no trolling - comparing MoCo vs WOTP DCPS schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All I know is that my white upper-middle-class first grader attends a DC public school that does not appear on your list and is overwhelmingly disadvantaged and is reading and doing math three grade levels ahead. And this learning is going on in the school, not at my house!

Test scores don’t tell nearly the whole story.

I thinks that’s the problem, your kid is fine and will do fine anywhere. But would you send your child to a school like Eastern, Ballou, Anacostia, Roosevelt, or Cardozo? Peer groups matter as children grow older and are less influenced by their parents. That is why people go the the burbs or private. That is not to say that kids in those schools do not have issues —-but much of the school populace can focus on their education. Much of the student population in suburban/private schools have hands on parents—-that cannot be said for many of DC’s economically impoverished schools. Many of those kids have to worry about a roof over their head, food to eat & other depressing stressors. Hence the repeatitive, cyclical generations of the impoverished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 things actually matter in schools

Competent teachers (Which are a mixed bag across any school)

And SES status

Western MoCo and WOTP DCPS schools are both high income so the only variable is whether teachers are competent which is a wash in any school

Bottom line there is no difference between Western MoCo and WOTP DCPS

I think that is only true for elementary school but by middle school and high school the suburbs and privates have DCPS and charters beat. DC’s problem is that it doesn’t have continuity and it’s always scandal ridden. There’s a DCPS scandal at least twice a year. The school based staff in DCPS work incredibly hard, it’s the bloated central office and Mayor’s office that ignores the parent community. The other struggle in DC is that much of the population is transient and/wealthy enough to not have to deal with the public schools. Therefore, the city collects tax revenue but aren’t held accountable enough by the populace. No, I don’t mean those of us who were able to cobble money to live in Ward 3. There is plenty of wealthy people in Ward 3 who wouldn’t send their children to a DCPS/charter school even if a President’s child were to attend.

[Anonymous]

I think the suburbs win hands down because of the nature of it’s true gifted programs. Although I hear some schools west of the park do some form of Junior Great Books, DCPS lacks in gifted education. If your child is truly GT, you’d have to get outside GT testing via the WISC test and then try to cobble curriculum together.

If you are in DC and concerned that your child might be GT, have your child privately tested because it would be a shame to have a GT child float effortlessly through school without actually being challenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The answer is: They are all good schools. The end.

At the elementary school level perhaps yes. And most of the DCPS schools you are listing are the wealthy suburban ones, not the norm.

But anyway, DCPS breaks down at the MS and HS levels. Do the comparison between MCPS and DCPS there and it's not very favorable to DCPS.

That is a clueless way to look at schools. If you think a smart kid at Deal is learning less and will be disadvantaged compared to a smart kid at Pyle, that just means you don't know anything about either school beyond one aggregated set of test scores. Same for high schools.

What's the better way to measure success? The only objective way to look at school performance is by looking at outcomes. And you can easily say data on level of FARMS etc and by demographic breakdowns. But just to say kid A is learning just as much as kid B without any evidence is ridiculous. And if you look at basic proficiency scores at Wilson, less than a third of students meet those criteria for math in Wilson, whereas 80%+ meet them in BCC and 90%+ for Whitman.

[Anonymous]

A friend and I were talking about middle school and she told me about a really crappy teacher situation that one of her kids had at a highly regarded MD middle school. My middle schooler is at Deal and we have had a few less than stellar teachers, the conversation helped me realize that the suburbs are not the answer. Paying attention to your kids is. Also, my kids are both GT (as were their parents) I really do not see that as the crisis it is made out to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the suburbs win hands down because of the nature of it’s true gifted programs. Although I hear some schools west of the park do some form of Junior Great Books, DCPS lacks in gifted education. If your child is truly GT, you’d have to get outside GT testing via the WISC test and then try to cobble curriculum together.

If you are in DC and concerned that your child might be GT, have your child privately tested because it would be a shame to have a GT child float effortlessly through school without actually being challenged.

Not sure what this obsession with gifted programs is. My extremely well-educated town growing up had no gifted HS and MS program. Plenty of challenge in AP and honors classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you should have stopped after your first paragraph. Instead you follow up with a comparison of schools. How is that not pitting each against the others? Your thread should be deleted too.

That was exactly my thought as well.

They are all good schools.

I am guessing most of us have experience at just one school.... so do posters really have the ability to compare?

There is so much more than test scores to a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the suburbs win hands down because of the nature of it’s true gifted programs. Although I hear some schools west of the park do some form of Junior Great Books, DCPS lacks in gifted education. If your child is truly GT, you’d have to get outside GT testing via the WISC test and then try to cobble curriculum together.

