Anybody Here Ever Have a Kid Above Grade Level Go Through DCPS Middle Schools besides Deal or Hardy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you're still reading, I have a modest suggestion for you. Dive into US census data for Cap Hill NE, even though it's almost a decade old now. Also, tour the north Hill and look around.

Stuart Hobson is DCPS' #3 performing middle school, after Deal #1 and Hardy #2. Yet SH's student body is around 14% white in a school catchment area that's roughly 80% white. Five years ago, SH's student body was 12% white. What does this tell you? Have IB UMC parents falling over themselves to enroll since Hobson's spectacular $40 million renovated four years ago? No, they're mostly rushing off to BASIS, a school with really crappy facilities.

Same thing with all the money spent on the other low performing middle and high schools EOTP. Not drawing any UMC families.

For the overwhelming majority of families, academics always trumps facilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can think of a dozen kids I have come in contact with (babysitters, neighbors, older siblings, etc.) who have graduated from SH in last 10 years. They've gone to Banneker, Walls, Ellington and Wilson. And a range of decent colleges, including Ivy League and top notch state schools.

Some kids will do well anywhere. Most won't. I've lived across the street from SH since the 90s. Unless their demographics shift pretty radically in the next 5 years, we're not interested for our little kids. I don't see this happening. More charters will just open to draw in the CH middle-class families who don't like their neighborhod middle school options, like Washington Latin's planned 2nd campus.

What’s wrong with the demographics?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have friends whose kids went to Stuart-Hobson and then SWW. A friend went to Jefferson and then SWW. All of these DCPS grads are in their 20s and 30s now, done with college and doing fine. We've also interacted with Cato June, who moved to DC in high school and went to Anacostia before playing for Michigan.

They predate PARCC so I don't know if they were above grade level in that sense, but they were above average in their schools.

A bit of history: Jefferson MS was a de facto math/science magnet school during the years your friend would have attended. The legendary principal there ran a parallel unofficial magnet program there that allowed talented and motivated students from all over the city. They had advanced classes separate from the regular student body. They were then funneled directly to Wilson HS. They were nearly 100% African American students and received a great education. But it was all very quiet and under the table.

That program ended under political pressure and the student performance and population at Jefferson plummeted to less than 200 students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can think of a dozen kids I have come in contact with (babysitters, neighbors, older siblings, etc.) who have graduated from SH in last 10 years. They've gone to Banneker, Walls, Ellington and Wilson. And a range of decent colleges, including Ivy League and top notch state schools.

Some kids will do well anywhere. Most won't. I've lived across the street from SH since the 90s. Unless their demographics shift pretty radically in the next 5 years, we're not interested for our little kids. I don't see this happening. More charters will just open to draw in the CH middle-class families who don't like their neighborhod middle school options, like Washington Latin's planned 2nd campus.

What’s wrong with the demographics?

Nothing, if you're fine with 80% AA and OOB and half low SES at SH in a neighborhood that's become overwhelmingly UMC and largely white. If you're race baiting, knock if off already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have friends whose kids went to Stuart-Hobson and then SWW. A friend went to Jefferson and then SWW. All of these DCPS grads are in their 20s and 30s now, done with college and doing fine. We've also interacted with Cato June, who moved to DC in high school and went to Anacostia before playing for Michigan.

They predate PARCC so I don't know if they were above grade level in that sense, but they were above average in their schools.

A bit of history: Jefferson MS was a de facto math/science magnet school during the years your friend would have attended. The legendary principal there ran a parallel unofficial magnet program there that allowed talented and motivated students from all over the city. They had advanced classes separate from the regular student body. They were then funneled directly to Wilson HS. They were nearly 100% African American students and received a great education. But it was all very quiet and under the table.

That program ended under political pressure and the student performance and population at Jefferson plummeted to less than 200 students.

Academic tracking in DCPS middle schools, even the under-the-radar variant, effectively ended in the 1990s. A decade ago, tracking returned, but only for one or two "core subjects," those tested on the DC-CAS and now the PARCC, math and possibly English. What bothers me about this approach that DCPS is making a bid to support better test scores more than kids. Unless your by-right middle school is predominantly UMC and IB, non-core classes that aren't tracked can be a real problem. DCPS middle school admins, like the ebullient SH principal of 2 1/2 years, will deny this vociferously, but it's true.

