Eliot-Hine

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Synopsis of this thread: if you REALLY want to send your kid to the middle school in your immediate neighborhood OR got shut out of all other options, you can probably justify to yourself that it's going to be okay. It might require you to dismiss some and/or all of the objective indicators available.

EH parent here. No, what I’m saying is that the “objective indicators,” which were pretty much just PARCC, ended up being a small part of the picture.

How about chronic absenteeism? Incidences of violence? I'm sure we'll hear soon about how those stats don't actually mean anything either.

The school is really calm. Absenteeism is an issue as it is at most schools. It may be relatively higher at EH due to the self-contained classroom. And FWIW it’s not that hard to get to 18 days that counts as chronic absentee - we almost hit that with 1 bout of covid, 1 flu, and some colds and drs appointments.

You are insane! 18 days is 10% of the school year and it is completely unacceptable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. If you look at the white subscores, EH kids actually do as well or better than any other MS including Latin, Deal etc. I hate making this argument because it sounds so privileged and like I don’t care about black kids. But it firmly dispels the notion that kids “are not learning.”

And to me, the more interesting stat is PARCC 3s. Those are solid kids doing well despite a lot of possible disadvantages. They’re bright kids engaged in learning.

I’m not sure what more I have to contribute to this thread except my original post, which is “PARCC scores do not reflect my kid’s overall experience.” I’d just really encourage parents to consider whether your perceptions are fear and anxiety based, or whether you can try something unfamiliar to your own educational background. The kids are alright, I promise!

First, while kids are absolutely not doing “better” at EH than other schools on the PARCC. You constantly make things up in this thread and it’s tiresome.

Second, the only white kids I know at Elliot Hine are doing a lot of outside supplementing because the curriculum is weak.

This back and forth is tiring. Nobody on here who claims to know all the things or all the people at a given school actually does. The families I know there (including my own) are there by choice , not because we struck out elsewhere , and are not supplementing. My guess is best case scenario this is an example of peoples social circle being people who think like them, and reinforcing their views. Worst case scenario is that people intentionally come on here to cut people down and make stuff up.

Sorry but if you actually are choosing EH and not supplementing then you either are an outlier or your kid is just an average 50% kind of kid.

This is an anonymous board and people can post anything but there is no way any kid is doing well and performing above grade level without supplementing.

Nobody needs to defend themselves on an anonymous board, but this post sort of proves my point. Who from outside of a school (which I assume you are, if incorrect I apologize) feels the need to comment on or actually knows what they are talking about with regards to any school except the one they are enrolled at? And then even at that, I would argue parents at any school can't and don't know the decisions and life choices of all families even at the school they are at. Your close few friends, sure - but it would be a strange habit of conversation to survey everybody you met at a school about these things. And by that same logic yes, I can only speak to the families I know well whose kids are doing well and don't supplement. I really can't tell the motivation behind these assumptions, it is almost like people who made other choices need to validate their own by putting families down. We have a system of choice. People use it. That should be the end of the conversation.
Now get out and enjoy a beautiful Sunday!

OP, no offense, but your original post and everything you have posted after it is basically selfish propaganda. You claim that you have no problem with the fact that the vast majority of the kids at EH are well below grade level, but you are here on a board that skews UMC try-hards trying to convince people to send their above grade level kids to EH. And you’re doing it by lying about objective data.

We do have a system of choice. And people should make informed choices. Stop trying to manipulate them into choosing a academically weak school.

These types of lies about EH will forever keep it the academically weak school it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. If you look at the white subscores, EH kids actually do as well or better than any other MS including Latin, Deal etc. I hate making this argument because it sounds so privileged and like I don’t care about black kids. But it firmly dispels the notion that kids “are not learning.”

And to me, the more interesting stat is PARCC 3s. Those are solid kids doing well despite a lot of possible disadvantages. They’re bright kids engaged in learning.

I’m not sure what more I have to contribute to this thread except my original post, which is “PARCC scores do not reflect my kid’s overall experience.” I’d just really encourage parents to consider whether your perceptions are fear and anxiety based, or whether you can try something unfamiliar to your own educational background. The kids are alright, I promise!

