Is Real Change Even Possible?

[Anonymous]

Reading through posts here lately, I'm struck by how much frustration there is about DCPS policies. We see it everywhere - the crackdown on principals who don't fall in line (look at what happened at Walls), the way the needs of higher-achieving kids (I mean the top 60%, not just the top 10%) are paid lip-service while the system pretends to focus on struggling students (to little effect), and cookie-cutter approaches that ignore authentic, content-oriented, curiosity-oriented education.

Parent complaints seem to go nowhere. I've sat on an LSAT and watched principals nod politely before doing exactly what central office told them to do anyway. These committees feel like boxes to check rather than places where real input happens. And it makes sense. Principals get evaluated on how well they follow central office directives and keep everyone in line.

Meanwhile, groups like Democrats for Education Reform keep pushing for even more top-down control -- more testing, more administrative oversight, more ways to evaluate and control teachers rather than support them. They view teachers as problems to be managed rather than professionals to be trusted and empowered.

Parents and teachers are natural allies -- we're the ones who spend time with and emotionally invest in kids. But we rarely coordinate effectively outside the limited LSAT structure.

So I'm asking — how do we actually get DCPS to listen? Is there a way to appeal to the Mayor, when she is surrounded by Teach for America types who don’t love community control?

For those who've managed to move the needle on anything, what worked? Are there Council members who are actually effective in shaping DCPS policy in a positive direction? Have any parent groups actually won meaningful changes, or secured a degree of individual school autonomy? Or are we all just spinning our wheels?

I'm willing to put in real time and effort, but I want it to actually matter -- not just be another "community engagement" checkbox for a system that's made up its mind to ignore us.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

[Anonymous]

Well, having seen several charters run themselves right into the ground, I don't think independence and community control is really all that.

Yes change is possible. If you look long-term, or even just the past 10 years, you'll see there has been quite a bit of change. It's important that you check the box on LSAT and stuff so that DCPS can't say people refused to engage. And often times it's valuable as a learning experience for the participants just to increase their background knowledge. I like to assign stuff like that to newer parents so they learn, and to see if they're truly up for it.

DCPS listening varies widely. Often times they do listen and are sympathetic but are overruled. And often times what parents want costs a lot of money and that's the main problem. Don't be naive about that.

[Anonymous]

You need to get more information from real life than from DCUM. There’s a huge selection bias here, both in terms of who posts and what they post about. People post when they’re frustrated: what else can they do? But when things are going well, when people have hope, they’re not rushing to DCUM to post about it—and when they do, there aren’t many comments, so the post disappears fast. But start a fight about Basis and we’ll all be here for weeks. Even if every piece of information was accurate (and it’s not), the overall impression you come away with is distorted.

[Anonymous]

OP I've only found one way to change things but it's something that DCUM gets up in arms about.

You have to change the racial dynamic at underperforming schools by gentrifying them.

This is either by choice - you and your friends bringing your nonblack, nonpoor children to a particular school - or by policy, e.g., removing policies that segregate or by changing boundary lines to put nonblack, nonpoor people into schools that are almost always overwhelmingly so.

Once this happens, political and school leaders treat the school differently. Almost always people avoid putting themselves on the line and political leaders don't want to test the system by doing it themselves.

Sucks, but it's racial politics in America. That's how you get change in DCPS and PCS. Create school bodies that include children and parents who demand more and have the pull to demand it from a political system that otherwise tells the multigenerational poor that they just have to take what the system gives them.

[Anonymous]

We desperately need a new mayor who will hire a chancellor who is willing and able to make meaningful positive change.

The last meaningful positive change was the Michelle Rhee era. There controversies, but overall things moved in a very positive direction.

Since then it's been milquetoast incrementalism aimed at increasing control, plus futile experiments, like XQ, hoping to magically solve the dire needs of the most disadvantaged students.

[Anonymous]

There's been tremendous change in DCPS since I moved to the city in 2000. Don't arrogantly think you're the only one with a valid perspective.

[Anonymous]

DCPS won’t change until people are willing to make policy decisions without the fear of being called “racist.”

Example 1: “Gifted” programs would keep middle and upper income families in neighborhood schools, improving academic outcomes (and providing low income academically advanced children a better education).

Example 2: Feeder patterns that concentrate higher performing elementary schools to improve middle and high schools. Feed all the hill middle schools into one school … magically you have a second Deal. Bet you would get a second Wilson out of that too.

But we can’t do either of those things, because it’s “racist.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's been tremendous change in DCPS since I moved to the city in 2000. Don't arrogantly think you're the only one with a valid perspective.

This. OP, there is a lot of knowledge and expertise on this board. But you seem to think you are already an expert.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's been tremendous change in DCPS since I moved to the city in 2000. Don't arrogantly think you're the only one with a valid perspective.

This. OP, there is a lot of knowledge and expertise on this board. But you seem to think you are already an expert.

And what's your point? There has been tremendous change since 2000, but change in the last decade or so has been creeping backwards.

OP's question about how to move things forward is a valid one.

[Anonymous]

The answer is that it varies by school and grade level. It always did. And that it's going to be different going forward with declining population, budget cuts, and the shine worn off many charters. There's no one solution for OP.

