Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kids are in middle ES grades there, since PK3. We are happy and plan to stay through 5th.
I love that people on this message board offer advice on schools they know very little about. Seaton is getting a brand new playground next summer. Cleveland is too. Don’t make decisions about your child’s school based solely on playgrounds for goodness’s sake. And if you do, at least make it based on correct information.
OP, do you have specific questions about Cleveland?
Not OP, but we're looking at Cleveland also, specifically the language program (DC is Spanish dominant). In some of the older threads, people mentioned that there is some tension between the language program and the regular program,
Still an issue, but less prominently than in the past.
and that the principal/management is quite weak.
The last principal needed to go. The current one, now in her third year, is far from perfect, but good enough. She does not have a strong personal presence, but only one aspect of being a school leader.
Do you think that is the case? Can the parents/administration work with each other, or is there still distrust/lack of leadership?
Some parents working together with admin, some parents working together with teachers. Still some teachers who want to run the school completely without parents.
And how does the school deal with differentiation?
About as well as any school. My quite advanced kid seems fine.
What do you think about the teachers?
We’ve been in DL for years and have had almost universally good classroom teachers.
Are there significant behavioral problems that disrupt learning?
There have never been any DL that I’m aware of. In past years (prior to last year) there were significant ones, but the school has instituted a SEL curriculum that seems to be working for students and staff.
Compared to other schools in the area (Garrison, Seaton), Cleveland's scores have gone in the wrong direction. Scores aren't everything, but they're a rough proxy for certain things, so that's why it's not on the top of my list.
PARCC scores are a dumb measure. They only test 3-5 graders in ES. Aggregate scores of very small schools can be skewed wildly by a few students. There was one very angry/absent teacher last year (who taught testing grades) who is now gone. The scores of DL and traditional English programs are not disaggregated but very different historically. Cleveland’s hyper focus on their SEL curriculum may have depressed scores a bit last year - not enough to explain the entire large drop - which is similar to some studies I’ve seen on those program’s first year of implementation. Seaton and Garrison are great schools. They have changed a lot in 5 years. Cleveland has changed somewhat less, in that it has always been very near enrollment capacity with strong historic test scores. That matters less for your potential PK’r, but upper grades at Seaton and Garrison are tiny in comparison to their PKs. Cleveland’s get a little bit smaller in upper grades, but are less different in size than at schools that a few years ago were very underenrolled.
Still, the commute is good for us.
Commute cannot be overemphasized IMO
FWIW, a few months ago, I was on the Mall and ran into a group of little kids in Cleveland uniforms, probably on an outing of some sort. The staff seemed quite attentive.
Thanks!
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