After ranking Dewey at the bottom of the list and ranking several strong schools at the top, Aaliyah was still placed in her neighborhood school, Dewey. Aaliyah is not a bad student. Her test scores fall right on the cusp of what the more selective schools look for. However, the simple fact is that she will be a student at Dewey in the fall and will have much greater odds stacked against her as a result of having to attend there. “That’s so young for a decision that can affect them until they graduate high school,” one guidance counselor said. It seems as though this process really benefits those students who perform well, while it hurts students such as Aaliyah whose scores don't quite make the cut. In my opinion, it's the beginning of a two-class educational system where the stronger students (and usually more affluent students) will receive an even greater education than those students left to suffer at neighborhood schools which are on the decline.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Is the NYC Middle School Lottery a True Lottery System?
In the NYC public school system, students entering the 6th grade are placed into a lottery to determine which middle school they will attend. For a child to attend a school outside of his or her neighborhood, there must be demonstrated high achievement on the state standardized test. This was the situation facing Aaliyah Otero's mother as her daughter began the 5th grade. Ms. Otero was well aware that Dewey, Aaliyah's neighborhood middle school, was underperforming and would not be a good avenue for her daughter to be accepted into a strong high school. “A lot of kids at Dewey cut class, hang out on the street,” Ms. Otero said. “Kids get jumped in the park.” Ms. Otero was determined to get her daughter into a better school, and so she entered the lottery process armed with detailed knowledge of exactly what each school was looking for as far as admissions criteria.
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2 comments:
I must admit, that is a really tough situation for Aaliyah. However, do you think there are no stories of students like Aaliyah who get into the better school and have successful academic careers? I cannot say with absolute certainty that there are but based on what we have read this year, I am fairly convinced there are.
Aaliyah is being denied access to a higher performing school, but this does not doom her to failure. Although Aaliyah lost one lottery, I think she won an even greater one. She was lucky enough to be born into a family where her mother is an advocate for her and is concerned with her academic success. No doubt, Aaliyah road may be more difficult now that she has to attend a lower performing school but with her mother's support, she has much greater odds for success.
I think what I am trying to say is, although attending a high performing school is very important in determining the quality of one's education, having a parent or two who care about academic success is even more important. If you want proof of this from the other side, think about all the stories of rich, white, private school boys and girls who, arguably because they lack parental support, turn to drug addictions and suffer academically.
Your post poses many of the central questions education reform seeks answers to. Aaliyah's story is unfortunate, and sadly, I believe all too common. While I'm sure there are stories of students like Aaliyah who are able to attend high performing schools as gilligan mentions, this is still a critical situation. It doesn’t matter that some children are lucky enough escape schools like Dewey. This remains an injustice until all children can attend better schools and have successful academic careers.
While Aaliyah is fortunate to have a mother so invested in her education, this luck should not make attending a failing school acceptable. High-performing schools and parental investment are just two pieces in the complex situations of school reform.
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