What school are we likely to get PK3- Cap Hill edition

[Anonymous]

We are in bounds Maury, no sibling preference.

This was our list:
Maury
Apple Tree Lincoln Park
Peabody
Brent
School Within a School
Ludlow-Taylor
Payne
Tyler
Cap Hill Montessori
Apple Tree Oklahoma
Apple Tree SW
Miner


I know it has to do with what number we drew, but I’m curious on odds. I know Maury is not possible unless a small miracle happens.

[Anonymous]

ATLP or anything Payne or lower is possible.

[Anonymous]

Bad news about ATLP.

Next year they have one PK3 class so only 20 spots. There will be two PK4 classes. Apparently every year it rotates to accommodate the rising class.

[Anonymous]

If you have a great number: Maury
If you don't have a great number: AT OK

[Anonymous]

So here is what people need to understand about doing a PK3 lottery on Capital Hill: your options are IB, charters, and a handful of less in-demand DCPS schools.

You will never, ever get into the following schools OOB/no sibling for PK3: Brent, Maury, Peabody, Ludlow-Taylor. Ever. There is not point in putting them down. I understand why people do, but you need to understand when you do that you could pull a lottery number of #1 and still not get into those schools because they have more IB kids than they can accommodate for PK. The end.

The charters are what they are. If your number is good, you stand a chance at ATLP, SWS, CHML. Due to the small class size for PK3 at ATLP, CHML is your most likely. They also often have a fast moving waitlist because their PK classes are large plus the mixed-age Montessori style means that they can sometimes offer a PK3 spot if the lose a PK4 or K kid. But still a long shot if you don't get a good lottery draw.

Payne, Tyler, and Miner: you stand a good shot of getting spots at one of these with a middling lottery draw. It can vary a lot year to year though -- you just never know how many IB kids they will have and then it depends on what their lottery draws are. For Miner, for instance, a lot of IB parents play the lottery for charters. If it's a year where a lot of IB parents get lucky at lotteries, you will almost certainly get a spot via the lottery. But if it goes the other way, you will wind up on the waitlist (with a very good spot at getting in of WL for the same reason -- Miner parents are very motivated to find spots at an alternative school because Miner still does not have good buy-in for upper grades from their IB families). But they have a great PK program. I assume Payne and Tyler are similar if a bit more challenging.

I expect your lottery assignment will be AT OK, if I had to guess. You will definitely get in there off the WL otherwise -- they always have spots in June and August because it's a lot of people's backups choice.

[Anonymous]

I’m in a similar spot OP but with Peabody.

I wish the schools could just accommodate all PK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So here is what people need to understand about doing a PK3 lottery on Capital Hill: your options are IB, charters, and a handful of less in-demand DCPS schools.

You will never, ever get into the following schools OOB/no sibling for PK3: Brent, Maury, Peabody, Ludlow-Taylor. Ever. There is not point in putting them down. I understand why people do, but you need to understand when you do that you could pull a lottery number of #1 and still not get into those schools because they have more IB kids than they can accommodate for PK. The end.

The charters are what they are. If your number is good, you stand a chance at ATLP, SWS, CHML. Due to the small class size for PK3 at ATLP, CHML is your most likely. They also often have a fast moving waitlist because their PK classes are large plus the mixed-age Montessori style means that they can sometimes offer a PK3 spot if the lose a PK4 or K kid. But still a long shot if you don't get a good lottery draw.

Payne, Tyler, and Miner: you stand a good shot of getting spots at one of these with a middling lottery draw. It can vary a lot year to year though -- you just never know how many IB kids they will have and then it depends on what their lottery draws are. For Miner, for instance, a lot of IB parents play the lottery for charters. If it's a year where a lot of IB parents get lucky at lotteries, you will almost certainly get a spot via the lottery. But if it goes the other way, you will wind up on the waitlist (with a very good spot at getting in of WL for the same reason -- Miner parents are very motivated to find spots at an alternative school because Miner still does not have good buy-in for upper grades from their IB families). But they have a great PK program. I assume Payne and Tyler are similar if a bit more challenging.

