Any schools Waitlist data shock you?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Some factors are: the crumbling of TR and CMI (or, people's willingness to acknowledge it), so more people there are lotterying. No longer having a guarantee at DCI means those families are lotterying. Stuart-Hobson is no longer as easy to get into. So people are making longer lottery lists because they're scared.

Longer lists is probably part of it, but the number of unique 5th grade applicants has been on an upward trend over the past three years, so I would expect that’s part of it as well.

I'm curious about this as well. Are there numbers available yet on the number of unique applicants per grade this year? If this year's rising fifth graders don't have a DCI guarantee and SH isn't taking as many OOB students as it used to, families may be hedging their bets and applying for Latin and Basis for fifth instead of putting all of their stakes on a good enough lottery number for sixth.

I think most rising 5th graders have a DCI guarantee. I can't think of a feeder that has a bigger 4th class than spots.

That may be true now, but most of the DCI feeders are dramatically increasing the size of their primary classes and, when pushed, are acknowledging that this means that there will not be a guarantee for kids entering PK3, PK4, K, or even 1st (at some of the schools) right now. At YY, for example, they told us that kids have lots of middle school options and that because "many" kids will choose to go to MS like Latin or BASIS, there should be enough spaces at DCI available for those kids that want to go there, even when the grades start with 100 students (as they will soon at YY), but that is far from a guarantee and also not reflective of the current reality w/r/t the number of kids waitlisted at MS like Latin and BASIS this year.

MV sent a letter recently saying there will be more kids than spots for the current 4th graders-- 70 spots and 100 kids. So even assuming not everyone applies to DCI, not everyone who applies matches or enrolls, and some kids peel off for Latin and Basis in 5th, it's possible someone could be shut out of DCI. Depending on whether the other Spanish member schools use their full allocation of seats, as well. So it's a really hard thing to predict. But it's not some vague future hypothetical-- for MV and Stokes it's happening now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k90Y1NiPfpaGHYuHLAHIdgZA79KiNfLE/view

Wow, and what they don’t say is that about 2/3 of kids have sibling preference, so that really means the 33 kids without preference are fighting for the remaining less five seats.

Yup. I do think there will be leftover LAMB seats, so it should work out. But in future years, some of the non-siblings will be outta luck.

I didn't realize MV had so many 4th graders and stand corrected. Tho, the 4th graders should still be okay b/c LAMB and DCB have small current 4th grades.

MV between the two campuses took almost 140 kids for PK3 this year (110 of them at MVP. Insanity.)

That's because their attrition is so dire, they need a ton of PK3s to balance their budget. Don't worry, they won't all stay.

+1. Empty classrooms they call fill with naive pre-k families. Better than empty seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these waitlist numbers for middle high schools (Latin, Basis, Truth, Benneker McKinley), what is the trajectory looking like as far as a solid middle/high school option a few years into the future? It seems to be looking less and less likely of being able to get into some of these schools when the IB school doesn’t seem like a great option either at this point. I’m starting to feel slightly anxious about it all even though we’re still 3 years away, but we’ve never done great in the lottery and been generally satisfied with our DCPS IB elementary.

You should be making plans to consider potentially moving. 3 years is nothing and going to fly by. Your chance in 3 years is going to be significantly less than now.

Don’t be in the position that many current families are in now. Basically there are now only 2 acceptable middle schools if you take out DCI and if your kid doesn’t fit the right characteristics for Basis then it’s down to 1 middle school EOTP

I find this comment unhelpful and a little reactionary (also unclear, I can't tell which schools you've decided are acceptable -- are you including Deal and Hardy in this? SH? Viewing Latin and Latin Cooper separately?) but a few thoughts:

I think it's premature to decide what is happening with MS/HS until we watch the waitlists move. I want to see where things shake out, especially with SH, EH, and Inspired Teaching. I do agree that counting on Latin or BASIS as some kind of golden ticket if you hate your IB is a mistake, but that's been true for years. In fact, a major reason you see SH improving steadily is that many Hill families took that approach for years, and were even more encouraged when Latin Cooper opened, struck out, and decided to give SH a shot.

If you are a family at a school that feeds to Eliot-Hine, that news can mean a few things. One, it's a reminder that if Latin/BASIS is your Plan A, you need a really good, strong Plan B that is basically a sure bet. Two, you should not count on being able to get into SH OOB. But three, if you are someone willing to give this a shot, it also likely means that EH will continue to build it's IB percentage and may be on the same or very similar trajectory to SH. That #3 won't matter to many families, but might be enough for a family who loves their elementary school and neighborhood, and thinks they can make it work with a "developing" MS. Especially if they have a solid plan for HS (as Eastern is no one's "solid" high school plan).

Also, if you want SH to be your strong Plan B, JOW has low waitlists in pretty much every grade, is entering a swing space next year so may lose some families because of that (especially in upper grades), and feeds to SH. To me that's almost a no brainer. If your kid is entering 3rd grade or below, they will even get at least a year at the new JOW campus, which will probably be really nice. So if moving is an absolute no for you but you want a solid MS option, I'd be doing a post-lottery add for JOW just to see, and if you get a spot, go tour. Due to the new campus, I would anticipate that this year and next year might be the easiest years to do that and it will get progressively harder after that.

To me, HS is a bigger question than MS. There are still a lot of acceptable MS options IMO, even outside Deal/Hardy/Latin/Basis/DCI. I'd consider any of the 3 Hill middles acceptable, but especially SH which I might even categorize as strong, ITDS for the right kid, and McFarland as well, especially with John Lewis building it's IB buy in and becoming a really well-liked school in Petworth. I'd also not count out CHEC with how Marie Reed is doing lately, SWW@Francis Stevens should absolutely be an option, and I'd even give McKinley a look. One thing a lot of these schools have going for them? Strong feeder elementaries with a lot of families who value neighborhood schools, and small size overall (which makes it easier for a couple good cohorts to really change the look and feel of a school).

