In 2005 at the ripe age of 29, I was hired to be the principal of the Media Communications Technology HS in what was formerly West Roxbury High. An overwhelming percentage of the faculty were white veteran teachers. The students were overwhelmingly students of color.

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I had only a few vacancies and was determined to hire qualified teachers of color. Because representation matters.

One white veteran teacher was unlicensed and had been given licensure waivers for about 6 years. I chose not to hire him back and instead…

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Sunny Pai

@SungJoonPai

29 Jun

Let’s say that you have a bunch of kids who would do great at an exam school. Some are wealthy. Some are not.

We know the wealthy ones pay for test prep. Or attend private schools like Holy Name that give all students A+’s.

The exam school policy MUST…

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… help level this playing field.

Rank ordering students for selection favors the wealthy. A one point difference in test score or grade can end up boosting a student 50-100 spots in the order. The task force favors rank ordering already.

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Setting aside 20% of seats at first to be assigned citywide on straight rank DOUBLES the disadvantage to students in poverty. Mr. Contompasis is fighting to put that back in, when it was taken out yesterday.

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Read 4 tweets

Sunny Pai

@SungJoonPai

28 Jun

The exam school task force is looking at simulation data. The question… should test scores be weighted 20%, 30%, 40%, or 50%.

Also, should 20% of seats be set aside to be assigned citywide for the “best” scoring students regardless of geographic zone or not?

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Also, should students be accepted by rank order within geographic/SES zones or by lottery?

Quick and dirty results of the simulation…

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There’s not a whole lot of difference for racial distribution in all options. But there’s a difference for poverty.

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Read 6 tweets

Sunny Pai

@SungJoonPai

28 Jun

There is a critical school committee meeting Wednesday when hopefully a policy will be proposed. Stay tuned for a breakdown of the key elements what are being decided today and tomorrow by the task force who will make that proposal.

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