Inside Takoma Education Campus: A Guide for Prospective Families

[Anonymous]

Starting in 2019-20 there will no longer be 6th grade. The next year they will no longer have 7th, etc.

Takoma needs to fill the school with younger students to replace the grades they are losing. If their enrollment per grade were to remain stable, they won't be able to fund the arts curriculum, its main selling point, as well.

Thus they will likely open at least one more class of ECE, and there will likely be some OOB seats after all the Early Action people to fill in the classes.

[calexander]

Anonymous wrote:Starting in 2019-20 there will no longer be 6th grade. The next year they will no longer have 7th, etc.

Takoma needs to fill the school with younger students to replace the grades they are losing. If their enrollment per grade were to remain stable, they won't be able to fund the arts curriculum, its main selling point, as well.

Thus they will likely open at least one more class of ECE, and there will likely be some OOB seats after all the Early Action people to fill in the classes.

Thanks for this post. Yes, all four of the "New North" middle school feeders (Takoma, Brightwood, LaSalle and Whittier) will have the opportunity to expand their ECE programs to take advantage of the available space. TEC is adding at least one PK class next year.

[calexander]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey Christopher, how many OOB students has TEC taken for prek and kindergarten the past few years?

I would assume as an early action school that they wouldn't take any OOB for PK3 or PK4, as they must take all of their IB students - and the data matches this. It would appear that they had 4 OOB in K (two with sibling preference), and 15 on the waitlist who are OOB.

The problem is the free-fall after that because of the horrible MS/HS options.

This has always been the challenge. The new middle school could have been part of the solution, but sheesh, DCPS is not exactly telling a coherent story there. The buildings will be beautiful, but beyond that, who knows at this point?

[Anonymous]

calexander wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey Christopher, how many OOB students has TEC taken for prek and kindergarten the past few years?

I would assume as an early action school that they wouldn't take any OOB for PK3 or PK4, as they must take all of their IB students - and the data matches this. It would appear that they had 4 OOB in K (two with sibling preference), and 15 on the waitlist who are OOB.

The problem is the free-fall after that because of the horrible MS/HS options.

This has always been the challenge. The new middle school could have been part of the solution, but sheesh, DCPS is not exactly telling a coherent story there. The buildings will be beautiful, but beyond that, who knows at this point?

They are giving no details at all; and Coolidge’s college for all means nothing. Why should Takoma families buy into TEC when 6-12 is a shitshow with no plan? And most of the families still peeling away after kindergarten?

They need a test-in magnet like our friends across the border in Takoma Park.

[Anonymous]

calexander wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting in 2019-20 there will no longer be 6th grade. The next year they will no longer have 7th, etc.

Takoma needs to fill the school with younger students to replace the grades they are losing. If their enrollment per grade were to remain stable, they won't be able to fund the arts curriculum, its main selling point, as well.

Thus they will likely open at least one more class of ECE, and there will likely be some OOB seats after all the Early Action people to fill in the classes.

Thanks for this post. Yes, all four of the "New North" middle school feeders (Takoma, Brightwood, LaSalle and Whittier) will have the opportunity to expand their ECE programs to take advantage of the available space. TEC is adding at least one PK class next year.

Next year meaning 19-20?

[Anonymous]

calexander wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey Christopher, how many OOB students has TEC taken for prek and kindergarten the past few years?

I would assume as an early action school that they wouldn't take any OOB for PK3 or PK4, as they must take all of their IB students - and the data matches this. It would appear that they had 4 OOB in K (two with sibling preference), and 15 on the waitlist who are OOB.

The problem is the free-fall after that because of the horrible MS/HS options.

This has always been the challenge. The new middle school could have been part of the solution, but sheesh, DCPS is not exactly telling a coherent story there. The buildings will be beautiful, but beyond that, who knows at this point?

Unfortunately things with the middle school stalled with the chancellor transition, but things are starting to pick back up again now. The curriculum and academic structure for the middle school has already been released. Just waiting on principal so hiring can begin. It wasn't because DCPS planning staff wasn't trying.

As a real-life feeder parent (above K), I'm actually really optimistic about the future of 6-12 here.

[Anonymous]

If dcps sent shepherd and Lafayette to new north, it would encourage more tec and other families feel good about ms and hs, while reducing crowding at Wilson.