I expect your lottery assignment will be AT OK, if I had to guess. You will definitely get in there off the WL otherwise -- they always have spots in June and August because it's a lot of people's backups choice.

Capitol Hill.

[Anonymous]

i personally think you are most likely to land at apple tree lincoln park (followed by AT Oklahoma).

[Anonymous]

i also think older parents notoriously overestimate the chances of getting into the "less in-demand" schools. in bound prek children increasingly go to payne and tyler.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i also think older parents notoriously overestimate the chances of getting into the "less in-demand" schools. in bound prek children increasingly go to payne and tyler.

Oh yes - I was trying to look for the data showing this, but could not find that particular graph. I know for sure that inbound kids did not get into Tyler Dual Language for PreK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m in a similar spot OP but with Peabody.

I wish the schools could just accommodate all PK.

They could, if the boundaries were redrawn. But people IB for Maury would rather go to AT or stay in day care for PK than be reassigned to Miner for K-5. Browne and Wheatley and Langley and Walker-Jones could take more kids.

Other possibilities: if CHML became PK3-5 (the middle school could go to a wing at Brookland MS where kids from Langdon and Nalle Montessori could have programmatic feeder rights too) that would create more PK space on Capitol Hill right away. And what happened to the plans to offer standalone infant-pk4 classes at Old Miner? https://dcps.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-announces-child-care-provider-thaddeus-stevens-early-learning-center IIRC, there were plans to do something similar with the former Joy Evans space at Van Ness Elementary too. Each of those would help a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The charters are what they are. If your number is good, you stand a chance at ATLP, SWS, CHML. Due to the small class size for PK3 at ATLP, CHML is your most likely. They also often have a fast moving waitlist because their PK classes are large plus the mixed-age Montessori style means that they can sometimes offer a PK3 spot if the lose a PK4 or K kid. But still a long shot if you don't get a good lottery draw.

CHML is not a charter. It is a DCPS school with no IB preference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in a similar spot OP but with Peabody.

I wish the schools could just accommodate all PK.

They could, if the boundaries were redrawn. But people IB for Maury would rather go to AT or stay in day care for PK than be reassigned to Miner for K-5. Browne and Wheatley and Langley and Walker-Jones could take more kids.

Other possibilities: if CHML became PK3-5 (the middle school could go to a wing at Brookland MS where kids from Langdon and Nalle Montessori could have programmatic feeder rights too) that would create more PK space on Capitol Hill right away. And what happened to the plans to offer standalone infant-pk4 classes at Old Miner? https://dcps.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-announces-child-care-provider-thaddeus-stevens-early-learning-center IIRC, there were plans to do something similar with the former Joy Evans space at Van Ness Elementary too. Each of those would help a bit.

The former therapeutic rec center at Joy Evans was too small for that plan. There are currently 4 small classrooms there and none have en-suite bathrooms, which would be needed for the younger child programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i also think older parents notoriously overestimate the chances of getting into the "less in-demand" schools. in bound prek children increasingly go to payne and tyler.

Oh yes - I was trying to look for the data showing this, but could not find that particular graph. I know for sure that inbound kids did not get into Tyler Dual Language for PreK.

https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/node/61 has the data. Payne, for example, took no OOB PK3 kids without preference in the initial lottery and waitlisted 54 of them.

[Anonymous]

Something to factor in is the size of the school & how many ECE classes there are. Payne parent here, so I know that Payne has 45 spots in total for PK3 (3 classes with max of 15 each), with some being reserved for Early Stages/special education. Other schools may have more or less than that. I second the randomness of sibling spots - some years it has been a dozen or more in bounds sibling that jump to the top of the line, other years fewer. The list does move a little, but typically first round is mostly in bounds and/or siblings.