Thoughts about Brent Upper School from parents of kids who have gone through 5th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a current Brent 5th grader. Overall we have been happy for many of the reasons stated above. The problem really isn’t Brent or the upper school model. It’s that DCPS lets the charters start at 5th and many families at Brent don’t want to risk being stuck with Jefferson. If Brent fed into SH, you’d see a pattern more like Ludlow Taylor, where kids choose to stay for 5th.

Based on Term 2, the current class of 6th graders at Jefferson are leading all DCPS middle schools in passing all four core classes. 8th graders are also accepted to application HS and privates like Sidwell and Burke. I hope Brent parents will see Jefferson as a possibility and not a definite no off the bat.

Since grading isn't standardized across schools, I'm not sure this says anything meaningful about Jefferson student performance.

I think Brent will be the last of the Jefferson feeders to see any meaningful buy in from MC/UMC families. The demographics are just too different. From 8% to 61% at risk. And from 67% to 3% white.

There was Jefferson buy in at Brent before Covid and immediately after. But then word started to get around about bad experiences and the whole climate has shifted. People tried Jefferson and it did not work. Way too big of a shift from Brent to Jefferson at an age when academics really start to matter.

Meh. Seems about the same from the data available. 12 from Brent in SY20-21 6th grade class. 11 in SY21-22. Fewer than 10 in SY22-23. 10 in SY23-24. Fewer than 10 in SY24-25.

Not a complete picture. The biggest cohort going to Jefferson was SY19-20, I seem to remember that it was 17. Several Brent alums from both the SY20-21 and SY21-22 cohorts didn't make it through the school year at Jefferson. We were part of one of the cohorts from PreS3 and know the families. The word got back that there were families bailing mid-year.

I am also very familiar with many of the 2021 Brent grads who went to Jefferson. I know that some of those of kids left after the first year, but I don’t know any who bailed “mid-year.” Where would they even go if they did that?

Also, for a “complete picture,” note that there are Brent grads from that same 2021 “cohort” who went all the way through Jefferson then landed at selective high schools including SWW and Banneker.

My kid is in this cohort as well, so I know several of the kids who went to Jefferson and now are in selective high schools. None (of the several I know personally) of them (or their parents) thought it was a good school/experience (they just sucked it up and got through it); none of their younger siblings are going to Jefferson.

This. We know some of the kids, too. I can't imagine why any parent with an option to jump to BASIS, one of the Latins, or a private, Stuart Hobson or DCI for 6th grade would stick around for Jefferson here in 2026. The positive spin on Jefferson is coming from a tiny number of UMC die-hards who are trying to recruit Brent Upper School parents. All DCPS has to do to make Jefferson work for a growing cohort of Brenties year-on-year is offer definite, self-contained, test-in honors/intensified classes for science, social studies, English and math. There is no way that this will happen, at least not under Bowser, so the middle school feed never takes off and Brent continues to lose most of its 4th graders before 5th grade every single year. There's no more to say. A larger building isn't going to change the trend come 2028.

Which is why I think they are making Brent have self contained classrooms -to ‘fill’ space. Which is funny because the reno is not that large.

I’m curious if Chisholm is closing theirs down and that’s why Brent is being made to have one. I don’t think even Van Ness has one and not any schools on the hill.

This is definitely not true. L-T has 3 self-contained classes (and has run out of space to such an extent that they are currently building an extension even though they renovated less than a decade ago). Acting like it's absurd to make Brent host *one* is crazy.

https://dcpsspecialed.wixsite.com/home/sy25-26-self-contained-feeder-pattern

Here is the list of classrooms and locations. It is absurd to complain about having some. Having some is the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a self contained classroom? Asking as an upcoming Brent in-bounds family.

My understanding is that it’s a special ed classroom for kids who can’t be in a mainstream classroom. I’ve never seen it used in the gifted context like PP does above.

But agree with the PP’s premise. More than 1/3 of last year’s Brent 4th got 5s on the math cape. You can’t expect all those parents to be totally fine with their kids being kids being thrown into classes where 90% of the kids are not at grade level. The school would need to lead with differentiation to attract many Brent families.

Yes - it would be criminal to do that, but plenty of equity advocates would love to see it.