I think if you want to stay in DC through MS without moving IB for Deal/Hardy or going private, you actually have a lot of reasonable options and this is likely to expand in future years as some of these schools that have previously been seen as unacceptable continue to get 2nd and 3rd looks from IB and nearby families.

HS remains the issue. I have to imagine some of these feeder HS have to get better eventually if the elementary and MS continue to improve and get more IB buy-in. But if you already have a kid in elementary, I don't know that you can count on any of these HS options outside JR, McKinley, and the application schools, and I agree the results for McKinley and the application schools this year are alarming. Our Plan B for HS is moving, and we're actually making concrete choices to make moving an easier option if/when the time comes because we have no faith that we will have a viable HS option in DC.

My two cents. I'm sure a lot of people disagree with me, but the idea that there is 1 acceptable MS EOTP just struck me as silly so I wanted to weigh in.

Overwhelming majority of families are not considering SH, EH, etc.. The 3 CH middles are not acceptable. You have to be joking. Neither is MacFarland, CHEC or whatever.

You can absolutely lower your standards and deal with poor academics and poorly performing peer groups in addition to behavior issues, bullying, fighting, etc…if you are so desperate to stay where you are. But many are not.

It’s also wishful thinking to think all these schools are miraculously going to get better all over EOTP. It’s not.

One thing you are right is that high school is hard. But it’s a big mistake to get shut out of high school and move then when you could have done it in 5th and given your kid a much better middle school experience academically, socially, extracurriculars, in addition to establishing more friendships easier on then moving in high school. Lastly, your kid will also be much better prepared for high school.

The dirty little secret SH families don’t tell you is how much they are supplementing. There is no way I’m interested in trying to supplement everything in middle school.

[Anonymous]

I’m surprised that Takoma had to accept more pre-k 3 than they wanted because as an early action school they need to accept all in bound preK applicants. I wonder if they will lose early action status at some point?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some factors are: the crumbling of TR and CMI (or, people's willingness to acknowledge it), so more people there are lotterying. No longer having a guarantee at DCI means those families are lotterying. Stuart-Hobson is no longer as easy to get into. So people are making longer lottery lists because they're scared.

Longer lists is probably part of it, but the number of unique 5th grade applicants has been on an upward trend over the past three years, so I would expect that’s part of it as well.

I'm curious about this as well. Are there numbers available yet on the number of unique applicants per grade this year? If this year's rising fifth graders don't have a DCI guarantee and SH isn't taking as many OOB students as it used to, families may be hedging their bets and applying for Latin and Basis for fifth instead of putting all of their stakes on a good enough lottery number for sixth.

I think most rising 5th graders have a DCI guarantee. I can't think of a feeder that has a bigger 4th class than spots.

That may be true now, but most of the DCI feeders are dramatically increasing the size of their primary classes and, when pushed, are acknowledging that this means that there will not be a guarantee for kids entering PK3, PK4, K, or even 1st (at some of the schools) right now. At YY, for example, they told us that kids have lots of middle school options and that because "many" kids will choose to go to MS like Latin or BASIS, there should be enough spaces at DCI available for those kids that want to go there, even when the grades start with 100 students (as they will soon at YY), but that is far from a guarantee and also not reflective of the current reality w/r/t the number of kids waitlisted at MS like Latin and BASIS this year.

MV sent a letter recently saying there will be more kids than spots for the current 4th graders-- 70 spots and 100 kids. So even assuming not everyone applies to DCI, not everyone who applies matches or enrolls, and some kids peel off for Latin and Basis in 5th, it's possible someone could be shut out of DCI. Depending on whether the other Spanish member schools use their full allocation of seats, as well. So it's a really hard thing to predict. But it's not some vague future hypothetical-- for MV and Stokes it's happening now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k90Y1NiPfpaGHYuHLAHIdgZA79KiNfLE/view

Wow, and what they don’t say is that about 2/3 of kids have sibling preference, so that really means the 33 kids without preference are fighting for the remaining less five seats.

yup - it's the sibling preference on top of the feeder preference that stood out to me. especially because it appears to work in both directions (meaning with both older siblings already at DCI and younger siblings at a feeder).

MSDC says the sibling feeder preference doesn’t apply to sixth grade.

That's not what the MV letter says though. So which is it?

Also - the current 4th grade class at LAMB definitely has more than 50 kids right now (and only 50 spots). The numbers are close enough that it will be fine for the LAMB families - a few kids will go to BASIS or Latin, and some of them might not continue to DCI for other reasons, but it's foolish for families at other schools to count on the "LAMB spots" to help make up any difference. It's going to be a couple of spots that LAMB has "available" to share with other feeder schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some factors are: the crumbling of TR and CMI (or, people's willingness to acknowledge it), so more people there are lotterying. No longer having a guarantee at DCI means those families are lotterying. Stuart-Hobson is no longer as easy to get into. So people are making longer lottery lists because they're scared.

Longer lists is probably part of it, but the number of unique 5th grade applicants has been on an upward trend over the past three years, so I would expect that’s part of it as well.

I'm curious about this as well. Are there numbers available yet on the number of unique applicants per grade this year? If this year's rising fifth graders don't have a DCI guarantee and SH isn't taking as many OOB students as it used to, families may be hedging their bets and applying for Latin and Basis for fifth instead of putting all of their stakes on a good enough lottery number for sixth.

I think most rising 5th graders have a DCI guarantee. I can't think of a feeder that has a bigger 4th class than spots.

That may be true now, but most of the DCI feeders are dramatically increasing the size of their primary classes and, when pushed, are acknowledging that this means that there will not be a guarantee for kids entering PK3, PK4, K, or even 1st (at some of the schools) right now. At YY, for example, they told us that kids have lots of middle school options and that because "many" kids will choose to go to MS like Latin or BASIS, there should be enough spaces at DCI available for those kids that want to go there, even when the grades start with 100 students (as they will soon at YY), but that is far from a guarantee and also not reflective of the current reality w/r/t the number of kids waitlisted at MS like Latin and BASIS this year.

