New to looking at Capitol Hill DCPS. Any majority high SES schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
FWIW, BASIS seems to have become a de-facto "feeder" for the better Capitol Hill schools like Brent and St. Peters - though it needs to be at 5th grade. I believe BASIS won't be accepting many if any at the higher grades.


Considering it just opened, BASIS can't possibly be a de-facto feeder for anything. It's impossible to say whether it will be a good school.


From what I've seen, that's already a done deal. Like it or not, BASIS has already gotten the cream of the crop coming out of the Capitol Hill elementary schools.

You think this? Really? And here I thought Hill parents were thoughtful about their actions. Apparently not. Think on it. BASIS gets the cream of the crop based on nothing more than the BASIS PR machine and Boosters' testimonials. In their first year. How do can they even assert they have captured these top students when those students have not shown they are at all top students? So far, the only parents at BASIS are ones with a dream, but no proof they can measure up to the model. It's really...well....stupid to extrapolate anything about future BASIS students based on the nothing that BASIS is able to produce to prove their model is well suited in DC.

That doesn't reflect well on the intellectual capabilities of Hill parents. Frankly, they look like sheep investing in a school that has no metrics, at all, to support their assertion of being an adequate school, forget an effective one. In DC. Because this is where it matters. In DC. Not Tucson.

It's only a done deal in the minds of people who don't think.

[Anonymous]

"We don't want public schools that are ALL high SES around here; we want neighborhood schools almost all neighbors feel comfortable with from preS 3 to through 12th. Tell Wells to get a plan. "

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
FWIW, BASIS seems to have become a de-facto "feeder" for the better Capitol Hill schools like Brent and St. Peters - though it needs to be at 5th grade. I believe BASIS won't be accepting many if any at the higher grades.


Considering it just opened, BASIS can't possibly be a de-facto feeder for anything. It's impossible to say whether it will be a good school.


From what I've seen, that's already a done deal. Like it or not, BASIS has already gotten the cream of the crop coming out of the Capitol Hill elementary schools.

You think this? Really? And here I thought Hill parents were thoughtful about their actions. Apparently not. Think on it. BASIS gets the cream of the crop based on nothing more than the BASIS PR machine and Boosters' testimonials. In their first year. How do can they even assert they have captured these top students when those students have not shown they are at all top students? So far, the only parents at BASIS are ones with a dream, but no proof they can measure up to the model. It's really...well....stupid to extrapolate anything about future BASIS students based on the nothing that BASIS is able to produce to prove their model is well suited in DC.

That doesn't reflect well on the intellectual capabilities of Hill parents. Frankly, they look like sheep investing in a school that has no metrics, at all, to support their assertion of being an adequate school, forget an effective one. In DC. Because this is where it matters. In DC. Not Tucson.

It's only a done deal in the minds of people who don't think.

Sorry, this is just silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
FWIW, BASIS seems to have become a de-facto "feeder" for the better Capitol Hill schools like Brent and St. Peters - though it needs to be at 5th grade. I believe BASIS won't be accepting many if any at the higher grades.


Considering it just opened, BASIS can't possibly be a de-facto feeder for anything. It's impossible to say whether it will be a good school.


From what I've seen, that's already a done deal. Like it or not, BASIS has already gotten the cream of the crop coming out of the Capitol Hill elementary schools.

You think this? Really? And here I thought Hill parents were thoughtful about their actions. Apparently not. Think on it. BASIS gets the cream of the crop based on nothing more than the BASIS PR machine and Boosters' testimonials. In their first year. How do can they even assert they have captured these top students when those students have not shown they are at all top students? So far, the only parents at BASIS are ones with a dream, but no proof they can measure up to the model. It's really...well....stupid to extrapolate anything about future BASIS students based on the nothing that BASIS is able to produce to prove their model is well suited in DC.

That doesn't reflect well on the intellectual capabilities of Hill parents. Frankly, they look like sheep investing in a school that has no metrics, at all, to support their assertion of being an adequate school, forget an effective one. In DC. Because this is where it matters. In DC. Not Tucson.

It's only a done deal in the minds of people who don't think.

You forgot to add that BASIS (and other charters) will destroy your marriage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
FWIW, BASIS seems to have become a de-facto "feeder" for the better Capitol Hill schools like Brent and St. Peters - though it needs to be at 5th grade. I believe BASIS won't be accepting many if any at the higher grades.


Considering it just opened, BASIS can't possibly be a de-facto feeder for anything. It's impossible to say whether it will be a good school.


From what I've seen, that's already a done deal. Like it or not, BASIS has already gotten the cream of the crop coming out of the Capitol Hill elementary schools.