To the issue of whether there's enough space at new north, tbere is if new north and Coolidge are considered together. Put 6 and 7th grades in new north, 8th inits own wing at Coolidge, and there's still plenty of room for 9-12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If dcps sent shepherd and Lafayette to new north, it would encourage more tec and other families feel good about ms and hs, while reducing crowding at Wilson.

To the issue of whether there's enough space at new north, tbere is if new north and Coolidge are considered together. Put 6 and 7th grades in new north, 8th inits own wing at Coolidge, and there's still plenty of room for 9-12.

Maybe. But since half of the high school at Coolidge will be a city-wide application program, drawing students from who knows where, enrollment isn't clear at all at this point. I'm not saying that the idea of re-routing Lafayette and Shepherd doesn't have merit, but they aren't going to do it initially.

Also since most families at Lafayette are wealthy I would assume most will exercise other options (moving mostly). They just are not going to cross the park for an experiment. The IB families at Shepherd are also upper middle class, and the OOB ones are there mostly for the Deal feed. If it no longer exists they won't necessarily wind up at New North either.

[Anonymous]

If few shepherd and Lafayette students go, then space isn't an issue. The magnet can go anywhere. ..Cardozo and Dunbar have room. Or give up the magnet because it duplicates bard. There are not so many academically advanced hs students in dcps. No need for bard, a larger banneker, sww, McKinley tech, and this magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If few shepherd and Lafayette students go, then space isn't an issue. The magnet can go anywhere. ..Cardozo and Dunbar have room. Or give up the magnet because it duplicates bard. There are not so many academically advanced hs students in dcps. No need for bard, a larger banneker, sww, McKinley tech, and this magnet.

Coolidge's early college program was planned before Bard was in the mix. I think the better solution is to put Bard at Takoma, and pull the plug on a separate stand-alone Bard.

[Anonymous]

Bard at Takoma would be excellent. Plenty of MC and UMC families are going to vote with their feet, too - they can go to charters, lottery, go private, move to Takoma Park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bard at Takoma would be excellent. Plenty of MC and UMC families are going to vote with their feet, too - they can go to charters, lottery, go private, move to Takoma Park.

This would have been great for our DC, but the city (read: Mayor) was committed to putting it East of the Anacostia.

They announced the location last week and...woof! That is asking a lot.

[Anonymous]

As a Ward 4 resident, I am so sick of the inept representation from Fenty-Bowser- worst of the worst Brandon Todd. 20 years+ living in this city - TEC/Coolidge have been awful the entire time. Nobody cares. They explain away the numbers. They make parents feel bad for opting out - but no one cares enough to give us a real reason to opt-in! Zoning the wealthy half of Ward 4 outside Ward 4 for MS/HS; no test-in; no appreciable plan for MS; nobody in Wilson/SWW is coming to Coolidge because you put up a banner that says “College for All.” No immersion option at MS/HS unless Macfarland/Roosevelt- also abysmal scores. Beautiful, museum-like buildings - with horrific scores. It’s a complete joke. The emperor wears no clothes and everyone’s laughing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If few shepherd and Lafayette students go, then space isn't an issue. The magnet can go anywhere. ..Cardozo and Dunbar have room. Or give up the magnet because it duplicates bard. There are not so many academically advanced hs students in dcps. No need for bard, a larger banneker, sww, McKinley tech, and this magnet.

This is not a factual statement. There is currently a huge amount of demand for McKinley, Walls, and Banneker and not nearly enough space. We need more solid college-prep options throughout the whole city. If Bard and Coolidge can live up to their promises (right now a huge if), they will stay in high demand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If few shepherd and Lafayette students go, then space isn't an issue. The magnet can go anywhere. ..Cardozo and Dunbar have room. Or give up the magnet because it duplicates bard. There are not so many academically advanced hs students in dcps. No need for bard, a larger banneker, sww, McKinley tech, and this magnet.

This is not a factual statement. There is currently a huge amount of demand for McKinley, Walls, and Banneker and not nearly enough space. We need more solid college-prep options throughout the whole city. If Bard and Coolidge can live up to their promises (right now a huge if), they will stay in high demand.

There are plenty of students who want to go, but not so many of them who are actually on grade level. I'm all for creating a quality program for motivated kids who are behind (having been woefully underserved by this crappy school system), but that's not what "early college" actually is.