MV sent a letter recently saying there will be more kids than spots for the current 4th graders-- 70 spots and 100 kids. So even assuming not everyone applies to DCI, not everyone who applies matches or enrolls, and some kids peel off for Latin and Basis in 5th, it's possible someone could be shut out of DCI. Depending on whether the other Spanish member schools use their full allocation of seats, as well. So it's a really hard thing to predict. But it's not some vague future hypothetical-- for MV and Stokes it's happening now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k90Y1NiPfpaGHYuHLAHIdgZA79KiNfLE/view

Can you imagine suffering through MV in hopes of solving MS and HS only to be shut out? I'd be in therapy for years trying to deal with what I did to my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some factors are: the crumbling of TR and CMI (or, people's willingness to acknowledge it), so more people there are lotterying. No longer having a guarantee at DCI means those families are lotterying. Stuart-Hobson is no longer as easy to get into. So people are making longer lottery lists because they're scared.

Longer lists is probably part of it, but the number of unique 5th grade applicants has been on an upward trend over the past three years, so I would expect that’s part of it as well.

I'm curious about this as well. Are there numbers available yet on the number of unique applicants per grade this year? If this year's rising fifth graders don't have a DCI guarantee and SH isn't taking as many OOB students as it used to, families may be hedging their bets and applying for Latin and Basis for fifth instead of putting all of their stakes on a good enough lottery number for sixth.

I think most rising 5th graders have a DCI guarantee. I can't think of a feeder that has a bigger 4th class than spots.

That may be true now, but most of the DCI feeders are dramatically increasing the size of their primary classes and, when pushed, are acknowledging that this means that there will not be a guarantee for kids entering PK3, PK4, K, or even 1st (at some of the schools) right now. At YY, for example, they told us that kids have lots of middle school options and that because "many" kids will choose to go to MS like Latin or BASIS, there should be enough spaces at DCI available for those kids that want to go there, even when the grades start with 100 students (as they will soon at YY), but that is far from a guarantee and also not reflective of the current reality w/r/t the number of kids waitlisted at MS like Latin and BASIS this year.

MV sent a letter recently saying there will be more kids than spots for the current 4th graders-- 70 spots and 100 kids. So even assuming not everyone applies to DCI, not everyone who applies matches or enrolls, and some kids peel off for Latin and Basis in 5th, it's possible someone could be shut out of DCI. Depending on whether the other Spanish member schools use their full allocation of seats, as well. So it's a really hard thing to predict. But it's not some vague future hypothetical-- for MV and Stokes it's happening now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k90Y1NiPfpaGHYuHLAHIdgZA79KiNfLE/view

Can you imagine suffering through MV in hopes of solving MS and HS only to be shut out? I'd be in therapy for years trying to deal with what I did to my kid.

Says someone who knows absolutely nothing about MV. P 3rd grade had issues last year but things are good otherwise. We are at 8th St and having a great year and my kid is doing great socially and academically.

Good luck with Cardozo or whatever……

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some factors are: the crumbling of TR and CMI (or, people's willingness to acknowledge it), so more people there are lotterying. No longer having a guarantee at DCI means those families are lotterying. Stuart-Hobson is no longer as easy to get into. So people are making longer lottery lists because they're scared.

Longer lists is probably part of it, but the number of unique 5th grade applicants has been on an upward trend over the past three years, so I would expect that’s part of it as well.

I'm curious about this as well. Are there numbers available yet on the number of unique applicants per grade this year? If this year's rising fifth graders don't have a DCI guarantee and SH isn't taking as many OOB students as it used to, families may be hedging their bets and applying for Latin and Basis for fifth instead of putting all of their stakes on a good enough lottery number for sixth.

I think most rising 5th graders have a DCI guarantee. I can't think of a feeder that has a bigger 4th class than spots.

That may be true now, but most of the DCI feeders are dramatically increasing the size of their primary classes and, when pushed, are acknowledging that this means that there will not be a guarantee for kids entering PK3, PK4, K, or even 1st (at some of the schools) right now. At YY, for example, they told us that kids have lots of middle school options and that because "many" kids will choose to go to MS like Latin or BASIS, there should be enough spaces at DCI available for those kids that want to go there, even when the grades start with 100 students (as they will soon at YY), but that is far from a guarantee and also not reflective of the current reality w/r/t the number of kids waitlisted at MS like Latin and BASIS this year.

MV sent a letter recently saying there will be more kids than spots for the current 4th graders-- 70 spots and 100 kids. So even assuming not everyone applies to DCI, not everyone who applies matches or enrolls, and some kids peel off for Latin and Basis in 5th, it's possible someone could be shut out of DCI. Depending on whether the other Spanish member schools use their full allocation of seats, as well. So it's a really hard thing to predict. But it's not some vague future hypothetical-- for MV and Stokes it's happening now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k90Y1NiPfpaGHYuHLAHIdgZA79KiNfLE/view

Can you imagine suffering through MV in hopes of solving MS and HS only to be shut out? I'd be in therapy for years trying to deal with what I did to my kid.

Says someone who knows absolutely nothing about MV. P 3rd grade had issues last year but things are good otherwise. We are at 8th St and having a great year and my kid is doing great socially and academically.

Good luck with Cardozo or whatever……

Right, just one year in one grade at one campus. Everything else is totally perfect! Nothing to see here!

Open your eyes. And good luck when you don't get a spot at DCI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these waitlist numbers for middle high schools (Latin, Basis, Truth, Benneker McKinley), what is the trajectory looking like as far as a solid middle/high school option a few years into the future? It seems to be looking less and less likely of being able to get into some of these schools when the IB school doesn’t seem like a great option either at this point. I’m starting to feel slightly anxious about it all even though we’re still 3 years away, but we’ve never done great in the lottery and been generally satisfied with our DCPS IB elementary.