This is half the reason so many Hardy and Hobson IB parents run off to BASIS. BASIS is the only public middle school in DC that doesn't socially promote. If a student can't work at grade level across the board there from 6th grade, their only option to stay in the program is to repeat a grade. During BASIS' first several years--they've been in DC for 8--many parents were shocked to discover that 10-20% of middle school students were being held back a grade. There were lawsuits, but BASIS stuck to its guns. For the most parents, parents no longer enroll students who work behind grade level because word got out that the program often doesn't work for struggling students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can think of a dozen kids I have come in contact with (babysitters, neighbors, older siblings, etc.) who have graduated from SH in last 10 years. They've gone to Banneker, Walls, Ellington and Wilson. And a range of decent colleges, including Ivy League and top notch state schools.

Some kids will do well anywhere. Most won't. I've lived across the street from SH since the 90s. Unless their demographics shift pretty radically in the next 5 years, we're not interested for our little kids. I don't see this happening. More charters will just open to draw in the CH middle-class families who don't like their neighborhod middle school options, like Washington Latin's planned 2nd campus.

What’s wrong with the demographics?

Nothing, if you're fine with 80% AA and OOB and half low SES at SH in a neighborhood that's become overwhelmingly UMC and largely white. If you're race baiting, knock if off already.

Those families are perpetuating the problem. If white UMC families went to SH and all of its feeders, the enrollment would look completely different within no more than 4-5 years (see Hardy). But unlike Hardy’s situation, those parents don’t their IB HS either, even though there are several selective high school options available to tgrr eg I’d above grade level students.

One wonders why they chose to live there if school demographics matter so much to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend's above-grade-level son is in 8th grade at Stuart Hobson - hoping to go to SWW next year.

We've know a dozen of SH students in the neighborhood who are IB and UMC since they were tots. Most of the parents supplement considerably, particularly for science and social students (not tracked, many kids working below grade level, some bringing their behavioral problems to the classroom). Nice, resilient kids, but generally not GT material and none of them advanced foreign language students.

We've decided not to bother with SH for a rising IB 5th grader. Far too many poorly prepared and rowdy kids would be in class with ours. Hoping for BASIS, Latin or fi aid at a private. If not, we'll move and return to our Hill home as empty nesters.

I’m a happy Latin parent x2 and I can promise that if this is your attitude about SH and the kids who attend SH, you won’t be pleased with Latin. Please don’t consider it for your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can think of a dozen kids I have come in contact with (babysitters, neighbors, older siblings, etc.) who have graduated from SH in last 10 years. They've gone to Banneker, Walls, Ellington and Wilson. And a range of decent colleges, including Ivy League and top notch state schools.

Some kids will do well anywhere. Most won't. I've lived across the street from SH since the 90s. Unless their demographics shift pretty radically in the next 5 years, we're not interested for our little kids. I don't see this happening. More charters will just open to draw in the CH middle-class families who don't like their neighborhod middle school options, like Washington Latin's planned 2nd campus.

What’s wrong with the demographics?

Nothing, if you're fine with 80% AA and OOB and half low SES at SH in a neighborhood that's become overwhelmingly UMC and largely white. If you're race baiting, knock if off already.

An interesting thought experiment is to ask yourself: if a racist person wrote this comment, would it be any different from what I wrote? Hint: no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you're still reading, I have a modest suggestion for you. Dive into US census data for Cap Hill NE, even though it's almost a decade old now. Also, tour the north Hill and look around.

Stuart Hobson is DCPS' #3 performing middle school, after Deal #1 and Hardy #2. Yet SH's student body is around 14% white in a school catchment area that's roughly 80% white. Five years ago, SH's student body was 12% white. What does this tell you? Have IB UMC parents falling over themselves to enroll since Hobson's spectacular $40 million renovated four years ago? No, they're mostly rushing off to BASIS, a school with really crappy facilities.

Actually, part of the problem is the so-called "catchment" area is tiny - gerrymandered that way to keep the IB population small to make room for the huge numbers of OOB kids from Watkins, JO Wilson, etc., who all live many miles away. If the catchment was redrawn to cover, say, a mile radius around the school, I'd bet it would transform overnight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can think of a dozen kids I have come in contact with (babysitters, neighbors, older siblings, etc.) who have graduated from SH in last 10 years. They've gone to Banneker, Walls, Ellington and Wilson. And a range of decent colleges, including Ivy League and top notch state schools.