Brent/ the Principal have already grouped high-achieving and at grade level 5th graders with 4th graders under the Upper School model (thus the original origin of this thread). The model is working great for 4th graders, causing a bigger probably for 5th grade in many ways, and has alienated the community. So glad that we are no longer a Brent family because with the renovation it is going to be just another big, underwhelming DC Public School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a self contained classroom? Asking as an upcoming Brent in-bounds family.

My understanding is that it’s a special ed classroom for kids who can’t be in a mainstream classroom. I’ve never seen it used in the gifted context like PP does above.

But agree with the PP’s premise. More than 1/3 of last year’s Brent 4th got 5s on the math cape. You can’t expect all those parents to be totally fine with their kids being kids being thrown into classes where 90% of the kids are not at grade level. The school would need to lead with differentiation to attract many Brent families.

Yes - it would be criminal to do that, but plenty of equity advocates would love to see it.

That’s not how it works though. Math at Jefferson is expressly tracked. And those in the higher track are placed in the same homeroom together, which essentially means that there is some level of tracking for all classes that are part of the homeroom.

Or at least that’s how it was for my kid, who finished at Jefferson a couple years ago.

- Signed, not an “equity advocate” (whatever that means)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a self contained classroom? Asking as an upcoming Brent in-bounds family.

My understanding is that it’s a special ed classroom for kids who can’t be in a mainstream classroom. I’ve never seen it used in the gifted context like PP does above.

But agree with the PP’s premise. More than 1/3 of last year’s Brent 4th got 5s on the math cape. You can’t expect all those parents to be totally fine with their kids being kids being thrown into classes where 90% of the kids are not at grade level. The school would need to lead with differentiation to attract many Brent families.

Yes - it would be criminal to do that, but plenty of equity advocates would love to see it.

That’s not how it works though. Math at Jefferson is expressly tracked. And those in the higher track are placed in the same homeroom together, which essentially means that there is some level of tracking for all classes that are part of the homeroom.

Or at least that’s how it was for my kid, who finished at Jefferson a couple years ago.

- Signed, not an “equity advocate” (whatever that means)

Current Jefferson parent. Yes, they still do this. My higher achieving child is in accelerated math and is challenged appropriately in other classes (they are not in the higher level Spanish class, but have made great strides). My child hasn't had any complaints about students interrupting classes with their behavior this school year.

As someone noted previously in this thread, this year NJHS will be inducting their largest class yet. The standards at Jefferson are not any different than at any other DCPS middle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a self contained classroom? Asking as an upcoming Brent in-bounds family.

My understanding is that it’s a special ed classroom for kids who can’t be in a mainstream classroom. I’ve never seen it used in the gifted context like PP does above.

But agree with the PP’s premise. More than 1/3 of last year’s Brent 4th got 5s on the math cape. You can’t expect all those parents to be totally fine with their kids being kids being thrown into classes where 90% of the kids are not at grade level. The school would need to lead with differentiation to attract many Brent families.

Yes - it would be criminal to do that, but plenty of equity advocates would love to see it.

That’s not how it works though. Math at Jefferson is expressly tracked. And those in the higher track are placed in the same homeroom together, which essentially means that there is some level of tracking for all classes that are part of the homeroom.

Or at least that’s how it was for my kid, who finished at Jefferson a couple years ago.

- Signed, not an “equity advocate” (whatever that means)

Current Jefferson parent. Yes, they still do this. My higher achieving child is in accelerated math and is challenged appropriately in other classes (they are not in the higher level Spanish class, but have made great strides). My child hasn't had any complaints about students interrupting classes with their behavior this school year.

As someone noted previously in this thread, this year NJHS will be inducting their largest class yet. The standards at Jefferson are not any different than at any other DCPS middle.

Is there any reason to think this doesn't just reflect general grade inflation at DCPS? My understanding is that NJHS classes have been trending larger and larger as GPAs have gone through the roof. This isn't a good thing in my book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a self contained classroom? Asking as an upcoming Brent in-bounds family.

My understanding is that it’s a special ed classroom for kids who can’t be in a mainstream classroom. I’ve never seen it used in the gifted context like PP does above.

But agree with the PP’s premise. More than 1/3 of last year’s Brent 4th got 5s on the math cape. You can’t expect all those parents to be totally fine with their kids being kids being thrown into classes where 90% of the kids are not at grade level. The school would need to lead with differentiation to attract many Brent families.

