Does anyone on Capitol Hill send their kid to an elementary in upper NW?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live near Eastern Market and find out on Friday if we are going to do the commute to an upper NW private. Can’t move for 3 years either but aren’t willing to do our Hill inbound. All our friends think we are crazy but I think it’ll be worth it.

Also on the Hill and waiting on private school decisions this Friday. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me the issues the schools have that make a school untenable by 2nd grade when it was great in ECE? Is it simply that the UMC kids leave by then or is there something else going on?

OP here and I can explain our situation.

Once my kid got to K, the focus obviously really shifts to academics. That’s when stuff like classroom distractions and peer ability start to matter because they impact how your kid learns. In PK and even to some degree in K, the focus is more on teaching kids how to function in school, how to be more independent, how to be social and resolve small social problems. If your kid has no academic delays, and the teachers are good (which ours have been across the board) it’s hard not to have a good experience.

Starting in K but especially this year in 1st, that shifted. There is much more academic focus. And yes, many of the UMC families with really well-supported kids have left the school by now. That means that just as school is getting more academic and challenging, the classroom environment is getting harder. Disruptive kids are making it harder to focus on schoolwork, instead of just interrupting “choice time”. There are also a number of kids with serious truancy issues due to unstable home lives, and you don’t realize the impact that has on a classroom environment until you are in it, and your kid is constantly getting shuffled around to different groups because so many kids come to school sporadically. And that does seem like it will get worse as the kids age.

My kid does well academically and has done fine socially. She gets used as an example or to help guide the other kids a lot, which I think can be really good for her. But I think she’s missing out on a lot because the teachers (who again, are great) have to focus a lot of their energy on high needs kids. The school also focuses most of its resources on those kids, rightly — tutoring my child doesn’t need, for instance. It would be nice to be at a school with a critical mass of at or above grade level kids, and maybe get some programming and services aimed at meeting those kids’ needs and making school feel really fun for them. My kid does fine in school, but it’s not that fun for her and a lot if it is about being patient and working independently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me the issues the schools have that make a school untenable by 2nd grade when it was great in ECE? Is it simply that the UMC kids leave by then or is there something else going on?

OP here and I can explain our situation.

Once my kid got to K, the focus obviously really shifts to academics. That’s when stuff like classroom distractions and peer ability start to matter because they impact how your kid learns. In PK and even to some degree in K, the focus is more on teaching kids how to function in school, how to be more independent, how to be social and resolve small social problems. If your kid has no academic delays, and the teachers are good (which ours have been across the board) it’s hard not to have a good experience.

Starting in K but especially this year in 1st, that shifted. There is much more academic focus. And yes, many of the UMC families with really well-supported kids have left the school by now. That means that just as school is getting more academic and challenging, the classroom environment is getting harder. Disruptive kids are making it harder to focus on schoolwork, instead of just interrupting “choice time”. There are also a number of kids with serious truancy issues due to unstable home lives, and you don’t realize the impact that has on a classroom environment until you are in it, and your kid is constantly getting shuffled around to different groups because so many kids come to school sporadically. And that does seem like it will get worse as the kids age.

My kid does well academically and has done fine socially. She gets used as an example or to help guide the other kids a lot, which I think can be really good for her. But I think she’s missing out on a lot because the teachers (who again, are great) have to focus a lot of their energy on high needs kids. The school also focuses most of its resources on those kids, rightly — tutoring my child doesn’t need, for instance. It would be nice to be at a school with a critical mass of at or above grade level kids, and maybe get some programming and services aimed at meeting those kids’ needs and making school feel really fun for them. My kid does fine in school, but it’s not that fun for her and a lot if it is about being patient and working independently.

I'm not trying to discount your issue and think you are right to be looking at other schools. But "being patient and working independently" are INCREDIBLY important life skills so she's not getting nothing out of this experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live near Eastern Market and find out on Friday if we are going to do the commute to an upper NW private. Can’t move for 3 years either but aren’t willing to do our Hill inbound. All our friends think we are crazy but I think it’ll be worth it.

