List of schools for Pre-k3, will move to the area for k and 1st graders

[Anonymous]

Hello! I made an earlier post about a lottery and you all were so helpful for making a strategy for my 3 kids, PK3, K, and 1st. We are military and not in the area yet so nothing is IB for us yet. My husband will be McNair for a year, and then likely the Pentagon for a few years, and we'll likely leave and come back to the area, and at some point, for good. For short term purposes and Dec 11th DC lottery application, my plan is to apply for the PK3 schools that I would like all 3 kids to attend, and then move IB so my K and 1st grader can go there, too. I'm having a difficult time/getting overwhelmed with the list, and hoping for some feedback from you all. For long term purposes, it seems like anything feeder into JR is the way to go, and I don't really know much about that. Since we come in and out of the area, it'd be nice for my kids to see familiar faces and friends when we come back.

I'm gathering "good/best" schools are NW and I realize will be difficult to get to, but I'd like to at least try. I understand my husband will have a longer commute, but he's looking at 30+ mins if we go to VA, so it's fine. We both have a desire to live in DC, as long as we can find good schools for our kids.

Here are some of the schools I'm looking at, but nothing is final yet (hoping to do that with feedback from you all).

- Hyde-Addison
- Key Elementary
- Janney
- Mann
- Lafayette
- Murch
- Hearst
- Eaton
- Stoddert
- Are there any charter schools I should add on here? Maybe some Montessori schools? I saw the other methods but unsure of the pros/cons of them in actuality. On the website, they all seem nice.
- We are interested in immersion schools, but only in Japanese or Korean, which it appears are not offered in DC. I thought about adding the chinese schools to the list since the language is somewhat loosely related, but I think it'd probably be better just to have my kids in after school language classes for our preferred language.
- My main focus is for them to learn reading and writing english by the science of reading. I understand VA passed some law that mandates this statewide, but I don't know how DC teaches kids how to read. High literacy/reading assessment scores is important for the schools we're looking at.

I can't get a good sense about Capital Hill vs. NW schools vs. Arlington Schools. It seems NW schools are on par with Arlington Schools, but are Capital Hill schools, too? This is all public, we cannot afford private.

I understand Amidon Bowen and Van Ness are closer, but the test scores just seem really low to list them at all, it seems like going to Arlington schools would be better, although we'd have to trade off city living. I have nothing else to go off of so please tell me if I'm wrong here.

[Anonymous]

Those are top schools but disappointed that you plan to leave these top schools.

[Anonymous]

The lottery deadline isn't in December. You have months and months

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The lottery deadline isn't in December. You have months and months

I'd like to apply Dec 11th and not think about it again until the results come out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those are top schools but disappointed that you plan to leave these top schools.

If I had a choice, my kids wouldn't move around. But so it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High literacy/reading assessment scores is important for the schools we're looking at.

OP here...High literacy/reading assessment scores ARE important...ironic place for a grammatical error. Hopefully my kids do better than me

[Anonymous]

The schools on your list do not offer PK3 at all. You might be able to get a free seat at a publicly funded preschool such as Communikids or Appletree, but there's no guarantee-- that just depends on your lottery number.

It seems like you don't quite understand how the lottery works in practice. For DCPS schools that have a boundary, your older two children will have the right to attend if you live there, no lottery needed. If you enrolled one or both of your older kids, that would cause your PK3 to have sibling preference and maybe get in, or maybe still not get in. Your PK3 will likely not get into a "good" school without that sibling preference, because the lottery is much, much easier for older kids. So it's more likely that one of your older kids would get in by the lottery and then pull in your younger kid. You can lottery for any kid in any grade, it's not just for preschool.

If you want a school that is "good" (which I guess means high test scores in your view?) and that all of your kids can get into, including your PK3, that's going to be very hard to find. If a school is "good", it will have many PK3 applicants and will not be able to serve them all.

Having said that, I would suggest you look at Brent, Maury, Ludlow-Taylor, and Seaton. For Montessori, look at Lee, that's really the only Montessori option if you want a well-functioning school that isn't teaching a language. Inspired Teaching is a pretty good school with strong reading and phonics, and you could have all your kids there through 8th. I wouldn't recommend Two Rivers at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The lottery deadline isn't in December. You have months and months

I'd like to apply Dec 11th and not think about it again until the results come out.