You think this? Really? And here I thought Hill parents were thoughtful about their actions. Apparently not. Think on it. BASIS gets the cream of the crop based on nothing more than the BASIS PR machine and Boosters' testimonials. In their first year. How do can they even assert they have captured these top students when those students have not shown they are at all top students? So far, the only parents at BASIS are ones with a dream, but no proof they can measure up to the model. It's really...well....stupid to extrapolate anything about future BASIS students based on the nothing that BASIS is able to produce to prove their model is well suited in DC.

That doesn't reflect well on the intellectual capabilities of Hill parents. Frankly, they look like sheep investing in a school that has no metrics, at all, to support their assertion of being an adequate school, forget an effective one. In DC. Because this is where it matters. In DC. Not Tucson.

It's only a done deal in the minds of people who don't think.

Sorry, this is just silly.

NP here, and no it is not silly. Just because someone isn't starstruck by the school the same way you are, doesn't mean they're silly, nor that their objections can be so easily dismissed.

As a Basis fluffer, you might not understand that, but it really isn't that difficult for everyone else to comprehend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
FWIW, BASIS seems to have become a de-facto "feeder" for the better Capitol Hill schools like Brent and St. Peters - though it needs to be at 5th grade. I believe BASIS won't be accepting many if any at the higher grades.


Considering it just opened, BASIS can't possibly be a de-facto feeder for anything. It's impossible to say whether it will be a good school.


From what I've seen, that's already a done deal. Like it or not, BASIS has already gotten the cream of the crop coming out of the Capitol Hill elementary schools.

You think this? Really? And here I thought Hill parents were thoughtful about their actions. Apparently not. Think on it. BASIS gets the cream of the crop based on nothing more than the BASIS PR machine and Boosters' testimonials. In their first year. How do can they even assert they have captured these top students when those students have not shown they are at all top students? So far, the only parents at BASIS are ones with a dream, but no proof they can measure up to the model. It's really...well....stupid to extrapolate anything about future BASIS students based on the nothing that BASIS is able to produce to prove their model is well suited in DC.

That doesn't reflect well on the intellectual capabilities of Hill parents. Frankly, they look like sheep investing in a school that has no metrics, at all, to support their assertion of being an adequate school, forget an effective one. In DC. Because this is where it matters. In DC. Not Tucson.

It's only a done deal in the minds of people who don't think.

Sorry, this is just silly.

NP here, and no it is not silly. Just because someone isn't starstruck by the school the same way you are, doesn't mean they're silly, nor that their objections can be so easily dismissed.

As a Basis fluffer, you might not understand that, but it really isn't that difficult for everyone else to comprehend.

Ah, the anti-Basis porn addict has returned, or at least is pretending to be a new poster yet again (har har). So what do you suppose the school that you are clearly an operative for would think of your obsession with filthy porn analogies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
FWIW, BASIS seems to have become a de-facto "feeder" for the better Capitol Hill schools like Brent and St. Peters - though it needs to be at 5th grade. I believe BASIS won't be accepting many if any at the higher grades.


Considering it just opened, BASIS can't possibly be a de-facto feeder for anything. It's impossible to say whether it will be a good school.


From what I've seen, that's already a done deal. Like it or not, BASIS has already gotten the cream of the crop coming out of the Capitol Hill elementary schools.

You think this? Really? And here I thought Hill parents were thoughtful about their actions. Apparently not. Think on it. BASIS gets the cream of the crop based on nothing more than the BASIS PR machine and Boosters' testimonials. In their first year. How do can they even assert they have captured these top students when those students have not shown they are at all top students? So far, the only parents at BASIS are ones with a dream, but no proof they can measure up to the model. It's really...well....stupid to extrapolate anything about future BASIS students based on the nothing that BASIS is able to produce to prove their model is well suited in DC.

That doesn't reflect well on the intellectual capabilities of Hill parents. Frankly, they look like sheep investing in a school that has no metrics, at all, to support their assertion of being an adequate school, forget an effective one. In DC. Because this is where it matters. In DC. Not Tucson.

It's only a done deal in the minds of people who don't think.

Sorry, this is just silly.

NP here, and no it is not silly. Just because someone isn't starstruck by the school the same way you are, doesn't mean they're silly, nor that their objections can be so easily dismissed.

As a Basis fluffer, you might not understand that, but it really isn't that difficult for everyone else to comprehend.

PP here who called you silly.

Actually, my DD is 5 and goes to a DCPS elementary school. It's just that I can recognize someone who's becoming a bit unhinged when I see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: But, Stuart Hobson was stuck with them as feeders, and worse, no longer had any space to add Brent or Maury who began posting legitimately decent test scores.

It was strategically disasterous for the Cluster and they can't get out of the space crunch now.

