Quote:
Originally Posted by dmwest
Troubled? Isn't that school and Southern Durham on a short list to be closed if they can't get the year end test passing scores above 50%?
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Ah yes, the same Raleigh judge who created a mess of things with the MYR debate recently has put the same threat in place.
The issue with these schools, sadly, isn't that the students in them perform any worse than students from similar socioeconomic backgrounds in other Durham or even Wake schools. The issue is really that these two schools have very high concentrations of very low income students, who are statistically much harder to reach in re school performance than students from greater privilege.
If you moved the entire student body of Southern High School -- homes, neighborhoods, families, everything -- to Cary and put the school under the jurisdiction of the Wake Public Schools, without the kind of (very effective) diversity and balancing program in place in Wake... I am willing to bet that you would see the absolute same results.
<soapbox>What we're doing with schools is, really, trying to force the outcome of deep social, cultural, and family problems along with wealth inequality in this country into something where schools are expected to be sole performers. We're not really addressing the root causes of cycles of poverty, broken homes, blight, drugs and crime.</soapbox>