Which DCPS elementary has the highest number of affluent AAs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lafayette or Murch - best bets IMHO.

You're joking about Lafayette and Murch, right? I don't think OP wants her children to be the only Black kids in their class.

When my kid was at Murch, it was majority minority, although the largest single group was white they were about 45%. My son was one of about six black kids in his class, and all were middle class or above.

Our child is currently at Murch and we are very happy with the welcoming community. Murch is no longer majority minority (see below, the "white" student body is 64%). However, it has a huge mix of languages, religions, and ethnicities (as well has colors). For example, there were three AA kids in my child's class, however there were several dark brown children from other backgrounds. Murch has one of the largest Asian populations in DCPS and this diversity is present on campus. Many of the children of color are from affluent and/or professional homes. The international children are from Embassies, or the Banks, however some are from striving immigrant families. I really like that the school supports OOB kids and there is always a small group of kids (about 14%) that are from outside of the neighborhood. This just strikes me as fair and is aligned with DCPS overall goals that all schools should have a percentage of kids that are OOB.

I am AA and obsess about the schools that will provide the best outcomes for my kid. It is particularly tough in NW, because most of the privates are more racially diverse than the public elementaries in the neighborhood. There is also a black DC elite that strongly advocates for privates and there are multiple generations of these "legacy" kids. They may criticize you for considering public. As long as public is working for us we will continue with public school.

What I like about Murch is that if you look at the AA scores on DCPS there is a good segment of AA kids that do well on the tests and are in advanced or proficient range, this is slightly higher than some of the other WOTP schools, particularly those in the immediate neighborhood. The gap between AA and white students is also smaller than at other schools. There is also a significant AA staff prescence at the school, and several AA men that work on the campus. Our son of color is doing well, and I feel that the racial and socio-economic mix at Murch is good for our family.

STUDENT DEMOGRAPHICS (from DCPS)
(2014-15)
Enrollment: 620
Black: 11%
Hispanic/Latino: 10%
White: 64%
Asian: 10%
Pacific/Hawaiian: 0%
Native/Alaskan: 0%
Multiple races: 5%
English language learners 9%

I'm the former Murch parent, and that's a big change in demographics in relatively few years.

[Anonymous]

Murch is more diverse than I thought, but trending whiter. Lafayette is still only about 10% Black, though. Spread across the various classrooms, that could easily equate to one Black kid per class.

[Anonymous]

The demographics have really changed in the WOTP schools.

When I mentioned the scores I am specifically looking at the highest scores. For example, advanced proficiency scores for AAs at Murch are the highest in Ward 3 for AAs math and reading together -- 25% of AAs are advanced in Math and 22% of AAs are advanced in reading.

Eaton has very high AA math levels, 39% of AAs demonstrate advanced proficiency in math (however only 9% in reading). Eaton clearly has reduced math racial gaps, perhaps their model should be replicated with other schools.

[Anonymous]

Francis-Stevens EC has always traditionally been an AA school and continues to roll at about 60%, even with the influx of non-AA neighborhood and embassy kids.

It's also 60% OOB and will likely remain that way.

It is or has been Title I in the recent past, but it's a pretty proud community that values education.

[Anonymous]

Affluent? Janey

[Anonymous]

Janney

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shepherd and Cleveland for sure. Maybe Maury?

Hearst is 53% AA. Lafayette is only 11%, but it is a big school so not actually that many fewer black kids. I would guess that those who either live in the area or trek their kids to Lafayette from OOB have a lot of money (or possibly a lot of time + interest in using it on their kids' education, which is also good).

If you have a little kid, Van Ness seems to have a fair amount of racial and economic diversity. But there are a lot of people from one side of the boundary freaked out about the fact that kids from the other side mostly live in public housing. Hard to tell if it's racism and/or classism but it could lead to some awkward or painful moments. The school only reopens this year so time will tell.

I agree. Van Ness may be a very good option for PS3, PK4, and K. The leadership team and teachers they put together for the first year is phenomenal, and there seems to be a strong parents group already involved with the school. Also, Van Ness got like $20 Million in renovations for this summer and next summer, so the facilities should be nice too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shepherd and Cleveland for sure. Maybe Maury?

Hearst is 53% AA. Lafayette is only 11%, but it is a big school so not actually that many fewer black kids. I would guess that those who either live in the area or trek their kids to Lafayette from OOB have a lot of money (or possibly a lot of time + interest in using it on their kids' education, which is also good).

If you have a little kid, Van Ness seems to have a fair amount of racial and economic diversity. But there are a lot of people from one side of the boundary freaked out about the fact that kids from the other side mostly live in public housing. Hard to tell if it's racism and/or classism but it could lead to some awkward or painful moments. The school only reopens this year so time will tell.

I agree. Van Ness may be a very good option for PS3, PK4, and K. The leadership team and teachers they put together for the first year is phenomenal, and there seems to be a strong parents group already involved with the school. Also, Van Ness got like $20 Million in renovations for this summer and next summer, so the facilities should be nice too.

Hi Van Ness Booster! I hope you are enjoying your summer!

[Anonymous]

Educated black families are spread out among the JKLMs, the most sought after charters, and a few other schools like Eaton, Shepherd, and Cleveland. At Shepherd, I'd say the highly educated families are mostly (but not exclusively) concentrated among the lower grades.

As always with these sorts of questions, this kind of depends on how OP defines "affluent," though.

OP, if you have any informal or formal affluent AA networks (e.g., Jack & Jill), you should also ask there. But from my experience most of the truly well-off black families in DC are in private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shepherd and Cleveland for sure. Maybe Maury?

