Posted on 03/18/2010 10:12:07 AM PDT by reaganaut1
Concerned that its top academic schools are not racially and economically diverse enough, Philadelphia Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman is proposing major changes in how students are admitted to them.
The plan would take admissions decisions away from principals and their committees, and select students for magnet and citywide-admissions schools centrally, using a computerized system, according to a "draft" obtained by The Inquirer.
District officials suggested a 1,000-point system, 600 points of which would be based on test scores and grades, according to the draft that was distributed to high school principals. Other factors would include behavior and attendance, and, for the first time, 200 points for "diversity" as measured by a student's neighborhood or zip code and income level.
The proposal could upend a decades-old selection system for the magnet schools, long an educational refuge for the city's middle class where many powerful and influential leaders send their children.
The district canceled a meeting scheduled for tonight to roll out the proposed changes to parents, following concerns from some principals and parents.
Warning that such moves could drive more middle-class families out of the city, some parents and school leaders said they feared that standards would be watered down and that nuances in applications would be missed by a computerized system.
"This admission policy threatens the very existence of special-admission schools," said Amy Ashbridge, a parent on the Home and School Council at Masterman, the district's top-performing school, where admission is very selective. "If our children were not in these special-selection schools, we would be taking ourselves and our tax dollars out of the city. You have to provide a way for middle-class people to be able to live in the city and not have to pay $25,000 a year in tuition."
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
Diversity is a crock of crap! Giving anyone “points” for diversity is discrimination.
BUMP
The root word of diversity is divide..
***The root word of diversity is divide..***
You know, I never thought of that. Excellent.
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