Jefferson Academy Kool-Aid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well of course not Hardy - bc they are 4th graders.

SH, DCI, 2R, CM, IT are all also 6th+. So, really the PP should have indicated that parents only applied to Latin & Basis, the only MS for which they would be eligible. I sympathize with the dilemma, but exaggerating unnecessarily doesn't help make the point.

Not just W Latin and Basis. No admissions this year at St. Peter or CHDS. I heard that a couple of kids who did get into W Latin or Basis, or have relatively low lottery numbers (but are moving backward) have tentatively committed to returning to Brent next year. If you didn't have sibling preference the lottery results were very bleak, and there's no reason to think that this situation will change next year or beyond. As for Jefferson, the idea that a handful of parents are going to overcome the mindset of Henderson and Central Office, no to mntikner that dimwitted do-nothing, David Grosso, is mildly amusing. This same bunch has no issue throwing municipal largesse at Ellington and other boondoggles with absolutely no accountability. Where are the hearings on the empty Taj Mahal high schools? Take a look at Murch. I would rather see Brent parents fighting for the $4 million in modernization funds stripped from our school three years ago so that younger kids have a bright, inviting space big enough for dedicated world language, art, science and music rooms.

+1 but then Brent's in much better shape that some schools favored by high SES families, e.g. Murch, Logan. Millions in modernization funds for Brent in under five years sounds like a hard sell. Maybe the next mayor would be interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a great week for the Brent community. Many 4th graders without older siblings at charters didn't land a spot at the public middle schools parents applied them to - Washington Latin, BASIS, Stuart Hobson, Hardy, 2 Rivers, Creative Minds, Inspired Teaching etc. It sounds like two dozen of the 60 currently have no DC public option other than Jefferson Academy. Some will get off wait lists by the start of school. Some won't. Brent's 5th grade of 18 will be larger in the fall as a result. No telling how big just yet.

Brent's PARCC proficiency is about 62% according to Myschool DC (averaging ELA and math scores).

Jefferson's is about 12% (which, it should be noted, is substantially higher than Elliot-Hine and only a little lower than Stuart-Hobson).

If those two dozen kids from Brent went to Jefferson and 60% of them were proficient, the school could go from its current rate of about 12 proficient 6th graders in a class of 100 (12%) to 26 out of 124 (21%) and its scores would be higher than Stuart-Hobson and on par with Hardy.

That's a heavy lift for Brent parents, I understand. The kids who are most likely to be proficient are the least likely to take a chance on Jefferson. But the school does have enough proficient kids in the feeder pattern to raise the test scores just through a cohort effect alone. And the school has expressed willingness to differentiate to meet the needs of whoever enrolls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're trying hard to move a 30 million dollar plus renovation, planned for 2021 by DCPS and Bowser, up by a few years, and to build relationships with admins and the Jefferson parent organization. All fine, it's the feeder problem that seems unworkable in under a decade. Not nearly enough strong students in the pipeline from Tyler heading to Jefferson, and none in-boundary from Brent. Also no 5th grade at Van Ness for another five years. If Brent, Maury and SWS fed to the same DCPS middle school, we'd have another Deal soon. But nobody much lobbied for that several years back, and DCPS wasn't amenable anyway.

No one is amenable to that because picking those three schools out of the hat doesn't make any sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a great week for the Brent community. Many 4th graders without older siblings at charters didn't land a spot at the public middle schools parents applied them to - Washington Latin, BASIS, Stuart Hobson, Hardy, 2 Rivers, Creative Minds, Inspired Teaching etc. It sounds like two dozen of the 60 currently have no DC public option other than Jefferson Academy. Some will get off wait lists by the start of school. Some won't. Brent's 5th grade of 18 will be larger in the fall as a result. No telling how big just yet.

Brent's PARCC proficiency is about 62% according to Myschool DC (averaging ELA and math scores).

Jefferson's is about 12% (which, it should be noted, is substantially higher than Elliot-Hine and only a little lower than Stuart-Hobson).

If those two dozen kids from Brent went to Jefferson and 60% of them were proficient, the school could go from its current rate of about 12 proficient 6th graders in a class of 100 (12%) to 26 out of 124 (21%) and its scores would be higher than Stuart-Hobson and on par with Hardy.

