Will Van Ness Elementary School be on the same level as Brent/Maury in 3 years?

[Anonymous]

The most significant unknowns which may impact Van Ness are teacher qualifications and experience, parental involvement and fundraising. The Brent PTA raises more than $80,000 each year through the Annual Fund alone. These funds are used for professional development, field trips (buses), PTA-sponsored events, supervised care before school, A/V and other equipment, folding chairs, classroom supplies, groundskeeping, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think SWS is a better example, current city-wide draw notwithstanding.

On what do you base that dig on SWS ? Look at SWS demographics, which are virtually identical to Brent's (city-wide draw or not). Academic performance is tougher to compare as SWS doen't even have DC CAS testing grades yet. I'm confident based on DIBELS and other anecdotal evidence that Brent and SWS will be rate comparably when it's an apples to apples comparison.

Let's not forget Brent is currently borrowing SWS's science teacher on a development assignment and is coopting it's early childhood Reggio approach. Why don't you just stick to the topic at hand you troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I predict van ness will be a hotspot for those in bound for amidon Bowen both low and high SES

Amidon Bowen is a similar situation to what will happen at Navy YArd. The overwhelming majority of kids at Amidon Bowen come from the public housing in SW (over 900 units). There is a limited number of row houses/large market rate apartments for families in SW outside of public housing. Amidon Bowen is also under enrolled. Depending on the dofferent programs offered at Van Ness, you may have a few SW residents try to switch but if you think its going to be a signficant number of high SES families, that would be incorrect.

Van Ness will be totally different than Amidon Bowen. Like the previous post said, the Capper redevelopment was done so with 75% market rate housing and 25% affordable housing. "The Lofts at Capitol Quarter" just had its groundbreaking (80% market rate, 20% affordable). All of the new housing built is either gonna have this ratio, or its outside of the Capper footprint, and will be 100% market rate. Also, most of the kids in public housing in the Capitol Riverfront are older kids (10 years old+)

Look at all the new housing being built "1212 by Forest City", "Park Chelsea", "River Parc", "Riverfront on the Anacostia", "Gallery At the Capitol Riverfront", "Parcel N" by Forest City". These are all market rate, and will be adding at least 3,000 units in the next three years.

Van Ness Elementary kids will mostly come from families who own Capitol Quarter Townhouses, and from the many different high rises in the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think SWS is a better example, current city-wide draw notwithstanding.

On what do you base that dig on SWS ? Look at SWS demographics, which are virtually identical to Brent's (city-wide draw or not). Academic performance is tougher to compare as SWS doen't even have DC CAS testing grades yet. I'm confident based on DIBELS and other anecdotal evidence that Brent and SWS will be rate comparably when it's an apples to apples comparison.

Let's not forget Brent is currently borrowing SWS's science teacher on a development assignment and is coopting it's early childhood Reggio approach. Why don't you just stick to the topic at hand you troll.

I read that comment completely differently---at the very least, you are way too sensitive. I took it to mean that Van Ness, like SWS and not like Brent/Maury, will be starting from scratch, and therefore, it is closer in kind.

It's also pointless to compare demographics of SWS and Brent. Brent's are not changing. How the new classes at SWS shake out is still an unknown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Van Ness Elementary School near the Navy Yard is slated to open for the 2015 - 2016 school year. With all the new development (Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, etc) and housing springing up every year, how likely will Van Ness become a high performing, high demand elementary school like Brent & Maury? My take on this is that it will open with limited grades (PS3, PK4, K), and and a grade every year until it becomes a full fledged elementary school. I think this will allow the school to grow just as the community is growing, and that it will most likely being just as good (or even better) than Brent & Maury.

If Watkins is a barometer, you will be waiting a long, long, long time. That's not meant to be a slight, but more of an observation that Watkins is in a far more developed area than Van Ness, is a well-established school, feeds to SH, and it still can't come close to filling itself with IB kids.

Two factors. Development doesn't necessarily equal lots of young kids. As others have noted, that area is more targeted toward young professionals than families. You also have so many options. Even if you had the potential to fill Van Ness with a critical mass a high SES kids, you will still lose a fair number to charters and privates.

I think you need to lower your expectations and hope that in 5 years it might be on par with Ludlow Taylor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think SWS is a better example, current city-wide draw notwithstanding.

On what do you base that dig on SWS ? Look at SWS demographics, which are virtually identical to Brent's (city-wide draw or not). Academic performance is tougher to compare as SWS doen't even have DC CAS testing grades yet. I'm confident based on DIBELS and other anecdotal evidence that Brent and SWS will be rate comparably when it's an apples to apples comparison.

