Ida Wells

[Anonymous]

Anyone’s kid is in Ida Wells middle school? Any info about this school?

[Anonymous]

My kid is in a feeder school for Wells. My only information is that it has a lot of neighborhood buy-in (I understand it is either already overenrolled or well on its way to being so), and I would consider it a reasonable safety harbor if nothing else panned out for middle school but it feeds to a truly abysmal high school.

[Anonymous]

DS went there (in a selective HS now) and we loved it. He still volunteers there with some of the sports. Offerings, particularly afterschool and sports, are growing thanks in large part to an active cohort of parents and strong communication with school leadership. The staff are generally great, very supportive of the kids in academics and social-emotional.

DS enjoyed the schoolwide enrichment model (allowing for "clubs" baked into the school day), college tours, extensive HS application prep support, taking Algebra 1 in 8th grade. (Some kids take Geometry at Coolidge.) They also have the only middle school CTE program for cosmetology in DCPS, with a complete beauty salon/barber space.

Full transparency, this year has been tougher than in the past with some behavior and other growing pains since they're no longer "new." The majority of the admin team has been there since the opening in 2019 and will still be there next year, with a focus on resolving those issues and getting back to the joyful community I experienced.

The principal is very accessible and happy to talk to prospective parents.

[Anonymous]

15:02 again. Since PP on the Truth thread mentioned their DC isn't exactly thriving in math, I'll also share that a Wells family I'm close to also entered 6th with a kid who was behind in math. They are now in 7th and have more than caught up and built a lot of confidence.

While all 6th graders take accelerated math, they do generally group the students by aptitude. All grades also take two periods of ELA and math, one period focused on general curriculum and the second on intervention/acceleration. The second period can be a smaller group with a single teacher, instead of the typical co-teaching model the school uses. (It's overall a block schedule with 4 classes per A/B day.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS went there (in a selective HS now) and we loved it. He still volunteers there with some of the sports. Offerings, particularly afterschool and sports, are growing thanks in large part to an active cohort of parents and strong communication with school leadership. The staff are generally great, very supportive of the kids in academics and social-emotional.

DS enjoyed the schoolwide enrichment model (allowing for "clubs" baked into the school day), college tours, extensive HS application prep support, taking Algebra 1 in 8th grade. (Some kids take Geometry at Coolidge.) They also have the only middle school CTE program for cosmetology in DCPS, with a complete beauty salon/barber space.

Full transparency, this year has been tougher than in the past with some behavior and other growing pains since they're no longer "new." The majority of the admin team has been there since the opening in 2019 and will still be there next year, with a focus on resolving those issues and getting back to the joyful community I experienced.

The principal is very accessible and happy to talk to prospective parents.

Thank you for this! Can you share more about the other growing pains you mentioned? We're also a local feeder family and overall it seems like the Coolidge issues seem slightly better so interested to hear more about Wells.

[Anonymous]

Why would a middle school parent want their kid to take Geometry at Coolidge? I mean this in all sincerity- the pass rates on math CAPE at Coolidge are brutal. How can you possibly learn grade level Geometry given thr deficits of the peers in your class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone’s kid is in Ida Wells middle school? Any info about this school?

Yes. One graduated, applied to one school, Duke Ellington, was accepted and is thriving. Several other Wolves are there as well.

One currently at Wells, was accepted to SWW, Banneker, Duke and Coolidge Pre-College. We know she was accepted to each. She will be going to SWW. Several other Wolves are also attending each these institutions from this year graduating class as well as McKinley Tech.

My current 8th grader has been supplementing math at the Russian School of Mathematics because I did not trust DCPS. However, she is studying the same topics in school that she is covering at RSM so it was overkill and not needed so I have to give DCPS it's flowers for doing the job. She is taking Algebra. There are 1-2 students taking Geometry at Coolidge from Wells. Until you have visited the Coolidge Pre-College program (the scholars and the teachers), everybody should reserve your judgment.

Brightwood was once a thriving middle class neighborhood that began aging about 10-15 years ago. We were one of the first families with young kids to move in more than a decade ago. Most of the home's for sale are vacant or have aging seniors and young families are flooding the area with very proactive and educated families at the feeder elementary schools which are feeding into Ida B. Wells. With the orange man in office drumming up anxiety and cutting jobs and the lottery being the lottery, folks who used to go private have now begun investing in the local schools. The Wells PTA grew tremendously this year and it is only going to get stronger with the parents from the feeder programs. When my oldest kids were in elementary school, all of the kids we separated into charters and privates and there was no unity. That is going away. The feeder schools are going to get stronger and now that people know that you can get to any school in the city from Wells, more feeder families are going to stay.

The major difference between a neighborhood like Shepherd Park and Brightwood is Brightwood has a much higher concentration of apartment buildings which brings in economic diversity into the school and gives it Title I status. I see this as a benefit. Many people want flawless lives and see this as an issue. It really depends on how prepared you want your child for real life. It does not come without challenges that are appropriately addressed by staff and administration.

Although I know there are issues with a certain principal at Takoma, Principal Lyles is highly motivated and responsive to the needs of the families and making Wells one of the best environments in DC. He has close connections with both principals at Banneker and Deal and has implemented many ideas from those institutions.

