Latin Cooper - Capitol Hill families?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SH: Watkins, Ludlow, JOW - all pretty good or improving schools at this point
Jefferson: Brent, VN, Tyler, AB - same
EH: Maury, Payne, Miner - same
I'm not so sure that a pan-Hill school is actually necessary at this point except that it might help solve the collective action problem of people leaving for other options.

What would be the relevance of "good or improving" when the DCPS middle schools these elementary school programs feed into routinely lump students who read at a 3rd or 4th grade level into the very same large science, social studies and possibly English classes as students who read years ahead of of grade level?

If DCPS wants to solve the collective action problem of people leaving for other options, they need to start by offering challenging academics for advanced learners across the board, not stopping at merely paying lip service to rigor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SH: Watkins, Ludlow, JOW - all pretty good or improving schools at this point
Jefferson: Brent, VN, Tyler, AB - same
EH: Maury, Payne, Miner - same
I'm not so sure that a pan-Hill school is actually necessary at this point except that it might help solve the collective action problem of people leaving for other options.

What would be the relevance of "good or improving" when the DCPS middle schools these elementary school programs feed into routinely lump students who read at a 3rd or 4th grade level into the very same large science, social studies and possibly English classes as students who read years ahead of of grade level?

If DCPS wants to solve the collective action problem of people leaving for other options, they need to start by offering challenging academics for advanced learners across the board, not stopping at merely paying lip service to rigor.

THIS 1000%. They are actually going in the opposite direction and taking away higher level classes because of “equity”. Just look at Wilson and the disastrous honors for all in 9th and 10th.

I bet anything that there will be a trend of less higher performing kids at Deal going to Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Agree. The NW schools became established long before equity was in vogue. Tracking was a good thing back then and the NW schools can still protect that if they are very careful about how they communicate about it. If they can’t protect trackibg, families will leave in droves for privates or moco.

Dcps will prevent the Supposed Up and coming schools on the hill from being able to implement tracking for equity reasons. And many parents won’t even push for it after years in hill elementaries where they have been conditioned to believe that performing on grade level is some sort of achievement.

Right now I’m just clinging to the hope that wilson continues to offer mega advanced classes until after my kids graduate. Dcps is doing everything they can to erode these options bit by bit. They gave no incentive to create these opportunities on the hill in the current “woke” political climate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All moot points. It seems that CH will never have a majority in-boundary by-right MS, at least not in my lifetime.

Yup. As long as charter middles have fifth grade entry years, it will never happen. I don’t think it is worth any attention at all, spend your capital elsewhere. Ive been watching hill parent tear each other apart over middle school on DCUM for years at this point.

I 1000% disagree. If Brent, Maury, SWS, LT, etc. were all feeding into one middle school, regardless of which other schools fed into it, we would take that over BASIS and Latin. The teaching at those middle schools is clearly superior and the facilities and location are better. They just need a true high performing cohort and honors classes.

My point is that will never, ever happen, so worry about something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All moot points. It seems that CH will never have a majority in-boundary by-right MS, at least not in my lifetime.

Yup. As long as charter middles have fifth grade entry years, it will never happen. I don’t think it is worth any attention at all, spend your capital elsewhere. Ive been watching hill parent tear each other apart over middle school on DCUM for years at this point.

I 1000% disagree. If Brent, Maury, SWS, LT, etc. were all feeding into one middle school, regardless of which other schools fed into it, we would take that over BASIS and Latin. The teaching at those middle schools is clearly superior and the facilities and location are better. They just need a true high performing cohort and honors classes.

My point is that will never, ever happen, so worry about something else.

