What are the best public and charter middle schools in DC?

[Anonymous]

Looking to move to DC next year and need to decide where to rent a house before the lottery closes. Our child will be entering 5th grade, so not worried about elementary school. So far I’ve been told to apply to Latin, Basis and DCI and move into a neighborhood zoned for Deal or Hardy. Is this good advice? Some of the Hardy and Deal neighborhoods seem far away from the charter school that I’ve mentioned. What would you recommend if our housing budget isn’t an issue? FWIW, we don’t want to live in MD or VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking to move to DC next year and need to decide where to rent a house before the lottery closes. Our child will be entering 5th grade, so not worried about elementary school. So far I’ve been told to apply to Latin, Basis and DCI and move into a neighborhood zoned for Deal or Hardy. Is this good advice? Some of the Hardy and Deal neighborhoods seem far away from the charter school that I’ve mentioned. What would you recommend if our housing budget isn’t an issue? FWIW, we don’t want to live in MD or VA.

We are a Basis family IB for Hardy, the drive is not too bad. But the lottery window for Basis and Latin is open now, so you need to apply on myschooldc

[Anonymous]

What kind of lifestyle do you want to live, OP? Much of the Deal real estate had a pretty suburban feel. Can you rent, lottery and then buy in-boundary for Deal if you don’t win the lottery? How strong a student is your kid? BASIS is pretty intense.

[Anonymous]

DCI, Deal, and Hardy don’t start until 6th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kind of lifestyle do you want to live, OP? Much of the Deal real estate had a pretty suburban feel. Can you rent, lottery and then buy in-boundary for Deal if you don’t win the lottery? How strong a student is your kid? BASIS is pretty intense.

We could do this if we had to. Would you list Latin or Basis as your top choice? Our student is hardworking and bright, but also like sports and music. Do most students at Basis do their extracurriculars outside of school?

[Anonymous]

I forgot to mention Oyster Adams in my list. I’ve also heard that this is a good school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I forgot to mention Oyster Adams in my list. I’ve also heard that this is a good school.

Does your kid speak spanish? if not, it's not an option for a 5th grader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I forgot to mention Oyster Adams in my list. I’ve also heard that this is a good school.

Does your kid speak spanish? if not, it's not an option for a 5th grader.

Yes, we are native speakers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of lifestyle do you want to live, OP? Much of the Deal real estate had a pretty suburban feel. Can you rent, lottery and then buy in-boundary for Deal if you don’t win the lottery? How strong a student is your kid? BASIS is pretty intense.

We could do this if we had to. Would you list Latin or Basis as your top choice? Our student is hardworking and bright, but also like sports and music. Do most students at Basis do their extracurriculars outside of school?

I would list Latin first. BASIS is a great school, but search on threads here for what type of kid is a good fit there. We have a BASIS kid so I'm not a hater, but kids who like to be challenged and work hard do best there. There are some extracurriculars at BASIS, but most are outside of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of lifestyle do you want to live, OP? Much of the Deal real estate had a pretty suburban feel. Can you rent, lottery and then buy in-boundary for Deal if you don’t win the lottery? How strong a student is your kid? BASIS is pretty intense.

We could do this if we had to. Would you list Latin or Basis as your top choice? Our student is hardworking and bright, but also like sports and music. Do most students at Basis do their extracurriculars outside of school?

I would list Latin first. BASIS is a great school, but search on threads here for what type of kid is a good fit there. We have a BASIS kid so I'm not a hater, but kids who like to be challenged and work hard do best there. There are some extracurriculars at BASIS, but most are outside of school.

Another happy Basis parent suggesting Latin unless you read the positive reports about basis here and think, that is my kid!

[Anonymous]

Its groundhog day, again.

[Anonymous]

You might not get into either BASIS or Latin.

[Anonymous]

There are already so many threads on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I forgot to mention Oyster Adams in my list. I’ve also heard that this is a good school.

Does your kid speak spanish? if not, it's not an option for a 5th grader.

Yes, we are native speakers.

If you are native speakers and want a chance at DCI, I think both DC Bilingual and Mundo Verde allow lottery entrances at 5th grade, with a guaranteed (or almost guaranteed?) feed into DCI. I could be wrong about allowing entry at 5th and I would not do this if you were not native speakers. You would be very unlikely to get into the Spanish track through the lottery without being in a feeder. We are a DCI family and are happy there.

You could apply Oyster Adams but your child would have to test into the school. Shouldn't be a problem if your child is a native speaker. Someone else will need to explain the feeder pattern for OA.

[Anonymous]

In all honesty, look at private for middle. Middle is by far the weakest link in the chain for DCPS(most school systems actually).