East of the River/East End/East River Schools

[Anonymous]

What are the best East End elementary schools both traditional and charter? Are there plans for any magnet schools? What efforts are being made to make schools more competitive? There's good housing stock in the area--affordable and detached, some with big yards. Parents of all incomes want good schools, decent jobs, and safe neighborhoods. Also, to dispel the stereotype, there are many professionals with college degrees (or no degree) that make a good living, but who don't look down on those that struggle. Some have discretionary income because they don't have massive mortgages. There is no need to talk about SES all the time. There are also two parent families as well as single parent families with strong values and positive outlook who are looking for the promise of great schools.

-- Building family and community wherever we live

[Anonymous]

Hi. We are an east of the river family and my children go to Leckie Education Campus. It’s a prek3-8th grade school and we have had a great experience so far.

Our school has a good before care program which was important to us as we both work. There are a lot of after school activities and tutoring opportunities. My children are lower elementary but I have noticed volleyball, soccer, archery, flag football, basketball so far this school year.

The PTA is very small but active. There are a decent amount of parent volunteers. We like the teachers and the specials teachers especially music, PE and art. The principal had a rough year last year as she started after the school year began but this year it is so much better.

There is an amazing outdoor garden and classroom, the best I have seen in dc.

When we were looking to buy we looked at 2nd st sw and darrington st sw. We are a small, quiet community and I feel very safe. The only complaint I have is people dump trash at the corner of 2nd st and Chesapeake however the community tries to clean it up. There are also ANC meetings located at the hospital every month and there are very active community members.

The school is pretty unique as it has a lot of military families that go to it and then of course neighbors. It works well.

Other than leckie, I have heard good things about Ketcham and Beers but I cannot answer any specifics about that school.

[Anonymous]

*those schools

[Anonymous]

That seems to be where Stokes’ new campus will be. But not official yet.

[Anonymous]

I would check out Houston. The Spanish dual language program will no doubt attract some interested parents.

However, I would encourage you to assess middle school options. Without an acceptable middle school, it's an uphill battle to improve an elementary school. Don't say we should take on the middle school as a project as well-- for working parents with two small kids who are already immersed in elementary school issues, it's just too much. When you catch on that you are actually battling both poverty and DCPS itself, then you will see how hard this is. It's not just about community-building, it's about how much DCPS sucks.

[Anonymous]

Houston Elementary has dual language Spanish program across the Anacostia...
I think it had a rocky beginning, since they weren't able to fill seats, according to the data.
Worth calling the school for clarification!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would check out Houston. The Spanish dual language program will no doubt attract some interested parents.

However, I would encourage you to assess middle school options. Without an acceptable middle school, it's an uphill battle to improve an elementary school. Don't say we should take on the middle school as a project as well-- for working parents with two small kids who are already immersed in elementary school issues, it's just too much. When you catch on that you are actually battling both poverty and DCPS itself, then you will see how hard this is. It's not just about community-building, it's about how much DCPS sucks.

This is condescending.

[Anonymous]

Leckie gets a lot of kids from Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling and it is more diverse and has higher test scores than many elementaries EOTR. However, there is a process pending to open a charter school that would give priority to military families. IF it happens, many kids would leave Leckie for that school. Leckie also had a sudden transition of principals recently but I don't know if that has been smooth or difficult.

Other DCPS you might want to look into: Nalle has Montessori and improving test scores, and like a PP I've heard good things about Beers.

A useful data tool is if you go to the "scorecard" section of a school's profile at http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/ under "student growth" you can see median growth percentile. An article about MGP is at https://ggwash.org/view/31322/heres-the-dc-school-ranking-you-should-be-looking-at but it's old so make sure to get newer data from the school scorecards.

In terms of charters, DC Prep and KIPP have some of the highest test scores. The new Stokes (location as yet unannounced) will have a lot of interest from families WOTR and will have bilingual education. Two Rivers Young is not EOTR but is a good commute from some neighborhoods EOTR and seems to attract a mix of families--it also offers a path through middle school, if that's important to you.

There are no plans for magnet elementary or middle schools anywhere in the District. Ron Brown is a middle/high school for boys with some selection criteria but I don't know if that fits the definition of magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would check out Houston. The Spanish dual language program will no doubt attract some interested parents.

However, I would encourage you to assess middle school options. Without an acceptable middle school, it's an uphill battle to improve an elementary school. Don't say we should take on the middle school as a project as well-- for working parents with two small kids who are already immersed in elementary school issues, it's just too much. When you catch on that you are actually battling both poverty and DCPS itself, then you will see how hard this is. It's not just about community-building, it's about how much DCPS sucks.

This is condescending.

No, it's real talk and OP should think it over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would check out Houston. The Spanish dual language program will no doubt attract some interested parents.

However, I would encourage you to assess middle school options. Without an acceptable middle school, it's an uphill battle to improve an elementary school. Don't say we should take on the middle school as a project as well-- for working parents with two small kids who are already immersed in elementary school issues, it's just too much. When you catch on that you are actually battling both poverty and DCPS itself, then you will see how hard this is. It's not just about community-building, it's about how much DCPS sucks.

This is condescending.

DP: Not seeing it. Can you elaborate?

[Anonymous]

I think it's condescending to tell a parent to evaluate middle school choices. Why are we assuming this family hasn't? Because they are going to live east of the river?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's condescending to tell a parent to evaluate middle school choices. Why are we assuming this family hasn't? Because they are going to live east of the river?

I'm telling them not to evaluate their own middle school choices (because not everyone is planning to stay here for middle school anyway), but to evaluate the feeder middle school and the impact that will have on their DCPS. It's not just a matter of making community. Without an adequate middle school, it will be very difficult to attract interest to the school or improve its scores. This isn't about OP's own child's middle school options. It's about OP having a realistic understanding of what is likely to happen. I did not know that as a PK3 parent and I wish someone had told me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's condescending to tell a parent to evaluate middle school choices. Why are we assuming this family hasn't? Because they are going to live east of the river?

I'm telling them not to evaluate their own middle school choices (because not everyone is planning to stay here for middle school anyway), but to evaluate the feeder middle school and the impact that will have on their DCPS. It's not just a matter of making community. Without an adequate middle school, it will be very difficult to attract interest to the school or improve its scores. This isn't about OP's own child's middle school options. It's about OP having a realistic understanding of what is likely to happen. I did not know that as a PK3 parent and I wish someone had told me.

Okay. Sorry if I misunderstood.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have experience with Kimball?

[Anonymous]

I called and got the following info from school secretary:
* PK4 teacher [e-mail] is dual language program leader and direct contact for program details
* Houston filled enough seats for their inaugural PK3 dl class, so their MSDC waitlist data may be invalid
*Students are on "AB schedule" (not sure what that means), with spanish dominant students are on some type of complementary schedule