Waitlisted for K at Two Rivers 4th -- Q for current families and waitlist gurus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Run as fast as you can from Two Rivers. Like a PP said, they did a piss poor job of reopening last year, but their poor COVID response just exposed the cracks that were already there. This year they added extra classrooms in each grade to allow for strict adherence to social distancing (desks are taped off and kids are not allowed to go near each other). While smaller classrooms sound like a positive change, they hired with people who are not certified to teach to fill those lead teaching spots (had only been teachers’ aids before.) While DCPS second graders are learning multiplication, 2nd graders at TR are still doing basic addition and subtraction. The school will only get worse as more unhappy families and qualified teachers leave. We are at a DCPS school now and the difference is night and day.

I can say with absolute certainty that almost everything in this post is patently false. Like to a laughable degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Run as fast as you can from Two Rivers. Like a PP said, they did a piss poor job of reopening last year, but their poor COVID response just exposed the cracks that were already there. This year they added extra classrooms in each grade to allow for strict adherence to social distancing (desks are taped off and kids are not allowed to go near each other). While smaller classrooms sound like a positive change, they hired with people who are not certified to teach to fill those lead teaching spots (had only been teachers’ aids before.) While DCPS second graders are learning multiplication, 2nd graders at TR are still doing basic addition and subtraction. The school will only get worse as more unhappy families and qualified teachers leave. We are at a DCPS school now and the difference is night and day.

I can say with absolute certainty that almost everything in this post is patently false. Like to a laughable degree.

Patently false? Not in our experience. To the OP--I think an offer at the end of the summer could benefit you, as the PARCC scores will be out by that point and TR4 could lose its Tier 1 status (and TRY could even slip from a 2, which isn't out of the realm of possibility). While these scores don't tell the entire picture, of course, it will shed light on the whether the academic rigor of the school has slipped.

I think you are probably fine in PK-1 grade at TR4--I just wouldn't assume that it will suit your child's needs for the long haul. We're grateful and relieved to be leaving before MS. Granted, it's probably natural to outgrow a school and environment; what you prioritize in early elementary just doesn't seem that imperative as the kids get older. Specifically, the focus on community and social/emotional growth seems to be at the expense of core and rigorous academics. That resonated more in PK, K, 1, but now that my child is nearing middle school...it seems cliched and tired. In addition, based on what I'm hearing from my child, discipline and bullying seem to be a big problem that the teachers/staff are struggling to control. And much has been written about the poor COVID response, all of which I agree with...so yeah, I'd think hard about L-T unless you are only going to be at TR for a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think really hard about choosing TR over LT. As in, I would not do it in a million years. Lots of kids start LT in K and especially given PK3 didn’t really happen for this grade (2 hours virtual for 2/3rds of the year and then some kids got in for in person but with very strict protocols for 1/3rd of the year), I think the “harm” in starting “late” is even less than usual. Starting after K gets harder, but even then it’s not a disaster.

I have experience with both schools and our experience with TR for our oldest was sufficiently bad that we moved IB for LT so all of our kids could go there. We also had multiple transfers from TR last year, though I have heard the pandemic was unusually bad.

I would tour LT on Thursday morning if you haven’t yet. Going to a school because you know two families there is… not what I would do and I suspect you will regret it. Also, when at least one of those families leaves by 2nd because the school can’t accommodate above grade level kids at all and doesn’t try to, you will really regret it.

I agree that the above is something to consider, though we are upper elementary at TR4 and are more than happy to stay through 5th because it works for us. But our situation is perhaps “unique” because we have no expectation or desire for the school to accommodate our above grade level kids, mainly because we don’t think any DC public school really could (or should). Ours kids are both JHU/CTYers and take advantage of lots of those opportunities. They are both many years above grade level in math and ELA of course and beyond want any reasonable differentiation could meet. BUT…they love TR4 and are absolutely learning a lot by being there, clearly stimulated to my satisfaction. They get their hardcore intellectual challenges elsewhere and it works for us.

And we’ll be going private for middle anyway.

But LT probably is the safer choice for most folks.