Agree it won't happen. Very few DCPS middle schools are a pipeline to their own selective HS and Eastern is not Wilson, which plenty of Hill parents wouldn't want either. Walls loves offering seats to independent applicants even as they account for most of the declined seats and Walls deliberately keeps its admissions criteria opaque. The math is brutal even for top students in DC public schools. Given the crap shoot for anything other than Eastern it's no wonder parents flee to Latin, BASIS and DCI feeders as necessary to secure a HS option. The best independents are running upwards of 50K/year and you can only get so much financial aid when you earn well north of 6 figures but even further south of 7.

[Anonymous]

I've been thinking a lot about this recent craziness where offering advanced kids AP and accelerated classes is somehow in opposition to concerns of equity. And how that has metastasized into some sort of mandate to either eliminate AP and advanced classes or allow everyone into them, regardless of academic fitness. And how excessive wokeness seemed for a time to label anyone who dared object or opt out a "racist" or someone who was against black lives mattering. But I have hope that maybe this was a blip, and here's why...

Bowser and some other members of the DC Council took great pains for some time to have every newsletter and public statement lead with their sincere concern for perpetrators of crime, devoting resources to released prisoners and spending tons of money on "violence interrupters". More police were not the answer and neither was enforcement and prosecution of criminals, even for violent crime. And the woke mob cheered them on. Calling 911 was a racist act, even if you witnessed crime or violence. But a funny thing has happened over the past 6 months or so. As violent crime has increased and the DC populace seems less interested in prioritizing the well being of criminals over their own safety, Bowser and others have morphed their messaging. Police headcounts are being funded in budgets and her most recent newsletter led with the need to aggressively arrest and prosecute violent criminals. She went on to say that resources are made available to at risk community members, but that those who refuse assistance and commit violence will he held to account. None of that means Bowser and others (or I) think police brutality is made up or OK. Police who engage in those behaviors should be held to account. And none of that means that they (or I) no longer believe in BLM concepts and that for too long the value of black life has been minimized by police and others. But the pendulum seems to have swung away from the extreme (disband police/violent criminals are the victims) and towards some degree of rationality where you can be against police brutality, for intervention and resources to prevent violence, want more (but better trained police) and maximum punishment for those engaged in violent crimes.

My sincere hope is that we will see a similar return to rationality in public education. We can be for providing necessary resources for at risk and below grade students, against black and brown students being more harshly treated than white peers, and still be for AP classes for those at an AP level and against disruptive classes and classroom behavior.

[Anonymous]

"improving" means there is increasingly a cohort of reasonably advanced children doing well in the upper grades at each and every one of the feeder elementary schools

[Anonymous]

This thread is just like old times… We’re back to pre-pandemic life!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been thinking a lot about this recent craziness where offering advanced kids AP and accelerated classes is somehow in opposition to concerns of equity. And how that has metastasized into some sort of mandate to either eliminate AP and advanced classes or allow everyone into them, regardless of academic fitness. And how excessive wokeness seemed for a time to label anyone who dared object or opt out a "racist" or someone who was against black lives mattering. But I have hope that maybe this was a blip, and here's why...

Bowser and some other members of the DC Council took great pains for some time to have every newsletter and public statement lead with their sincere concern for perpetrators of crime, devoting resources to released prisoners and spending tons of money on "violence interrupters". More police were not the answer and neither was enforcement and prosecution of criminals, even for violent crime. And the woke mob cheered them on. Calling 911 was a racist act, even if you witnessed crime or violence. But a funny thing has happened over the past 6 months or so. As violent crime has increased and the DC populace seems less interested in prioritizing the well being of criminals over their own safety, Bowser and others have morphed their messaging. Police headcounts are being funded in budgets and her most recent newsletter led with the need to aggressively arrest and prosecute violent criminals. She went on to say that resources are made available to at risk community members, but that those who refuse assistance and commit violence will he held to account. None of that means Bowser and others (or I) think police brutality is made up or OK. Police who engage in those behaviors should be held to account. And none of that means that they (or I) no longer believe in BLM concepts and that for too long the value of black life has been minimized by police and others. But the pendulum seems to have swung away from the extreme (disband police/violent criminals are the victims) and towards some degree of rationality where you can be against police brutality, for intervention and resources to prevent violence, want more (but better trained police) and maximum punishment for those engaged in violent crimes.