Hearst is 53% AA. Lafayette is only 11%, but it is a big school so not actually that many fewer black kids. I would guess that those who either live in the area or trek their kids to Lafayette from OOB have a lot of money (or possibly a lot of time + interest in using it on their kids' education, which is also good).

If you have a little kid, Van Ness seems to have a fair amount of racial and economic diversity. But there are a lot of people from one side of the boundary freaked out about the fact that kids from the other side mostly live in public housing. Hard to tell if it's racism and/or classism but it could lead to some awkward or painful moments. The school only reopens this year so time will tell.

I agree. Van Ness may be a very good option for PS3, PK4, and K. The leadership team and teachers they put together for the first year is phenomenal, and there seems to be a strong parents group already involved with the school. Also, Van Ness got like $20 Million in renovations for this summer and next summer, so the facilities should be nice too.

With the school not yet open, how are you truly able to answer OP's question this way? What affluent AA families are sending their children there? Having a school with affluent children and AA children is not the same as having a school with affluent AA children. Van Ness boosting is kind of cute, but getting to be very annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The demographics have really changed in the WOTP schools.

When I mentioned the scores I am specifically looking at the highest scores. For example, advanced proficiency scores for AAs at Murch are the highest in Ward 3 for AAs math and reading together -- 25% of AAs are advanced in Math and 22% of AAs are advanced in reading.

Eaton has very high AA math levels, 39% of AAs demonstrate advanced proficiency in math (however only 9% in reading). Eaton clearly has reduced math racial gaps, perhaps their model should be replicated with other schools.

Shepherd has comparable numbers of AAs scoring advanced for math (31%), but doesn't fair as well for reading (11%). But overall the advanced scores are in line with AA scores at several WOTP schools, and they've been steadily improving.

http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Compare.aspx?tab=1&school=232,261,287,313

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shepherd and Cleveland for sure. Maybe Maury?

Hearst is 53% AA. Lafayette is only 11%, but it is a big school so not actually that many fewer black kids. I would guess that those who either live in the area or trek their kids to Lafayette from OOB have a lot of money (or possibly a lot of time + interest in using it on their kids' education, which is also good).

If you have a little kid, Van Ness seems to have a fair amount of racial and economic diversity. But there are a lot of people from one side of the boundary freaked out about the fact that kids from the other side mostly live in public housing. Hard to tell if it's racism and/or classism but it could lead to some awkward or painful moments. The school only reopens this year so time will tell.

I agree. Van Ness may be a very good option for PS3, PK4, and K. The leadership team and teachers they put together for the first year is phenomenal, and there seems to be a strong parents group already involved with the school. Also, Van Ness got like $20 Million in renovations for this summer and next summer, so the facilities should be nice too.

With the school not yet open, how are you truly able to answer OP's question this way? What affluent AA families are sending their children there? Having a school with affluent children and AA children is not the same as having a school with affluent AA children. Van Ness boosting is kind of cute, but getting to be very annoying.

I know of 2 families

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Janney

Not so sure about that one... low percentage of AA kids (only 7%) -- 22% advanced in math and 16% advanced in reading -- which is quite low compared to the student body as a whole. Which means there may be a larger than expected racial/ethnic performance gap.

Some parents (the minority of familes, I hope) seem obsessed with limiting access to OOB kids, even though OOB kids are only 6% of the student body (see the DCUM posts).

The classes have some international students however the international tends to skew more Northern Europe, as a result the classes seem to have very few darker skinned children (AA, African, South Asian, etc.).

It seems like an AA child might be singled out as being OOB even if the child is not, which is precisely the concern of the OP.

I would also encourage a bit of reading about the history of the neighborhood, there were several historic convenants that restricted access to certain racial or religious groups. Which may explain why some of the more workforce size housing in the community did not (or could not) historically appeal to certain racial and religious groups. It seems you will find more AAs in other neighborhoods or part of the neighborhood in NW DC, that is particularly true of the AA elite (J&J, old money OKOP). I wish I knew that before I moved as a transplant from another city.

STUDENT DEMOGRAPHICS
(2014-15)
Enrollment: 693
Black: 7%
Hispanic/Latino: 9%
White: 73%
Asian: 3%
Pacific/Hawaiian: 0%
Native/Alaskan: 0%
Multiple races: 8%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The demographics have really changed in the WOTP schools.

When I mentioned the scores I am specifically looking at the highest scores. For example, advanced proficiency scores for AAs at Murch are the highest in Ward 3 for AAs math and reading together -- 25% of AAs are advanced in Math and 22% of AAs are advanced in reading.

Eaton has very high AA math levels, 39% of AAs demonstrate advanced proficiency in math (however only 9% in reading). Eaton clearly has reduced math racial gaps, perhaps their model should be replicated with other schools.

Shepherd has comparable numbers of AAs scoring advanced for math (31%), but doesn't fair as well for reading (11%). But overall the advanced scores are in line with AA scores at several WOTP schools, and they've been steadily improving.

http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Compare.aspx?tab=1&school=232,261,287,313

Would agree about this. Also have to acknowledge that 33% of the AA students are low income and still do relatively well. Living in the neighborhood, I would say many AA with 2nd and older are spread out private and WOTP. More and more IB families (AA and others are sending their kid to Shepherd).

[Anonymous]

We're going private and are a lower middle class AA family, but this is probably the most useful information I've seen on this topic. Years ago, I considered renting within Murch (or Eaton) boundaries, because I had a feeling that it was probably our best shot at true diversity and high performing AA kids. The latter is what's most important to me and I will probably encourage DD to attend Banneker for HS as a result. Language immersion is the sole reason we're going private.