choice between DCPS and Charter

[Anonymous]

Not a PP, but:

Ahem... condos in in-demand neighborhoods in DC are actually doing pretty well, thank you.

[Anonymous]

21:44 here. Just to clarify. The term underwater was meant in an individual sense. Many families are overextended, even in the high demand markets. Congrats that your condo increased in value. Just meant to point out cynical, insensitive tone of the "take your pick" post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take your pick.
With DCPS you get heavy-handed top-down management from HQ, mediocre curriculum, especially at the elementary level, and relentless standardized testing.

At charters you get a revolving door faculty and lack of experience dealing with important issues such as discipline.

And the magic alternative is what exactly? Pay $30K+ and have your kid not be able to read come 2nd grade? Or go in debt for a school that harbors sex offenders for years? Or have a scholarship yanked out from under you mid-year? Or move to the 'burbs? (Assuming someone would buy your underwater condo in DC.)

It's easy to criticize. It's harder to take action.

Thank you PP 8:15 for deciding to get involved with local PA. You sound like a great neighbor and parent.

There are other alternatives. None of the alternatives are magic, and none of the decisions are easy. One is to homeschool. Another is to find a good private school with affordable tuition. There are many out there. We've done both homeschooling and private (after being disappointed with 3 different DCPS schools and a charter).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:21:44 here. Just to clarify. The term underwater was meant in an individual sense. Many families are overextended, even in the high demand markets. Congrats that your condo increased in value. Just meant to point out cynical, insensitive tone of the "take your pick" post.

I'm the "take your pick" poster. You can call it insensitive and cynical. I would call it realistic. We started out believing that public schools could work. We did the neighborhood thing. we did charter, we did OOB. We went to enrollment fairs. We visited schools. We gave it our best shot. We were disappointed with the educational opportunities that public schools, both DCPS and charter, had to offer. Mainly we were disappointed in the curriculum, or lack thereof. If curriculum isn't a big deal for you, great! You have a good chance of finding a DC public school that's a good fit for your kids.

[Anonymous]

What was wrong with the curriculum? Can you explain for each type of school you went to? We're going through this now and would find it helpful to hear from others that have gone through this already. Are you in private or the suburbs now and how is it different?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:21:44 here. Just to clarify. The term underwater was meant in an individual sense. Many families are overextended, even in the high demand markets. Congrats that your condo increased in value. Just meant to point out cynical, insensitive tone of the "take your pick" post.

I'm the "take your pick" poster. You can call it insensitive and cynical. I would call it realistic. We started out believing that public schools could work. We did the neighborhood thing. we did charter, we did OOB. We went to enrollment fairs. We visited schools. We gave it our best shot. We were disappointed with the educational opportunities that public schools, both DCPS and charter, had to offer. Mainly we were disappointed in the curriculum, or lack thereof. If curriculum isn't a big deal for you, great! You have a good chance of finding a DC public school that's a good fit for your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What was wrong with the curriculum? Can you explain for each type of school you went to? We're going through this now and would find it helpful to hear from others that have gone through this already. Are you in private or the suburbs now and how is it different?

DCPS curriculum: very skills oriented, very little emphasis on content knowledge, very weak in the areas of history, geography, literature, science, and humanities, especially at the elementary level. There's this expanding horizons construct where kindergartners study my family, then first grade does my neighborhood, then second grade is my community, third grade is my city, 4th/5th finally get U.S. history, and then it's the whole world in 6th grade. I find this absolutely nutty. Also, there's very little or no integration across disciplines.

The science sequence is also a mess. Lots of repetition year after year and huge gaps.

The curriculum was/is the same throughout DCPS. The charter school had no curriculum, other than it was dual-language immersion.

In private now. Love the curriculum, quality of instruction, lack of standardized testing, emphasis on opportunity rather than achievement.

I've heard that Maryland public schools are as bad as DCPS when it comes to standardized testing, canned curriculum, and highly scripted instructional protocols. Virginia may actually offer the best opportunities in terms of curriculum.

[Anonymous]

[quote=AnonymousThe curriculum was/is the same throughout DCPS. The charter school had no curriculum, other than it was dual-language immersion.

In private now. Love the curriculum, quality of instruction, lack of standardized testing, emphasis on opportunity rather than achievement.

I've heard that Maryland public schools are as bad as DCPS when it comes to standardized testing, canned curriculum, and highly scripted instructional protocols. Virginia may actually offer the best opportunities in terms of curriculum.

What does that mean? Were you always able to afford private or did you find a bargain that pp mentioned? tia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eaton is a much better school than the charters you mention. Not sure about Hyde.

Doubt many people would agree that Eaton is better than Haynes! (Not a Haynes parent, btw but you hardly see EATON getting national recognition..)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take your pick.
With DCPS you get heavy-handed top-down management from HQ, mediocre curriculum, especially at the elementary level, and relentless standardized testing.

At charters you get a revolving door faculty and lack of experience dealing with important issues such as discipline.

And the magic alternative is what exactly? Pay $30K+ and have your kid not be able to read come 2nd grade? Or go in debt for a school that harbors sex offenders for years? Or have a scholarship yanked out from under you mid-year? Or move to the 'burbs? (Assuming someone would buy your underwater condo in DC.)

It's easy to criticize. It's harder to take action.

Thank you PP 8:15 for deciding to get involved with local PA. You sound like a great neighbor and parent.

There are other alternatives. None of the alternatives are magic, and none of the decisions are easy. One is to homeschool. Another is to find a good private school with affordable tuition. There are many out there. We've done both homeschooling and private (after being disappointed with 3 different DCPS schools and a charter).

We considered both of those, but we really want language immersion for our child. That's not an option with homeschooling and it's not affordable private (after all, if you think WIS is an affordable option then you should be on the private school forums not DC public & charter).

What did I read here not long ago? Monolingual is the new stupid?

[Anonymous]

I'm not asking you to out yourself, but you've obviously put in a lot of time and effort here, and I'd be curious to know which private schools you found to have quality curricula, especially at the elementary level (obviously fine if you don't want include your current school on the list, but if the list is longer than just a couple of schools, maybe it wouldn't hurt to slide it in without specific identification). Many thanks!

Anonymous wrote:DCPS curriculum: very skills oriented, very little emphasis on content knowledge, very weak in the areas of history, geography, literature, science, and humanities, especially at the elementary level. There's this expanding horizons construct where kindergartners study my family, then first grade does my neighborhood, then second grade is my community, third grade is my city, 4th/5th finally get U.S. history, and then it's the whole world in 6th grade. I find this absolutely nutty. Also, there's very little or no integration across disciplines.

The science sequence is also a mess. Lots of repetition year after year and huge gaps.

The curriculum was/is the same throughout DCPS. The charter school had no curriculum, other than it was dual-language immersion.

In private now. Love the curriculum, quality of instruction, lack of standardized testing, emphasis on opportunity rather than achievement.

I've heard that Maryland public schools are as bad as DCPS when it comes to standardized testing, canned curriculum, and highly scripted instructional protocols. Virginia may actually offer the best opportunities in terms of curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not asking you to out yourself, but you've obviously put in a lot of time and effort here, and I'd be curious to know which private schools you found to have quality curricula, especially at the elementary level (obviously fine if you don't want include your current school on the list, but if the list is longer than just a couple of schools, maybe it wouldn't hurt to slide it in without specific identification). Many thanks!

Check out the private school forum strands on affordable privates.