Yes - it would be criminal to do that, but plenty of equity advocates would love to see it.

In what scenario does Brent end up with a bunch of kids "where 90% of the kids are not at grade level"?

Brent might hand out a handful of additional lottery seats. A few of those might go to at risk students. And the self contained classroom is separate by definition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a self contained classroom? Asking as an upcoming Brent in-bounds family.

My understanding is that it’s a special ed classroom for kids who can’t be in a mainstream classroom. I’ve never seen it used in the gifted context like PP does above.

But agree with the PP’s premise. More than 1/3 of last year’s Brent 4th got 5s on the math cape. You can’t expect all those parents to be totally fine with their kids being kids being thrown into classes where 90% of the kids are not at grade level. The school would need to lead with differentiation to attract many Brent families.

Yes - it would be criminal to do that, but plenty of equity advocates would love to see it.

That’s not how it works though. Math at Jefferson is expressly tracked. And those in the higher track are placed in the same homeroom together, which essentially means that there is some level of tracking for all classes that are part of the homeroom.

Or at least that’s how it was for my kid, who finished at Jefferson a couple years ago.

- Signed, not an “equity advocate” (whatever that means)

Current Jefferson parent. Yes, they still do this. My higher achieving child is in accelerated math and is challenged appropriately in other classes (they are not in the higher level Spanish class, but have made great strides). My child hasn't had any complaints about students interrupting classes with their behavior this school year.

As someone noted previously in this thread, this year NJHS will be inducting their largest class yet. The standards at Jefferson are not any different than at any other DCPS middle.

Tell me more about the math tracking. Do these same kids take ELA together? Will the school acknowledge that they track like this? This is honestly the most encouraging thing I have heard about Jefferson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a self contained classroom? Asking as an upcoming Brent in-bounds family.

My understanding is that it’s a special ed classroom for kids who can’t be in a mainstream classroom. I’ve never seen it used in the gifted context like PP does above.

But agree with the PP’s premise. More than 1/3 of last year’s Brent 4th got 5s on the math cape. You can’t expect all those parents to be totally fine with their kids being kids being thrown into classes where 90% of the kids are not at grade level. The school would need to lead with differentiation to attract many Brent families.

Yes - it would be criminal to do that, but plenty of equity advocates would love to see it.

In what scenario does Brent end up with a bunch of kids "where 90% of the kids are not at grade level"?

Brent might hand out a handful of additional lottery seats. A few of those might go to at risk students. And the self contained classroom is separate by definition.

I think PP is talking about the Brent students who end up at Jefferson or any other school where most kids are below grade level

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a self contained classroom? Asking as an upcoming Brent in-bounds family.

My understanding is that it’s a special ed classroom for kids who can’t be in a mainstream classroom. I’ve never seen it used in the gifted context like PP does above.

But agree with the PP’s premise. More than 1/3 of last year’s Brent 4th got 5s on the math cape. You can’t expect all those parents to be totally fine with their kids being kids being thrown into classes where 90% of the kids are not at grade level. The school would need to lead with differentiation to attract many Brent families.

Yes - it would be criminal to do that, but plenty of equity advocates would love to see it.

That’s not how it works though. Math at Jefferson is expressly tracked. And those in the higher track are placed in the same homeroom together, which essentially means that there is some level of tracking for all classes that are part of the homeroom.

Or at least that’s how it was for my kid, who finished at Jefferson a couple years ago.

- Signed, not an “equity advocate” (whatever that means)

Current Jefferson parent. Yes, they still do this. My higher achieving child is in accelerated math and is challenged appropriately in other classes (they are not in the higher level Spanish class, but have made great strides). My child hasn't had any complaints about students interrupting classes with their behavior this school year.

As someone noted previously in this thread, this year NJHS will be inducting their largest class yet. The standards at Jefferson are not any different than at any other DCPS middle.

Tell me more about the math tracking. Do these same kids take ELA together? Will the school acknowledge that they track like this? This is honestly the most encouraging thing I have heard about Jefferson.

They speak about this at open houses (and talk about how they do this by pulling data from CAPE, i-Ready, speaking to the feeder school, placement tests, etc). They group kids into cohorts, so they generally take most of their classes together (there are test-in advanced Spanish classes and electives that can shift things around).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a self contained classroom? Asking as an upcoming Brent in-bounds family.

