available data, ~74% of the white graduates at Woodrow were college ready, 11th in the region. It's also 4x as many students graduating at that achievement level.
This tracks closely with the introduction of the IB program to the campus.
*TEA defines college ready at scoring 1110+ on the SAT or 24+ on the ACT
This is the type of thread that's worth updating on occasion. I live in the Long zone but my children are quite young. However, I often detect apprehension about the school from talking to neighbors and acquaintances with older children. Their worries usually concern social tensions and violent altercations between the school's demographic groups. I suspect this might be anecdotal experiences that become the stuff of neighborhood lore, but perhaps parents familiar with the school can describe the mood on campus.
I went to JL Long for a year, (I Live just south of I-30) and yes, there is contention with the regular school kids and the Lakewood kids. Most kids from the neighborhood despise the wealthy kids from Lakewood because they tend to get what they want and can pay their way out of things. J L Long is a good school if you are white and from Lakewood. As a student there, it was very very segregated and the white kids tended to stay to their own. I would not recommend sending anyone there. The same goes for alot of the schools in that area. The kids in the neighborhood are often forgotten in order to make it more comfortable for the white gentrifiers and Lakewoodites, ie. Lipscomb, Zaragoza, Woodrow, ect.
I went to JL Long for a year, (I Live just south of I-30) and yes, there is contention with the regular school kids and the Lakewood kids. Most kids from the neighborhood despise the wealthy kids from Lakewood because they tend to get what they want and can pay their way out of things. J L Long is a good school if you are white and from Lakewood. As a student there, it was very very segregated and the white kids tended to stay to their own. I would not recommend sending anyone there. The same goes for alot of the schools in that area. The kids in the neighborhood are often forgotten in order to make it more comfortable for the white gentrifiers and Lakewoodites, ie. Lipscomb, Zaragoza, Woodrow, ect.
So you would not recommend for anyone else considering Lakewood? Are the IB classes mostly Lakewood kids?
So you would not recommend for anyone else considering Lakewood? Are the IB classes mostly Lakewood kids?
I wouldn’t read too much into that poster. They went to Long for one year a long time ago and our clearly negative towards the affluent Lakewood population.
Families with kids currently in Long and living in Lakewood that I have spoken to (I live in Lakewood) are happy with Long and very happy with Woodrow.
I went to JL Long for a year, (I Live just south of I-30) and yes, there is contention with the regular school kids and the Lakewood kids. Most kids from the neighborhood despise the wealthy kids from Lakewood because they tend to get what they want and can pay their way out of things. J L Long is a good school if you are white and from Lakewood. As a student there, it was very very segregated and the white kids tended to stay to their own. I would not recommend sending anyone there. The same goes for alot of the schools in that area. The kids in the neighborhood are often forgotten in order to make it more comfortable for the white gentrifiers and Lakewoodites, ie. Lipscomb, Zaragoza, Woodrow, ect.
Did you transfer in? How did you qualify?
p.s. Zaragoza is zoned to Spence/ North Dallas HS
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