There's literally zero benefit to filing the application early. And you can revise your application as many times as you want. Between December and March, something could happen to change your opinions.

[Anonymous]

The JR feeders don't have PK3. And you won't get a PK3 spot as at a good school if you're not in the boundary your PK3 is not a sibling of an enrolled student. You can use this data to assess whether a school typically lets in students without in-boundary or sibling preference. https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/node/61

You need to slow down, take a deep breath, and restart your analysis. Use the School Finder feature on MySchoolDC to limit your search to schools that have PK3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello! I made an earlier post about a lottery and you all were so helpful for making a strategy for my 3 kids, PK3, K, and 1st. We are military and not in the area yet so nothing is IB for us yet. My husband will be McNair for a year, and then likely the Pentagon for a few years, and we'll likely leave and come back to the area, and at some point, for good. For short term purposes and Dec 11th DC lottery application, my plan is to apply for the PK3 schools that I would like all 3 kids to attend, and then move IB so my K and 1st grader can go there, too. I'm having a difficult time/getting overwhelmed with the list, and hoping for some feedback from you all. For long term purposes, it seems like anything feeder into JR is the way to go, and I don't really know much about that. Since we come in and out of the area, it'd be nice for my kids to see familiar faces and friends when we come back.

I'm gathering "good/best" schools are NW and I realize will be difficult to get to, but I'd like to at least try. I understand my husband will have a longer commute, but he's looking at 30+ mins if we go to VA, so it's fine. We both have a desire to live in DC, as long as we can find good schools for our kids.

Here are some of the schools I'm looking at, but nothing is final yet (hoping to do that with feedback from you all).

- Hyde-Addison
- Key Elementary
- Janney
- Mann
- Lafayette
- Murch
- Hearst
- Eaton
- Stoddert
- Are there any charter schools I should add on here? Maybe some Montessori schools? I saw the other methods but unsure of the pros/cons of them in actuality. On the website, they all seem nice.
- We are interested in immersion schools, but only in Japanese or Korean, which it appears are not offered in DC. I thought about adding the chinese schools to the list since the language is somewhat loosely related, but I think it'd probably be better just to have my kids in after school language classes for our preferred language.
- My main focus is for them to learn reading and writing english by the science of reading. I understand VA passed some law that mandates this statewide, but I don't know how DC teaches kids how to read. High literacy/reading assessment scores is important for the schools we're looking at.

I can't get a good sense about Capital Hill vs. NW schools vs. Arlington Schools. It seems NW schools are on par with Arlington Schools, but are Capital Hill schools, too? This is all public, we cannot afford private.

I understand Amidon Bowen and Van Ness are closer, but the test scores just seem really low to list them at all, it seems like going to Arlington schools would be better, although we'd have to trade off city living. I have nothing else to go off of so please tell me if I'm wrong here.

Is your plan to apply as though you're IB? You need to list an address, so while you can change it after-the-fact as long as your new address at enrollment is still IB, you can only apply as IB for one school. None of the schools on your list have PK3 at all; the good Hill schools do, but you only have any chance at the one you apply as IB for, since none of them (Maury/Brent/Ludlow-Taylor) take OOB PK3ers. So, ultimately, if you're set on PK3, you can pick one of those 3 Hill schools, add any charters or citywide DCPSes you're interested in, and then add the schools you like most that take any OOB PK3ers at all. You may decide not to let PK3 drive everything...

[Anonymous]

Of the schools you mentioned, the only one that offers PK3 is Hyde-Addison. The others start at PK4 You are very unlikely to get in to Hyde-Addison via the lottery without in-bounds preference, so to send a PK3 kid there you either need to get a lease in-bounds for it by May 1 and apply with in-bounds preference and still be lucky (if you do this, talk to the lottery about if you can get sibling enrolled preference) or move there after the lottery, enroll your older kids, and hope your youngest one gets in off the waitlist.

Another option is to apply to Appletree Spring Valley for your PK3 kid and then move somewhere nearby for your older kids.

Or you could look at Shepherd Elementary, which has PK3 and currently feeds to JR (though that could change since it's far away, the odds are good your kids would be grandfathered in) but it has the same low odds without an in-bounds address as Hyde-Addison and it's a more suburban feel (though close to downtown Silver Spring).