My understanding is that it’s a special ed classroom for kids who can’t be in a mainstream classroom. I’ve never seen it used in the gifted context like PP does above.

But agree with the PP’s premise. More than 1/3 of last year’s Brent 4th got 5s on the math cape. You can’t expect all those parents to be totally fine with their kids being kids being thrown into classes where 90% of the kids are not at grade level. The school would need to lead with differentiation to attract many Brent families.

Yes - it would be criminal to do that, but plenty of equity advocates would love to see it.

That’s not how it works though. Math at Jefferson is expressly tracked. And those in the higher track are placed in the same homeroom together, which essentially means that there is some level of tracking for all classes that are part of the homeroom.

Or at least that’s how it was for my kid, who finished at Jefferson a couple years ago.

- Signed, not an “equity advocate” (whatever that means)

Current Jefferson parent. Yes, they still do this. My higher achieving child is in accelerated math and is challenged appropriately in other classes (they are not in the higher level Spanish class, but have made great strides). My child hasn't had any complaints about students interrupting classes with their behavior this school year.

As someone noted previously in this thread, this year NJHS will be inducting their largest class yet. The standards at Jefferson are not any different than at any other DCPS middle.

Tell me more about the math tracking. Do these same kids take ELA together? Will the school acknowledge that they track like this? This is honestly the most encouraging thing I have heard about Jefferson.

It may not be all the exact same kids, as there are enough that there are more than one class of higher achievers, but yes, they are primarily with similarly achieving students for ELA too. There may be more variation in learning level in other classes (e.g., PE and electives). That said - I have no problem with that. I don't find it reasonable to think that my child should only be with similarly achieving students all the time forever. Every other child has the same right to an education that my child does.

My child historically has not been a huge fan of ELA/writing, and their teacher shared with me last week some recent in-class writing. I was floored at how much growth they have had this school year. Honestly, going into Jefferson, I thought it'd be a decent enough experience with the usual middle school hiccups. It's truly surpassed my expectations both academically and socially.

[Anonymous]

So I agree that you don’t need tracking 100% of the time. But most schools will only do it in math. Others maybe ELA but they won’t admit to it. Social studies would be nice but DCPS doesn’t seem to do that in middle at all.

Interesting that Jefferson says this at open houses. I went to one last year and this wasn’t the message at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a self contained classroom? Asking as an upcoming Brent in-bounds family.

My understanding is that it’s a special ed classroom for kids who can’t be in a mainstream classroom. I’ve never seen it used in the gifted context like PP does above.

But agree with the PP’s premise. More than 1/3 of last year’s Brent 4th got 5s on the math cape. You can’t expect all those parents to be totally fine with their kids being kids being thrown into classes where 90% of the kids are not at grade level. The school would need to lead with differentiation to attract many Brent families.

Yes - it would be criminal to do that, but plenty of equity advocates would love to see it.

That’s not how it works though. Math at Jefferson is expressly tracked. And those in the higher track are placed in the same homeroom together, which essentially means that there is some level of tracking for all classes that are part of the homeroom.

Or at least that’s how it was for my kid, who finished at Jefferson a couple years ago.

- Signed, not an “equity advocate” (whatever that means)

Current Jefferson parent. Yes, they still do this. My higher achieving child is in accelerated math and is challenged appropriately in other classes (they are not in the higher level Spanish class, but have made great strides). My child hasn't had any complaints about students interrupting classes with their behavior this school year.

As someone noted previously in this thread, this year NJHS will be inducting their largest class yet. The standards at Jefferson are not any different than at any other DCPS middle.

Tell me more about the math tracking. Do these same kids take ELA together? Will the school acknowledge that they track like this? This is honestly the most encouraging thing I have heard about Jefferson.

It may not be all the exact same kids, as there are enough that there are more than one class of higher achievers, but yes, they are primarily with similarly achieving students for ELA too. There may be more variation in learning level in other classes (e.g., PE and electives). That said - I have no problem with that. I don't find it reasonable to think that my child should only be with similarly achieving students all the time forever. Every other child has the same right to an education that my child does.

My child historically has not been a huge fan of ELA/writing, and their teacher shared with me last week some recent in-class writing. I was floored at how much growth they have had this school year. Honestly, going into Jefferson, I thought it'd be a decent enough experience with the usual middle school hiccups. It's truly surpassed my expectations both academically and socially.