Some kids will do well anywhere. Most won't. I've lived across the street from SH since the 90s. Unless their demographics shift pretty radically in the next 5 years, we're not interested for our little kids. I don't see this happening. More charters will just open to draw in the CH middle-class families who don't like their neighborhod middle school options, like Washington Latin's planned 2nd campus.

What’s wrong with the demographics?

Nothing, if you're fine with 80% AA and OOB and half low SES at SH in a neighborhood that's become overwhelmingly UMC and largely white. If you're race baiting, knock if off already.

You are scum.

PS- Hardy had similar demographics only a few years ago. The white kids didn’t die once a few started going there. My kid does to a 80% AA school and she doesn’t die at school. In fact, she’s safer at her 80% AA school than a suburban school and threat of guns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend's above-grade-level son is in 8th grade at Stuart Hobson - hoping to go to SWW next year.

We've know a dozen of SH students in the neighborhood who are IB and UMC since they were tots. Most of the parents supplement considerably, particularly for science and social students (not tracked, many kids working below grade level, some bringing their behavioral problems to the classroom). Nice, resilient kids, but generally not GT material and none of them advanced foreign language students.

We've decided not to bother with SH for a rising IB 5th grader. Far too many poorly prepared and rowdy kids would be in class with ours. Hoping for BASIS, Latin or fi aid at a private. If not, we'll move and return to our Hill home as empty nesters.

I was in an excellent gifted and talented program in the 90s (not in DC) and guess what? All of the parents still supplemented considerably.

I'm just trying to understand how you "supplement" your child in social studies and science. Do you make them do science projects on the weekend? Drill Avogadros Number? Why not just let your kid read?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend's above-grade-level son is in 8th grade at Stuart Hobson - hoping to go to SWW next year.

We've know a dozen of SH students in the neighborhood who are IB and UMC since they were tots. Most of the parents supplement considerably, particularly for science and social students (not tracked, many kids working below grade level, some bringing their behavioral problems to the classroom). Nice, resilient kids, but generally not GT material and none of them advanced foreign language students.

We've decided not to bother with SH for a rising IB 5th grader. Far too many poorly prepared and rowdy kids would be in class with ours. Hoping for BASIS, Latin or fi aid at a private. If not, we'll move and return to our Hill home as empty nesters.

I was in an excellent gifted and talented program in the 90s (not in DC) and guess what? All of the parents still supplemented considerably.

Not to derail this but - what do you mean by supplemented considerably? I also was "G&T" in the 80's and nobody supplemented academically in the slightest. I did have extracurricular "supplementation" in terms of music and arts and such. I'm just surprised because I thought this was a new thing for the super ambitious types of DC, or the super crappy schools of DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can think of a dozen kids I have come in contact with (babysitters, neighbors, older siblings, etc.) who have graduated from SH in last 10 years. They've gone to Banneker, Walls, Ellington and Wilson. And a range of decent colleges, including Ivy League and top notch state schools.

Some kids will do well anywhere. Most won't. I've lived across the street from SH since the 90s. Unless their demographics shift pretty radically in the next 5 years, we're not interested for our little kids. I don't see this happening. More charters will just open to draw in the CH middle-class families who don't like their neighborhod middle school options, like Washington Latin's planned 2nd campus.

What’s wrong with the demographics?

Nothing, if you're fine with 80% AA and OOB and half low SES at SH in a neighborhood that's become overwhelmingly UMC and largely white. If you're race baiting, knock if off already.

Those families are perpetuating the problem. If white UMC families went to SH and all of its feeders, the enrollment would look completely different within no more than 4-5 years (see Hardy). But unlike Hardy’s situation, those parents don’t their IB HS either, even though there are several selective high school options available to tgrr eg I’d above grade level students.

One wonders why they chose to live there if school demographics matter so much to them.

No. DCPS is failing to incentivize UMC parent taxpayers to enroll their children in DCPS middle schools en masse because these voters aren't a big enough slice of the electoral pie to influence the outcome of city council elections outside Wards 1 and 3. Where these parents have charter alternatives to DCPS middles schools offering insufficient academic challenge, they rationally vote with their feet. Where they lack charter alternatives, they generally go private or move rather than serve as crusading pioneers by enrolling their children they lack confidence in. Who wins, poor DC kids? How?

