Does it actually matter which school you send your kid to?

[Anonymous]

Does it matter in what environment you spend half your waking hours each day?

[Anonymous]

It matters more the teacher and class cohort. My oldest son got every single rock star teacher at his highly ranked elementary school. He was best friends with son of teacher who worked at the school who requested they be together and I think influenced that they always be with the best teacher in that grade.

My younger child got either the worst teacher or a teacher who went on medical or maternity leave every single year until I pulled him out at the beginning of fourth grade and sent him to a Catholic School. It was tragic to see the difference in their education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thnk it depends on the age and peer group at some point. we are white UMC family and our kid is not in fourth year at Title EoTP school. Only white kid in class. She is have a great experience. Learning a lot, small class sizes and very little teacher turnover. This makes a huge difference. Schools that have more teachers with at least 5 years of experience really has an impact on classroom management. But I know middle school is going to be the break off point for us. I don't want my kid in a class where 75% of kids are scoring below grade level on tests. I know its not all about the test. but by 5th grade it definitely is a major factor.

Are the other children not reaping the same positive benefits as your daughter? Will they end up below grade level by middle school despite the capable teachers?

I'm not the PP, but these schools tend to have high turnover (high housing costs, family changes can result in switching schools) so there are always new kids and they didn't benefit from the school's good teachers.

Schools that don't have an adequate middle school tend to lose their best students in the upper grades. Of all incomes. And some charters start with 5th grade. Also, when the academics become more real in 3rd and it changes from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn, sometimes kids struggle and special needs become more of a challenge. So a school can have plenty of on-grade-level kids in 2nd but a lot will be gone by 5th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thnk it depends on the age and peer group at some point. we are white UMC family and our kid is not in fourth year at Title EoTP school. Only white kid in class. She is have a great experience. Learning a lot, small class sizes and very little teacher turnover. This makes a huge difference. Schools that have more teachers with at least 5 years of experience really has an impact on classroom management. But I know middle school is going to be the break off point for us. I don't want my kid in a class where 75% of kids are scoring below grade level on tests. I know its not all about the test. but by 5th grade it definitely is a major factor.

Are the other children not reaping the same positive benefits as your daughter? Will they end up below grade level by middle school despite the capable teachers?

I have kids at a charter with high test scores for 3rd-4th grade. Most kids (>70%) in the cohort have been at the school since PK3 or PK4. AND STILL, there are substantial differences in test score, reading level, etc across the cohort. Experienced teachers and a stable school environment make a real difference in school culture and the experience that your kid has a school (and probably their corresponding level of satisfaction with school). But your individual child's achievement is likely more dependent on other factors - mom's educational attainment, first and foremost.

[Anonymous]

OP you’re being naive. People avoid schools because they are unsafe not because they are not “amazing.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our daughter is 1 year old. We currently live downtown, and we're thinking we'll need to move in the next year or two to get a little more space. As we think about the parts of the city we'd love to live in, though, we keep coming back to the school conversation. A desirable (and affordable!) neighborhood to live in does not necessary have schools known for being great.

Does that matter? What is the lifelong impact of sending your kid to an amazing school? An okay one? A kind of crappy one? And then how are we defining amazing/okay/crappy.. is it just test scores?

I'm curious how you chose the school you chose (or how you chose to wing it with the lottery). And I'm curious your philosophy on the importance--or lack thereof--of K-12 education.

And then to get into practical advice.. any feeder patterns you love or would avoid?

Many desirable neighborhoods EOTP don’t have great schools. Many families go charter, and it works for them.

Test scores are not the be all and end all but it gives you a sense of peer group. How many kids are below grade level, on grade level, above grade level?
This starts to become important in the upper elementary as the academic gap widens between those below and those on or above grade level, especially since there is no G & T or AAP or tracking.

We wanted language immersion because felt it was important to be bilingual in today’s diverse society. Language immersion also tends to be a harder curriculum in general because the child is learning all topics in 2 languages. We were very lucky in the lottery and are currently very happy with DC’s experience so far. Private was our back up if the lottery did not work out. Our IB school was not a viable option.

The language immersion charters has a feeder pattern to not only middle school but also high school with DCI.

You're asking the right question. I'm a grandparent. We raised our kids in a wealthy DC suburb and sent them to very highly regarded public schools. Very few poor kids, if any. Zero diversity. But man, did it have high test scores.

Fast forward 25 years, we're living in DC and our grandkids are enrolled in a largely black, largely poor school. When we show up, everyone in the school knows who we are because we don't look like anybody else. And guess what? The grandkids are reading well above grade level and are doing very well socially. In the end, it all boils down to who they go home to.

