Hope for Philly schools?

[atvwife]

I grew up in Abington Schoold District (one over from Philly), and I could never understand why our schools were so much better than Philly (my step-sister was in Phila dist.). Being a parent now myself and having lived in Montgomery and Bucks counties and then moving to MA, I would have to agree with a previous poster that it's more of a societal, systemic issue. Less parental involvement, higher poverty levels, strong union influence in the city, etc. have all made for poor urban education. And if we take an honest look, just about everything involving Philly govt. was/is corrupt in some way. The guys at the top are getting their pockets lined with no accountability for years. Many Catholic schools have closed because people don't want to shell out the $$ or can't afford to anymore. We have school choice up here in MA, which allows for students to go to other public schools of their choice, but this is public only. Hasn't really helped that much. I have pretty strong opinions about what I think would work, but we personally send our child to a private school.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by rotodome

I guess the point should be that there's a lot of luck-of-the-draw involved with magnet school admissions, and it's not just whether the kid is "bright" or not.

I never said that wasn't the case. I was simply stating the net effect is comparable to that of a good suburban public school.

[rotodome]

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

I never said that wasn't the case. I was simply stating the net effect is comparable to that of a good suburban public school.

OK, but some of your previous posts in this thread did read as if you were saying that any reasonably intelligent kid in the Philadelphia School District would have the opportunity to go to a school that's comparable to a good suburban school. I was saying that it's not that simple, and that's not necessarily the case.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by rotodome

OK, but some of your previous posts in this thread did read as if you were saying that any reasonably intelligent kid in the Philadelphia School District would have the opportunity to go to a school that's comparable to a good suburban school. I was saying that it's not that simple, and that's not necessarily the case.

Too many reasonably intelligent kids, far too few slots for sure.

[frankgn87]

Originally Posted by rotodome

FWIW: I got into ivy league colleges (not that that makes me a genius), but I didn't get into Central.

There ya go

And i just checked Centrals admission requirements. "Both Reading & Math scores must be at or above the 88th percentile. If the PSSA is utilized, Reading and Math scores must be submitted in the numerical advanced range. Applicants must have major subject marks of A or B with the exception of one C on the most recent year-end report". Don't sound above average to me.. Like I said, Central is only for AP kids. Its not a community public school so its really not an alternative for everyone.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by frankgn87

There ya go

And i just checked Centrals admission requirements. "Both Reading & Math scores must be at or above the 88th percentile. If the PSSA is utilized, Reading and Math scores must be submitted in the numerical advanced range. Applicants must have major subject marks of A or B with the exception of one C on the most recent year-end report". Don't sound above average to me.. Like I said, Central is only for AP kids. Its not a community public school so its really not an alternative for everyone.

AP kids score in the mid-high nineties on those tests. It's definitely not something everyone can do, but like I said before, I know a lot of rather unimpressive people who got in.

[rotodome]

But it's not just a straightforward function of test scores, grades, and "aptitude" that determine who goes to magnet schools, and which ones they go to. Socioeconomic and ethnic desegregation was the main reason magnet schools came about in the first place, and the student bodies are curated to some degree towards these ends, and there's also a lottery system in play. It's not such a transparent process, but the schools have been successful. I believe the whole thing came under scrutiny recently when the (thankfully) departed superintendent Ackerman wanted to make the whole thing about test scores and quotas. Luckily that failed.