I appreciate your comment, but as a mother to non-white kids, it’s not true that “the kids are alright”. Our kids count too.

yeah like I said I *hate* that discussion point, precisely for what you point out, but it seemed necessary to dispel the idea that kids aren’t learning anything. I think the data would show that kids of college educated parents do fine at every DCPS MS, of all races. EH (and this gets ignored) has a strong cohort of black kids doing well. EH also undeniably also has a lot of black kids with low test scores from disadvantaged families - but at the end of the day I truly don’t believe my child is worse off for going to school with them. I know quite a few black UMC families that feel differently and seek out more homogeneous schools. That’s understandable. I do wish that DCPS would take a hard look at whether the curriculum (especially math and writing) could be improved but I think that’s true for all MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think its very hard to get a 5 on math if your school never teaches level 5 material. ELA is different — reading lots outside of school easily helps a lot there.

Both my kids have always gotten 5s on math and it’s a combination of being really gifted in math and having an excellent math tutor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. If you look at the white subscores, EH kids actually do as well or better than any other MS including Latin, Deal etc. I hate making this argument because it sounds so privileged and like I don’t care about black kids. But it firmly dispels the notion that kids “are not learning.”

And to me, the more interesting stat is PARCC 3s. Those are solid kids doing well despite a lot of possible disadvantages. They’re bright kids engaged in learning.

I’m not sure what more I have to contribute to this thread except my original post, which is “PARCC scores do not reflect my kid’s overall experience.” I’d just really encourage parents to consider whether your perceptions are fear and anxiety based, or whether you can try something unfamiliar to your own educational background. The kids are alright, I promise!

I appreciate your comment, but as a mother to non-white kids, it’s not true that “the kids are alright”. Our kids count too.

yeah like I said I *hate* that discussion point, precisely for what you point out, but it seemed necessary to dispel the idea that kids aren’t learning anything. I think the data would show that kids of college educated parents do fine at every DCPS MS, of all races. EH (and this gets ignored) has a strong cohort of black kids doing well. EH also undeniably also has a lot of black kids with low test scores from disadvantaged families - but at the end of the day I truly don’t believe my child is worse off for going to school with them. I know quite a few black UMC families that feel differently and seek out more homogeneous schools. That’s understandable. I do wish that DCPS would take a hard look at whether the curriculum (especially math and writing) could be improved but I think that’s true for all MS.

I’m going to be honest with you- no. It’s not. EH is just not a good school. I get why you send your kids there, I do. But I would seriously do whatever I could do to send them elsewhere. Learning something isn’t enough. I say this with love, not as an attack. I’m just a stranger on the internet but I sincerely am hoping for the best for you and your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think its very hard to get a 5 on math if your school never teaches level 5 material. ELA is different — reading lots outside of school easily helps a lot there.

Both my kids have always gotten 5s on math and it’s a combination of being really gifted in math and having an excellent math tutor.

So basically you proved their point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. If you look at the white subscores, EH kids actually do as well or better than any other MS including Latin, Deal etc. I hate making this argument because it sounds so privileged and like I don’t care about black kids. But it firmly dispels the notion that kids “are not learning.”

And to me, the more interesting stat is PARCC 3s. Those are solid kids doing well despite a lot of possible disadvantages. They’re bright kids engaged in learning.

I’m not sure what more I have to contribute to this thread except my original post, which is “PARCC scores do not reflect my kid’s overall experience.” I’d just really encourage parents to consider whether your perceptions are fear and anxiety based, or whether you can try something unfamiliar to your own educational background. The kids are alright, I promise!

I appreciate your comment, but as a mother to non-white kids, it’s not true that “the kids are alright”. Our kids count too.

yeah like I said I *hate* that discussion point, precisely for what you point out, but it seemed necessary to dispel the idea that kids aren’t learning anything. I think the data would show that kids of college educated parents do fine at every DCPS MS, of all races. EH (and this gets ignored) has a strong cohort of black kids doing well. EH also undeniably also has a lot of black kids with low test scores from disadvantaged families - but at the end of the day I truly don’t believe my child is worse off for going to school with them. I know quite a few black UMC families that feel differently and seek out more homogeneous schools. That’s understandable. I do wish that DCPS would take a hard look at whether the curriculum (especially math and writing) could be improved but I think that’s true for all MS.

I’m going to be honest with you- no. It’s not. EH is just not a good school. I get why you send your kids there, I do. But I would seriously do whatever I could do to send them elsewhere. Learning something isn’t enough. I say this with love, not as an attack. I’m just a stranger on the internet but I sincerely am hoping for the best for you and your kid.

lol ok. I’m sure you, internet stranger, know better than me, the actual parent of my actual child at the actual school in question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. If you look at the white subscores, EH kids actually do as well or better than any other MS including Latin, Deal etc. I hate making this argument because it sounds so privileged and like I don’t care about black kids. But it firmly dispels the notion that kids “are not learning.”

