Public/Charter School Lottery Experience

[Anonymous]

Shuebrooks wrote:Greetings everyone. I was wondering if some of you who recently went through the school lottery would share your experience with me; preferably parents with children entering into Pre-k 3 and 4. I find myself having severe anxiety about this process as my son will be attending school next year and I believe that the application needs to be completed in December. I have been researching schools for some time and I've narrowed it down to a few schools that I want him to attend, but they're all popular schools, so IDK if he will get into them. I want him in a safe, diverse school that does very well academically. I DO NOT want him to attend the neighborhood school. Please share your experience with me and offer any tips and/or advice that you may have. Thanks in advance.

-G

How do you define diverse? Race, Ethnicity, Social Economic?

A school like Stoddert has many International Families - mostly for parts of the world that are generally classified as Caucasian including the Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa. But many people on this board would not consider the school diverse.

As a parent who has had children in high performing and not so high performing schools, the difference is real in terms of the children's educational experience. At our Charter the 1st graders knew how to duck and cover when a child ripped apart the room. At our high SES DCPS the biggest trauma they face is ..... I can't think of one.

For schools you would be comfortable sending your child to - assume you get a bad lottery number for PreK3, Prek4 and K. Make sure you have schools and a plan that you are comfortable with. If your IB is not an option, you may want to consider moving now.

[Shuebrooks]

Anonymous wrote:There are very few DC schools that will meet your standards, and the ones that do are not diverse. Just move already.

--a Title I neigborhood school mom who is very happy with the education my child is receiving.

Thanks for the information, but being rude is totally unnecessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have until the end of March.

Diverse and also high-performing is hard to find in DC. I would suggest you plan on paying for private preschool, and do some hard thinking about whether you care more about diversity, or about the academic performance of kids who will likely alll have graduated from the school before your child starts Kindergarten.

This poster makes it sound as if the current test scores of the school are basically irrelevant. This is only the case if you assume that the school is rapidly gentrifying and that the kids currently in PK will actually stay beyond that and raise test scores, which is probably not true for most schools.

Here is the reality of the lottery: it takes and increasing amount of very good luck to get into one of the popular charter schools, and it is impossible to get into any of the popular DCPS schools if you are out of boundary. For PK though, you are likely going to be fine at your neighborhood school or any number of less popular charters. BTDT. DCPS and DCPCS do PK well across the board. So do put some "safeties" on your list if you don't want to pay for private. For the higher grades, you may have higher expectations with regard to academics and peer group, and you may very well have to move or go private. Good luck.

I posted at 12:16. I actually don't think that the current test scores of the school are relevant to where OP sends her child for PK3. I sent my child to PK3 at our neighborhood school that had terrible test scores. She had a great ECE experience with a lot of support and enrichment. She is currently entering 3rd grade, when testing starts, and the test scores of the school have gone up significantly since we started - the school certainly doesn't have the best test scores in the city, but they're much better than they used to be. I'm confident that she is receiving a good education at her school, which she loves, despite the reality that many of her peers are struggling. Her teachers have always been able to provide support and challenge work for her when she is ready for it.

A lot can change in 5 years, and testing data is not a good gauge of the experiences of children in non-testing grades.

[Anonymous]

OP - you have as good a shot at the charters people vie for as anyone else, except for people with siblings already attending. Whether you get offered a slot or not will all depend on your master number -- and you have no control over it.

It is almost impossible to get into a desirable DCPS as an OOB student for PK3. There aren't enough seats for all the children who live IB to go around. There are chances to get into these through the OOB lottery for K and above, but again it's a lottery.

You are right to be anxious if you absolutely don't want to attend your IB, but that is the only place you are almost certain to match.

I agree with others above that you should visit your IB later this fall and give it a chance. For Pk3 it is probably fine, and who knows, you might get lucky and get into somewhere you like better.

[Anonymous]

Shuebrooks wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are very few DC schools that will meet your standards, and the ones that do are not diverse. Just move already.

--a Title I neigborhood school mom who is very happy with the education my child is receiving.