You should be making plans to consider potentially moving. 3 years is nothing and going to fly by. Your chance in 3 years is going to be significantly less than now.

Don’t be in the position that many current families are in now. Basically there are now only 2 acceptable middle schools if you take out DCI and if your kid doesn’t fit the right characteristics for Basis then it’s down to 1 middle school EOTP

I find this comment unhelpful and a little reactionary (also unclear, I can't tell which schools you've decided are acceptable -- are you including Deal and Hardy in this? SH? Viewing Latin and Latin Cooper separately?) but a few thoughts:

I think it's premature to decide what is happening with MS/HS until we watch the waitlists move. I want to see where things shake out, especially with SH, EH, and Inspired Teaching. I do agree that counting on Latin or BASIS as some kind of golden ticket if you hate your IB is a mistake, but that's been true for years. In fact, a major reason you see SH improving steadily is that many Hill families took that approach for years, and were even more encouraged when Latin Cooper opened, struck out, and decided to give SH a shot.

If you are a family at a school that feeds to Eliot-Hine, that news can mean a few things. One, it's a reminder that if Latin/BASIS is your Plan A, you need a really good, strong Plan B that is basically a sure bet. Two, you should not count on being able to get into SH OOB. But three, if you are someone willing to give this a shot, it also likely means that EH will continue to build it's IB percentage and may be on the same or very similar trajectory to SH. That #3 won't matter to many families, but might be enough for a family who loves their elementary school and neighborhood, and thinks they can make it work with a "developing" MS. Especially if they have a solid plan for HS (as Eastern is no one's "solid" high school plan).

Also, if you want SH to be your strong Plan B, JOW has low waitlists in pretty much every grade, is entering a swing space next year so may lose some families because of that (especially in upper grades), and feeds to SH. To me that's almost a no brainer. If your kid is entering 3rd grade or below, they will even get at least a year at the new JOW campus, which will probably be really nice. So if moving is an absolute no for you but you want a solid MS option, I'd be doing a post-lottery add for JOW just to see, and if you get a spot, go tour. Due to the new campus, I would anticipate that this year and next year might be the easiest years to do that and it will get progressively harder after that.

To me, HS is a bigger question than MS. There are still a lot of acceptable MS options IMO, even outside Deal/Hardy/Latin/Basis/DCI. I'd consider any of the 3 Hill middles acceptable, but especially SH which I might even categorize as strong, ITDS for the right kid, and McFarland as well, especially with John Lewis building it's IB buy in and becoming a really well-liked school in Petworth. I'd also not count out CHEC with how Marie Reed is doing lately, SWW@Francis Stevens should absolutely be an option, and I'd even give McKinley a look. One thing a lot of these schools have going for them? Strong feeder elementaries with a lot of families who value neighborhood schools, and small size overall (which makes it easier for a couple good cohorts to really change the look and feel of a school).

I think if you want to stay in DC through MS without moving IB for Deal/Hardy or going private, you actually have a lot of reasonable options and this is likely to expand in future years as some of these schools that have previously been seen as unacceptable continue to get 2nd and 3rd looks from IB and nearby families.

HS remains the issue. I have to imagine some of these feeder HS have to get better eventually if the elementary and MS continue to improve and get more IB buy-in. But if you already have a kid in elementary, I don't know that you can count on any of these HS options outside JR, McKinley, and the application schools, and I agree the results for McKinley and the application schools this year are alarming. Our Plan B for HS is moving, and we're actually making concrete choices to make moving an easier option if/when the time comes because we have no faith that we will have a viable HS option in DC.

My two cents. I'm sure a lot of people disagree with me, but the idea that there is 1 acceptable MS EOTP just struck me as silly so I wanted to weigh in.

What about MacArthur HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some factors are: the crumbling of TR and CMI (or, people's willingness to acknowledge it), so more people there are lotterying. No longer having a guarantee at DCI means those families are lotterying. Stuart-Hobson is no longer as easy to get into. So people are making longer lottery lists because they're scared.

Longer lists is probably part of it, but the number of unique 5th grade applicants has been on an upward trend over the past three years, so I would expect that’s part of it as well.

I'm curious about this as well. Are there numbers available yet on the number of unique applicants per grade this year? If this year's rising fifth graders don't have a DCI guarantee and SH isn't taking as many OOB students as it used to, families may be hedging their bets and applying for Latin and Basis for fifth instead of putting all of their stakes on a good enough lottery number for sixth.

I think most rising 5th graders have a DCI guarantee. I can't think of a feeder that has a bigger 4th class than spots.

That may be true now, but most of the DCI feeders are dramatically increasing the size of their primary classes and, when pushed, are acknowledging that this means that there will not be a guarantee for kids entering PK3, PK4, K, or even 1st (at some of the schools) right now. At YY, for example, they told us that kids have lots of middle school options and that because "many" kids will choose to go to MS like Latin or BASIS, there should be enough spaces at DCI available for those kids that want to go there, even when the grades start with 100 students (as they will soon at YY), but that is far from a guarantee and also not reflective of the current reality w/r/t the number of kids waitlisted at MS like Latin and BASIS this year.

MV sent a letter recently saying there will be more kids than spots for the current 4th graders-- 70 spots and 100 kids. So even assuming not everyone applies to DCI, not everyone who applies matches or enrolls, and some kids peel off for Latin and Basis in 5th, it's possible someone could be shut out of DCI. Depending on whether the other Spanish member schools use their full allocation of seats, as well. So it's a really hard thing to predict. But it's not some vague future hypothetical-- for MV and Stokes it's happening now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k90Y1NiPfpaGHYuHLAHIdgZA79KiNfLE/view

Wow, and what they don’t say is that about 2/3 of kids have sibling preference, so that really means the 33 kids without preference are fighting for the remaining less five seats.

yup - it's the sibling preference on top of the feeder preference that stood out to me. especially because it appears to work in both directions (meaning with both older siblings already at DCI and younger siblings at a feeder).

