NW Saturday Academy – Help us build a strong middle school cohort in Ward 4

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm glad you are starting this. I live in ward 4, and my kid is only 2, but I think this could be a step in the right direction. Ignore those who come over and seagull all over new ideas. The schools WOTP weren't always great, and required effort at one point too.

You're obviously new to DC, because that is not true. Any native Washingtonian can go deep into the history of local schools, and upper NW has always been the bastion of quality.

BTW, no, I don't live in upper NW.

[calexander]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that this should be opened up. I think this is an interesting idea that I would like to learn more about and consider supporting, but as currently set up, my child can not participate. We live In Ward 4 and our address is being zoned out of Deal but my child is at a charter school (and not a charter school that feeds into DCI). Our middle school will be the new middle school, so why exclude families like mine from this if you want broad support from the community? I would love to have a high-quality public middle school in my community.

Thank you all and I appreciate the feedback. I am open to expanding the enrollment and I will take this information back to our organizing group.

[calexander]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like this is a great concept but would be much stronger if you included kids from NW DC as a whole--those in charters, those in Ward 3 and 1 and 2.

Seems odd to ward 4 it alone and not have Shepard on the list. From my perspective I think the economics play a huge role in the success of the middle/hs. I think we need to find ways to have the economics zig zagging across ward 4 and nw.

i used to run a saturday academy in baltimore in the early 90's--it is a great enrichment opp but cant say it will change the course of crappy middle schools

DCPS hasn't yet begun the planning for any of these middle schools. However, it is my hope that we can influence the process so that the finished product is a school that meets the needs of the whole range of student abilities and interests, from career focused to advanced academics.

[Anonymous]

Maybe you can open enrollment to anyone dedicated enough that they would put a Unicorn Middle School sticker on their car (magnets don't count).

Go 'corns.

[Anonymous]

Saturday school doesn't work. They tried this in Alex city at their lowest performing school. Test scores actually got worse this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Saturday school doesn't work. They tried this in Alex city at their lowest performing school. Test scores actually got worse this year.

So, does that mean Saturday school doesn't work? Or does that mean the Saturday school in Alex city at their lowest performing school didn't work?

Just imagine if someone told the Wright brothers... humans trying to flying doesn't work. Oh wait, lots of people did. Luckily, they kept trying in spite of it. And now look at our skies!

[Anonymous]

It's been very successful in Montgomery county.

http://www.saturdayschool.org/about/videos/i-believe-in-me.shtm

Obviously, the DC NW Saturday school should look at successful programs - not non-successful ones. Duh.

[Anonymous]

Bruce Monroe is actually in Ward 1. But would feed to the new middle school. My feeling is that I want my kid to get challenging academics in school during the week. thats the much bigger issue. that the elem schools are failing that will feed into a middle school.

[calexander]

I have updated the OP to reflect the simple eligibility area of "Ward 4" instead of tying it to specific schools.

[Anonymous]

Kudos Mr. Alexander. Ward 4 would really benefit from something like this.

[calexander]

Does anyone have experience with a school or district using programs like tenmarks.com or mathforum.org? If so, what did you think of them?

[arowe]

Christopher - we may have to take a road trip out to Howard County or Montgomery County to find out more about what they do.

[calexander]

arowe wrote:Christopher - we may have to take a road trip out to Howard County or Montgomery County to find out more about what they do.

That's a good idea, to get a first hand look at best practices from a veteran program.

[calexander]

Giving this a bump to remind everyone that our Parent Information Meeting is coming up on next Monday, October 6, at the Petworth Library at 6:30pm.

We have a flyer with more information or please feel free to view Coming Events section of the Ward4ed.org web site. We've had some good feedback from the community over the past few weeks and we're excited to share with you and get your input about the program.

Thanks,

Christopher Alexander
Founding Member & Ward 4 Parent
NW Saturday Academy
www.nwsadc.com
@NWSaturday
facebook.com/nwsadc

[calexander]

calexander wrote:Giving this a bump to remind everyone that our Parent Information Meeting is coming up on next Monday, October 6, at the Petworth Library at 6:30pm.

We have a flyer with more information or please feel free to view Coming Events section of the Ward4ed.org web site. We've had some good feedback from the community over the past few weeks and we're excited to share with you and get your input about the program.

Thanks,

Christopher Alexander
Founding Member & Ward 4 Parent
NW Saturday Academy
www.nwsadc.com
@NWSaturday
facebook.com/nwsadc

Bumping to remind everyone that this meeting is tonight. We promised to get you home before kickoff of #SEAvsWAS