You are the other apologists for one of the country's half dozen lowest-performing school systems are perpetuating the problem by serving as an advocates for a traditional school system misguidedly putting politics before best educational practices. I will not enroll my children in Stuart Hobson, although it is a one-minute walk from my home, as long as every academic subject track is not tracked. My children are already fairly bored in the upper grades at their DCPS elementary school and I owe them better than more of the same at the middle school level. I will not subject them to science and social studies classes serving a large cohort of students who work below grade level, no matter what might be happening at Hardy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can think of a dozen kids I have come in contact with (babysitters, neighbors, older siblings, etc.) who have graduated from SH in last 10 years. They've gone to Banneker, Walls, Ellington and Wilson. And a range of decent colleges, including Ivy League and top notch state schools.

Some kids will do well anywhere. Most won't. I've lived across the street from SH since the 90s. Unless their demographics shift pretty radically in the next 5 years, we're not interested for our little kids. I don't see this happening. More charters will just open to draw in the CH middle-class families who don't like their neighborhod middle school options, like Washington Latin's planned 2nd campus.

What’s wrong with the demographics?

Nothing, if you're fine with 80% AA and OOB and half low SES at SH in a neighborhood that's become overwhelmingly UMC and largely white. If you're race baiting, knock if off already.

Those families are perpetuating the problem. If white UMC families went to SH and all of its feeders, the enrollment would look completely different within no more than 4-5 years (see Hardy). But unlike Hardy’s situation, those parents don’t their IB HS either, even though there are several selective high school options available to tgrr eg I’d above grade level students.

One wonders why they chose to live there if school demographics matter so much to them.

No. DCPS is failing to incentivize UMC parent taxpayers to enroll their children in DCPS middle schools en masse because these voters aren't a big enough slice of the electoral pie to influence the outcome of city council elections outside Wards 1 and 3. Where these parents have charter alternatives to DCPS middles schools offering insufficient academic challenge, they rationally vote with their feet. Where they lack charter alternatives, they generally go private or move rather than serve as crusading pioneers by enrolling their children they lack confidence in. Who wins, poor DC kids? How?

You are the other apologists for one of the country's half dozen lowest-performing school systems are perpetuating the problem by serving as an advocates for a traditional school system misguidedly putting politics before best educational practices. I will not enroll my children in Stuart Hobson, although it is a one-minute walk from my home, as long as every academic subject track is not tracked. My children are already fairly bored in the upper grades at their DCPS elementary school and I owe them better than more of the same at the middle school level. I will not subject them to science and social studies classes serving a large cohort of students who work below grade level, no matter what might be happening at Hardy.

I can promise that you won't be missed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can think of a dozen kids I have come in contact with (babysitters, neighbors, older siblings, etc.) who have graduated from SH in last 10 years. They've gone to Banneker, Walls, Ellington and Wilson. And a range of decent colleges, including Ivy League and top notch state schools.

Some kids will do well anywhere. Most won't. I've lived across the street from SH since the 90s. Unless their demographics shift pretty radically in the next 5 years, we're not interested for our little kids. I don't see this happening. More charters will just open to draw in the CH middle-class families who don't like their neighborhod middle school options, like Washington Latin's planned 2nd campus.

What’s wrong with the demographics?

Nothing, if you're fine with 80% AA and OOB and half low SES at SH in a neighborhood that's become overwhelmingly UMC and largely white. If you're race baiting, knock if off already.

You are scum.

PS- Hardy had similar demographics only a few years ago. The white kids didn’t die once a few started going there. My kid does to a 80% AA school and she doesn’t die at school. In fact, she’s safer at her 80% AA school than a suburban school and threat of guns.

Not the scum you're bitching about, a different scum. Hardy has Wilson up the chain - Hobson has Eastern, a failing high school UMC Capitol Hill parents avoid to a family. DCPS has no plans to reboot Eastern to inspire confidence in IB families.

Our family is Asian. Hobson is currently 0% Asian. Being scum, we need a school with a cohort of Asian students to feel good about enrolling our children.

The whole neighborhood middle school-high school arrangement is a non-starter for us. This leaves us praying for luck in the Latin and BASIS lotteries and saving our pennies for a private.