The CAPE scores do not indicate more than one class of high achievers. Fewer than 10 took the Geometry CAPE. Fewer than 20 took the Algebra I CAPE (and only 50% of those students were meeting/exceeding). And that's across the whole school, not just one grade level.

Looking at ELA meets/exceeds, there were 31 6th graders, 36 7th graders, 28 8th graders.

What am I missing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a self contained classroom? Asking as an upcoming Brent in-bounds family.

My understanding is that it’s a special ed classroom for kids who can’t be in a mainstream classroom. I’ve never seen it used in the gifted context like PP does above.

But agree with the PP’s premise. More than 1/3 of last year’s Brent 4th got 5s on the math cape. You can’t expect all those parents to be totally fine with their kids being kids being thrown into classes where 90% of the kids are not at grade level. The school would need to lead with differentiation to attract many Brent families.

Yes - it would be criminal to do that, but plenty of equity advocates would love to see it.

In what scenario does Brent end up with a bunch of kids "where 90% of the kids are not at grade level"?

Brent might hand out a handful of additional lottery seats. A few of those might go to at risk students. And the self contained classroom is separate by definition.

They were talking about Jefferson.

Self contained is separate but still gets counted in the actual bucket and test scores (unless exempted -which is hard to get).

[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:We have a current Brent 5th grader. Overall we have been happy for many of the reasons stated above. The problem really isn’t Brent or the upper school model. It’s that DCPS lets the charters start at 5th and many families at Brent don’t want to risk being stuck with Jefferson. If Brent fed into SH, you’d see a pattern more like Ludlow Taylor, where kids choose to stay for 5th.

Based on Term 2, the current class of 6th graders at Jefferson are leading all DCPS middle schools in passing all four core classes. 8th graders are also accepted to application HS and privates like Sidwell and Burke. I hope Brent parents will see Jefferson as a possibility and not a definite no off the bat.

Since grading isn't standardized across schools, I'm not sure this says anything meaningful about Jefferson student performance.

I think Brent will be the last of the Jefferson feeders to see any meaningful buy in from MC/UMC families. The demographics are just too different. From 8% to 61% at risk. And from 67% to 3% white.

There was Jefferson buy in at Brent before Covid and immediately after. But then word started to get around about bad experiences and the whole climate has shifted. People tried Jefferson and it did not work. Way too big of a shift from Brent to Jefferson at an age when academics really start to matter.

Meh. Seems about the same from the data available. 12 from Brent in SY20-21 6th grade class. 11 in SY21-22. Fewer than 10 in SY22-23. 10 in SY23-24. Fewer than 10 in SY24-25.

Not a complete picture. The biggest cohort going to Jefferson was SY19-20, I seem to remember that it was 17. Several Brent alums from both the SY20-21 and SY21-22 cohorts didn't make it through the school year at Jefferson. We were part of one of the cohorts from PreS3 and know the families. The word got back that there were families bailing mid-year.

I am also very familiar with many of the 2021 Brent grads who went to Jefferson. I know that some of those of kids left after the first year, but I don’t know any who bailed “mid-year.” Where would they even go if they did that?

Also, for a “complete picture,” note that there are Brent grads from that same 2021 “cohort” who went all the way through Jefferson then landed at selective high schools including SWW and Banneker.

My kid is in this cohort as well, so I know several of the kids who went to Jefferson and now are in selective high schools. None (of the several I know personally) of them (or their parents) thought it was a good school/experience (they just sucked it up and got through it); none of their younger siblings are going to Jefferson.

This. We know some of the kids, too. I can't imagine why any parent with an option to jump to BASIS, one of the Latins, or a private, Stuart Hobson or DCI for 6th grade would stick around for Jefferson here in 2026. The positive spin on Jefferson is coming from a tiny number of UMC die-hards who are trying to recruit Brent Upper School parents. All DCPS has to do to make Jefferson work for a growing cohort of Brenties year-on-year is offer definite, self-contained, test-in honors/intensified classes for science, social studies, English and math. There is no way that this will happen, at least not under Bowser, so the middle school feed never takes off and Brent continues to lose most of its 4th graders before 5th grade every single year. There's no more to say. A larger building isn't going to change the trend come 2028.

Which is why I think they are making Brent have self contained classrooms -to ‘fill’ space. Which is funny because the reno is not that large.