I agree of course that there is a limit to the differentiation that can happen within 1 classroom, but I don’t think it’s right to assume you can’t have effective differentiation even for kids well above grade level in certain areas. DC attends a Title 1 DCPS in NE and I was really surprised at the amount of differentiation happening in class. Classes were rearranged, they have kids coming for small groups from other grades, they are pulling in another teacher to lead the accelerated group. And what also surprised me was that this is not something the school publicizes at all! (If I were marketing myself to parents you bet I would be talking more about that!) but I think the school is more focused on teaching the kids rather than marketing, which I suppose is right

Anyway, good luck to the OP, and to every one else trying to navigate all these “choices”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think really hard about choosing TR over LT. As in, I would not do it in a million years. Lots of kids start LT in K and especially given PK3 didn’t really happen for this grade (2 hours virtual for 2/3rds of the year and then some kids got in for in person but with very strict protocols for 1/3rd of the year), I think the “harm” in starting “late” is even less than usual. Starting after K gets harder, but even then it’s not a disaster.

I have experience with both schools and our experience with TR for our oldest was sufficiently bad that we moved IB for LT so all of our kids could go there. We also had multiple transfers from TR last year, though I have heard the pandemic was unusually bad.

I would tour LT on Thursday morning if you haven’t yet. Going to a school because you know two families there is… not what I would do and I suspect you will regret it. Also, when at least one of those families leaves by 2nd because the school can’t accommodate above grade level kids at all and doesn’t try to, you will really regret it.

I agree that the above is something to consider, though we are upper elementary at TR4 and are more than happy to stay through 5th because it works for us. But our situation is perhaps “unique” because we have no expectation or desire for the school to accommodate our above grade level kids, mainly because we don’t think any DC public school really could (or should). Ours kids are both JHU/CTYers and take advantage of lots of those opportunities. They are both many years above grade level in math and ELA of course and beyond want any reasonable differentiation could meet. BUT…they love TR4 and are absolutely learning a lot by being there, clearly stimulated to my satisfaction. They get their hardcore intellectual challenges elsewhere and it works for us.

And we’ll be going private for middle anyway.

But LT probably is the safer choice for most folks.

I agree of course that there is a limit to the differentiation that can happen within 1 classroom, but I don’t think it’s right to assume you can’t have effective differentiation even for kids well above grade level in certain areas. DC attends a Title 1 DCPS in NE and I was really surprised at the amount of differentiation happening in class. Classes were rearranged, they have kids coming for small groups from other grades, they are pulling in another teacher to lead the accelerated group. And what also surprised me was that this is not something the school publicizes at all! (If I were marketing myself to parents you bet I would be talking more about that!) but I think the school is more focused on teaching the kids rather than marketing, which I suppose is right

Anyway, good luck to the OP, and to every one else trying to navigate all these “choices”

THIS. None of this is happening in my DS current TR class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Run as fast as you can from Two Rivers. Like a PP said, they did a piss poor job of reopening last year, but their poor COVID response just exposed the cracks that were already there. This year they added extra classrooms in each grade to allow for strict adherence to social distancing (desks are taped off and kids are not allowed to go near each other). While smaller classrooms sound like a positive change, they hired with people who are not certified to teach to fill those lead teaching spots (had only been teachers’ aids before.) While DCPS second graders are learning multiplication, 2nd graders at TR are still doing basic addition and subtraction. The school will only get worse as more unhappy families and qualified teachers leave. We are at a DCPS school now and the difference is night and day.

I can say with absolute certainty that almost everything in this post is patently false. Like to a laughable degree.

Patently false? Not in our experience. To the OP--I think an offer at the end of the summer could benefit you, as the PARCC scores will be out by that point and TR4 could lose its Tier 1 status (and TRY could even slip from a 2, which isn't out of the realm of possibility). While these scores don't tell the entire picture, of course, it will shed light on the whether the academic rigor of the school has slipped.