But OP seems to think that if only DCPS would "listen" to her wisdom, things would improve. And that's naive. They do listen, to many people, who say all kinds of inaccurate and conflicting things. Not getting what you want doesn't mean you weren't listened to. And if what you propose is expensive, well, there's your trouble.

[Anonymous]

Change is possible but OP has identified the biggest current obstacles to that change -- the culture of both education advocates and administrative leadership don't get it.

I have become deeply cynical about the entire education policy landscape as a parent in DCPS, as I see how totally divorced from reality most policy decision-makers are. Even when they are parents, they often live in this parallel universe that allows them to overlook the obvious problems with their approach. And yes they are addicted to metrics that can easily fit in a power point while ignoring what teachers and parents tell them, especially at the elementary level where the burden of testing is truly hurting these kids (MS and HS students sometimes benefit from testing emphasis, especially if college bound, but in elementary learning is truly obscured by teaching to the test).

I have reached a point, though, where I have accepted it will not change during my tenure as a DCPS parent. Covid was a major turning point and at this point I base all decisions for my kids on what is best for them personally and our family personally, and I no longer factor community or school benefit into our choices. It's sad but I think realistically it's the best way to navigate this particular system.

We are hear for 3 more years and then decamping for another school district where MS and HS function more effectively. And that's only because I feel confident in my ability to supplement and support during these 3 years before I'm out of my depth. That wasn't my goal when we started this journey and it took a lot for me to get to this point, but I'm resigned and just relieved to have a plan for my kids that actually serves their interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS won’t change until people are willing to make policy decisions without the fear of being called “racist.”

Example 1: “Gifted” programs would keep middle and upper income families in neighborhood schools, improving academic outcomes (and providing low income academically advanced children a better education).

Example 2: Feeder patterns that concentrate higher performing elementary schools to improve middle and high schools. Feed all the hill middle schools into one school … magically you have a second Deal. Bet you would get a second Wilson out of that too.

But we can’t do either of those things, because it’s “racist.”

It seems like some DCPS high schools have been implementing #1. Anecdotally far more in boundary kids are attending Eastern and their IB program vs 5 years ago. Coolidge also created a program for advanced kids (can’t remember the name) that seems to keep some local kids enrolled.

[Anonymous]

I wish people would stop referencing the former Walls principal as some great example of a principal.

We turned down Walls because that guy was awful and the parents that we knew with kids at the school hated him too.

Wasn’t he fired because he didn’t want in person school to return when it did during Covid…a good 15 months after schools’ closed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish people would stop referencing the former Walls principal as some great example of a principal.

We turned down Walls because that guy was awful and the parents that we knew with kids at the school hated him too.

Wasn’t he fired because he didn’t want in person school to return when it did during Covid…a good 15 months after schools’ closed.

He was fired in October of 2020.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS won’t change until people are willing to make policy decisions without the fear of being called “racist.”

Example 1: “Gifted” programs would keep middle and upper income families in neighborhood schools, improving academic outcomes (and providing low income academically advanced children a better education).

Example 2: Feeder patterns that concentrate higher performing elementary schools to improve middle and high schools. Feed all the hill middle schools into one school … magically you have a second Deal. Bet you would get a second Wilson out of that too.

But we can’t do either of those things, because it’s “racist.”

Regarding the suggestion to feed all Hill elementariness into one HS, I think there are other obstacles as well. Currently they feed to three schools and to create a single MS, you'd need a huge building. You need at least two MSs there for space reasons.

Also, while I agree that there is some dogma involved that prevents pushing for more opportunities for high achieving kids on the Hill, I also think you have conflicting goals of a lot of parents in the neighborhood. Even among parents of high achieving kids, you also have this attachment to neighborhood schools and walkability, and when you look at how far apart Jefferson and Eliot-Hine currently are, you can see that a lot of families on the Hill would have to sacrifice walkable school commutes to make this happen. among the UMC families I know who are choosing to attend their IB MS on the Hill, a major selling point is keeping the walkable commutes they've had in elementary which really become part of the culture of the neighborhood, and also help a lot when you have kids in elementary and MS. I think this is one of the reasons that the school where you are seeing the most buy in from IB families presently is Stuart-Hobson -- it's very close to the feeder elementary that also has the most IB buy in in the zone (L-T) and also very close to JOW (still not a ton of IB buy in but improving and likely to make a big jump when they open their new campus in 2026), and that's appealing for families who have gotten used to short walking and biking commutes for the last 6 or 7 years.

Likewise one reason Jefferson has struggled so much with getting buy in is that the feeder with the most IB buy in, Brent, is also the least convenient to that MS campus. But buy in at Amidon-Bowen is improving and that has helped -- families see the benefit of a nearby school and want to keep the vibes going.

I don't think your premise is totally wrong -- I absolutely think the resistance to tracking and better opportunities for higher achieving kids is due to a misguided belief that supporting academic achievers is racist. But specifically regarding the idea of a unified Hill middle school, the resistance may once have been due to misguided equity beliefs, but I don't think it is anymore. As all three Hill MSs have increased their IB buy in, and as the Hill builds off the success of schools like Brent, Maury, and L-T with success at Payne, Chisolm, JOW, and Amidon-Bowen, I think you will continue to see increased buy in at all three MSs. Which might actually lead to a better trajectory than Deal, which has constant issues with overcrowding, if the result is three strong MSs instead of just one.