DC Principals recruiting door to door

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is great. I have heard that a big piece of what Melissa Kim did to tip Deal into the desirable school it is today was to actively recruit in boundary families. This is no different than that and no different from the marketing that charters do.

In order to turn around dcps we need buy in from families, understanding how the children will be well served by their neighborhood school is key. We need kids staying with the program so you have a well prepared cohort rising together. Go DCPS

Actually when Rhee abolished 6th grade, backtracked, but the writing was on the wall, Melissa Kim also did a lot to attract Mann parents, who during the underenrolled days always had the unofficial option of going to Deal. And it worked. They were not going to go to Hardy, they were going to go private or move. They stayed and went to Deal. Hard to imagine Deal requiring a hard sell now, but they should take a page from the principal of Hardy's playbook - next year all MS principals should go to the feeder schools and try to click with and convince the parents. Most sensible thing they have done for years.

[Anonymous]

I'm all for IB schools, however mine doesn't offer language immerison which was a priority for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a charter school parent so know the first hand appeal that charters have for many families compared to struggling neighborhood schools. That said, I find the DCPS bashing and snide comments really sad--I want the system to succeed and I think it is GREAT that principals are going door to door. I would hope my fellow charter school parents would also absolutely root for success in DCPS.

+1. I don't understand why so many posters are rooting for a total demise of neighborhood schools. I too am a charter school parent. However, I dread the extra commute and wish(ed) for better options in my neighborhood. DC is currently in DCI feeder and I know it will be close to impossible to get uptown to Walter Reed and all the way back downtown to earn a living. I may as well move to the burbs if I am asking for that kind of commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a charter school parent so know the first hand appeal that charters have for many families compared to struggling neighborhood schools. That said, I find the DCPS bashing and snide comments really sad--I want the system to succeed and I think it is GREAT that principals are going door to door. I would hope my fellow charter school parents would also absolutely root for success in DCPS.

+1. I don't understand why so many posters are rooting for a total demise of neighborhood schools. I too am a charter school parent. However, I dread the extra commute and wish(ed) for better options in my neighborhood. DC is currently in DCI feeder and I know it will be close to impossible to get uptown to Walter Reed and all the way back downtown to earn a living. I may as well move to the burbs if I am asking for that kind of commute.

How about teaching your kid to use public transportation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is great. I have heard that a big piece of what Melissa Kim did to tip Deal into the desirable school it is today was to actively recruit in boundary families. This is no different than that and no different from the marketing that charters do.

In order to turn around dcps we need buy in from families, understanding how the children will be well served by their neighborhood school is key. We need kids staying with the program so you have a well prepared cohort rising together. Go DCPS

Actually when Rhee abolished 6th grade, backtracked, but the writing was on the wall, Melissa Kim also did a lot to attract Mann parents, who during the underenrolled days always had the unofficial option of going to Deal. And it worked. They were not going to go to Hardy, they were going to go private or move. They stayed and went to Deal. Hard to imagine Deal requiring a hard sell now, but they should take a page from the principal of Hardy's playbook - next year all MS principals should go to the feeder schools and try to click with and convince the parents. Most sensible thing they have done for years.

+1 You really can't explain this history enough on this site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are people leaving? Because they believe they are going to a safer, more academically challenging school. Duh! How to keep them? Convince them that your school is as good or better.

I think that's what the principal is trying to do. For example, at my (not very good on test scores) in-bound school, the principal is a literacy expert, the test scores have risen, they have some partnerships with outside groups that allow them to do cool extracurriculars, there's a new playground and the school's been renovated, the early childhood grades have really small class sizes with an aide in every room,etc. There is more discipline (I don't always like how they implement discipline, but the school feels safe and orderly). The school is becoming more diverse kids (there are now more white, Asian, and Latino kids than before, for example), and the principal and teachers are very welcoming. Yet there's still a bad reputation--not all of which is deserved. Some parents won't even go to the open house. What better way for them to learn about all this and get their questions answered than to have the principal and some parents and teachers drop by?

[Anonymous]

This is pathetic. Carnivals and canvassing won't (or shouldn't) drive enrollment. Academic quality and rigor will. DCPS needs to concentrate on improving programs and raising standards beyond the JKLM group in order to compete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is pathetic. Carnivals and canvassing won't (or shouldn't) drive enrollment. Academic quality and rigor will. DCPS needs to concentrate on improving programs and raising standards beyond the JKLM group in order to compete.

Shouldn't is the key. But as long as reputations are more important than actual conditions in the school, messaging / advertising will be a part of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is pathetic. Carnivals and canvassing won't (or shouldn't) drive enrollment. Academic quality and rigor will. DCPS needs to concentrate on improving programs and raising standards beyond the JKLM group in order to compete.