Thanks for the information, but being rude is totally unnecessary.

It isn't any more rude than the assumptions in your original post. And it is true. There is no very high performing school that is also diverse (and I mean economically diverse and proactively inclusive of at-risk students) in DCPS. If there were, you would have a 0 to 0.1 chance of getting in. Enjoy!

[Anonymous]

Shuebrooks wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are very few DC schools that will meet your standards, and the ones that do are not diverse. Just move already.

--a Title I neigborhood school mom who is very happy with the education my child is receiving.

Thanks for the information, but being rude is totally unnecessary.

Why should we help you if you are cagey and defensive and don't want to hear realistic views?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Shuebrooks wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are very few DC schools that will meet your standards, and the ones that do are not diverse. Just move already.

--a Title I neigborhood school mom who is very happy with the education my child is receiving.

Thanks for the information, but being rude is totally unnecessary.

It isn't any more rude than the assumptions in your original post. And it is true. There is no very high performing school that is also diverse (and I mean economically diverse and proactively inclusive of at-risk students) in DCPS. If there were, you would have a 0 to 0.1 chance of getting in. Enjoy!

NP. I think there are a few relatively diverse schools that come close (e.g., Ross, Eaton, Shepherd), but agree that the odds of getting a spot for PK3 are essentially nil.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have until the end of March.

Diverse and also high-performing is hard to find in DC. I would suggest you plan on paying for private preschool, and do some hard thinking about whether you care more about diversity, or about the academic performance of kids who will likely alll have graduated from the school before your child starts Kindergarten.

This poster makes it sound as if the current test scores of the school are basically irrelevant. This is only the case if you assume that the school is rapidly gentrifying and that the kids currently in PK will actually stay beyond that and raise test scores, which is probably not true for most schools.

Here is the reality of the lottery: it takes and increasing amount of very good luck to get into one of the popular charter schools, and it is impossible to get into any of the popular DCPS schools if you are out of boundary. For PK though, you are likely going to be fine at your neighborhood school or any number of less popular charters. BTDT. DCPS and DCPCS do PK well across the board. So do put some "safeties" on your list if you don't want to pay for private. For the higher grades, you may have higher expectations with regard to academics and peer group, and you may very well have to move or go private. Good luck.

I posted at 12:16. I actually don't think that the current test scores of the school are relevant to where OP sends her child for PK3. I sent my child to PK3 at our neighborhood school that had terrible test scores. She had a great ECE experience with a lot of support and enrichment. She is currently entering 3rd grade, when testing starts, and the test scores of the school have gone up significantly since we started - the school certainly doesn't have the best test scores in the city, but they're much better than they used to be. I'm confident that she is receiving a good education at her school, which she loves, despite the reality that many of her peers are struggling. Her teachers have always been able to provide support and challenge work for her when she is ready for it.

A lot can change in 5 years, and testing data is not a good gauge of the experiences of children in non-testing grades.

PP you are responding to and I certainly agree with that, which is why I said OP will be fine at pretty much any school for PK. I just took issue with the insinuation that current test scores are irrelevant for assessing whether the school will likely be a good long-term option. It's great that you feel that your school has improved a lot in five years, but five years is not going to make a fundamental difference for most schools, because schools tend to evolve slowly. So what I'm saying is that OP doesn't need to worry about test scores for PK, but she should have backup plans for the long run if the school in its current state doesn't seem to meet her expectations and she doesn't get very lucky in the lottery.

[Anonymous]

OP, come clean. You are experiencing cognitive dissonance and anxiety because your desire for diversity is in conflict with your desire for high test scores and probably other things as well.

Just tell us what you dislike about your IB (and remember, there are probably people here working hard to improve it, who care a lot about diversity and about all the students there). Tell us what kind of academic performance will meet your standards, and what exactly you mean by "diversity". Then maybe if there is a school that meets your criteria, someone might tell you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Shuebrooks wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are very few DC schools that will meet your standards, and the ones that do are not diverse. Just move already.

