DISD's TAG, Magnet Parents Concerned Over Proposed Changes to Admissions Policy

By Robert Wilonsky Wed., Sep. 8 2010 at 12:41 PM

Categories: Edumication News

I've been getting all kinds of e-mails in recent days concerning tomorrow's meeting of the Dallas Independent School District's board of trustees, which will discuss changing the way students are admitted into vanguards, academies and magnets. Last week word was there'd be a lottery system of some kind included in the proposal; but the two pages worth of docs posted so far show no such thing. Here's the selection process as spelled out per the agenda:

Seats shall be awarded to District students based on the following formula:

Thirty percent of the seats awarded Districtwide by rank ordering applicants based on overall criteria score; and

Seventy percent of the seats awarded within the four Elementary Learning Community Areas (adjusted proportionally for student population) by rank ordering applicants based on overall criteria score.

The sibling rule shall be applied to the Vanguard programs for grades 4-5, the prekindergarten-grade 8 Montessori programs, and grades 6-8 for Academies.

Nevertheless, parents and some teachers, concerned that the docs don't show everything expected to thrown on the table at the first read-through tomorrow, are sending out e-mails this afternoon rallying the troops. (I've gotten half a dozen from various sources in the last 30 minutes alone.) They're especially concerned about an alleged provision they insist will allow "students of promise" -- which is to say, students who "exhibit resilience and interest but do not meet the entrance criteria" -- into magnets. Two letters I've received follow. Did I mention Schutze was covering the meeting? No? Well, he is.

Your Urgent Action Is Needed Today!

At Tuesday night's PTSA Board meeting, we learned that at this Thursday morning's briefing, DISD administrators plan to present the Trustees with suggestions for changing entrance/selection requirements at ALL DISD magnets. Most of the options would be unfair and unjust and would have a highly negative impact on magnet schools, such as TAG.

What Is the Problem?
Part of the problem is that whatever perceived problem exists has not been articulated. We need to ask: What is the actual problem the administration thinks needs to be fixed through these proposed options?

The magnet admissions selection system currently in place has produced high-caliber learning environments, such as TAG and SEM: TAG was #1 in the nation in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009, and #2 in 2008. SEM has placed in the top 5 from 2006 through 2009.

In the last 3 years, no child who qualified was turned away from TAG. We see no compelling reason to radically change a system that has been this successful and has been able to accommodate all of the students who qualified and sought admission. Our selection process has been audited and found to be extremely fair.

The Proposed New Admissions Selection Criteria:
1) All students will be chosen by lottery.
2) Students will be selected through a process that involves the individual school selected 30% of students based on grades scored on entrance portfolios, with the remaining 70% selected by lottery.
3) Students will be selected through a process that involves the individual school selected 80% of students based on grades scored on entrance portfolios, with the remaining 20% selected by lottery.
4) Principals suggested a compromise of allowing the schools to select students based on existing requirements, agreeing to a proposed-by-the-district caveat of having the district's English Department selected essay prompts and develop rubrics for grading essays.
5) A fifth option, which does not appear to be included in the current list of proposed solutions, would be to change nothing at all.

Why Oppose an Entrance Lottery?
Entrance to TAG, in particular, through a lottery would place all students in the same basket, regardless of how hard they worked or how well they did in school. A lottery system is unfair to those students who have excelled and serves as a disincentive to achievement. For example, a student with a 95 grade point average would be included in the same pool as a student with a 78 grade point average. What would then be the incentive for a student to push him or herself to excel if his or her chance of admission would not be affected?

We strongly urge our trustees to reject any new magnet admissions selection policy that has a lottery component, and to choose instead to continue the system that has been in place. Some minor adjustments may well be in order, but these should be the ones which have been recommended by the principals and faculty at the schools.

Why the Urgency?
Principals and some Trustees were unaware the administration was planning to suggest these options and there is little time to voice our concerns. Now is the time to let your voice be heard by our trustees. They will be discussing this policy change at the board briefing which begins at 11:30 on Thursday, Sept. 9.

What Do I Do?
WE NEED YOU TO CALL OR E-MAIL YOUR DISD TRUSTEE TODAY!(See contact information, below.) Please call and leave a message for your Trustee on Wednesday, Sept. 8, and/or e-mail him or her before Thursday.

