RASOTA has far more Black and Latino students than Lowell, proving that you can have both diversity and an excellent learning environment. A kid who was raised by two college professors and had tutoring and the best private schools and gets a 99 does not have more aptitude than a kid whose parents are divorced and lived in and out of shelters and who scores a 98 on the same test. More than just test scores should be considered.
This extreme example is misleading. The likely GPA cut off here is 3.0, we are *far* from a discussion of 99 vs 98. It's more like should we drop 50% of the student in the 90-99 range at random in favor of letting through 10% of the students in the 70-89 range?
Besides, this is said like having more racial diversity (fewer Asians) is always better. We already know that's an illegal goal, and evidence that it's benefitting the students is flimsy at best. You *have to* demonstrate why this is better for everyone when dropped like this, otherwise you're suggesting an illegal goal.
If you don’t want to read the whole thing (it’s pretty tedious):
“Any decision to either restore the Lowell Admissions Policy or to supersede it with another admissions policy must be consistent with the requirements of Education Code section 35160.5 (b)(2)(B) which explicitly prohibits public school districts from making enrollment decisions based on the student’s academic performance,” the district stated in an email to Mission Local on Friday. ”
“ If you’re wondering just what passage of the California Education Code has the school district lawyers gritting their teeth, check 35160.5 (b)(2)(B).
The operative passage states that if more students want to go to a school than it has room to serve, the district must ensure “that selection of pupils to enroll in the school is made through a random, unbiased process that prohibits an evaluation of whether a pupil should be enrolled based upon the pupil’s academic or athletic performance.”
I guess I can’t edit comments. But yes, your primary point stands that just making a GPA cutoff and then a lottery isn’t going to be good for students or Lowell either. SFUSD is still under some kind of judicial consent decree around Lowell too, so any plan should meet that. Or we should challenge the consent decree and get it removed.
RASOTA has far more Black and Latino students than Lowell, proving that you can have both diversity and an excellent learning environment. A kid who was raised by two college professors and had tutoring and the best private schools and gets a 99 does not have more aptitude than a kid whose parents are divorced and lived in and out of shelters and who scores a 98 on the same test. More than just test scores should be considered.
This extreme example is misleading. The likely GPA cut off here is 3.0, we are *far* from a discussion of 99 vs 98. It's more like should we drop 50% of the student in the 90-99 range at random in favor of letting through 10% of the students in the 70-89 range?
Besides, this is said like having more racial diversity (fewer Asians) is always better. We already know that's an illegal goal, and evidence that it's benefitting the students is flimsy at best. You *have to* demonstrate why this is better for everyone when dropped like this, otherwise you're suggesting an illegal goal.
https://missionlocal.org/2022/02/lowells-old-merit-based-admissions-policy-wont-come-back-no-matter-whos-on-the-school-board/
Current policy is illegal as well.
If you don’t want to read the whole thing (it’s pretty tedious):
“Any decision to either restore the Lowell Admissions Policy or to supersede it with another admissions policy must be consistent with the requirements of Education Code section 35160.5 (b)(2)(B) which explicitly prohibits public school districts from making enrollment decisions based on the student’s academic performance,” the district stated in an email to Mission Local on Friday. ”
“ If you’re wondering just what passage of the California Education Code has the school district lawyers gritting their teeth, check 35160.5 (b)(2)(B).
The operative passage states that if more students want to go to a school than it has room to serve, the district must ensure “that selection of pupils to enroll in the school is made through a random, unbiased process that prohibits an evaluation of whether a pupil should be enrolled based upon the pupil’s academic or athletic performance.”
I guess I can’t edit comments. But yes, your primary point stands that just making a GPA cutoff and then a lottery isn’t going to be good for students or Lowell either. SFUSD is still under some kind of judicial consent decree around Lowell too, so any plan should meet that. Or we should challenge the consent decree and get it removed.