Don't get caught up in the rat race like we did.

I guarantee your kids are not going to send their kids to the zoned middle or HS.

[Anonymous]

For Pk3-K/1st/2nd maybe it doesn't matter in DC.

But when your kid isn't able to learn because of class disruptions or because they are one of only a few on grade level or above, or when kids behavior on the playground or in the cafeteria make your kid intimidated or worse...yes it does matter. A Lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter in what environment you spend half your waking hours each day?

Yes. Up to a point, it's not going to have a huge effect on the ultimate academic outcomes for kids from stable families with educated, engaged parents. But my upper elementary school child is much happier since moving to a school with a better atmosphere - the school is calmer and more supportive, and we see that reflected in his behavior. Both schools are in DC and have similar demographics and test scores, but one focuses more on emotional and social supports, which seems to result in fewer disruptive students, which makes him happier.

Talk to parents whose kids go there; and if possible visit.

[Anonymous]

It matters a lot, but you don't know what kind of school is right for your baby. You have no idea of interests, talents, special needs, or anything else. If you want to keep your options open, try the area from Shaw to Brookland. There are a lot of good charters and the neighborhood schools will get you through 2nd while you figure it out.

[Anonymous]

Child went to low performing school and transferred into high performing in 3rd grade. It’s a world of difference. His new friends raise the topics of energy and matter and bring books to school that he asks me to buy, too (good books).
At the old school kids played soccer and shot hoops at recess, he wasn’t interested. He had maybe 1-2 kids as friends. Nobody was mean but it just wasn’t his crowd.
He was not behind academically when we transferred him but socially it was day and night.
I don’t care about diversity as long as he is not in the minority.
The new school has specific philosophy which helps too, but overall what matters is smart kids and their involved parents.

[Anonymous]

2 things matter regarding schools

1. The number one factor in school success is the parents/home environment. Points to the poster commenting that having a shorter commute pays dividends

2. The second thing that matters is having a highly motivated cohort. Now, since this is DCUM I'm assuming the kid in question is top 10%. Usually, most schools have at least a collection of high performing students. Now unfortunately in DC, this is not the case. The majority of middle and high schools in DC are terrible. There are only 3-5 good middle schools in DC which requires either living in the most expensive parts of the city are getting lucky through a charter. For high school the selective high schools are an option but again middle school is a big problem.

Based on this I would leave DCPS after 4th grade unless you had a path to one of the 3-5 decent middle school options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Child went to low performing school and transferred into high performing in 3rd grade. It’s a world of difference. His new friends raise the topics of energy and matter and bring books to school that he asks me to buy, too (good books).
At the old school kids played soccer and shot hoops at recess, he wasn’t interested. He had maybe 1-2 kids as friends. Nobody was mean but it just wasn’t his crowd.
He was not behind academically when we transferred him but socially it was day and night.
I don’t care about diversity as long as he is not in the minority.
The new school has specific philosophy which helps too, but overall what matters is smart kids and their involved parents.

Personally, I think this is the big difference for kids at grade level or ahead when moving from low to high-performing schools.

[Anonymous]

If your kid has a learning disability then you need a school where being a year behind is a big deal and you get pull out services. No schools do learning disabilities well, but at a school where the majority of kids are a year or more behind, you will get no help at all.

I think most bright kids will do fine academically in any elementary school. They don't need a high performing cohort and they won't be ignored by teachers because they will stand out. But, IMO, kids who have dyslexia or other learning challenges are the ones that NEED a school with a high performing cohort so that they get the attention and resources they'd never get at a school where most kids are also behind.

[Anonymous]

And, of course, for most children, it is not clear that they have special needs or learning disabilities when they are babies or even toddlers.

[Anonymous]

I believe that teachers touch a child’s life, even change it, inspire. Also, I believe that people around us influence who we become.

We gave public schools a chance in Elementary. But even the best teachers there were overworked, spent a lot of time on disciplining students rather than teaching, didn’t encourage asking questions because the class sizes (27 kids) and taught to test. The peer group had some good kids but also a lot of kids with undesired behavior - sexualized.

So we moved DD to a private. This is her first year in middle school. The max class size is 20. The teachers are awesome. They truly try to spark the joy of learning, they do a lot project based learning and games, encourage asking questions.

DD is surrounded by kids from good families, with high academic level, some overachievers. These are kids that travel, read books, go to museums and theaters, and do a lot of extra curricular activities- robotics, swimming, orchestra, etc. They don’t come home and plop in front of TV. So I’m hoping DD will thrive in this environment. So far she’s doing very well.