Shouldn't is the key. But as long as reputations are more important than actual conditions in the school, messaging / advertising will be a part of it.

This also explains why there are still a significant number of non-tuition paying students from outside the District, particularly PG. With DCPS principals desperate for student bodies (i.e., funding allocations from the central office), it is very tempting to look the other way at residency fraud (even though DCPS is publicly committed to address it more vigorously).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is pathetic. Carnivals and canvassing won't (or shouldn't) drive enrollment. Academic quality and rigor will. DCPS needs to concentrate on improving programs and raising standards beyond the JKLM group in order to compete.

I would agree -- but go look at any of the threads on Ludlow Taylor.

Even among those who doubt the validity of the test score, no one seems to dispute that the school has great teachers and kids are learning. That isn't enough for the contingent that complained, vociferously, about the principal's "failure to woo" IB parents. This seems to be what they're looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is pathetic. Carnivals and canvassing won't (or shouldn't) drive enrollment. Academic quality and rigor will. DCPS needs to concentrate on improving programs and raising standards beyond the JKLM group in order to compete.

Shouldn't is the key. But as long as reputations are more important than actual conditions in the school, messaging / advertising will be a part of it.

This also explains why there are still a significant number of non-tuition paying students from outside the District, particularly PG. With DCPS principals desperate for student bodies (i.e., funding allocations from the central office), it is very tempting to look the other way at residency fraud (even though DCPS is publicly committed to address it more vigorously).

The quality of most tier 2 DCPS exceed that of tier 2 charters, it just that DCPS does nothing to promote or try to bring people in the doors. This effort -- along with the joint Education Festival -- should start to change that. It's too bad it's take DC this long, but as long as charters focus on market share as a metric of success DCPS is going to have to improve its enrollment strategies.

And don't get me wrong. At 44/56 or 50/50 of the city student population, neither sector is going away anytime soon and I wishthem both well.

[Anonymous]

I am really glad DCPS is doing this, and I hope the new principal at my IB DCPS, where I am sending my daughter next year, will get on board with it. I was amazed at how many people liked the school last year when they went to an open house, but the prior principal did not care to recruit in boundary families, so there wasn't much focus on getting people to the open houses. I think having principals engaged and wanting to sell their programs can only help schools like the one I'm sending my daughter to--they have a lot to offer, but their reputations do not make you think that they do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are people leaving? Because they believe they are going to a safer, more academically challenging school. Duh! How to keep them? Convince them that your school is as good or better.

I think that's what the principal is trying to do. For example, at my (not very good on test scores) in-bound school, the principal is a literacy expert, the test scores have risen, they have some partnerships with outside groups that allow them to do cool extracurriculars, there's a new playground and the school's been renovated, the early childhood grades have really small class sizes with an aide in every room,etc. There is more discipline (I don't always like how they implement discipline, but the school feels safe and orderly). The school is becoming more diverse kids (there are now more white, Asian, and Latino kids than before, for example), and the principal and teachers are very welcoming. Yet there's still a bad reputation--not all of which is deserved. Some parents won't even go to the open house. What better way for them to learn about all this and get their questions answered than to have the principal and some parents and teachers drop by?

Perhaps you could advertise this wonderful school by giving it's name. Other posters here talk about their DCPS schools, but don't provide the specifics. You could recruit right here and now.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it's a sign of desperation, but rather of refocus. Post GM bailout everyone in the organization officially became a car salesman. They get points on their reviews for how many folks they recruit to buy. This has the same feel to me. If you are going to captain a DCPS school you had better believe in your mission and put in some elbow grease to 'sell' it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a charter school parent so know the first hand appeal that charters have for many families compared to struggling neighborhood schools. That said, I find the DCPS bashing and snide comments really sad--I want the system to succeed and I think it is GREAT that principals are going door to door. I would hope my fellow charter school parents would also absolutely root for success in DCPS.

+1. I don't understand why so many posters are rooting for a total demise of neighborhood schools. I too am a charter school parent. However, I dread the extra commute and wish(ed) for better options in my neighborhood. DC is currently in DCI feeder and I know it will be close to impossible to get uptown to Walter Reed and all the way back downtown to earn a living. I may as well move to the burbs if I am asking for that kind of commute.

How about teaching your kid to use public transportation?

You are free to put your 11 year old on a one-hour plus multiple bus ride to cross town alone. I choose to parent differently, and not to subject my child to such dangers and hassles at such a young age. We need better local schools in closer proximity to our homes.