Helpful resources for figuring out schools in the area

[Anonymous]

Hello, I'm new here. I got a new job and will be moving the family in the summer to and starting school here next school year. Checking to see if anyone can help direct me to resources to really understand the area's schools. At the moment, we're looking at living in DC proper but are open to other options. We have 3 kids (next year they'll be in K, 2nd, and 4th). One of us works from home and the other has to be in office which is downtown, hence we'd rather be in the city and have the kids go to school nearby to not waste time on commuting and running them around. What areas should we be looking into? What's the lottery process like here? Are there some schools that are purely assigned by location? We're coming from Texas town where basically everything is neighborhood based with a couple test in schools. I've been digging around online but there seems to be very little concrete information.

TIA for any help!

[Anonymous]

DC public schools overall rank below Mississippi for academic achievement. There are a few vocal advocates for DCPS on DCUM. My guess is that they live in a $3+M house in upper NW DC. I would homeschool my kids before sending them to DCPS, which we can't afford to do, but no doubt some DCPS advocates shortly will vocally disagree.

Montgomery County (MD), Arlington County (VA), Falls Church (VA), and Fairfax County (VA) all have generally good public schools. Alexandria City (VA) Public Schools are a mess. Be careful if looking at houses in VA as the Post Office ignores the town and city boundaries, meaning an address in "Alexandria,VA" might be in Fairfax County rather than Alexandria City. Ditto for Falls Church.

Commuting is a huge issue. All of the bridges over the Potomac are badly congested during rush hours. If one is open to taking Metro to work, then live along the same Metro line as work. If one plans to *drive* to downtown DC daily, then look into houses in Montgomery County MD -- and probably the part of Montgomery County which is inside the 495 beltway.

[Anonymous]

Metro DC is very very different from Texas, in hundreds of ways. Try to jettison any preconceptions one might have about schools, local government, or such like when considering Metro DC. Better to ask explicitly than assume this area iis setup the way Texas is.

Maybe the person working in the downtown office could ask future colleagues here where they live and where their kids go to school ? That likely will yield a broader perspective than DCUM.

[Anonymous]

What is your budget and where “downtown” is the office?

[Anonymous]

Budget? How long will you be in DC (or is this indefinite)? Where is this downtown office?

I live in DC with my kids. I did grow up in the DC burbs and still vastly prefer city life. But there are trade offs. Quality of public education tends to be very good at the elementary level. In my neighborhood, there are tons of kids and everyone walks to elementary school. I drive maybe once a month. My kids walk to every play date and activity. It’s a lovely place to have young kids.

But it can be uneven from there. It will depend on your neighborhood, or if you’re not happy with the neighborhood school, your lottery luck. Everyone has by right neighborhood schools through high school but not everyone is happy with them. Happiness/neighborhood attendance can go down through middle and high school. Because of the lottery, there is the effect of many people searching for the “best” or “better” option instead of attending their local school. People will argue over what is good or better or best incessantly. Some will stay with neighborhood schools, some will not. Some just go private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Budget? How long will you be in DC (or is this indefinite)? Where is this downtown office?

I live in DC with my kids. I did grow up in the DC burbs and still vastly prefer city life. But there are trade offs. Quality of public education tends to be very good at the elementary level. In my neighborhood, there are tons of kids and everyone walks to elementary school. I drive maybe once a month. My kids walk to every play date and activity. It’s a lovely place to have young kids.

But it can be uneven from there. It will depend on your neighborhood, or if you’re not happy with the neighborhood school, your lottery luck. Everyone has by right neighborhood schools through high school but not everyone is happy with them. Happiness/neighborhood attendance can go down through middle and high school. Because of the lottery, there is the effect of many people searching for the “best” or “better” option instead of attending their local school. People will argue over what is good or better or best incessantly. Some will stay with neighborhood schools, some will not. Some just go private.

Oops, as for resources: My School DC is a fantastic resource: https://www.myschooldc.org/. The DC lottery in general is really well run.

Also, people on DCUM love helping others with school choices and lottery lists if you head over to the DCPS forum. You will also get all your questions answered by people who actually live in DC and attend these schools. (As opposed to people who don’t live in DC and have never had their kids in DCPS.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC public schools overall rank below Mississippi for academic achievement.