My sincere hope is that we will see a similar return to rationality in public education. We can be for providing necessary resources for at risk and below grade students, against black and brown students being more harshly treated than white peers, and still be for AP classes for those at an AP level and against disruptive classes and classroom behavior.

Fine, but those of us in DCPS with rising 5th graders who can't afford DC privates aren't in the best position to wait around for a "return to rationality in public education" where middle school rigor and happiness is concerned.

We're staying for 5th at our DCPS EotP then heading to parochial school. I'm tired of teaching my kid writing because the school really isn't, and of seeing all 4s on report cards in 4th grade when the kid isn't breaking a sweat. We got a spot at BASIS but somebody else can have it. We wants space to breathe in middle school, nice facilities and a decent music program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been thinking a lot about this recent craziness where offering advanced kids AP and accelerated classes is somehow in opposition to concerns of equity. And how that has metastasized into some sort of mandate to either eliminate AP and advanced classes or allow everyone into them, regardless of academic fitness. And how excessive wokeness seemed for a time to label anyone who dared object or opt out a "racist" or someone who was against black lives mattering. But I have hope that maybe this was a blip, and here's why...

Bowser and some other members of the DC Council took great pains for some time to have every newsletter and public statement lead with their sincere concern for perpetrators of crime, devoting resources to released prisoners and spending tons of money on "violence interrupters". More police were not the answer and neither was enforcement and prosecution of criminals, even for violent crime. And the woke mob cheered them on. Calling 911 was a racist act, even if you witnessed crime or violence. But a funny thing has happened over the past 6 months or so. As violent crime has increased and the DC populace seems less interested in prioritizing the well being of criminals over their own safety, Bowser and others have morphed their messaging. Police headcounts are being funded in budgets and her most recent newsletter led with the need to aggressively arrest and prosecute violent criminals. She went on to say that resources are made available to at risk community members, but that those who refuse assistance and commit violence will he held to account. None of that means Bowser and others (or I) think police brutality is made up or OK. Police who engage in those behaviors should be held to account. And none of that means that they (or I) no longer believe in BLM concepts and that for too long the value of black life has been minimized by police and others. But the pendulum seems to have swung away from the extreme (disband police/violent criminals are the victims) and towards some degree of rationality where you can be against police brutality, for intervention and resources to prevent violence, want more (but better trained police) and maximum punishment for those engaged in violent crimes.

My sincere hope is that we will see a similar return to rationality in public education. We can be for providing necessary resources for at risk and below grade students, against black and brown students being more harshly treated than white peers, and still be for AP classes for those at an AP level and against disruptive classes and classroom behavior.

Fine, but those of us in DCPS with rising 5th graders who can't afford DC privates aren't in the best position to wait around for a "return to rationality in public education" where middle school rigor and happiness is concerned.

We're staying for 5th at our DCPS EotP then heading to parochial school. I'm tired of teaching my kid writing because the school really isn't, and of seeing all 4s on report cards in 4th grade when the kid isn't breaking a sweat. We got a spot at BASIS but somebody else can have it. We wants space to breathe in middle school, nice facilities and a decent music program.

The time to shift to parochial/other privates is 5th grade, to avoid the skyrocketing of applicants for 6th grade for all the above reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"improving" means there is increasingly a cohort of reasonably advanced children doing well in the upper grades at each and every one of the feeder elementary schools

But there still really isn't at many of these schools or, at least, there wasn't as of the last time PARCC was given. It will be interesting to see what this year's scores look like, but I fear COVID will have negated any progress that had been happening. A-B, Miner, Payne, Tyler, JO Wilson... all still stuck in the 1-2% range for PARCC 5s. At most of these schools, that means ONE kid. Even if we say that the Math & ELA PARCC 5s could be different kids -- and I'm willing to count one 5 as "reasonably advanced" -- that's 2 kids, maybe 3. That's not a cohort. Maury, SWS, Brent, LT, Watkins, VN... at least your kid has some company. Even if we count 4s, the numbers are still fairly depressing and that's just on grade level... not advanced in any way.