That's a heavy lift for Brent parents, I understand. The kids who are most likely to be proficient are the least likely to take a chance on Jefferson. But the school does have enough proficient kids in the feeder pattern to raise the test scores just through a cohort effect alone. And the school has expressed willingness to differentiate to meet the needs of whoever enrolls.

that's quite a logical leap and it ignores the pressures on IB favoring improvement prospects for both Hardy and Stuart Hobson which have strong IB student potential (Hardy is further along). Fewer alternate landing spots will boost any neighborhood school where IB residents opt in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're trying hard to move a 30 million dollar plus renovation, planned for 2021 by DCPS and Bowser, up by a few years, and to build relationships with admins and the Jefferson parent organization. All fine, it's the feeder problem that seems unworkable in under a decade. Not nearly enough strong students in the pipeline from Tyler heading to Jefferson, and none in-boundary from Brent. Also no 5th grade at Van Ness for another five years. If Brent, Maury and SWS fed to the same DCPS middle school, we'd have another Deal soon. But nobody much lobbied for that several years back, and DCPS wasn't amenable anyway.

No one is amenable to that because picking those three schools out of the hat doesn't make any sense.

If you look at the feeders for Hardy it's all relatively affluent neighborhoods. It hasn't taken off because it's probably too affluent for public schools. That's slowly changing as more students from feeders are staying. Key, Mann, Stoddert, Hyde-Addison, Eaton -- that's a pretty impressive group of feeders and not a whole lot of FARMS in that lot. It's OK for NW but not the Hill. When Hardy turns DCPS is going to see a MS even more affluent and less diverse than Deal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're trying hard to move a 30 million dollar plus renovation, planned for 2021 by DCPS and Bowser, up by a few years, and to build relationships with admins and the Jefferson parent organization. All fine, it's the feeder problem that seems unworkable in under a decade. Not nearly enough strong students in the pipeline from Tyler heading to Jefferson, and none in-boundary from Brent. Also no 5th grade at Van Ness for another five years. If Brent, Maury and SWS fed to the same DCPS middle school, we'd have another Deal soon. But nobody much lobbied for that several years back, and DCPS wasn't amenable anyway.

No one is amenable to that because picking those three schools out of the hat doesn't make any sense.

If you look at the feeders for Hardy it's all relatively affluent neighborhoods. It hasn't taken off because it's probably too affluent for public schools. That's slowly changing as more students from feeders are staying. Key, Mann, Stoddert, Hyde-Addison, Eaton -- that's a pretty impressive group of feeders and not a whole lot of FARMS in that lot. It's OK for NW but not the Hill. When Hardy turns DCPS is going to see a MS even more affluent and less diverse than Deal

but everyone knows the Hill can't have nice things . . . those are reserved for Wards 2 and 3 and to a lesser extent 4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're trying hard to move a 30 million dollar plus renovation, planned for 2021 by DCPS and Bowser, up by a few years, and to build relationships with admins and the Jefferson parent organization. All fine, it's the feeder problem that seems unworkable in under a decade. Not nearly enough strong students in the pipeline from Tyler heading to Jefferson, and none in-boundary from Brent. Also no 5th grade at Van Ness for another five years. If Brent, Maury and SWS fed to the same DCPS middle school, we'd have another Deal soon. But nobody much lobbied for that several years back, and DCPS wasn't amenable anyway.

No one is amenable to that because picking those three schools out of the hat doesn't make any sense.

If you look at the feeders for Hardy it's all relatively affluent neighborhoods. It hasn't taken off because it's probably too affluent for public schools. That's slowly changing as more students from feeders are staying. Key, Mann, Stoddert, Hyde-Addison, Eaton -- that's a pretty impressive group of feeders and not a whole lot of FARMS in that lot. It's OK for NW but not the Hill. When Hardy turns DCPS is going to see a MS even more affluent and less diverse than Deal

but everyone knows the Hill can't have nice things . . . those are reserved for Wards 2 and 3 and to a lesser extent 4.

Throwing Ward 4 in there must be a joke...we have been last in line for just about every renovation round.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're trying hard to move a 30 million dollar plus renovation, planned for 2021 by DCPS and Bowser, up by a few years, and to build relationships with admins and the Jefferson parent organization. All fine, it's the feeder problem that seems unworkable in under a decade. Not nearly enough strong students in the pipeline from Tyler heading to Jefferson, and none in-boundary from Brent. Also no 5th grade at Van Ness for another five years. If Brent, Maury and SWS fed to the same DCPS middle school, we'd have another Deal soon. But nobody much lobbied for that several years back, and DCPS wasn't amenable anyway.

No one is amenable to that because picking those three schools out of the hat doesn't make any sense.