I’m curious if Chisholm is closing theirs down and that’s why Brent is being made to have one. I don’t think even Van Ness has one and not any schools on the hill.

This is definitely not true. L-T has 3 self-contained classes (and has run out of space to such an extent that they are currently building an extension even though they renovated less than a decade ago). Acting like it's absurd to make Brent host *one* is crazy.

https://dcpsspecialed.wixsite.com/home/sy25-26-self-contained-feeder-pattern

Here is the list of classrooms and locations. It is absurd to complain about having some. Having some is the norm.

Not in ward 3…

[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:

Anonymous wrote:We have a current Brent 5th grader. Overall we have been happy for many of the reasons stated above. The problem really isn’t Brent or the upper school model. It’s that DCPS lets the charters start at 5th and many families at Brent don’t want to risk being stuck with Jefferson. If Brent fed into SH, you’d see a pattern more like Ludlow Taylor, where kids choose to stay for 5th.

Based on Term 2, the current class of 6th graders at Jefferson are leading all DCPS middle schools in passing all four core classes. 8th graders are also accepted to application HS and privates like Sidwell and Burke. I hope Brent parents will see Jefferson as a possibility and not a definite no off the bat.

Since grading isn't standardized across schools, I'm not sure this says anything meaningful about Jefferson student performance.

I think Brent will be the last of the Jefferson feeders to see any meaningful buy in from MC/UMC families. The demographics are just too different. From 8% to 61% at risk. And from 67% to 3% white.

There was Jefferson buy in at Brent before Covid and immediately after. But then word started to get around about bad experiences and the whole climate has shifted. People tried Jefferson and it did not work. Way too big of a shift from Brent to Jefferson at an age when academics really start to matter.

Meh. Seems about the same from the data available. 12 from Brent in SY20-21 6th grade class. 11 in SY21-22. Fewer than 10 in SY22-23. 10 in SY23-24. Fewer than 10 in SY24-25.

Not a complete picture. The biggest cohort going to Jefferson was SY19-20, I seem to remember that it was 17. Several Brent alums from both the SY20-21 and SY21-22 cohorts didn't make it through the school year at Jefferson. We were part of one of the cohorts from PreS3 and know the families. The word got back that there were families bailing mid-year.

I am also very familiar with many of the 2021 Brent grads who went to Jefferson. I know that some of those of kids left after the first year, but I don’t know any who bailed “mid-year.” Where would they even go if they did that?

Also, for a “complete picture,” note that there are Brent grads from that same 2021 “cohort” who went all the way through Jefferson then landed at selective high schools including SWW and Banneker.

My kid is in this cohort as well, so I know several of the kids who went to Jefferson and now are in selective high schools. None (of the several I know personally) of them (or their parents) thought it was a good school/experience (they just sucked it up and got through it); none of their younger siblings are going to Jefferson.

This. We know some of the kids, too. I can't imagine why any parent with an option to jump to BASIS, one of the Latins, or a private, Stuart Hobson or DCI for 6th grade would stick around for Jefferson here in 2026. The positive spin on Jefferson is coming from a tiny number of UMC die-hards who are trying to recruit Brent Upper School parents. All DCPS has to do to make Jefferson work for a growing cohort of Brenties year-on-year is offer definite, self-contained, test-in honors/intensified classes for science, social studies, English and math. There is no way that this will happen, at least not under Bowser, so the middle school feed never takes off and Brent continues to lose most of its 4th graders before 5th grade every single year. There's no more to say. A larger building isn't going to change the trend come 2028.

Which is why I think they are making Brent have self contained classrooms -to ‘fill’ space. Which is funny because the reno is not that large.

I’m curious if Chisholm is closing theirs down and that’s why Brent is being made to have one. I don’t think even Van Ness has one and not any schools on the hill.

This is definitely not true. L-T has 3 self-contained classes (and has run out of space to such an extent that they are currently building an extension even though they renovated less than a decade ago). Acting like it's absurd to make Brent host *one* is crazy.

https://dcpsspecialed.wixsite.com/home/sy25-26-self-contained-feeder-pattern

Here is the list of classrooms and locations. It is absurd to complain about having some. Having some is the norm.

Not in ward 3…

??? Hearst, Murch, Lafayette, Stoddert & Eaton all do…