Open House - do you learn anything new from these?
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Anonymous
| You'd be surprised how much you can learn even for PK. Some principals were organized with clear and detailed presentations, some seemed to wing it. Some had thoughtful responses to questions, others deflected. I think you get some sense of who is really caring and engaged, has a vision for the school, etc. It doesn't mean your lottery list will change, and you can still consider test scores, commute, parental feedback, but it was a useful addition for us. |
Anonymous
| are you excluding a nearby school option from your lottery choices based on hearsay and/or test scores? i think that warrants checking out the OH. do you need to miss work in order to go to a bunch of presentations all around town if your lottery choice is the school down the block, probably not. |
Anonymous
| Yes. I totally rearranged my original (based on hearsay, honestly) list once I went to open houses and met teachers and principals. DCPS went higher, charters dropped lower |
Anonymous
| In my experience, open houses are not them at useful unless you bring the specific questions you need answered and make sure to ask them. |
Anonymous
LOL. I love that DCUM egos think they alone have some matter of first impression question that is going to crack the code. Precious. |
Anonymous
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Absolutely, and especially when the open house is during the school day. There are several articles by Amanda Ripley, author of "Smartest Kids in the World" that gives some helpful bullet points on what to look for during an open house that I found helpful - if you google it you'll find several such articles by her.
I did not find the EdFest (back when they had that) as helpful, and same w open houses in the evening, but there's something about the process of trying to figure out what to do with school decisions where every experience is worth it to help figure out for yourself what is best for your family for the opportunities presented. Time consuming, though! |
Anonymous
I always go to open houses, because that's where I learn the real stuff. How can you base your decision just on what other people say or fact sheets? Don't you need to see the vibe of a school yourself? |
Anonymous
Especially the parents of PK3s, who are convinced they have a Nobel Prize winner on their hands. That list of questions is the only thing that will keep Larla from achieving the dream, so better have the right questions on it!!! |
Anonymous
Can you really learn the vibe from an open house? |
Anonymous
Absolutely. The well-functioning schools are all the same (as Tolstoy said) but when you go see a dysfunctional one, you'll know. |
Anonymous
| I went to my local DCPS open house led by a teacher and it totally closed the deal for me. I really liked seeing the kids in the classroom and the classroom environment. Based on playground talk, I really wanted one teacher/classroom over the other. I debated on reaching out to the principal but I decided not to bring attention to my child. He ended up getting the classroom I wanted and couldn’t be happier. Now I have to worry about PK4. |
Anonymous
it sounds like you will worry a lot in the next 13 years |
Anonymous
| DCPS neighborhood schools tend not to market themselves very well. If they're filling their seats, it won't feel like a good use of time from their perspective. But if you make the time to visit and research, you might like what you see. |
Anonymous
| I thought it was helpful for PK. Some open houses were a mess, there is definitely a vibe. At our IB, it was made clear that parents should expect to come to school and change “the culture” definitely concerns about gentrifiers. All that proved to be true. |
Anonymous
| Strange post above, no idea what you're talking about. |