No one is amenable because picking those three schools makes far too much sense. You finally get a high-performing Ward 6 middle school and all boats rise with the tide (helping in-boundary low-income kids most).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're trying hard to move a 30 million dollar plus renovation, planned for 2021 by DCPS and Bowser, up by a few years, and to build relationships with admins and the Jefferson parent organization. All fine, it's the feeder problem that seems unworkable in under a decade. Not nearly enough strong students in the pipeline from Tyler heading to Jefferson, and none in-boundary from Brent. Also no 5th grade at Van Ness for another five years. If Brent, Maury and SWS fed to the same DCPS middle school, we'd have another Deal soon. But nobody much lobbied for that several years back, and DCPS wasn't amenable anyway.

No one is amenable to that because picking those three schools out of the hat doesn't make any sense.

If you look at the feeders for Hardy it's all relatively affluent neighborhoods. It hasn't taken off because it's probably too affluent for public schools. That's slowly changing as more students from feeders are staying. Key, Mann, Stoddert, Hyde-Addison, Eaton -- that's a pretty impressive group of feeders and not a whole lot of FARMS in that lot. It's OK for NW but not the Hill. When Hardy turns DCPS is going to see a MS even more affluent and less diverse than Deal

but everyone knows the Hill can't have nice things . . . those are reserved for Wards 2 and 3 and to a lesser extent 4.

Throwing Ward 4 in there must be a joke...we have been last in line for just about every renovation round.

and yet Shepherd retained the illogical Deal feed, not to mention Crestwood even though Eaton was a far more logical choice. and let us not forget Lafayette. I did say "to an extent", not a full one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're trying hard to move a 30 million dollar plus renovation, planned for 2021 by DCPS and Bowser, up by a few years, and to build relationships with admins and the Jefferson parent organization. All fine, it's the feeder problem that seems unworkable in under a decade. Not nearly enough strong students in the pipeline from Tyler heading to Jefferson, and none in-boundary from Brent. Also no 5th grade at Van Ness for another five years. If Brent, Maury and SWS fed to the same DCPS middle school, we'd have another Deal soon. But nobody much lobbied for that several years back, and DCPS wasn't amenable anyway.

This is just silly, magical thinking and a unicorn. What do these three have in common? On yeah, high concentration of white, high SES students. There is no geographic logic to this at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're trying hard to move a 30 million dollar plus renovation, planned for 2021 by DCPS and Bowser, up by a few years, and to build relationships with admins and the Jefferson parent organization. All fine, it's the feeder problem that seems unworkable in under a decade. Not nearly enough strong students in the pipeline from Tyler heading to Jefferson, and none in-boundary from Brent. Also no 5th grade at Van Ness for another five years. If Brent, Maury and SWS fed to the same DCPS middle school, we'd have another Deal soon. But nobody much lobbied for that several years back, and DCPS wasn't amenable anyway.

No one is amenable to that because picking those three schools out of the hat doesn't make any sense.

If you look at the feeders for Hardy it's all relatively affluent neighborhoods. It hasn't taken off because it's probably too affluent for public schools. That's slowly changing as more students from feeders are staying. Key, Mann, Stoddert, Hyde-Addison, Eaton -- that's a pretty impressive group of feeders and not a whole lot of FARMS in that lot. It's OK for NW but not the Hill. When Hardy turns DCPS is going to see a MS even more affluent and less diverse than Deal

but everyone knows the Hill can't have nice things . . . those are reserved for Wards 2 and 3 and to a lesser extent 4.

Throwing Ward 4 in there must be a joke...we have been last in line for just about every renovation round.

and yet Shepherd retained the illogical Deal feed, not to mention Crestwood even though Eaton was a far more logical choice. and let us not forget Lafayette. I did say "to an extent", not a full one

name one Ward 6 school that's benefitted as much as the western side of Ward 4 which continues to bask in the glow of Ward 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're trying hard to move a 30 million dollar plus renovation, planned for 2021 by DCPS and Bowser, up by a few years, and to build relationships with admins and the Jefferson parent organization. All fine, it's the feeder problem that seems unworkable in under a decade. Not nearly enough strong students in the pipeline from Tyler heading to Jefferson, and none in-boundary from Brent. Also no 5th grade at Van Ness for another five years. If Brent, Maury and SWS fed to the same DCPS middle school, we'd have another Deal soon. But nobody much lobbied for that several years back, and DCPS wasn't amenable anyway.

This is just silly, magical thinking and a unicorn. What do these three have in common? On yeah, high concentration of white, high SES students. There is no geographic logic to this at all.