If you are in DC and concerned that your child might be GT, have your child privately tested because it would be a shame to have a GT child float effortlessly through school without actually being challenged.

Not sure what this obsession with gifted programs is. My extremely well-educated town growing up had no gifted HS and MS program. Plenty of challenge in AP and honors classes.

I’m not sure you understand GT, GT is not based on AP and honors classes. Anyone can take those, GT children need more than that. They need project based learning and inquiry based learning [two different things] and try to apply them in real-world settings [problem based learning]. Inquiry Based Learning is about discovering an answer, Project Based Learning is about exploring an answer. They need room for flexibility to research & complete capstone projects based on research they have collected. Gifted children don’t develop in a linear, synchronous way. Gifted children are not intrinsically motivated by good grades; they are more passionate about the acquisition of knowledge than performing rote tasks.

It is a shame that DCPS does not have a gifted program, the community should push for one. The focus on closing the achievement is leaving behind the struggling learners and gifted learners. That is the 21st century crisis in DC.

-Gifted/Talented/Twice Exceptional (2e) Teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the suburbs win hands down because of the nature of it’s true gifted programs. Although I hear some schools west of the park do some form of Junior Great Books, DCPS lacks in gifted education. If your child is truly GT, you’d have to get outside GT testing via the WISC test and then try to cobble curriculum together.

If you are in DC and concerned that your child might be GT, have your child privately tested because it would be a shame to have a GT child float effortlessly through school without actually being challenged.

Not sure what this obsession with gifted programs is. My extremely well-educated town growing up had no gifted HS and MS program. Plenty of challenge in AP and honors classes.

I’m not sure you understand GT, GT is not based on AP and honors classes. Anyone can take those, GT children need more than that. They need project based learning and inquiry based learning [two different things] and try to apply them in real-world settings [problem based learning]. Inquiry Based Learning is about discovering an answer, Project Based Learning is about exploring an answer. They need room for flexibility to research & complete capstone projects based on research they have collected. Gifted children don’t develop in a linear, synchronous way. Gifted children are not intrinsically motivated by good grades; they are more passionate about the acquisition of knowledge than performing rote tasks.

It is a shame that DCPS does not have a gifted program, the community should push for one. The focus on closing the achievement is leaving behind the struggling learners and gifted learners. That is the 21st century crisis in DC.

-Gifted/Talented/Twice Exceptional (2e) Teacher

DCPS does have gifted programs in elementary schools, and Deal is an IB MYP school, which is a lot of project based learning, inquiry based learning, and problem based learning. And they do have multiple independent research projects. It is a really good school for GT kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the suburbs win hands down because of the nature of it’s true gifted programs. Although I hear some schools west of the park do some form of Junior Great Books, DCPS lacks in gifted education. If your child is truly GT, you’d have to get outside GT testing via the WISC test and then try to cobble curriculum together.

If you are in DC and concerned that your child might be GT, have your child privately tested because it would be a shame to have a GT child float effortlessly through school without actually being challenged.

Not sure what this obsession with gifted programs is. My extremely well-educated town growing up had no gifted HS and MS program. Plenty of challenge in AP and honors classes.

I’m not sure you understand GT, GT is not based on AP and honors classes. Anyone can take those, GT children need more than that. They need project based learning and inquiry based learning [two different things] and try to apply them in real-world settings [problem based learning]. Inquiry Based Learning is about discovering an answer, Project Based Learning is about exploring an answer. They need room for flexibility to research & complete capstone projects based on research they have collected. Gifted children don’t develop in a linear, synchronous way. Gifted children are not intrinsically motivated by good grades; they are more passionate about the acquisition of knowledge than performing rote tasks.

It is a shame that DCPS does not have a gifted program, the community should push for one. The focus on closing the achievement is leaving behind the struggling learners and gifted learners. That is the 21st century crisis in DC.

-Gifted/Talented/Twice Exceptional (2e) Teacher

DCPS does have gifted programs in elementary schools, and Deal is an IB MYP school, which is a lot of project based learning, inquiry based learning, and problem based learning. And they do have multiple independent research projects. It is a really good school for GT kids.

What elementary school in DC has G & T program? New news to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the suburbs win hands down because of the nature of it’s true gifted programs. Although I hear some schools west of the park do some form of Junior Great Books, DCPS lacks in gifted education. If your child is truly GT, you’d have to get outside GT testing via the WISC test and then try to cobble curriculum together.

If you are in DC and concerned that your child might be GT, have your child privately tested because it would be a shame to have a GT child float effortlessly through school without actually being challenged.

Not sure what this obsession with gifted programs is. My extremely well-educated town growing up had no gifted HS and MS program. Plenty of challenge in AP and honors classes.