That's the good and the bad. How else can I help you? Any specific questions?

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much, PP at 23:00. Are the geometry and other offerings at Coolidge with the teachers and Early College cohort?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone’s kid is in Ida Wells middle school? Any info about this school?

Yes. One graduated, applied to one school, Duke Ellington, was accepted and is thriving. Several other Wolves are there as well.

One currently at Wells, was accepted to SWW, Banneker, Duke and Coolidge Pre-College. We know she was accepted to each. She will be going to SWW. Several other Wolves are also attending each these institutions from this year graduating class as well as McKinley Tech.

My current 8th grader has been supplementing math at the Russian School of Mathematics because I did not trust DCPS. However, she is studying the same topics in school that she is covering at RSM so it was overkill and not needed so I have to give DCPS it's flowers for doing the job. She is taking Algebra. There are 1-2 students taking Geometry at Coolidge from Wells. Until you have visited the Coolidge Pre-College program (the scholars and the teachers), everybody should reserve your judgment.

Brightwood was once a thriving middle class neighborhood that began aging about 10-15 years ago. We were one of the first families with young kids to move in more than a decade ago. Most of the home's for sale are vacant or have aging seniors and young families are flooding the area with very proactive and educated families at the feeder elementary schools which are feeding into Ida B. Wells. With the orange man in office drumming up anxiety and cutting jobs and the lottery being the lottery, folks who used to go private have now begun investing in the local schools. The Wells PTA grew tremendously this year and it is only going to get stronger with the parents from the feeder programs. When my oldest kids were in elementary school, all of the kids we separated into charters and privates and there was no unity. That is going away. The feeder schools are going to get stronger and now that people know that you can get to any school in the city from Wells, more feeder families are going to stay.

The major difference between a neighborhood like Shepherd Park and Brightwood is Brightwood has a much higher concentration of apartment buildings which brings in economic diversity into the school and gives it Title I status. I see this as a benefit. Many people want flawless lives and see this as an issue. It really depends on how prepared you want your child for real life. It does not come without challenges that are appropriately addressed by staff and administration.

Although I know there are issues with a certain principal at Takoma, Principal Lyles is highly motivated and responsive to the needs of the families and making Wells one of the best environments in DC. He has close connections with both principals at Banneker and Deal and has implemented many ideas from those institutions.

That's the good and the bad. How else can I help you? Any specific questions?

How do you know that? Did you call and ask?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone’s kid is in Ida Wells middle school? Any info about this school?

Yes. One graduated, applied to one school, Duke Ellington, was accepted and is thriving. Several other Wolves are there as well.

One currently at Wells, was accepted to SWW, Banneker, Duke and Coolidge Pre-College. We know she was accepted to each. She will be going to SWW. Several other Wolves are also attending each these institutions from this year graduating class as well as McKinley Tech.

My current 8th grader has been supplementing math at the Russian School of Mathematics because I did not trust DCPS. However, she is studying the same topics in school that she is covering at RSM so it was overkill and not needed so I have to give DCPS it's flowers for doing the job. She is taking Algebra. There are 1-2 students taking Geometry at Coolidge from Wells. Until you have visited the Coolidge Pre-College program (the scholars and the teachers), everybody should reserve your judgment.

Brightwood was once a thriving middle class neighborhood that began aging about 10-15 years ago. We were one of the first families with young kids to move in more than a decade ago. Most of the home's for sale are vacant or have aging seniors and young families are flooding the area with very proactive and educated families at the feeder elementary schools which are feeding into Ida B. Wells. With the orange man in office drumming up anxiety and cutting jobs and the lottery being the lottery, folks who used to go private have now begun investing in the local schools. The Wells PTA grew tremendously this year and it is only going to get stronger with the parents from the feeder programs. When my oldest kids were in elementary school, all of the kids we separated into charters and privates and there was no unity. That is going away. The feeder schools are going to get stronger and now that people know that you can get to any school in the city from Wells, more feeder families are going to stay.

The major difference between a neighborhood like Shepherd Park and Brightwood is Brightwood has a much higher concentration of apartment buildings which brings in economic diversity into the school and gives it Title I status. I see this as a benefit. Many people want flawless lives and see this as an issue. It really depends on how prepared you want your child for real life. It does not come without challenges that are appropriately addressed by staff and administration.

Although I know there are issues with a certain principal at Takoma, Principal Lyles is highly motivated and responsive to the needs of the families and making Wells one of the best environments in DC. He has close connections with both principals at Banneker and Deal and has implemented many ideas from those institutions.

That's the good and the bad. How else can I help you? Any specific questions?

This is heartening to read, as a parent of a younger kid at Takoma. Thanks for writing it out!

[Anonymous]

You don’t know that kid got into all four schools. That’s highly unlikely. So your claim is that in the past 24 days this kid got off three waitlists? That did not happen. People on here do not understand the Dc application process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don’t know that kid got into all four schools. That’s highly unlikely. So your claim is that in the past 24 days this kid got off three waitlists? That did not happen. People on here do not understand the Dc application process.

Yes, unfortunately just making stuff up!