There's little geographic logic to many of DCPS's decisions (Watkins, Eaton, etc). But the decisions that lack geographic logic are politically feasible, while combining Brent, Maury and SWS in one middle school is not. Given that it will never happen, I do wish people stopped focusing on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a great week for the Brent community. Many 4th graders without older siblings at charters didn't land a spot at the public middle schools parents applied them to - Washington Latin, BASIS, Stuart Hobson, Hardy, 2 Rivers, Creative Minds, Inspired Teaching etc. It sounds like two dozen of the 60 currently have no DC public option other than Jefferson Academy. Some will get off wait lists by the start of school. Some won't. Brent's 5th grade of 18 will be larger in the fall as a result. No telling how big just yet.

Brent's PARCC proficiency is about 62% according to Myschool DC (averaging ELA and math scores).

Jefferson's is about 12% (which, it should be noted, is substantially higher than Elliot-Hine and only a little lower than Stuart-Hobson).

If those two dozen kids from Brent went to Jefferson and 60% of them were proficient, the school could go from its current rate of about 12 proficient 6th graders in a class of 100 (12%) to 26 out of 124 (21%) and its scores would be higher than Stuart-Hobson and on par with Hardy.

That's a heavy lift for Brent parents, I understand. The kids who are most likely to be proficient are the least likely to take a chance on Jefferson. But the school does have enough proficient kids in the feeder pattern to raise the test scores just through a cohort effect alone. And the school has expressed willingness to differentiate to meet the needs of whoever enrolls.

This is so silly. Families at Brent don't want their students to BE the academic strength at a middle school, they want to join a cohort with academic strength ( or mere proficiency ). Which, frankly, is not asking a lot. And it's not that they are asking for it in any begging/demanding sense, they are simply saying that is a condition which would have them looking at a middle school as a possibility

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're trying hard to move a 30 million dollar plus renovation, planned for 2021 by DCPS and Bowser, up by a few years, and to build relationships with admins and the Jefferson parent organization. All fine, it's the feeder problem that seems unworkable in under a decade. Not nearly enough strong students in the pipeline from Tyler heading to Jefferson, and none in-boundary from Brent. Also no 5th grade at Van Ness for another five years. If Brent, Maury and SWS fed to the same DCPS middle school, we'd have another Deal soon. But nobody much lobbied for that several years back, and DCPS wasn't amenable anyway.

This is just silly, magical thinking and a unicorn. What do these three have in common? On yeah, high concentration of white, high SES students. There is no geographic logic to this at all.

There's little geographic logic to many of DCPS's decisions (Watkins, Eaton, etc). But the decisions that lack geographic logic are politically feasible, while combining Brent, Maury and SWS in one middle school is not. Given that it will never happen, I do wish people stopped focusing on it.

Why is the current Hardy boundary politically feasible? All of the schools feeding it are whiter and more affluent than the Ward 6 schools. If it retained its feeders it would look like a private school. It's moving in that direction now.

The Ward 6 situation is less about politics and more about space. Even if the political will existed there is currently no place to house a comprehensive MS that addresses both the affluent schools and the less affluent ones like Tyler, Payne, Miner, JO Wilson, Ludlow Taylor. It also doesn't address Amidon Bowen or Van Ness. JOW and LT are gaining more IB and Tyler SI adds some more affluent families. It would have to be on the order of magnitude of Deal rather than Hardy. Stuart Hobson is a sunk cost and not big enough to handle more feeders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're trying hard to move a 30 million dollar plus renovation, planned for 2021 by DCPS and Bowser, up by a few years, and to build relationships with admins and the Jefferson parent organization. All fine, it's the feeder problem that seems unworkable in under a decade. Not nearly enough strong students in the pipeline from Tyler heading to Jefferson, and none in-boundary from Brent. Also no 5th grade at Van Ness for another five years. If Brent, Maury and SWS fed to the same DCPS middle school, we'd have another Deal soon. But nobody much lobbied for that several years back, and DCPS wasn't amenable anyway.

This is just silly, magical thinking and a unicorn. What do these three have in common? On yeah, high concentration of white, high SES students. There is no geographic logic to this at all.

There's little geographic logic to many of DCPS's decisions (Watkins, Eaton, etc). But the decisions that lack geographic logic are politically feasible, while combining Brent, Maury and SWS in one middle school is not. Given that it will never happen, I do wish people stopped focusing on it.

How about a middle school that includes Brent, SWS and Maury, PLUS Tyler, Miner and Payne? The idea is to focus on collecting as many strong students in one building as possible, and not focus on the percentage of strong students in said school. If you had 100 kids on day one capable of taking advanced classes then you'd have something. The issue is that Hobson cuts through the middle of the catchment areas of these schools, and Hobson used all of the Hill's political capital with its $40 million of capital improvements.