OK, maybe the Cluster parents, and leadership, have belatedly wised up. Does anybody know if there's a real chance that the automatic ES to MS feeder that Rhee institutionalized in 2009 will go as part of the school redistricting thrust? If the feeder went back to being a preference and not a right, the Hill would certainly benefit in a big way. One aspect of the Basis-as-de-facto feeder that concerns me, even if the school thrives, is that Hill parents can never have much input into how the place is run. What happens to the Hill kids who are humanities oriented, vs. math and science, if they can't get into Latin? What happens to Hill families at Basis whose kid fail the comps twice and don't want them held back a year? Those families need to move?

Maybe the better swathe of the Hill to fold into the Maury District would be the section of the Brent District north of Penn and south of E. Capitol. Brent seems poised to become overcrowded over time while Maury could use more high SES families. I've been watching the numbers creep up for five years now from a little over 200 to more than 360. I can't see that the parents north of Penn would fight the redistricting since they're not all that close to Brent and Maury is doing so well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this (14:21) makes sense, but have some reservations about seeing Payne close. Payne has a good school culture even if the test scores are bad. The principal is lovely. The kids know how to behave at school. I spent quite a bit of time there, and in terms of orderliness it is every bit as much of a learning environment as Maury or Brent (and actually has a nicer feel that Watkins).

And I can also imagine Cluster parents fighting tooth and nail to keep the automatic feeder thing even though it hurts their kids.

Payne District parent with no reservations about seeing the school close although it is, as you say, orderly and well run. We bailed after preS 3 not because we wouldn't have been OK with PreK 4, or even K perhaps, but because there was no future in staying. Payne is a bridge too far on the East Hill because there aren't nearly enough middle-class parents sticking with it to turn it into a neighborhood school. Yes, most of the college-educated parents do go to charters. The lovely principal could take her good school culture to Anacostia, the neighborhood the school truly serves. We can't uproot as easily, having sunk our life savings into our homes. Strike out on all the charter lotteries or burn out on the commutes and you're done after age 5 in the Payne District. The going-nowhere situation gives neighbors a lot of stress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This impresssion that the Cluster Parents don't want Brent and Maury to feed into SH is not quite right. The problem is that just before Brent and Maury started surging forward as neighborhood schools, Stuart Hobson added JO Wilson and Ludlow Taylor as additional feeder schools. Why? Because they both had relatively high test scores ( in the 70% range ). Later, thesetest scores were correlated at both schools with high erasure rates ( cheating ) and plunged in.the following years.

But, Stuart Hobson was stuck with them as feeders, and worse, no longer had any space to add Brent or Maury who began posting legitimately decent test scores.

It was strategically disasterous for the Cluster and they can't get out of the space crunch now.

I'm fairly new to CH, with a kid in 1st grade at Brent IB and one in PreK. So do I take that the SH feeder elementary schools situation virtually ensures that this middle school will be a fairly low-performing one (half the kids not testing proficient, vs. 15% at Deal) for another decade? Even if the test scores from the feeders were better than average, the kids are obviously mostly low SES AA, nothing like the predominant Brent demographic below 4th grade. So why is the Brent PTA still interested in a feed to SH? Because it would beat EH, particularly if SH ever went for honors classes? Is it really going to be lottery into Basis, Latin or nothing for the likes of us..??? Tommy Wells will get away with no neighborhood middle schools for the gentrifiers indefinitely?? Seriously folks.

[Anonymous]

Well, there's an open house at Basis tmoro (Wed) night. Even the parents of little ones at Brent, Maury etc. might find it worthwhile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: But, Stuart Hobson was stuck with them as feeders, and worse, no longer had any space to add Brent or Maury who began posting legitimately decent test scores.

It was strategically disasterous for the Cluster and they can't get out of the space crunch now.

OK, maybe the Cluster parents, and leadership, have belatedly wised up. Does anybody know if there's a real chance that the automatic ES to MS feeder that Rhee institutionalized in 2009 will go as part of the school redistricting thrust? If the feeder went back to being a preference and not a right, the Hill would certainly benefit in a big way. One aspect of the Basis-as-de-facto feeder that concerns me, even if the school thrives, is that Hill parents can never have much input into how the place is run. What happens to the Hill kids who are humanities oriented, vs. math and science, if they can't get into Latin? What happens to Hill families at Basis whose kid fail the comps twice and don't want them held back a year? Those families need to move?

Maybe the better swathe of the Hill to fold into the Maury District would be the section of the Brent District north of Penn and south of E. Capitol. Brent seems poised to become overcrowded over time while Maury could use more high SES families. I've been watching the numbers creep up for five years now from a little over 200 to more than 360. I can't see that the parents north of Penn would fight the redistricting since they're not all that close to Brent and Maury is doing so well.

