Moving neighborhoods + Orientation to early childhood education and bilingual education in DC

[Anonymous]

Feeling overwhelmed and would love to get the basic lowdown on how people navigate choosing schools in DC. What’s been your strategy or path for the preschool years and through elementary? There’s a strong chance we won’t stay in DC another decade+ but want to make the most of the time we do have, however long that is.

If your child is learning a non-English language, I’m especially interested in your approach. What programs are quality, is there a realistic path for consistent immersion, etc. Our preference would be Spanish as a second language because one parent already speaks it and we figure if/when we leave DC, we would be more likely to find Spanish language resources and immersion opportunities elsewhere than for other languages.

If your child started in DCPS and moved on to private, at what grade and where did you switch over? Anything you can sharing about that decision?

We plan to move houses and *could* switch neighborhoods later this year, but studying up on schools needs to be a big factor.

[Anonymous]

Where do you currently live? I think that would be a great start considering the commute.

[Anonymous]

I would go into the process with the expectation that the lottery will not work out how you want, especially in the early years. This will have helped me feel less disappointed and would have pushed me to have better alternative plans.

The charter system leaves a lot to be desired. If I had the choice, I’d move to be inbounds for my favorite DCPS so that by the time you get to K, you have a spot guaranteed. If you want to go for a charter, please attend board meetings so that you can see what the admin is telling the board bc it will not be the same as what they will tell you at an open house. Realize it’s very hard to run a school well and even harder when you don’t have the supports a school district provides.

Lottery has never worked out for us and we went to private almost immediately after a failed charter experience for pk3.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the PP, if it's an option for you, try to move to the neighborhood for your preferred DCPS. If renting is an option, that may be another way to avoid making a long-term commitment if the school situation doesn't play out as you hoped (as opposed to relying on the lottery).

We selected our home based on 1) our preferred inbound, 2) special ed services (child has an IEP) 3) planned duration for remaining in DC and how we wanted to handle the next phases. For example, our plan is to stay through Middle School so we planned our location based on that, if you have different plans for Middle/High school that may change the calculation for you as some elementary schools are perfectly fine with less desirable feeder schools.

[Anonymous]

Agreed. Your only safe bet is to move in-bounds to your desired school. If your child is honestly Spanish-dominant, you can get a preference in the lottery for some schools. Even mentioning this means that it may drum up posters arguing what qualifies as Spanish-dominant. Your partner being fluent does not, alone, count. Again, it’s just a preference, not a guarantee.

If you’re already thinking of moving neighborhoods within DC, moving to a desired Spanish dual language school would be ideal. When it comes to choosing that school, you can see the list on DCPS website and consider what is in your price point, desired neighborhood, reasonable work commute, etc. I would then factor in middle school feeders, but those other factors would come first if you don’t plan to stick around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would go into the process with the expectation that the lottery will not work out how you want, especially in the early years. This will have helped me feel less disappointed and would have pushed me to have better alternative plans.

The charter system leaves a lot to be desired. If I had the choice, I’d move to be inbounds for my favorite DCPS so that by the time you get to K, you have a spot guaranteed. If you want to go for a charter, please attend board meetings so that you can see what the admin is telling the board bc it will not be the same as what they will tell you at an open house. Realize it’s very hard to run a school well and even harder when you don’t have the supports a school district provides.

Lottery has never worked out for us and we went to private almost immediately after a failed charter experience for pk3.

Thank you for realizing that charter schools market to parents but the reality doesn't always match.

Some charters are excellent and some aren't. I am so tired of parents thinking charter means they won something that means anything. like the stupid tool who wanted a debate of Duke vs. Basis.

[Anonymous]

Agree with other posters about not relying on charters and if you're willing to move finding an IB you like. One thing to note is none of the WOTP schools have PK3 so if you're looking for quality IB that you might be able to get into in PK3 I'd look at some of the Hill schools and then up by Lewis, Takoma, Whittier, SP. Some good Ward 5 schools I hear as well though not as familiar.

Chisholm on the Hill is Spanish oriented. As is Bancroft in Mt. Pleasant. Chisholm is a fairly sure bet IB for PK3, Bancroft is decidedly not (even sibling preference IB won't do it).

We went to an IB non language focused elementary from an immersion daycare and while the second language addition would be great, there are other areas of focus that are also wonderful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing to note is none of the WOTP schools have PK3

Hyde-Addison is the exception to this ^^^