MSDC says the sibling feeder preference doesn’t apply to sixth grade.

That's not what the MV letter says though. So which is it?

Also - the current 4th grade class at LAMB definitely has more than 50 kids right now (and only 50 spots). The numbers are close enough that it will be fine for the LAMB families - a few kids will go to BASIS or Latin, and some of them might not continue to DCI for other reasons, but it's foolish for families at other schools to count on the "LAMB spots" to help make up any difference. It's going to be a couple of spots that LAMB has "available" to share with other feeder schools.

It's MSDC and DCI, not MV, since they are the ones applying the preference to their applicants. But I don't see where it says that in the letter, unless I'm missing something?

For 2025-26 school year, we anticipate approximately 100 Mundo Verde 5th graders/rising 6th graders expressing interest in DCI, while we have only 70 allocated spots.
The allocation of those 70 spots will be done through the My School DC DCI Member Lottery. That lottery has a sibling preference, so that families with a sibling already at DCI will get preference.

I see two things here. First, they're not saying there will be 100 total kids, they're saying they anticipate 100 kids applying to DCI. Above they say that 85-90% of fifth graders choose DCI, so presumably their anticipated 100 kids is 85-90% of the actual number of fifth graders that year. That means that families shouldn't count on the odds being slightly better because some kids will go elsewhere because the numbers they offer already include that attrition. Second, it only says families with a sibling already at DCI, not already at DCI OR a feeder school. Looking at the Tableau site, it looks like that preference applied in 23-24 (with 19 sibling attending, 21 sibling attending across LEA, and 26 no preference) but not in 24-25 (with only 8 sibling attending and 46 no preference). That 8 is odd because prior years had 19, 29, 17 siblings attending. Maybe because 24-25 was the first expansion year and there was a large influx of new families? I'm not going back in the MV data to count backwards, but I'm guessing that's a fluke and will go back to the prior averages next year or in a few years after the first expansion classes get through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on these waitlist numbers for middle high schools (Latin, Basis, Truth, Benneker McKinley), what is the trajectory looking like as far as a solid middle/high school option a few years into the future? It seems to be looking less and less likely of being able to get into some of these schools when the IB school doesn’t seem like a great option either at this point. I’m starting to feel slightly anxious about it all even though we’re still 3 years away, but we’ve never done great in the lottery and been generally satisfied with our DCPS IB elementary.

You should be making plans to consider potentially moving. 3 years is nothing and going to fly by. Your chance in 3 years is going to be significantly less than now.

Don’t be in the position that many current families are in now. Basically there are now only 2 acceptable middle schools if you take out DCI and if your kid doesn’t fit the right characteristics for Basis then it’s down to 1 middle school EOTP

I find this comment unhelpful and a little reactionary (also unclear, I can't tell which schools you've decided are acceptable -- are you including Deal and Hardy in this? SH? Viewing Latin and Latin Cooper separately?) but a few thoughts:

I think it's premature to decide what is happening with MS/HS until we watch the waitlists move. I want to see where things shake out, especially with SH, EH, and Inspired Teaching. I do agree that counting on Latin or BASIS as some kind of golden ticket if you hate your IB is a mistake, but that's been true for years. In fact, a major reason you see SH improving steadily is that many Hill families took that approach for years, and were even more encouraged when Latin Cooper opened, struck out, and decided to give SH a shot.

If you are a family at a school that feeds to Eliot-Hine, that news can mean a few things. One, it's a reminder that if Latin/BASIS is your Plan A, you need a really good, strong Plan B that is basically a sure bet. Two, you should not count on being able to get into SH OOB. But three, if you are someone willing to give this a shot, it also likely means that EH will continue to build it's IB percentage and may be on the same or very similar trajectory to SH. That #3 won't matter to many families, but might be enough for a family who loves their elementary school and neighborhood, and thinks they can make it work with a "developing" MS. Especially if they have a solid plan for HS (as Eastern is no one's "solid" high school plan).

Also, if you want SH to be your strong Plan B, JOW has low waitlists in pretty much every grade, is entering a swing space next year so may lose some families because of that (especially in upper grades), and feeds to SH. To me that's almost a no brainer. If your kid is entering 3rd grade or below, they will even get at least a year at the new JOW campus, which will probably be really nice. So if moving is an absolute no for you but you want a solid MS option, I'd be doing a post-lottery add for JOW just to see, and if you get a spot, go tour. Due to the new campus, I would anticipate that this year and next year might be the easiest years to do that and it will get progressively harder after that.

To me, HS is a bigger question than MS. There are still a lot of acceptable MS options IMO, even outside Deal/Hardy/Latin/Basis/DCI. I'd consider any of the 3 Hill middles acceptable, but especially SH which I might even categorize as strong, ITDS for the right kid, and McFarland as well, especially with John Lewis building it's IB buy in and becoming a really well-liked school in Petworth. I'd also not count out CHEC with how Marie Reed is doing lately, SWW@Francis Stevens should absolutely be an option, and I'd even give McKinley a look. One thing a lot of these schools have going for them? Strong feeder elementaries with a lot of families who value neighborhood schools, and small size overall (which makes it easier for a couple good cohorts to really change the look and feel of a school).

I think if you want to stay in DC through MS without moving IB for Deal/Hardy or going private, you actually have a lot of reasonable options and this is likely to expand in future years as some of these schools that have previously been seen as unacceptable continue to get 2nd and 3rd looks from IB and nearby families.

HS remains the issue. I have to imagine some of these feeder HS have to get better eventually if the elementary and MS continue to improve and get more IB buy-in. But if you already have a kid in elementary, I don't know that you can count on any of these HS options outside JR, McKinley, and the application schools, and I agree the results for McKinley and the application schools this year are alarming. Our Plan B for HS is moving, and we're actually making concrete choices to make moving an easier option if/when the time comes because we have no faith that we will have a viable HS option in DC.

