John Francis v Eliot-Hine v Ida B Wells

[Anonymous]

How would you rate them? I've got a 3rd-grader with special needs who is mainstreamed and doing pretty well, but we're not looking for advanced math opportunities or similar, just a place that has reasonable academics and reasonable administrators. And of course we're concerned about the high school path.

[Anonymous]

these 3 schools are geographically far apart. id honestly first look hard at the one you live closest to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:these 3 schools are geographically far apart. id honestly first look hard at the one you live closest to.

+1

Happy to talk to you about Wells if it actually logistically makes sense for you

[Anonymous]

We're commuting from in-boundary for Eliot-Hine to a Wells feeder for my kid's elementary, so we know how much the commute sucks, but he's thriving there. E-H is an option by right, Wells is the feeder pattern from his current lottery spot, and there's a complex other channel that would open up John Francis with a group of kids from his current school.

I just don't have a really good grasp of any of the schools. Wells is new and I don't know much about it. I've heard good things about John Francis but I'm not sure it makes sense. E-H is improving but I don't know if it's improved enough to be a good choice.

My kiddo is really enthused about music, so the quality of the music program is something we'd love to know about.

[Anonymous]

Wells PP here.

We have a full co-teaching model for the four core subjects, so two full teachers in the room. One of the two is usually certified in EL or SpEd so those extra supports are right in the classroom. Math and ELA take up two blocks in the block schedule, allowing for differentiation in the second block (smaller groups split up by aptitude).

The administration is fantastic. Various leaders and teachers have won Standing Ovation Awards in the past several years, and much of the admin team (including the principal) have been there since the school opened in 2019. Lots of activities both during the school day and after school, too. Their "sense of belonging" on the Panorama survey was the highest among DCPS middle schools.

As far as music, come to our Arts Showcase from 5 to 7pm on May 16. The bands will all be performing in the Coolidge auditorium. One aspect I loved about the showcase last year was students introducing each grade level and talking about the things they learned as they advanced in their skills. They provide these intros in both English and Spanish, since we have a large multilingual population. Hearing how far they come in just a couple of years is incredible. Thanks to grant funding, every student has an instrument for the year.

For high school pathways, most Wells kids go on to Coolidge, where many of them are thriving. This year's 8th grade is also sending several dozen students to Banneker, McKinley, and Duke.

[Anonymous]

I have a kid with an IEP at Eliot-Hine and it has been good! Teachers are very responsive and admins are very good at running the school. It’s not perfect of course but has gone much better than I though and worlds better than elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid with an IEP at Eliot-Hine and it has been good! Teachers are very responsive and admins are very good at running the school. It’s not perfect of course but has gone much better than I though and worlds better than elementary.

Forgot to mention - like Wells, the core subjects have co-teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're commuting from in-boundary for Eliot-Hine to a Wells feeder for my kid's elementary, so we know how much the commute sucks, but he's thriving there. E-H is an option by right, Wells is the feeder pattern from his current lottery spot, and there's a complex other channel that would open up John Francis with a group of kids from his current school.

I just don't have a really good grasp of any of the schools. Wells is new and I don't know much about it. I've heard good things about John Francis but I'm not sure it makes sense. E-H is improving but I don't know if it's improved enough to be a good choice.

My kiddo is really enthused about music, so the quality of the music program is something we'd love to know about.

I’m the EH parent. I will make my case that attending the IB school has huge benefits in terms of independence and social life. Kids can walk themselves to school and it’s much easier to make neighborhood friends. But if your kiddo has some friends from elementary and you already have your commute worked out to Wells, then that can be good too. I seriously doubt there’s much if any academic difference between Wells and EH. Eastern does have a new honors program but not sure how that is going in reality.

[Anonymous]

I would personally based partly on where you live go to Eliot-Hine. But you have 2 years to decide and some aspects of the schools and also how you feel could change between now and then. For example, it is still somewhat unclear how the new Shaw feed will impact John Francis right now. You might also think about trying to lottery for Latin (5th) (relatively challenging but more inclusive than Basis - you can always switch to your IB), Stuart-Hobson (6th), or maybe even Inspired Teaching.

[Anonymous]

We're in a Wells feeder IB (Whittier) and have absolutely loved it and are optimistic about Wells as a feeder school.

That being said, that's from what I assume is a Hill commute a lot, though if you're comfortable with it and your kid has a lot of friends it may continue to be worth it. I've been impressed with Principal Lyles when I've met him and knock wood safety has been greatly improved this year. I don't know much about the Coolidge pipeline except that because it's grown so rapidly they're drastically reducing OOB admission. They also just beat Banneker in Mock Trial which is pretty impressive. It's still got a ways to go but even in the last handful of years it seems like it's moving in the right direction.