And to me, the more interesting stat is PARCC 3s. Those are solid kids doing well despite a lot of possible disadvantages. They’re bright kids engaged in learning.

I’m not sure what more I have to contribute to this thread except my original post, which is “PARCC scores do not reflect my kid’s overall experience.” I’d just really encourage parents to consider whether your perceptions are fear and anxiety based, or whether you can try something unfamiliar to your own educational background. The kids are alright, I promise!

I appreciate your comment, but as a mother to non-white kids, it’s not true that “the kids are alright”. Our kids count too.

yeah like I said I *hate* that discussion point, precisely for what you point out, but it seemed necessary to dispel the idea that kids aren’t learning anything. I think the data would show that kids of college educated parents do fine at every DCPS MS, of all races. EH (and this gets ignored) has a strong cohort of black kids doing well. EH also undeniably also has a lot of black kids with low test scores from disadvantaged families - but at the end of the day I truly don’t believe my child is worse off for going to school with them. I know quite a few black UMC families that feel differently and seek out more homogeneous schools. That’s understandable. I do wish that DCPS would take a hard look at whether the curriculum (especially math and writing) could be improved but I think that’s true for all MS.

It gets “ignored” because it’s absolutely not true. Again, stop making stuff up. EH does not have a “strong cohort” of anyone, of any race, “doing well.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. If you look at the white subscores, EH kids actually do as well or better than any other MS including Latin, Deal etc. I hate making this argument because it sounds so privileged and like I don’t care about black kids. But it firmly dispels the notion that kids “are not learning.”

And to me, the more interesting stat is PARCC 3s. Those are solid kids doing well despite a lot of possible disadvantages. They’re bright kids engaged in learning.

I’m not sure what more I have to contribute to this thread except my original post, which is “PARCC scores do not reflect my kid’s overall experience.” I’d just really encourage parents to consider whether your perceptions are fear and anxiety based, or whether you can try something unfamiliar to your own educational background. The kids are alright, I promise!

I appreciate your comment, but as a mother to non-white kids, it’s not true that “the kids are alright”. Our kids count too.

yeah like I said I *hate* that discussion point, precisely for what you point out, but it seemed necessary to dispel the idea that kids aren’t learning anything. I think the data would show that kids of college educated parents do fine at every DCPS MS, of all races. EH (and this gets ignored) has a strong cohort of black kids doing well. EH also undeniably also has a lot of black kids with low test scores from disadvantaged families - but at the end of the day I truly don’t believe my child is worse off for going to school with them. I know quite a few black UMC families that feel differently and seek out more homogeneous schools. That’s understandable. I do wish that DCPS would take a hard look at whether the curriculum (especially math and writing) could be improved but I think that’s true for all MS.

It gets “ignored” because it’s absolutely not true. Again, stop making stuff up. EH does not have a “strong cohort” of anyone, of any race, “doing well.”

I’m not sure what your agenda is here. The facts are actually there for anyone to see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think its very hard to get a 5 on math if your school never teaches level 5 material. ELA is different — reading lots outside of school easily helps a lot there.

Both my kids have always gotten 5s on math and it’s a combination of being really gifted in math and having an excellent math tutor.

This is satire, right? You pay for a tutor and still cling to the idea of exceptionalism? Must be satire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. If you look at the white subscores, EH kids actually do as well or better than any other MS including Latin, Deal etc. I hate making this argument because it sounds so privileged and like I don’t care about black kids. But it firmly dispels the notion that kids “are not learning.”

And to me, the more interesting stat is PARCC 3s. Those are solid kids doing well despite a lot of possible disadvantages. They’re bright kids engaged in learning.

I’m not sure what more I have to contribute to this thread except my original post, which is “PARCC scores do not reflect my kid’s overall experience.” I’d just really encourage parents to consider whether your perceptions are fear and anxiety based, or whether you can try something unfamiliar to your own educational background. The kids are alright, I promise!

I appreciate your comment, but as a mother to non-white kids, it’s not true that “the kids are alright”. Our kids count too.

yeah like I said I *hate* that discussion point, precisely for what you point out, but it seemed necessary to dispel the idea that kids aren’t learning anything. I think the data would show that kids of college educated parents do fine at every DCPS MS, of all races. EH (and this gets ignored) has a strong cohort of black kids doing well. EH also undeniably also has a lot of black kids with low test scores from disadvantaged families - but at the end of the day I truly don’t believe my child is worse off for going to school with them. I know quite a few black UMC families that feel differently and seek out more homogeneous schools. That’s understandable. I do wish that DCPS would take a hard look at whether the curriculum (especially math and writing) could be improved but I think that’s true for all MS.