My two cents. I'm sure a lot of people disagree with me, but the idea that there is 1 acceptable MS EOTP just struck me as silly so I wanted to weigh in.

What about MacArthur HS?

PP said a few pages back that McKinley was a typo and they meant to say MacArthur.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some factors are: the crumbling of TR and CMI (or, people's willingness to acknowledge it), so more people there are lotterying. No longer having a guarantee at DCI means those families are lotterying. Stuart-Hobson is no longer as easy to get into. So people are making longer lottery lists because they're scared.

Longer lists is probably part of it, but the number of unique 5th grade applicants has been on an upward trend over the past three years, so I would expect that’s part of it as well.

I'm curious about this as well. Are there numbers available yet on the number of unique applicants per grade this year? If this year's rising fifth graders don't have a DCI guarantee and SH isn't taking as many OOB students as it used to, families may be hedging their bets and applying for Latin and Basis for fifth instead of putting all of their stakes on a good enough lottery number for sixth.

I think most rising 5th graders have a DCI guarantee. I can't think of a feeder that has a bigger 4th class than spots.

That may be true now, but most of the DCI feeders are dramatically increasing the size of their primary classes and, when pushed, are acknowledging that this means that there will not be a guarantee for kids entering PK3, PK4, K, or even 1st (at some of the schools) right now. At YY, for example, they told us that kids have lots of middle school options and that because "many" kids will choose to go to MS like Latin or BASIS, there should be enough spaces at DCI available for those kids that want to go there, even when the grades start with 100 students (as they will soon at YY), but that is far from a guarantee and also not reflective of the current reality w/r/t the number of kids waitlisted at MS like Latin and BASIS this year.

MV sent a letter recently saying there will be more kids than spots for the current 4th graders-- 70 spots and 100 kids. So even assuming not everyone applies to DCI, not everyone who applies matches or enrolls, and some kids peel off for Latin and Basis in 5th, it's possible someone could be shut out of DCI. Depending on whether the other Spanish member schools use their full allocation of seats, as well. So it's a really hard thing to predict. But it's not some vague future hypothetical-- for MV and Stokes it's happening now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k90Y1NiPfpaGHYuHLAHIdgZA79KiNfLE/view

Can you imagine suffering through MV in hopes of solving MS and HS only to be shut out? I'd be in therapy for years trying to deal with what I did to my kid.

Says someone who knows absolutely nothing about MV. P 3rd grade had issues last year but things are good otherwise. We are at 8th St and having a great year and my kid is doing great socially and academically.

Good luck with Cardozo or whatever……

Right, just one year in one grade at one campus. Everything else is totally perfect! Nothing to see here!

Open your eyes. And good luck when you don't get a spot at DCI.

Nope multiple classes, multiple years, in addition to talking to parents in other grades. The 1st year back post pandemic was rough like everywhere else but things have stabilized.

You must not have taken a stats class. Chance of going to our IB school is 0. Chance of getting into DCI significantly higher 60-80%. I’ll circle back to you when we are there.

BTW, no need to move to Deal. DCI has a good cohort of IB Deal families who are happy they made the choice and trajectory is upwards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some factors are: the crumbling of TR and CMI (or, people's willingness to acknowledge it), so more people there are lotterying. No longer having a guarantee at DCI means those families are lotterying. Stuart-Hobson is no longer as easy to get into. So people are making longer lottery lists because they're scared.

Longer lists is probably part of it, but the number of unique 5th grade applicants has been on an upward trend over the past three years, so I would expect that’s part of it as well.

I'm curious about this as well. Are there numbers available yet on the number of unique applicants per grade this year? If this year's rising fifth graders don't have a DCI guarantee and SH isn't taking as many OOB students as it used to, families may be hedging their bets and applying for Latin and Basis for fifth instead of putting all of their stakes on a good enough lottery number for sixth.

I think most rising 5th graders have a DCI guarantee. I can't think of a feeder that has a bigger 4th class than spots.

That may be true now, but most of the DCI feeders are dramatically increasing the size of their primary classes and, when pushed, are acknowledging that this means that there will not be a guarantee for kids entering PK3, PK4, K, or even 1st (at some of the schools) right now. At YY, for example, they told us that kids have lots of middle school options and that because "many" kids will choose to go to MS like Latin or BASIS, there should be enough spaces at DCI available for those kids that want to go there, even when the grades start with 100 students (as they will soon at YY), but that is far from a guarantee and also not reflective of the current reality w/r/t the number of kids waitlisted at MS like Latin and BASIS this year.

MV sent a letter recently saying there will be more kids than spots for the current 4th graders-- 70 spots and 100 kids. So even assuming not everyone applies to DCI, not everyone who applies matches or enrolls, and some kids peel off for Latin and Basis in 5th, it's possible someone could be shut out of DCI. Depending on whether the other Spanish member schools use their full allocation of seats, as well. So it's a really hard thing to predict. But it's not some vague future hypothetical-- for MV and Stokes it's happening now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k90Y1NiPfpaGHYuHLAHIdgZA79KiNfLE/view

Wow, and what they don’t say is that about 2/3 of kids have sibling preference, so that really means the 33 kids without preference are fighting for the remaining less five seats.

yup - it's the sibling preference on top of the feeder preference that stood out to me. especially because it appears to work in both directions (meaning with both older siblings already at DCI and younger siblings at a feeder).

MSDC says the sibling feeder preference doesn’t apply to sixth grade.

That's not what the MV letter says though. So which is it?

Also - the current 4th grade class at LAMB definitely has more than 50 kids right now (and only 50 spots). The numbers are close enough that it will be fine for the LAMB families - a few kids will go to BASIS or Latin, and some of them might not continue to DCI for other reasons, but it's foolish for families at other schools to count on the "LAMB spots" to help make up any difference. It's going to be a couple of spots that LAMB has "available" to share with other feeder schools.

It's MSDC and DCI, not MV, since they are the ones applying the preference to their applicants. But I don't see where it says that in the letter, unless I'm missing something?

