Latin Cooper - Capitol Hill families?

[Anonymous]

You mean you're trying to decide if you should go with a 5th-12th grade charter so you don't need to worry about your CH kids getting into an application high school?

Walls admissions has become a crap shoot for all, even those with high GPAs. Any halfway decent student can waltz into Banneker these days. Ellington is just for kids who like to perform but aren't top students. Not much to decide, really, as long as you always have a back-up plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Tell me you are a parent who lives on Capitol Hill without telling me...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

If you think in 5th grade that music is a "competitive" endeavor then you fundamentally misunderstand music and music education.

[Anonymous]

Give us a break. The kid probably plays in piano competitions or something. The competitions exist for a reason.

I wish our DC charter school offered serious music, art, sports, anything. The Latin2 building doesn't look promising in that regard.

[Anonymous]

i think there are lots and lots of hill elementary school kids who read/test above grade level. people feel awkward talking about it. they incorrectly assume their child is an anomaly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

If you think in 5th grade that music is a "competitive" endeavor then you fundamentally misunderstand music and music education.

Ha! My thought was, wow, my kid just plays an instrument to make music

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Give us a break. The kid probably plays in piano competitions or something. The competitions exist for a reason.

I wish our DC charter school offered serious music, art, sports, anything. The Latin2 building doesn't look promising in that regard.

You mean besides giving parents something to brag to their Grad School friends about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The fact you are even talking about 5s in parcc shows you are out of tune with hill culture. “Great” test scores mean a majority of kids scoring 3 or above. 5s are pretty rare at any hill school. Our previous hill school would your its “great” test scores by saying it had as many kids scoring 3+ as in the NW schools. The difference was that the NW schools have a significant percentage of kids scoring 5s whereas in most hill schools that is a rarity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The fact you are even talking about 5s in parcc shows you are out of tune with hill culture. “Great” test scores mean a majority of kids scoring 3 or above. 5s are pretty rare at any hill school. Our previous hill school would your its “great” test scores by saying it had as many kids scoring 3+ as in the NW schools. The difference was that the NW schools have a significant percentage of kids scoring 5s whereas in most hill schools that is a rarity.

Not to let "facts" get in the way of your narrative, but for ELA:
-Brent had higher % of 5s than Key
-Ludlow had higher % of 5s than Key
-Maury had higher % of 5s than JKLM
-Fewer than 4 percentage points of 5s between top and bottom of JKLM, Brent and Ludlow (Maury was 2 points higher)

Do you think before you spew made up crap based on 8 year old impressions or do you just vomit on a keyboard and see what comes out?

Too be clear, JKLM have higher percentages of 4+ (by small margin as opposed to Brent and Maury, but still higher). But you didn't even make that case. You just made up crap about 5s.

[Anonymous]

okay but the kids who don't score 5s at Key and JKLM also go to hardy and deal etc. latin and basis are not fully filled w children who score 5s either. i see a problem that families asked for some honors/differentiation at the local middle schools and now that its been provided to them they still find reasons its not good enough and keep setting the bar forever higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:okay but the kids who don't score 5s at Key and JKLM also go to hardy and deal etc. latin and basis are not fully filled w children who score 5s either. i see a problem that families asked for some honors/differentiation at the local middle schools and now that its been provided to them they still find reasons its not good enough and keep setting the bar forever higher.

I've heard everyone takes "honors" English at SH. I don't really understand how that works since one can only go as fast as the slowest in the group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:okay but the kids who don't score 5s at Key and JKLM also go to hardy and deal etc. latin and basis are not fully filled w children who score 5s either. i see a problem that families asked for some honors/differentiation at the local middle schools and now that its been provided to them they still find reasons its not good enough and keep setting the bar forever higher.

Honors classes and differentiation only get us so far in schools that don’t track for all core subjects. Where are the advanced classes for science or social studies in the Ward 6 DCPS middle schools? They don’t exist and class sizes are generally larger that at Basis and Latin. Moreover, the DCPS programs have much higher at-risk rates than Basis and Latin and socially promote like crazy. The great majority of high SES Ward 6 families just aren’t confident that their children would learn enough in these programs to be well prepared for HS without families supplementing extensively in core subjects. Many families don’t have the time, stamina or money to supplement a lot. Parent are being super picky to ask for appropriate rigor.

[Anonymous]

Rigor?? No, they aren’t.

[Anonymous]

High SES CH parents who are sticklers for appropriate rigor, and good facilities, in public middle schools can, and still often do, relocate to the burbs if they're not satisfied with DC options.

I've decided that I'm not OK with the Latin Cooper building and location, though we're close to the top of the 5th grade WL. Another family can have our spot if we get it.

Those of you who criticize such parents for being too picky and demanding, now that more "honors" classes and "differentiation" is in the mix in Ward 6 middle schools than 5 or 10 years ago, please explain to us how low SES minority kids benefit from the exodus. Who, exactly, wins other than suburban realtors? What's in it for DC to drive many high SES parents to the burbs over public middle and high school quality?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High SES CH parents who are sticklers for appropriate rigor, and good facilities, in public middle schools can, and still often do, relocate to the burbs if they're not satisfied with DC options.

I've decided that I'm not OK with the Latin Cooper building and location, though we're close to the top of the 5th grade WL. Another family can have our spot if we get it.

Those of you who criticize such parents for being too picky and demanding, now that more "honors" classes and "differentiation" is in the mix in Ward 6 middle schools than 5 or 10 years ago, please explain to us how low SES minority kids benefit from the exodus. Who, exactly, wins other than suburban realtors? What's in it for DC to drive many high SES parents to the burbs over public middle and high school quality?

DC realtors win too.

😉