Call for Speakers at DISD Board Meeting on 9-9

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That's "Dallas" with a "Big D" thank you..
this is why parents that really care about their kids education VS trying to spoon feed their kids some diversity crap they will either grow out of or be dragged down by take their kids out of DISD and dallas in general
Yep--whenever they're trying to sneak something thru, DISD riles up the magnet parents to divert attention from what they're really up to (which usually involves giving your tax money to someone other than a schoolchild). The exhausted magnet parents rally time and again just in case this time's for real. @Sanguine--you're also exactly right about the comprehensive parents who surprisingly resent magnet parents INSTEAD OF THEIR WORTHLESS TRUSTEE WHO ISN'T BUSY IMPROVING COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOLS. Here's a concept: make the comprehensives so good no one will want magnets. Send kids who fail the TAKS to repeater schools--get them OUT of the comprehensives. Behavior problem? Out. Give them their free education in another building so the good kids of all colors and backgrounds can learn and excel. Instead of throwing literally millions at consultants, fix the damn AC and heat. No parent wants their child either freezing or broiling all day. That's not conducive to learning. How about some decent landscaping? What about trade programs? When you've seen what private schools have to offer in terms of their facilities and their learning-focused environments, it's really hard to drop your child off at a comprehensive DISD middle school or high school. Fix the comprehensives and you won't need magnets.
The magnets are successful. All have more applicants than seats. Why not have more? Dr. H said there would be no more, then he put mini magnets in AU schools without staff or resources to support the programs. And what happened to his pledge to "not tinker with the magnets?" What exactly is going on elsewhere? History says stir up the magnets or cause chaos somewhere in order divert our attention while Rome burns.
@dave Little - Good for you and your sons. That's an example of good parenting.
I have one son at Townview. He loves it. I have another son at Woodrow Wilson. He loves it. That's all that matters to me.
I have a son in the TAG program. He's in the 1st grade. Everything I'm reading here is, sad to say, very disheartening.
"Yeah the magnets have changed. The racial make up of most public, magnet and private schools are telling if you take the time and do the research instead of going all "from what I can tell". The second part of my comment wasn't about the makeup of the students, but how the schools operate day to day. When i was there, it was more of an open, college type atmosphere where students were expected to be responsible for themselves, from what i understand now, they're run just like normal high schools and it's taken away a lot of what made them interesting and fun.
How about instead of making the criteria achievement based or whatever, we just make the desire to learn the only criteria for these accelerated learning programs? Children who are observed in a classroom setting as having an acute interest in learning new topics should be allowed into a magnet program where they will be challenged academically. If a student wants to sit on his or her ass all day, just leave 'em put. Likewise, a student in a magnet program who isn't showing any interest or talent should get the boot and make room for some more willing or deserving student.
"...... the accusation that magnet schools are either class or race based is ridiculous" "........from what i understand and magnet schools have unfortunately changed the environment for the worse from what friends have told me." You might have answered your own question. There was a court order that the schools had to have a certain amount of black, brown and asian students that went back to the early 70's. It expired about 4-5 years ago. Yeah the magnets have changed. The racial make up of most public, magnet and private schools are telling if you take the time and do the research instead of going all "from what I can tell".
@Bill - I don't think there has been ANY "hidden" animosity from the board and the district offices toward accelerated anything in DISD: they have been very clear that they DO NOT LIKE having programs targeting high-achieving students. There is a very active group of administrators and DISD employees who are openly disdainful of the "elitist" school programs, and particularly the parents of kids in those schools. Their goal is to dumb-down everything possible so that Bobby (or Jose or DeLainian) who is too lazy to put forth the effort to do well in class won't feel "bad" about not being as smart as those other, "spoiled" kids. Just look at the fight Booker T has had to go through constantly to maintain its high standards when even the Superintendent tries to tear the school apart. It's sad because the parents of kids in those programs are fighting to stay in the public school system instead of going private, yet DISD is basically telling them "go away, we don't like your kind here".
Does the DISD even remotely care about educating TAG kids? No acceleration allowed in elementary school. TAG kids must be held back to the standardized curriculum in elementary classrooms with 1-2 hrs/wk of TAG "enrichment" (aka more work for the kid). The TAG campuses are exempt from the DISD curriculum pacing. If your child learns extremely quickly relative to others and is miserable with the snails-pace at the neighborhood school, TAG campuses become a great shining beacon in the night. However, there's only a tiny number of slots at the entry points of 4th, 6th, & 9th grades and only 30% of that tiny number are truly merit-based. Heaven help the parent who tries to get their child in at another grade. No wonder parents are so concerned.
I went to a magnet school part time and regular high school part time here in Dallas and the accusation that magnet schools are either class or race based is ridiculous. I saw no difference in the diversity of kids, financially or racially, between the regular high school and the magnet school. I did prefer the magnet school because the environment was much more like a college, although that has changed from what i understand and magnet schools have unfortunately changed the environment for the worse from what friends have told me.
You can say that again.
TAG in the DISD is a misnomer. I think excellerated comes closer to the mark. While there are exceptional teachers at the TAG schools, I have not found there proportion higher then in pre- AP and AP classes. The TAG teachers are not required to have advanced certificates, nor are they paid more. They also have the disadvantage of having only one type of student in their class, and this has lead to a certain professional laziness in some cases. We have come to the realization that the exceptional investment in time for the bus ride are not rewarded with exceptionally better education.
Some of it has to do with class. I noticed that when trying to get my first born into Dealey (sp?). The white, well to do parents were there to "win". They are able to put their kids into expensive preschool programs and worked with them a lot. Poor families where both parents work are unable to do this. Of course, there was that little affirmative action clause that was in effect but has now been abolished.
Presumably, they'll be choosing the football team by lottery, as well. Right?
If you ask me, though, there's nothing more leveling than having set, objective standards that anyone can meet and be accepted. Sure, some people will have an easier time meeting standards than others, but that can also frequently be the result of work ethic rather than inherent intelligence (there are plenty of very intelligent people who underachieve scholastically).
I'll give 5 to 1 odds they try a City Council and pull this for discussion in Executive Commitee.
Robert, I've wondered for a long time if tinkering with magnet admission standards doesn't reflect a widespread suspicion among board members that there is something elitist about the magnet system, that it rewards those with special talents or greater academic ability. This is largely class- rather than race-based, though suspicions of racism do enter in. Years ago Laura Miller wrote about a bitter fight over one of the magnets and actually managed to touch on this possibility. The principal strongly felt that magnet students were privileged and sought to fully integrate them into the general classroom population. Parents (of the gifted students, not the others) went ballistic. This is an aspect of the subject that is treated only obliquely by the press. Readers are forced to dig between the lines: What's REALLY going on here? Parents of children who show exceptional talent or promise can be absolutely fierce in defending their childrens' rights to an equivalent education. This is seen as favoritism and often causes deep resentment on the part of parents whose children are not so gifted. I've witnessed these squabbles from time to time. The charge of elitism and favoritism is almost as electrifying in America as the charge of racism. We are, most of us, levelers, at least in theory if not always in practice.