« Buyer's remorse | Main | Name the Department of Education Building After LBJ (Dan Lips) »
December 13, 2006
Diversity and excellence in Milwaukee
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has an interesting article today examining St. Joan Antida and Divine Savior Holy Angels, two all-girls Catholic schools participating in the Milwaukee voucher program. A few observations:
In existence for more than 50 years, St. Joan Antida has mostly Hispanic and African-American students, at 37% and 35% respectively, and 10% of the school's population includes multiracial and Middle Eastern students.
In a school with more non-Catholics than Catholics, a more universal identifier is average income: More than 80% of the students receive vouchers to attend St. Joan, and almost the same number qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
A predominantly non-Catholic student body at a Catholic high school? Muslim students, even? For all the complaining that choice schools resegregate, I'd say St. Joan Antida is a model for diversity. Also worth pointing out is the difference in standards between the two schools:
And while college is on the horizon for every girl interviewed, their choices differ significantly. While St. Joan feeds mostly into local institutions - Alverno College, Cardinal Stritch and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee among them - many students at Divine Savior have set their sights on Boston College, Harvard, Northwestern, even West Point.
That also may be why there's a sense of frenzy at Divine Savior that contrasts with St. Joan, where girls say they are stressed but not overwhelmed.
The Divine Savior girls joke about it, but they also say they take Advanced Placement courses, complete four to six hours of homework a day and function on little sleep. And because standards are high - a 92% is only a B+ - competition for grades is fierce and overachievement is average.
Yes, there's a difference in results. But then, there's a vast difference in the level of standards of these two schools. I don't think St. Joan Antida would disagree that Divine Savior is more rigorous and demanding (this is the first time I've ever heard of a school saying a 92% is only a B+). But that's perfectly okay: not every kid is cut out for West Point and Harvard. Besides, nobody could denigrate St. Joan in good conscience: they clearly target and cater to an at-risk demographic, so that they're able to send these girls along to local colleges is a big deal indeed.
In reality, these two schools aren't really comparable (something the reporter notes near the beginning). Look at their respective numbers in the right-hand column of the article: there's vast difference between the two schools' student bodies, both ethnically and economically. While Divine Savior only has a handful of voucher students, eight of every ten students at St. Joan--which has a student population and tuition roughly half that of DS--are voucher recipients. Both are all-girls Catholic schools and participate in the voucher program, but there the similarities end. (This should serve as a cautionary tale for those looking to compare choice schools.)
One parting thought. Nobody should look at this article as proof that students in choice schools are being academically abused. Yes, they're being pushed to excel. Yes, it's a lot of work. But they chose to attend these schools. I don't think it's a coincidence that they also seem to enjoy what they're doing.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.edspresso.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/974