I think you are probably fine in PK-1 grade at TR4--I just wouldn't assume that it will suit your child's needs for the long haul. We're grateful and relieved to be leaving before MS. Granted, it's probably natural to outgrow a school and environment; what you prioritize in early elementary just doesn't seem that imperative as the kids get older. Specifically, the focus on community and social/emotional growth seems to be at the expense of core and rigorous academics. That resonated more in PK, K, 1, but now that my child is nearing middle school...it seems cliched and tired. In addition, based on what I'm hearing from my child, discipline and bullying seem to be a big problem that the teachers/staff are struggling to control. And much has been written about the poor COVID response, all of which I agree with...so yeah, I'd think hard about L-T unless you are only going to be at TR for a few years.

I really wish people could take the emotion out of their responses. This feels so very personal when it ought not be. The absurdity of TRY going to Tier 2 is just dumb. Especially for anyone that understands the Tier system is as much about growth as actual scores, so the fact that TRY moved to Tier 2 makes it MORE likely, not less, to return to Tier 1 based on improved growth. It is also silly to point to PARCC scores as a measure of anything when the 4th graders this year will never have taken PARCC because of COVID so the scores are going to be terrible across the board in DC.

What bothers me about PP's post is that if you remove the anger and emotion from the first part I think there's a lot of merit on some of the observations in the 2nd paragraph. I agree completely that the school's focus on "social and emotional learning" is badly misapplied in upper ES. I agree that there are behavioral and classroom management issues that the school seems unwilling or unable to solve for and that the upper ES teachers seem just overmatched by the 4th and 5th graders. I agree that core academics and rigor appear to have no central place at TR. They do seem to teach to the low end of the mean and leave higher performing kids out in the cold to their own devices (literally - they punt them to computers for IXL or other programs and never bother to check if the learning sticks). TR was an amazing place to be for lower ES and did not excel in upper ES.

I'd note also that based on conversations with parents at other schools the issues in upper ES (classroom management, academic rigor, differentiation) are very much the same. But I don't know because none of my kids ever attended other schools.

[Anonymous]

Yeah - urban education is a bit of a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Run as fast as you can from Two Rivers. Like a PP said, they did a piss poor job of reopening last year, but their poor COVID response just exposed the cracks that were already there. This year they added extra classrooms in each grade to allow for strict adherence to social distancing (desks are taped off and kids are not allowed to go near each other). While smaller classrooms sound like a positive change, they hired with people who are not certified to teach to fill those lead teaching spots (had only been teachers’ aids before.) While DCPS second graders are learning multiplication, 2nd graders at TR are still doing basic addition and subtraction. The school will only get worse as more unhappy families and qualified teachers leave. We are at a DCPS school now and the difference is night and day.

I can say with absolute certainty that almost everything in this post is patently false. Like to a laughable degree.

Patently false? Not in our experience. To the OP--I think an offer at the end of the summer could benefit you, as the PARCC scores will be out by that point and TR4 could lose its Tier 1 status (and TRY could even slip from a 2, which isn't out of the realm of possibility). While these scores don't tell the entire picture, of course, it will shed light on the whether the academic rigor of the school has slipped.

I think you are probably fine in PK-1 grade at TR4--I just wouldn't assume that it will suit your child's needs for the long haul. We're grateful and relieved to be leaving before MS. Granted, it's probably natural to outgrow a school and environment; what you prioritize in early elementary just doesn't seem that imperative as the kids get older. Specifically, the focus on community and social/emotional growth seems to be at the expense of core and rigorous academics. That resonated more in PK, K, 1, but now that my child is nearing middle school...it seems cliched and tired. In addition, based on what I'm hearing from my child, discipline and bullying seem to be a big problem that the teachers/staff are struggling to control. And much has been written about the poor COVID response, all of which I agree with...so yeah, I'd think hard about L-T unless you are only going to be at TR for a few years.

I really wish people could take the emotion out of their responses. This feels so very personal when it ought not be. The absurdity of TRY going to Tier 2 is just dumb. Especially for anyone that understands the Tier system is as much about growth as actual scores, so the fact that TRY moved to Tier 2 makes it MORE likely, not less, to return to Tier 1 based on improved growth. It is also silly to point to PARCC scores as a measure of anything when the 4th graders this year will never have taken PARCC because of COVID so the scores are going to be terrible across the board in DC.