--a Title I neigborhood school mom who is very happy with the education my child is receiving.

Thanks for the information, but being rude is totally unnecessary.

It isn't any more rude than the assumptions in your original post. And it is true. There is no very high performing school that is also diverse (and I mean economically diverse and proactively inclusive of at-risk students) in DCPS. If there were, you would have a 0 to 0.1 chance of getting in. Enjoy!

DP. The rude part was "Just move already", not the information about the correlation of diversity and test scores. You know that. And yes, moving is likely what OP will eventually have to do if she doesn't get lucky. But that advice can be given in kinder terms, as others here have done.

I do understand that you'd rather have her out of here already and not using your school for PK and then bailing like most, but that's how this system works. You won't get a majority of high-SES families to commit to your Title 1 school long-term in the foreseeable future. But if they weren't there for Pre-K, you'd have even less chance of the school improving, because less high-SES families would even be giving it a try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Shuebrooks wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are very few DC schools that will meet your standards, and the ones that do are not diverse. Just move already.

--a Title I neigborhood school mom who is very happy with the education my child is receiving.

Thanks for the information, but being rude is totally unnecessary.

It isn't any more rude than the assumptions in your original post. And it is true. There is no very high performing school that is also diverse (and I mean economically diverse and proactively inclusive of at-risk students) in DCPS. If there were, you would have a 0 to 0.1 chance of getting in. Enjoy!

DP. The rude part was "Just move already", not the information about the correlation of diversity and test scores. You know that. And yes, moving is likely what OP will eventually have to do if she doesn't get lucky. But that advice can be given in kinder terms, as others here have done.

I do understand that you'd rather have her out of here already and not using your school for PK and then bailing like most, but that's how this system works. You won't get a majority of high-SES families to commit to your Title 1 school long-term in the foreseeable future. But if they weren't there for Pre-K, you'd have even less chance of the school improving, because less high-SES families would even be giving it a try.

Plenty of our families of all SES leave at various years for various reasons. I know exactly how this system works, I have been heavily involved for several years. Someone with OP's unrealistic expectations is unlikely to make it to Count Day of PK3. I would much rather have a parent with a good attitude and a strong commitment to diversity and to meeting the needs of at-risk kids. At our school, we do have a waiting list and someone like Op is taking up a seat that might have gone to someone OOB who would stay with the school longer and be more helpful while there. I have no time for high maintenance parents who don't realize what they are getting into. Just go. I have parents on the waitlist who are eager to dig in and help.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone. I'm new to all of this, so all information is welcomed. I guess I have a lot to think about and I may have to re-evaluate some of my choices. I will take all of your suggestions and information into consideration.

As for the rude comments by the anonymous poster, in the great words of Michelle Obama "When they go low, we go high!".

Have a nice day everyone!

-G

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone. I'm new to all of this, so all information is welcomed. I guess I have a lot to think about and I may have to re-evaluate some of my choices. I will take all of your suggestions and information into consideration.

As for the rude comments by the anonymous poster, in the great words of Michelle Obama "When they go low, we go high!".

Have a nice day everyone!

-G

Oh honey. You did not "go high".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone. I'm new to all of this, so all information is welcomed. I guess I have a lot to think about and I may have to re-evaluate some of my choices. I will take all of your suggestions and information into consideration.

As for the rude comments by the anonymous poster, in the great words of Michelle Obama "When they go low, we go high!".

Have a nice day everyone!

-G

That doesn't mean what you think it does.

[Anonymous]

Ok I think this thread is over the top. Poor person is new to all this. Way to squash them.

Also, diversity does indeed exist at most schools in DC! My HRCS is very diverse in race income and nationality. At least, compared to most of America. I think you’re being a bit harsh here. The only non diverse schools are in upper NW, I terms of being mostly white and wealthy, but the OP won’t attempt those I hope. Mostly black schools aren’t diverse in the sense that they have one race/class mostly.

Or is it that you posters believe only tip top scores are acceptable? That’s your own bias not necessarily OP. I think they want what most of us want.