For 2025-26 school year, we anticipate approximately 100 Mundo Verde 5th graders/rising 6th graders expressing interest in DCI, while we have only 70 allocated spots.
The allocation of those 70 spots will be done through the My School DC DCI Member Lottery. That lottery has a sibling preference, so that families with a sibling already at DCI will get preference.

I see two things here. First, they're not saying there will be 100 total kids, they're saying they anticipate 100 kids applying to DCI. Above they say that 85-90% of fifth graders choose DCI, so presumably their anticipated 100 kids is 85-90% of the actual number of fifth graders that year. That means that families shouldn't count on the odds being slightly better because some kids will go elsewhere because the numbers they offer already include that attrition. Second, it only says families with a sibling already at DCI, not already at DCI OR a feeder school. Looking at the Tableau site, it looks like that preference applied in 23-24 (with 19 sibling attending, 21 sibling attending across LEA, and 26 no preference) but not in 24-25 (with only 8 sibling attending and 46 no preference). That 8 is odd because prior years had 19, 29, 17 siblings attending. Maybe because 24-25 was the first expansion year and there was a large influx of new families? I'm not going back in the MV data to count backwards, but I'm guessing that's a fluke and will go back to the prior averages next year or in a few years after the first expansion classes get through.

Thanks! I'm PP you are responding to and I misunderstood what you meant by "sibling feeder preference" does not apply to 6th grade. We are saying the same thing (I think) which is that younger siblings with older siblings at DCI will still have a guarantee and that oldest children/only children will have to lottery for remaining spots. I was reading "sibling feeder preference" to mean "have a sibling at DCI and are at a feeder school to DCI," but I see now that you meant it as "have a sibling at a DCI feeder school and are at a DCI feeder school."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some factors are: the crumbling of TR and CMI (or, people's willingness to acknowledge it), so more people there are lotterying. No longer having a guarantee at DCI means those families are lotterying. Stuart-Hobson is no longer as easy to get into. So people are making longer lottery lists because they're scared.

Longer lists is probably part of it, but the number of unique 5th grade applicants has been on an upward trend over the past three years, so I would expect that’s part of it as well.

I'm curious about this as well. Are there numbers available yet on the number of unique applicants per grade this year? If this year's rising fifth graders don't have a DCI guarantee and SH isn't taking as many OOB students as it used to, families may be hedging their bets and applying for Latin and Basis for fifth instead of putting all of their stakes on a good enough lottery number for sixth.

I think most rising 5th graders have a DCI guarantee. I can't think of a feeder that has a bigger 4th class than spots.

That may be true now, but most of the DCI feeders are dramatically increasing the size of their primary classes and, when pushed, are acknowledging that this means that there will not be a guarantee for kids entering PK3, PK4, K, or even 1st (at some of the schools) right now. At YY, for example, they told us that kids have lots of middle school options and that because "many" kids will choose to go to MS like Latin or BASIS, there should be enough spaces at DCI available for those kids that want to go there, even when the grades start with 100 students (as they will soon at YY), but that is far from a guarantee and also not reflective of the current reality w/r/t the number of kids waitlisted at MS like Latin and BASIS this year.

MV sent a letter recently saying there will be more kids than spots for the current 4th graders-- 70 spots and 100 kids. So even assuming not everyone applies to DCI, not everyone who applies matches or enrolls, and some kids peel off for Latin and Basis in 5th, it's possible someone could be shut out of DCI. Depending on whether the other Spanish member schools use their full allocation of seats, as well. So it's a really hard thing to predict. But it's not some vague future hypothetical-- for MV and Stokes it's happening now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k90Y1NiPfpaGHYuHLAHIdgZA79KiNfLE/view

Can you imagine suffering through MV in hopes of solving MS and HS only to be shut out? I'd be in therapy for years trying to deal with what I did to my kid.

Says someone who knows absolutely nothing about MV. P 3rd grade had issues last year but things are good otherwise. We are at 8th St and having a great year and my kid is doing great socially and academically.

Good luck with Cardozo or whatever……

Right, just one year in one grade at one campus. Everything else is totally perfect! Nothing to see here!

Open your eyes. And good luck when you don't get a spot at DCI.

Nope multiple classes, multiple years, in addition to talking to parents in other grades. The 1st year back post pandemic was rough like everywhere else but things have stabilized.

You must not have taken a stats class. Chance of going to our IB school is 0. Chance of getting into DCI significantly higher 60-80%. I’ll circle back to you when we are there.

BTW, no need to move to Deal. DCI has a good cohort of IB Deal families who are happy they made the choice and trajectory is upwards.

Oh honey. They have done such a great job keeping the Calle Ocho parents happy. But believe me, the problems at Cook are longstanding and entrenched. So bad that the Padres organization lost all its leaders and folded for a year or so. So bad that despite living in Bloomingdale and having elementary age children, I don't know anyone who goes to Cook after ECE. I do know a lot of elementary age kids who have left, though.

Why do you think 60-80%? Are you again believing what you're told by the administration?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some factors are: the crumbling of TR and CMI (or, people's willingness to acknowledge it), so more people there are lotterying. No longer having a guarantee at DCI means those families are lotterying. Stuart-Hobson is no longer as easy to get into. So people are making longer lottery lists because they're scared.

Longer lists is probably part of it, but the number of unique 5th grade applicants has been on an upward trend over the past three years, so I would expect that’s part of it as well.

I'm curious about this as well. Are there numbers available yet on the number of unique applicants per grade this year? If this year's rising fifth graders don't have a DCI guarantee and SH isn't taking as many OOB students as it used to, families may be hedging their bets and applying for Latin and Basis for fifth instead of putting all of their stakes on a good enough lottery number for sixth.

I think most rising 5th graders have a DCI guarantee. I can't think of a feeder that has a bigger 4th class than spots.