DCPS does have gifted programs in elementary schools, and Deal is an IB MYP school, which is a lot of project based learning, inquiry based learning, and problem based learning. And they do have multiple independent research projects. It is a really good school for GT kids.

Again, both of you do not understand gifted education. IB and AP classes and curriculum are vastly different from real GT curriculum. IB incorporates components but it is not a true GT program. Do not let the flowery language fool you. DCPS does not have a gifted curriculum otherwise they would be touting it and you would know about it and thus would be able to speak clearly on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the suburbs win hands down because of the nature of it’s true gifted programs. Although I hear some schools west of the park do some form of Junior Great Books, DCPS lacks in gifted education. If your child is truly GT, you’d have to get outside GT testing via the WISC test and then try to cobble curriculum together.

If you are in DC and concerned that your child might be GT, have your child privately tested because it would be a shame to have a GT child float effortlessly through school without actually being challenged.

Not sure what this obsession with gifted programs is. My extremely well-educated town growing up had no gifted HS and MS program. Plenty of challenge in AP and honors classes.

I’m not sure you understand GT, GT is not based on AP and honors classes. Anyone can take those, GT children need more than that. They need project based learning and inquiry based learning [two different things] and try to apply them in real-world settings [problem based learning]. Inquiry Based Learning is about discovering an answer, Project Based Learning is about exploring an answer. They need room for flexibility to research & complete capstone projects based on research they have collected. Gifted children don’t develop in a linear, synchronous way. Gifted children are not intrinsically motivated by good grades; they are more passionate about the acquisition of knowledge than performing rote tasks.

It is a shame that DCPS does not have a gifted program, the community should push for one. The focus on closing the achievement is leaving behind the struggling learners and gifted learners. That is the 21st century crisis in DC.

-Gifted/Talented/Twice Exceptional (2e) Teacher

DCPS does have gifted programs in elementary schools, and Deal is an IB MYP school, which is a lot of project based learning, inquiry based learning, and problem based learning. And they do have multiple independent research projects. It is a really good school for GT kids.

What elementary school in DC has G & T program? New news to me.

DCPS does not have a gifted curriculum otherwise they would be touting it and the previous posters would know about it and thus would be able to speak clearly on it.

[Anonymous]

DCPS does very little tracking, mostly starting in math. However, there are SEM programs at several schools (school wide enrichment model I believe) and some elementary schools do a very good job at differentiation. There is a long legal history as to why.

My kids are not profoundly gifted but I have strong confidence based on objective measures they would qualify for any G&T program in surrounding areas. All my friend’s kids that live out there are in them.

We have chosen to go with DCPS, we are in the Deal feeder pattern and my oldest will be starting high school at School Without Walls in the fall. It is not perfect, but I am happy that this child will be moving to a school with an across the board strong cohort of kids.

Frankly, there appear to be so many “gifted and talented” kids in the suburbs that I wonder how high the bar actually is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS does very little tracking, mostly starting in math. However, there are SEM programs at several schools (school wide enrichment model I believe) and some elementary schools do a very good job at differentiation. There is a long legal history as to why.

My kids are not profoundly gifted but I have strong confidence based on objective measures they would qualify for any G&T program in surrounding areas. All my friend’s kids that live out there are in them.

We have chosen to go with DCPS, we are in the Deal feeder pattern and my oldest will be starting high school at School Without Walls in the fall. It is not perfect, but I am happy that this child will be moving to a school with an across the board strong cohort of kids.

Frankly, there appear to be so many “gifted and talented” kids in the suburbs that I wonder how high the bar actually is.

I thought that too and hen I did a little digging. Here’s a pretty good report here, perhaps in your friend circle is just very well educated and aim incredibly high? From this report it doesn’t look like a lot of children in the burbs are making it into the GT program. I’ll have to find the stats on VA’s Academic Advancement Program.

https://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2019/Enriched%20and%20Accelerated%2028Jan2019%20FINAL.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the suburbs win hands down because of the nature of it’s true gifted programs. Although I hear some schools west of the park do some form of Junior Great Books, DCPS lacks in gifted education. If your child is truly GT, you’d have to get outside GT testing via the WISC test and then try to cobble curriculum together.

If you are in DC and concerned that your child might be GT, have your child privately tested because it would be a shame to have a GT child float effortlessly through school without actually being challenged.

Lots of truly gifted kids in Deal feeders schools are truly challenged in DCPS without any of the stuff you mention. And the gifted programs in the burbs sound like a nightmare on these threads with all the crap and labeling the kids are put through. You don't know about this because your kids don't go there. DCPS does not advertise what it does.