What bothers me about PP's post is that if you remove the anger and emotion from the first part I think there's a lot of merit on some of the observations in the 2nd paragraph. I agree completely that the school's focus on "social and emotional learning" is badly misapplied in upper ES. I agree that there are behavioral and classroom management issues that the school seems unwilling or unable to solve for and that the upper ES teachers seem just overmatched by the 4th and 5th graders. I agree that core academics and rigor appear to have no central place at TR. They do seem to teach to the low end of the mean and leave higher performing kids out in the cold to their own devices (literally - they punt them to computers for IXL or other programs and never bother to check if the learning sticks). TR was an amazing place to be for lower ES and did not excel in upper ES.

I'd note also that based on conversations with parents at other schools the issues in upper ES (classroom management, academic rigor, differentiation) are very much the same. But I don't know because none of my kids ever attended other schools.

NP. So let's level set, this is an anonymous forum. Of course emotion will infuse nearly every post. And why not get emotional about your child(ren)'s education? What is more personal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Run as fast as you can from Two Rivers. Like a PP said, they did a piss poor job of reopening last year, but their poor COVID response just exposed the cracks that were already there. This year they added extra classrooms in each grade to allow for strict adherence to social distancing (desks are taped off and kids are not allowed to go near each other). While smaller classrooms sound like a positive change, they hired with people who are not certified to teach to fill those lead teaching spots (had only been teachers’ aids before.) While DCPS second graders are learning multiplication, 2nd graders at TR are still doing basic addition and subtraction. The school will only get worse as more unhappy families and qualified teachers leave. We are at a DCPS school now and the difference is night and day.

I can say with absolute certainty that almost everything in this post is patently false. Like to a laughable degree.

Patently false? Not in our experience. To the OP--I think an offer at the end of the summer could benefit you, as the PARCC scores will be out by that point and TR4 could lose its Tier 1 status (and TRY could even slip from a 2, which isn't out of the realm of possibility). While these scores don't tell the entire picture, of course, it will shed light on the whether the academic rigor of the school has slipped.

I think you are probably fine in PK-1 grade at TR4--I just wouldn't assume that it will suit your child's needs for the long haul. We're grateful and relieved to be leaving before MS. Granted, it's probably natural to outgrow a school and environment; what you prioritize in early elementary just doesn't seem that imperative as the kids get older. Specifically, the focus on community and social/emotional growth seems to be at the expense of core and rigorous academics. That resonated more in PK, K, 1, but now that my child is nearing middle school...it seems cliched and tired. In addition, based on what I'm hearing from my child, discipline and bullying seem to be a big problem that the teachers/staff are struggling to control. And much has been written about the poor COVID response, all of which I agree with...so yeah, I'd think hard about L-T unless you are only going to be at TR for a few years.

I really wish people could take the emotion out of their responses. This feels so very personal when it ought not be. The absurdity of TRY going to Tier 2 is just dumb. Especially for anyone that understands the Tier system is as much about growth as actual scores, so the fact that TRY moved to Tier 2 makes it MORE likely, not less, to return to Tier 1 based on improved growth. It is also silly to point to PARCC scores as a measure of anything when the 4th graders this year will never have taken PARCC because of COVID so the scores are going to be terrible across the board in DC.

What bothers me about PP's post is that if you remove the anger and emotion from the first part I think there's a lot of merit on some of the observations in the 2nd paragraph. I agree completely that the school's focus on "social and emotional learning" is badly misapplied in upper ES. I agree that there are behavioral and classroom management issues that the school seems unwilling or unable to solve for and that the upper ES teachers seem just overmatched by the 4th and 5th graders. I agree that core academics and rigor appear to have no central place at TR. They do seem to teach to the low end of the mean and leave higher performing kids out in the cold to their own devices (literally - they punt them to computers for IXL or other programs and never bother to check if the learning sticks). TR was an amazing place to be for lower ES and did not excel in upper ES.

I'd note also that based on conversations with parents at other schools the issues in upper ES (classroom management, academic rigor, differentiation) are very much the same. But I don't know because none of my kids ever attended other schools.

NP. So let's level set, this is an anonymous forum. Of course emotion will infuse nearly every post. And why not get emotional about your child(ren)'s education? What is more personal?

How wonderful for you...