Also on the Hill and waiting on private school decisions this Friday. Good luck!

Good luck to you too! If by any chance you end up commuting to Woodley Park and want to consider a carpool, come back to this thread. Hope you get good news on Friday!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me the issues the schools have that make a school untenable by 2nd grade when it was great in ECE? Is it simply that the UMC kids leave by then or is there something else going on?

Behavior. Fighting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live near Eastern Market and find out on Friday if we are going to do the commute to an upper NW private. Can’t move for 3 years either but aren’t willing to do our Hill inbound. All our friends think we are crazy but I think it’ll be worth it.

Also on the Hill and waiting on private school decisions this Friday. Good luck!

Good luck to you too! If by any chance you end up commuting to Woodley Park and want to consider a carpool, come back to this thread. Hope you get good news on Friday!

Yes, Woodley Park is our first choice too!

[Anonymous]

thinking positively for all of us!

in bloomingdale, but also have applied to DCPS in the upper NW and also privates.

whatever is meant to be is gonna be...

[Anonymous]

So their peer group is good enough to live around but not attend school with? Man are some of you rationalizing for the privilege of a cute 1200 Sqft rowhome and a Hill address which is just about all of DC east of North/South Captiol st these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me the issues the schools have that make a school untenable by 2nd grade when it was great in ECE? Is it simply that the UMC kids leave by then or is there something else going on?

OP here and I can explain our situation.

Once my kid got to K, the focus obviously really shifts to academics. That’s when stuff like classroom distractions and peer ability start to matter because they impact how your kid learns. In PK and even to some degree in K, the focus is more on teaching kids how to function in school, how to be more independent, how to be social and resolve small social problems. If your kid has no academic delays, and the teachers are good (which ours have been across the board) it’s hard not to have a good experience.

Starting in K but especially this year in 1st, that shifted. There is much more academic focus. And yes, many of the UMC families with really well-supported kids have left the school by now. That means that just as school is getting more academic and challenging, the classroom environment is getting harder. Disruptive kids are making it harder to focus on schoolwork, instead of just interrupting “choice time”. There are also a number of kids with serious truancy issues due to unstable home lives, and you don’t realize the impact that has on a classroom environment until you are in it, and your kid is constantly getting shuffled around to different groups because so many kids come to school sporadically. And that does seem like it will get worse as the kids age.

My kid does well academically and has done fine socially. She gets used as an example or to help guide the other kids a lot, which I think can be really good for her. But I think she’s missing out on a lot because the teachers (who again, are great) have to focus a lot of their energy on high needs kids. The school also focuses most of its resources on those kids, rightly — tutoring my child doesn’t need, for instance. It would be nice to be at a school with a critical mass of at or above grade level kids, and maybe get some programming and services aimed at meeting those kids’ needs and making school feel really fun for them. My kid does fine in school, but it’s not that fun for her and a lot if it is about being patient and working independently.

I'm not trying to discount your issue and think you are right to be looking at other schools. But "being patient and working independently" are INCREDIBLY important life skills so she's not getting nothing out of this experience.

Of course. And we felt that way in K and for the first have of 1st. But kids need lots of different life skills. And there is a point in which working independently and patiently waiting for the teacher to address behavioral issues or help students who need a lot more help starts to feel like no one cares about you as a student and that school isn't really for you. There needs to be a balance.

It would also be different if there were a critical mass of students like her in the classroom who were working independently together. There aren't. It's usually her and one other kid. There used to be a third but their family moved. So it's a lonely existence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So their peer group is good enough to live around but not attend school with? Man are some of you rationalizing for the privilege of a cute 1200 Sqft rowhome and a Hill address which is just about all of DC east of North/South Captiol st these days.

You don't understand the demographics of some of these schools. At many of these CH schools, most of the kids who live near the school wind up going to charters or privates or OOB to other DCPS, and a significant portion of the students in the classrooms are OOB coming from neighborhoods with even worse DCPS options. Look at the IB percentages at some of the CH schools with lower test scores. They are low.