It gets “ignored” because it’s absolutely not true. Again, stop making stuff up. EH does not have a “strong cohort” of anyone, of any race, “doing well.”

I’m not sure what your agenda is here. The facts are actually there for anyone to see.

Yes, they've been quoted over and over again in this thread in response to outright lies by EH boosters. Here they are again...

Proficiency rates for 8th grade at EH:
ELA: 15 of 75 (20%)
Math (8th grade): data suppressed (<5%)
Math (Algebra 1): data suppressed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think its very hard to get a 5 on math if your school never teaches level 5 material. ELA is different — reading lots outside of school easily helps a lot there.

Both my kids have always gotten 5s on math and it’s a combination of being really gifted in math and having an excellent math tutor.

This is satire, right? You pay for a tutor and still cling to the idea of exceptionalism? Must be satire.

You can have a totally brilliant kid but still need to be taught math. Not sure how that escapes you. Same goes for many subjects. This is why there is so much untapped potential in bad schools- the kids are smart but they won’t get top scores on standardized tests because the teachers aren’t teaching them what they need to know to get those top scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think its very hard to get a 5 on math if your school never teaches level 5 material. ELA is different — reading lots outside of school easily helps a lot there.

Both my kids have always gotten 5s on math and it’s a combination of being really gifted in math and having an excellent math tutor.

This is satire, right? You pay for a tutor and still cling to the idea of exceptionalism? Must be satire.

You can have a totally brilliant kid but still need to be taught math. Not sure how that escapes you. Same goes for many subjects. This is why there is so much untapped potential in bad schools- the kids are smart but they won’t get top scores on standardized tests because the teachers aren’t teaching them what they need to know to get those top scores.

Well some of us are not interested in needing to get tutors for all subjects and creating another school outside of the wasted school day.

It’s exhausting, leaves no time for family, hobbies, extracurriculars, etc….

And best of luck getting buy in from your teenager for that….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think its very hard to get a 5 on math if your school never teaches level 5 material. ELA is different — reading lots outside of school easily helps a lot there.

Both my kids have always gotten 5s on math and it’s a combination of being really gifted in math and having an excellent math tutor.

This is satire, right? You pay for a tutor and still cling to the idea of exceptionalism? Must be satire.

You can have a totally brilliant kid but still need to be taught math. Not sure how that escapes you. Same goes for many subjects. This is why there is so much untapped potential in bad schools- the kids are smart but they won’t get top scores on standardized tests because the teachers aren’t teaching them what they need to know to get those top scores.

The original post implied it's easy to get 5s. PP said "I think it's very hard to get a 5 on math if your school never teaches level 5 material..." Response said "Both my kids have always gotten 5s on math and it’s a combination of being really gifted in math and having an excellent math tutor."

The response came off as countering that it's easy to get 5s while also noting that they use a tutor.

The response basically proves it's NOT easy to get 5s: it took not a combination of gifted child AND tutor - i.e. not easy unless you have outside supplementation, kids aren't taught above grade level math in DC elementary schools, so even a bright child may not score a 5 easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. If you look at the white subscores, EH kids actually do as well or better than any other MS including Latin, Deal etc. I hate making this argument because it sounds so privileged and like I don’t care about black kids. But it firmly dispels the notion that kids “are not learning.”

And to me, the more interesting stat is PARCC 3s. Those are solid kids doing well despite a lot of possible disadvantages. They’re bright kids engaged in learning.

I’m not sure what more I have to contribute to this thread except my original post, which is “PARCC scores do not reflect my kid’s overall experience.” I’d just really encourage parents to consider whether your perceptions are fear and anxiety based, or whether you can try something unfamiliar to your own educational background. The kids are alright, I promise!

I appreciate your comment, but as a mother to non-white kids, it’s not true that “the kids are alright”. Our kids count too.

Of course nonwhite kids count, and of course the best way to evaluate a school is by knowing what's actually going on there. But test scores are not disaggregated by family background (except for at-risk), and in DC almost all white kids are in families with well-educated parents. There are many families of other races with well-educated parents, but overall those groups are more diverse. So if you only have test scores, a simple way to see how kids from families with well-educated parents are doing is to look at the white kids.