DC School Lottery 25/26 & Best Schools in DC

[Anonymous]

With the lottery now open, I just wanted to see where some people are considering placing their children for the 25/26 school year. Anyone have any insight on Apple Tree: Waterfront, Lee Montessori, Global Citizens, Creative Minds, Maury, and Inspired Teaching?

[Anonymous]

The first thing you want to do is understand which schools are Charters and which are DCPS. You mention Maury - your child will not get into Maury out of bounds if you don't have Proximity preference.

[Anonymous]

That's a wild list, geographically.

If you tell us the grade you're going into and how long you plan to stay in DC, and what your in-boundary school is, people can be quite helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's a wild list, geographically.

If you tell us the grade you're going into and how long you plan to stay in DC, and what your in-boundary school is, people can be quite helpful.

My child will start Pre-k 3. My in-boundary school is Van Ness, but I’m willing to commute for the right school. The list of schools I listed were just a few schools that were given to me to review.

[Anonymous]

Van Ness is good and going to your in-bounds school is convenient and a good way to meet other people in the neighborhood.

If you don't have a good enough result in the lottery to get into your in-bound school, you won't get into any PK3 program at a school with better test scores than Van Ness (and most of the schools with higher test scores don't even offer PK3 and are far from Navy Yard). If you really like their models, you could look at Capitol Hill Montessori at Logan and School Within School (both DCPS schools but without boundaries so everyone has an equal shot of getting in) but if I were you I'd apply to Van Ness and then whatever Appletrees are an easy commute for you and call it a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a wild list, geographically.

If you tell us the grade you're going into and how long you plan to stay in DC, and what your in-boundary school is, people can be quite helpful.

My child will start Pre-k 3. My in-boundary school is Van Ness, but I’m willing to commute for the right school. The list of schools I listed were just a few schools that were given to me to review.

As another parent IB for Van Ness I absolutely cannot imagine making most of those commutes with my 3 year old and then presumedly through the next 8 years of my child's education. If you're just trying to lottery into a good feed through MS and HS you have time. You don't need to do this at PK.

AppleTree Waterfront is brand new this year so there's basically no information out there on it. People seem generally happy with the school's other locations though. Since it's only PK you would have to lottery again in K. I would definitely rank Van Ness above this both for proximity and quality of teaching.

I would also look at nearby, well-regarded DCPS elementaries. They're competitive so you have to have an amazing lottery number for any chance at it in PK3 but take a look at Brent, Peabody, Payne, Ludlow-Taylor, Maury, School Within a School. Brent is about to go through a renovation, so PK3 might be less competitive than it usually is, but your kid would be bussing to a facility Columbia Heights for a couple of years.

[Anonymous]

BASIS DC.

Or bust.

[Anonymous]

Creative Minds is too far for you and it wouldn't be worth it. They don't have good scores relative to their demographics, and they're planning to move locations in the next 5 years or so. And they experienced a big drop in enrollment this year.

Suggest you look into Seaton and Thomson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a wild list, geographically.

If you tell us the grade you're going into and how long you plan to stay in DC, and what your in-boundary school is, people can be quite helpful.

My child will start Pre-k 3. My in-boundary school is Van Ness, but I’m willing to commute for the right school. The list of schools I listed were just a few schools that were given to me to review.

I don't know why anyone would choose Appletree over Van Ness.

[Anonymous]

The PPs are all right, but I’d emphasize that PK3 being all lottery means you do have to be strategic. You’re probably not getting into any of those if you don’t have a high enough lottery number to get a PK3 seat without sibling preference at Van Ness, especially SWS and definitely not Maury. And Van Ness is great, especially for early grades and then you’d already have a community if you end up not being able to lottery for a better feeder pattern for a couple years. I’d put Van Ness first. Then Appletrees are your safeties and I’d add Amidon Bowen close to you in SW to the list, also a good school specially in the early elementary years though they also tend to not have many or any OOB seats for PK. Depends on the year and it’s been steadily becoming more popular. I personally wouldn’t waste a choice on Brent due to the swing space but like a PP said that might be one of the few “better” schools that you have a chance at, and if you don’t mind it then you’d have a nice renovated, higher performing school til middle school or whenever you give up and move to upper NW or out of DC like most others.

[Anonymous]

My kid attended preschool in another AppleTree location and we liked it a lot— it’s a great program, good teachers, etc. But it was essentially our safety because it was nearly impossible to get into our IB school for preschool. It also is only two years and so you will have to deal with elementary school/the lottery again sooner than you think. So I think AT is a good backup but would try to think longer term. I’ve heard good things about Van Ness, FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a wild list, geographically.

If you tell us the grade you're going into and how long you plan to stay in DC, and what your in-boundary school is, people can be quite helpful.

My child will start Pre-k 3. My in-boundary school is Van Ness, but I’m willing to commute for the right school. The list of schools I listed were just a few schools that were given to me to review.

Have you been to an open house at Van Ness? Go before going anywhere else -- you might be pleasantly surprised, and there would be many benefits to your life (commute, neighbors).

K is a much better year to try the lottery for other, better schools, if that is what you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's a wild list, geographically.

If you tell us the grade you're going into and how long you plan to stay in DC, and what your in-boundary school is, people can be quite helpful.

My child will start Pre-k 3. My in-boundary school is Van Ness, but I’m willing to commute for the right school. The list of schools I listed were just a few schools that were given to me to review.

I don't know why anyone would choose Appletree over Van Ness.

I want to play it safe. Although, it’s my neighborhood school, it’s not guaranteed that I will get a spot especially if there are a lot of siblings attending PreK 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The PPs are all right, but I’d emphasize that PK3 being all lottery means you do have to be strategic. You’re probably not getting into any of those if you don’t have a high enough lottery number to get a PK3 seat without sibling preference at Van Ness, especially SWS and definitely not Maury. And Van Ness is great, especially for early grades and then you’d already have a community if you end up not being able to lottery for a better feeder pattern for a couple years. I’d put Van Ness first. Then Appletrees are your safeties and I’d add Amidon Bowen close to you in SW to the list, also a good school specially in the early elementary years though they also tend to not have many or any OOB seats for PK. Depends on the year and it’s been steadily becoming more popular. I personally wouldn’t waste a choice on Brent due to the swing space but like a PP said that might be one of the few “better” schools that you have a chance at, and if you don’t mind it then you’d have a nice renovated, higher performing school til middle school or whenever you give up and move to upper NW or out of DC like most others.

Since AppleTree: Waterfront is only Pre-k 3 & Pre-k 4, would Bowen be the feeder?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Creative Minds is too far for you and it wouldn't be worth it. They don't have good scores relative to their demographics, and they're planning to move locations in the next 5 years or so. And they experienced a big drop in enrollment this year.

Suggest you look into Seaton and Thomson.

Any insight on why they experienced a big drop in enrollment?