Let's not forget Brent is currently borrowing SWS's science teacher on a development assignment and is coopting it's early childhood Reggio approach. Why don't you just stick to the topic at hand you troll.

You are misusing "coopting.". Brent is not taking over the SWS ECE program. The Brent ECE team decided to introduce a Reggio-inspired program last year and visited a number of programs in DC including SWS as part of the process of designing its own program. Next year Brent Will have mixed-age ECE classes (10 four-year olds and 7 three-year olds) and likely will loop teachers (I.e., students will have the same teacher for two years). You need to chill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think SWS is a better example, current city-wide draw notwithstanding.

On what do you base that dig on SWS ? Look at SWS demographics, which are virtually identical to Brent's (city-wide draw or not). Academic performance is tougher to compare as SWS doen't even have DC CAS testing grades yet. I'm confident based on DIBELS and other anecdotal evidence that Brent and SWS will be rate comparably when it's an apples to apples comparison.

Let's not forget Brent is currently borrowing SWS's science teacher on a development assignment and is coopting it's early childhood Reggio approach. Why don't you just stick to the topic at hand you troll.

I read that comment completely differently---at the very least, you are way too sensitive. I took it to mean that Van Ness, like SWS and not like Brent/Maury, will be starting from scratch, and therefore, it is closer in kind.

It's also pointless to compare demographics of SWS and Brent. Brent's are not changing. How the new classes at SWS shake out is still an unknown.

Original SWS commenter here and NOT a troll -- I meant that Van Ness will have the great opportunity to slowly build up the school and its culture, like SWS, instead of having to change the existing culture like Brent and Maury have. Not at all a dig at SWS (pp has VERY sensitive skin!), but a cheer/hope for another great elementary school on this side of town.

[Anonymous]

Let's assume that you (1) have a rising K'er in August 2015, (2) live IB for Van Ness, and (3) win lottery spots at Brent and/or Maury. What would you do?

[Anonymous]

It's hard for me to guess...like others have mentioned, most of the housing over there consists of 1-2 bedroom apartments and condos. will there be enough IB children (high SES especially) to sustain a school through grade 5?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's assume that you (1) have a rising K'er in August 2015, (2) live IB for Van Ness, and (3) win lottery spots at Brent and/or Maury. What would you do?

I'll play! 1. go to Brent

Why in the world would you commute to Maury from there? If the choice was Maury or Van Ness, I'd go to Van Ness. There are bound to be other kids in the neighborhood that go to Brent already and there will be others that go to Van Ness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It's hard for me to guess...like others have mentioned, most of the housing over there consists of 1-2 bedroom apartments and condos. will there be enough IB children (high SES especially) to sustain a school through grade 5?

I guess it depends on what the capacity of Van Ness Elementary is. Does anyone know what capacity of that school is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It's hard for me to guess...like others have mentioned, most of the housing over there consists of 1-2 bedroom apartments and condos. will there be enough IB children (high SES especially) to sustain a school through grade 5?

Young high-SES families live in 2 BR condos. I know -- i was one.

[Anonymous]

I think the fact that most parents would choose Brent over Van Ness suggests that the latter has a sizable hurdle to overcome. That hurdle is compounded by a very limited stock of SFH in SE, the likelihood that VN will feed to Jefferson thus leading to families jumping ship to charters or other options after fourth grade, and the size of the low SES population, whether IB or OOB. If my family was renting in the Navy Yard area and was committed to public school, why wouldn't we simply move IB for Deal or even Murch at some point down the road?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's hard for me to guess...like others have mentioned, most of the housing over there consists of 1-2 bedroom apartments and condos. will there be enough IB children (high SES especially) to sustain a school through grade 5?

Young high-SES families live in 2 BR condos. I know -- i was one.

For goodness sakes, where did anyone say it "never" happens? The point is that you are much more likely to find families in SFHs than 2 BR condos. That is all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's assume that you (1) have a rising K'er in August 2015, (2) live IB for Van Ness, and (3) win lottery spots at Brent and/or Maury. What would you do?

I'll play! 1. go to Brent

Why in the world would you commute to Maury from there? If the choice was Maury or Van Ness, I'd go to Van Ness. There are bound to be other kids in the neighborhood that go to Brent already and there will be others that go to Van Ness.

Maury is an established, known quantity. It is less than 2 miles from VN, about an 8 minute drive, albeit this might become more challenging once CSX starts digging. You also then have the option for Eliot-Hine, which could be significantly better than Jefferson in another five or six years.