Ridiculous. There's a half dozen neighborhoods closer to Maury than this that aren't in bounds for Maury-- they are inbounds for Miner, Ludlow-Taylor, or Browne. You think you can just take part of the Brent district, and because it's high SES, you can just plop it in-bounds for Maury? Doesn't work that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This impresssion that the Cluster Parents don't want Brent and Maury to feed into SH is not quite right. The problem is that just before Brent and Maury started surging forward as neighborhood schools, Stuart Hobson added JO Wilson and Ludlow Taylor as additional feeder schools. Why? Because they both had relatively high test scores ( in the 70% range ). Later, thesetest scores were correlated at both schools with high erasure rates ( cheating ) and plunged in.the following years.

But, Stuart Hobson was stuck with them as feeders, and worse, no longer had any space to add Brent or Maury who began posting legitimately decent test scores.

It was strategically disasterous for the Cluster and they can't get out of the space crunch now.

I'm fairly new to CH, with a kid in 1st grade at Brent IB and one in PreK. So do I take that the SH feeder elementary schools situation virtually ensures that this middle school will be a fairly low-performing one (half the kids not testing proficient, vs. 15% at Deal) for another decade? Even if the test scores from the feeders were better than average, the kids are obviously mostly low SES AA, nothing like the predominant Brent demographic below 4th grade. So why is the Brent PTA still interested in a feed to SH? Because it would beat EH, particularly if SH ever went for honors classes? Is it really going to be lottery into Basis, Latin or nothing for the likes of us..??? Tommy Wells will get away with no neighborhood middle schools for the gentrifiers indefinitely?? Seriously folks.

Not exactly, and here, in my opinion, is the nut of the problem. Stuart Hobson is a middle class school full of kids whose parents actually make the effort to send them to schools other than their inbound school. Many of those students came up through preschool and elementary school at Peabody and Watkins. With those factors, Stuart Hobson should be excellent. And it is not. It is ok. Your kid will do fine there and get into a good high school. The fact that it hasn't become great in all these years causes me to wonder more about the leadership, the dcps curriculum, the physical building there being an issue more than the student body.

I think with the renovation and some way to unite graduates from Watkins, Brent and Maury PLUS a dynamic leader ( ala Melissa Kim at Deal ), we could have a great middle school smack in the middle of Capitol Hill, giving hope to Eastern.

The question is if we can get all those factors to come together. This is where we need some political leadership. Tommy? Anyone?

[Anonymous]

Wait Eastern was a city wide project, so the hope was not solely dependent on having Jefferson, S-H and E-H as their only feeder schools. Please note, that Eastern was the only high-school that had feedback of the entire city to make it attractive as a high-school. Such the case, the majority of DCPS is AA and hence the attraction was for that demographic. It was pretty evident that DCPS thought beyond Cap-Hill in the thought process of relaunching of Eastern and it is kinda too late to turn back now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
FWIW, BASIS seems to have become a de-facto "feeder" for the better Capitol Hill schools like Brent and St. Peters - though it needs to be at 5th grade. I believe BASIS won't be accepting many if any at the higher grades.


Considering it just opened, BASIS can't possibly be a de-facto feeder for anything. It's impossible to say whether it will be a good school.


From what I've seen, that's already a done deal. Like it or not, BASIS has already gotten the cream of the crop coming out of the Capitol Hill elementary schools.

You think this? Really? And here I thought Hill parents were thoughtful about their actions. Apparently not. Think on it. BASIS gets the cream of the crop based on nothing more than the BASIS PR machine and Boosters' testimonials. In their first year. How do can they even assert they have captured these top students when those students have not shown they are at all top students? So far, the only parents at BASIS are ones with a dream, but no proof they can measure up to the model. It's really...well....stupid to extrapolate anything about future BASIS students based on the nothing that BASIS is able to produce to prove their model is well suited in DC.

That doesn't reflect well on the intellectual capabilities of Hill parents. Frankly, they look like sheep investing in a school that has no metrics, at all, to support their assertion of being an adequate school, forget an effective one. In DC. Because this is where it matters. In DC. Not Tucson.

It's only a done deal in the minds of people who don't think.

Sorry, this is just silly.

NP here, and no it is not silly. Just because someone isn't starstruck by the school the same way you are, doesn't mean they're silly, nor that their objections can be so easily dismissed.

As a Basis fluffer, you might not understand that, but it really isn't that difficult for everyone else to comprehend.

Ah, the anti-Basis porn addict has returned, or at least is pretending to be a new poster yet again (har har). So what do you suppose the school that you are clearly an operative for would think of your obsession with filthy porn analogies?

Not anti-Basis, but definitely anti-the-newest-shiniest "solution" just so that it fits your agenda, truth-be-damned.

OP wants an all-high SES school. She needs to move to Upper Caucasia or the suburbs, or go private.

Basis booster also wants all-high SES. That is not only difficult for a public charter school (no, it is not a magnet school no matter how desperately you want it to be), but more importantly, it may very well be crossing the line with respect to the legality of the charter. Like it or not "you get what you get and you don't get upset." You educate the students you have, not the ones you want.