That may be true now, but most of the DCI feeders are dramatically increasing the size of their primary classes and, when pushed, are acknowledging that this means that there will not be a guarantee for kids entering PK3, PK4, K, or even 1st (at some of the schools) right now. At YY, for example, they told us that kids have lots of middle school options and that because "many" kids will choose to go to MS like Latin or BASIS, there should be enough spaces at DCI available for those kids that want to go there, even when the grades start with 100 students (as they will soon at YY), but that is far from a guarantee and also not reflective of the current reality w/r/t the number of kids waitlisted at MS like Latin and BASIS this year.

MV sent a letter recently saying there will be more kids than spots for the current 4th graders-- 70 spots and 100 kids. So even assuming not everyone applies to DCI, not everyone who applies matches or enrolls, and some kids peel off for Latin and Basis in 5th, it's possible someone could be shut out of DCI. Depending on whether the other Spanish member schools use their full allocation of seats, as well. So it's a really hard thing to predict. But it's not some vague future hypothetical-- for MV and Stokes it's happening now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k90Y1NiPfpaGHYuHLAHIdgZA79KiNfLE/view

Can you imagine suffering through MV in hopes of solving MS and HS only to be shut out? I'd be in therapy for years trying to deal with what I did to my kid.

Says someone who knows absolutely nothing about MV. P 3rd grade had issues last year but things are good otherwise. We are at 8th St and having a great year and my kid is doing great socially and academically.

Good luck with Cardozo or whatever……

Right, just one year in one grade at one campus. Everything else is totally perfect! Nothing to see here!

Open your eyes. And good luck when you don't get a spot at DCI.

Nope multiple classes, multiple years, in addition to talking to parents in other grades. The 1st year back post pandemic was rough like everywhere else but things have stabilized.

You must not have taken a stats class. Chance of going to our IB school is 0. Chance of getting into DCI significantly higher 60-80%. I’ll circle back to you when we are there.

BTW, no need to move to Deal. DCI has a good cohort of IB Deal families who are happy they made the choice and trajectory is upwards.

Oh honey. They have done such a great job keeping the Calle Ocho parents happy. But believe me, the problems at Cook are longstanding and entrenched. So bad that the Padres organization lost all its leaders and folded for a year or so. So bad that despite living in Bloomingdale and having elementary age children, I don't know anyone who goes to Cook after ECE. I do know a lot of elementary age kids who have left, though.

Why do you think 60-80%? Are you again believing what you're told by the administration?

NP. Your obsession with this school is pathetic. You keep repeating the same
Stuff over and over again and it is clear that you have no experience with the school. Get a hobby!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some factors are: the crumbling of TR and CMI (or, people's willingness to acknowledge it), so more people there are lotterying. No longer having a guarantee at DCI means those families are lotterying. Stuart-Hobson is no longer as easy to get into. So people are making longer lottery lists because they're scared.

Longer lists is probably part of it, but the number of unique 5th grade applicants has been on an upward trend over the past three years, so I would expect that’s part of it as well.

I'm curious about this as well. Are there numbers available yet on the number of unique applicants per grade this year? If this year's rising fifth graders don't have a DCI guarantee and SH isn't taking as many OOB students as it used to, families may be hedging their bets and applying for Latin and Basis for fifth instead of putting all of their stakes on a good enough lottery number for sixth.

I think most rising 5th graders have a DCI guarantee. I can't think of a feeder that has a bigger 4th class than spots.

That may be true now, but most of the DCI feeders are dramatically increasing the size of their primary classes and, when pushed, are acknowledging that this means that there will not be a guarantee for kids entering PK3, PK4, K, or even 1st (at some of the schools) right now. At YY, for example, they told us that kids have lots of middle school options and that because "many" kids will choose to go to MS like Latin or BASIS, there should be enough spaces at DCI available for those kids that want to go there, even when the grades start with 100 students (as they will soon at YY), but that is far from a guarantee and also not reflective of the current reality w/r/t the number of kids waitlisted at MS like Latin and BASIS this year.

MV sent a letter recently saying there will be more kids than spots for the current 4th graders-- 70 spots and 100 kids. So even assuming not everyone applies to DCI, not everyone who applies matches or enrolls, and some kids peel off for Latin and Basis in 5th, it's possible someone could be shut out of DCI. Depending on whether the other Spanish member schools use their full allocation of seats, as well. So it's a really hard thing to predict. But it's not some vague future hypothetical-- for MV and Stokes it's happening now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k90Y1NiPfpaGHYuHLAHIdgZA79KiNfLE/view

Can you imagine suffering through MV in hopes of solving MS and HS only to be shut out? I'd be in therapy for years trying to deal with what I did to my kid.

Says someone who knows absolutely nothing about MV. P 3rd grade had issues last year but things are good otherwise. We are at 8th St and having a great year and my kid is doing great socially and academically.

Good luck with Cardozo or whatever……

Right, just one year in one grade at one campus. Everything else is totally perfect! Nothing to see here!

Open your eyes. And good luck when you don't get a spot at DCI.

Nope multiple classes, multiple years, in addition to talking to parents in other grades. The 1st year back post pandemic was rough like everywhere else but things have stabilized.

You must not have taken a stats class. Chance of going to our IB school is 0. Chance of getting into DCI significantly higher 60-80%. I’ll circle back to you when we are there.

BTW, no need to move to Deal. DCI has a good cohort of IB Deal families who are happy they made the choice and trajectory is upwards.

Oh honey. They have done such a great job keeping the Calle Ocho parents happy. But believe me, the problems at Cook are longstanding and entrenched. So bad that the Padres organization lost all its leaders and folded for a year or so. So bad that despite living in Bloomingdale and having elementary age children, I don't know anyone who goes to Cook after ECE. I do know a lot of elementary age kids who have left, though.

Why do you think 60-80%? Are you again believing what you're told by the administration?

NP. Your obsession with this school is pathetic. You keep repeating the same
Stuff over and over again and it is clear that you have no experience with the school. Get a hobby!

With which of my statements do you disagree?