That's actually part of the problem. You want to go to your neighborhood school with your neighbors, but instead most of your kid's classmates live too far away for regular playdates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me the issues the schools have that make a school untenable by 2nd grade when it was great in ECE? Is it simply that the UMC kids leave by then or is there something else going on?

Behavior. Fighting.

This is a big part of it. A kid with behavior issues in K might be cracking jokes, showing up late, refusing to do work. Frustrating for the teacher but won't actually impact other kids that much.

A kid with a behavior problem in 3rd or 4th grade might be threatening other kids, talking about killing people, hitting and kicking, throwing things, etc. As kids get older, the problems get bigger and more dramatic.

[Anonymous]

I assume OP’s kid is at Watkins.

I very sadly lived this reality a decade ago and I’m dismayed that the situation hasn’t improved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me the issues the schools have that make a school untenable by 2nd grade when it was great in ECE? Is it simply that the UMC kids leave by then or is there something else going on?

OP here and I can explain our situation.

Once my kid got to K, the focus obviously really shifts to academics. That’s when stuff like classroom distractions and peer ability start to matter because they impact how your kid learns. In PK and even to some degree in K, the focus is more on teaching kids how to function in school, how to be more independent, how to be social and resolve small social problems. If your kid has no academic delays, and the teachers are good (which ours have been across the board) it’s hard not to have a good experience.

Starting in K but especially this year in 1st, that shifted. There is much more academic focus. And yes, many of the UMC families with really well-supported kids have left the school by now. That means that just as school is getting more academic and challenging, the classroom environment is getting harder. Disruptive kids are making it harder to focus on schoolwork, instead of just interrupting “choice time”. There are also a number of kids with serious truancy issues due to unstable home lives, and you don’t realize the impact that has on a classroom environment until you are in it, and your kid is constantly getting shuffled around to different groups because so many kids come to school sporadically. And that does seem like it will get worse as the kids age.

My kid does well academically and has done fine socially. She gets used as an example or to help guide the other kids a lot, which I think can be really good for her. But I think she’s missing out on a lot because the teachers (who again, are great) have to focus a lot of their energy on high needs kids. The school also focuses most of its resources on those kids, rightly — tutoring my child doesn’t need, for instance. It would be nice to be at a school with a critical mass of at or above grade level kids, and maybe get some programming and services aimed at meeting those kids’ needs and making school feel really fun for them. My kid does fine in school, but it’s not that fun for her and a lot if it is about being patient and working independently.

I'm not trying to discount your issue and think you are right to be looking at other schools. But "being patient and working independently" are INCREDIBLY important life skills so she's not getting nothing out of this experience.

Of course. And we felt that way in K and for the first have of 1st. But kids need lots of different life skills. And there is a point in which working independently and patiently waiting for the teacher to address behavioral issues or help students who need a lot more help starts to feel like no one cares about you as a student and that school isn't really for you. There needs to be a balance.

It would also be different if there were a critical mass of students like her in the classroom who were working independently together. There aren't. It's usually her and one other kid. There used to be a third but their family moved. So it's a lonely existence.

NP working independently or by yourself on a computer is not an adequate substitute for active, engaged teaching by the teacher.

I’m not interested in my kid being the “helper” to other kids all the time and not actively learning new content and challenging material which he is fully capable of.

[Anonymous]

Lottery for SWS, too. Plenty of Watkins refugees, and it's not impossible to get into in the older grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So their peer group is good enough to live around but not attend school with? Man are some of you rationalizing for the privilege of a cute 1200 Sqft rowhome and a Hill address which is just about all of DC east of North/South Captiol st these days.

You don't "live around" the peer group at some of these Hill schools. The peer group is coming from rougher neighborhoods. Which is actually great, because it means their parents care enough to try to send their kids to a better school.

It's not even about the peer group, because obviously these are just little elementary kids. The problem is, DCPS does a bad job when they have kids of very mixed resources. They are singularly focused on "closing the gap," and at many schools, that means not putting any resources into at-or-above grade level kids. As OP explained, that's fine for pre-k, but at a certain point, you start to question whether your kid is getting a good enough education.