Round 1: glass half empty? or half full?>
Caroline kept her ear to the ground, reading through the hundreds of comments over on SF K Files, and heard much less gnashing of teeth, and concludes that this year was an improvement over last year, possibly with the aid of web communities like SF K files.
So what is it? Are people happier with the results this year? More open minded
about their assignments? Or is the lottery in crisis? Or both?
Labels: Enrollment
2 Comments:
I'm not sure subjective measurements like "level of parental angst on internet forums" tells us much or helps to inform the debate about the placement process.
I'd much rather see objective metrics compared between years (and perhaps even between rounds) - how many slots were available, how many slots were applied for, how many families got one of their 7 choices, how many families got local / neighbourhood schools or immersion programs or whatever other metrics are of relevance to the applicant base.
One thing that's become apparent to me is that many families seem to have quite specific preferences, whether it's geography (schools close to home or work), specialist programs (language immersion, arts, science, sport etc.) and I'm not convinced that the current "pick 7 schools" method really allows the SFUSD to optimize placements based on those preferences.
Does the district do any kind of "what if" analysis on their data, using alternative placement algorithms, to objectively compare those different systems?
Without that kind of analysis it would seem that the district is simply making random changes to the process in the vain hope that it will somehow miraculously improve outcomes. I think many would agree that our children's education is not something that should be left to chance like that.
Peter hit the nail on the head. Thanks Peter. Where's the data? I am so frustrated that the 7 choices are not ranked in some way, or at least let parents rank one school number one. That way someone who has a school on their list of 7 who may rank it 7 out of 7 (the computer does not use ranked choice to assign students). Like Pete said, there are so many reasons why someone wants a particluar school, why not cater to at least a "first choice"?
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