It is statistically silly to compare a city to a state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC public schools overall rank below Mississippi for academic achievement.

It is statistically silly to compare a city to a state.

It’s such an annoying phenomenon that the DC reddit page used to have a counter to track it: “it’s been X days since dc was statistically compared to a state!”

But really, OP, do come on over to the DC public and charter schools forum! You will get much more knowledgeable people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Budget? How long will you be in DC (or is this indefinite)? Where is this downtown office?

I live in DC with my kids. I did grow up in the DC burbs and still vastly prefer city life. But there are trade offs. Quality of public education tends to be very good at the elementary level. In my neighborhood, there are tons of kids and everyone walks to elementary school. I drive maybe once a month. My kids walk to every play date and activity. It’s a lovely place to have young kids.

But it can be uneven from there. It will depend on your neighborhood, or if you’re not happy with the neighborhood school, your lottery luck. Everyone has by right neighborhood schools through high school but not everyone is happy with them. Happiness/neighborhood attendance can go down through middle and high school. Because of the lottery, there is the effect of many people searching for the “best” or “better” option instead of attending their local school. People will argue over what is good or better or best incessantly. Some will stay with neighborhood schools, some will not. Some just go private.

Thanks. Budget for home? About $1.5M. I love the description of walking everywhere and not having to drive much. I loved that during college and would love to stop driving as that's mandatory in Texas. The position is indefinite, assuming everything works out, I'd see us staying here until we retire. My office is basically at Connecticut and K streets. I'll head over to the DCPS forum as a few others have suggested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Metro DC is very very different from Texas, in hundreds of ways. Try to jettison any preconceptions one might have about schools, local government, or such like when considering Metro DC. Better to ask explicitly than assume this area iis setup the way Texas is.

Maybe the person working in the downtown office could ask future colleagues here where they live and where their kids go to school ? That likely will yield a broader perspective than DCUM.

DC’s local government is a complete and utter disaster. One of the city councilmen is under federal indictment. Others should be.

It is single-party rule around here.

[Anonymous]

Not a single president since Jimmy Carter has sent their child to a DCPS school.

The schools really are that bad.

[Anonymous]

You should look at Kensington, North bethesda, severna park, and Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Budget? How long will you be in DC (or is this indefinite)? Where is this downtown office?

I live in DC with my kids. I did grow up in the DC burbs and still vastly prefer city life. But there are trade offs. Quality of public education tends to be very good at the elementary level. In my neighborhood, there are tons of kids and everyone walks to elementary school. I drive maybe once a month. My kids walk to every play date and activity. It’s a lovely place to have young kids.

But it can be uneven from there. It will depend on your neighborhood, or if you’re not happy with the neighborhood school, your lottery luck. Everyone has by right neighborhood schools through high school but not everyone is happy with them. Happiness/neighborhood attendance can go down through middle and high school. Because of the lottery, there is the effect of many people searching for the “best” or “better” option instead of attending their local school. People will argue over what is good or better or best incessantly. Some will stay with neighborhood schools, some will not. Some just go private.

Thanks. Budget for home? About $1.5M. I love the description of walking everywhere and not having to drive much. I loved that during college and would love to stop driving as that's mandatory in Texas. The position is indefinite, assuming everything works out, I'd see us staying here until we retire. My office is basically at Connecticut and K streets. I'll head over to the DCPS forum as a few others have suggested.

Also check out the real estate forum. $1.5m can get you somewhere but not everywhere in DC— it’s an expensive city.

[Anonymous]

$1.5m with three kids is going to mean some tough choices about space if you want to move in bounds to a reliably popular school. A lot of people with that budget in that situation will opt for a manageable commute from the burbs in order to get a reliable school zone and more living space. I’m not saying you should do that, but $1.5m is a very competitive price point here with limited inventory in those coveted DC school zones.

[Anonymous]

Placing your poor kids into DCPS is tantamount to child abuse.

Budget for private or choose a good suburban county (and no, PG county is not a good suburb).