I don't think PARCC is perfect and there are all sorts of reasons that kids could overperform... but even if we tripled the 5s to get the real number of advanced kids, we don't have a true cohort at most of these schools and that's just the truth.

[Anonymous]

^^ Sorry, I meant reasons kids could UNDERperform on PARCC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been thinking a lot about this recent craziness where offering advanced kids AP and accelerated classes is somehow in opposition to concerns of equity. And how that has metastasized into some sort of mandate to either eliminate AP and advanced classes or allow everyone into them, regardless of academic fitness. And how excessive wokeness seemed for a time to label anyone who dared object or opt out a "racist" or someone who was against black lives mattering. But I have hope that maybe this was a blip, and here's why...

Bowser and some other members of the DC Council took great pains for some time to have every newsletter and public statement lead with their sincere concern for perpetrators of crime, devoting resources to released prisoners and spending tons of money on "violence interrupters". More police were not the answer and neither was enforcement and prosecution of criminals, even for violent crime. And the woke mob cheered them on. Calling 911 was a racist act, even if you witnessed crime or violence. But a funny thing has happened over the past 6 months or so. As violent crime has increased and the DC populace seems less interested in prioritizing the well being of criminals over their own safety, Bowser and others have morphed their messaging. Police headcounts are being funded in budgets and her most recent newsletter led with the need to aggressively arrest and prosecute violent criminals. She went on to say that resources are made available to at risk community members, but that those who refuse assistance and commit violence will he held to account. None of that means Bowser and others (or I) think police brutality is made up or OK. Police who engage in those behaviors should be held to account. And none of that means that they (or I) no longer believe in BLM concepts and that for too long the value of black life has been minimized by police and others. But the pendulum seems to have swung away from the extreme (disband police/violent criminals are the victims) and towards some degree of rationality where you can be against police brutality, for intervention and resources to prevent violence, want more (but better trained police) and maximum punishment for those engaged in violent crimes.

My sincere hope is that we will see a similar return to rationality in public education. We can be for providing necessary resources for at risk and below grade students, against black and brown students being more harshly treated than white peers, and still be for AP classes for those at an AP level and against disruptive classes and classroom behavior.

Fine, but those of us in DCPS with rising 5th graders who can't afford DC privates aren't in the best position to wait around for a "return to rationality in public education" where middle school rigor and happiness is concerned.

We're staying for 5th at our DCPS EotP then heading to parochial school. I'm tired of teaching my kid writing because the school really isn't, and of seeing all 4s on report cards in 4th grade when the kid isn't breaking a sweat. We got a spot at BASIS but somebody else can have it. We wants space to breathe in middle school, nice facilities and a decent music program.

The time to shift to parochial/other privates is 5th grade, to avoid the skyrocketing of applicants for 6th grade for all the above reasons.

. Some parochial schools start at 6th grade. My kid does Johns Hopkins CTY for math, plays an instrument competitively and reads at least 2 years ahead of grade level. We’re not concerned about admissions.

[Anonymous]

Private school parents love to tell you that you need to get on the train at whatever grade to grab a spot. Makes them feel special. It’s baloney, other than in the case of a few super selective NW privates. Plenty of spots for parents willing and able to pay tuition if you keep an open mind about where you enroll. With more public options like Latin 2 coming on line, privates have spots.

[Anonymous]

this! we live on the hill, not a huge fan of long commutes, are trying to figure out 5th grade and middle school, and i'm between private schools and the dcps application schools not at all concerned about high school options. it seems like there are lots of options but i dont love any of them.