Honestly, a lot of Arlington is just as urban as the neighborhoods you mentioned (especially along the orange line corridor) so if that works for you it probably won't be any more complicated than being in DC. You won't get free PK3 though. Or just embrace the bad commute and suburban lifestyle and go to Fairfax for Korean or Japanese immersion programs...you'd want to check the FCPS board here though for how admission works.

You are going to have to decide how to prioritize free preK, a good commute for your husband, all your kids being in one school next year, language immersion, feeder pattern, and having a PK3 admission so you know where to move. You aren't going to get all of that.

[Anonymous]

Bear in mind that the new high school MacArthur is open and some feeders are being reassigned.

[Anonymous]

Why is having PK3 so important? You still have to pay for aftercare and deal with all breaks and summer vacation, so you don't really save that much money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools on your list do not offer PK3 at all. You might be able to get a free seat at a publicly funded preschool such as Communikids or Appletree, but there's no guarantee-- that just depends on your lottery number.

It seems like you don't quite understand how the lottery works in practice. For DCPS schools that have a boundary, your older two children will have the right to attend if you live there, no lottery needed. If you enrolled one or both of your older kids, that would cause your PK3 to have sibling preference and maybe get in, or maybe still not get in. Your PK3 will likely not get into a "good" school without that sibling preference, because the lottery is much, much easier for older kids. So it's more likely that one of your older kids would get in by the lottery and then pull in your younger kid. You can lottery for any kid in any grade, it's not just for preschool.

If you want a school that is "good" (which I guess means high test scores in your view?) and that all of your kids can get into, including your PK3, that's going to be very hard to find. If a school is "good", it will have many PK3 applicants and will not be able to serve them all.

Having said that, I would suggest you look at Brent, Maury, Ludlow-Taylor, and Seaton. For Montessori, look at Lee, that's really the only Montessori option if you want a well-functioning school that isn't teaching a language. Inspired Teaching is a pretty good school with strong reading and phonics, and you could have all your kids there through 8th. I wouldn't recommend Two Rivers at all.

Thanks for pointing that out. It looks like there was some kind of error on the school finder, because they were showing up when PK3 was selected when I searched before...but I just searched again and I see those schools are not listed. They're listed on usnews as starting with PK so that's confusing. I'm trying to figure out the lottery, and we're in a unique situation since we're military and don't live in DC yet. They will not have sibling preference, but as I understand, PK is the hardest to get into, so I'm entering the lottery mainly for my youngest. I'll apply for the older kids, too, so if they get accepted, maybe we can apply and try for our PK3 to get in after the first pick with sibling preference. But that seems really unlikely. Worth a try, anyway. We will arrive after the lottery closes, so we can choose our neighborhood off of that, guaranteeing a spot for my older kids. This is all "allowed" since we are military.

We want a school that is good, and the criteria to find that has been difficult. Test scores are one of the tangible measures I can find. I can't see sending my kids to schools with low (and some are scary low compared to NW and VA) test scores. I understand the challenge of getting my PK3 into a "good" school (subjective but not really), and I will apply and see what happens. Maybe we'll get lucky.

The schools you mentioned are in the Capital Hill area, correct? Thanks for the recommendations, I will check them out. Serious question here - you say inspired teaching has strong reading and phonics, but their reading proficiency still seems low compared to NW and Arlington. (60% vs 80-90%).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The JR feeders don't have PK3. And you won't get a PK3 spot as at a good school if you're not in the boundary your PK3 is not a sibling of an enrolled student. You can use this data to assess whether a school typically lets in students without in-boundary or sibling preference. https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/node/61

You need to slow down, take a deep breath, and restart your analysis. Use the School Finder feature on MySchoolDC to limit your search to schools that have PK3.

I think there was an error with DC finder before because I had PK3 selected and those schools were coming up, so thanks for pointing that out. Question...JR is Jackson Reed High School? So many acronyms here I just want to make sure I'm looking at the right thing.

This is a first pass, so I appreciate the feedback.

Another possibility is that we move IB to the preferred school for my K and 1st (NW) and try to get my PK3 into Appletree or one of those not lottery schools. I haven't found the application process or deadlines for those yet, though, but will if it's the best option for us.