DC High Schools

[Anonymous]

I love Takoma Park but people talk like Coolidge would be the end of the line for education potential.

[Anonymous]

People are acting like the answer is very obvious on this thread, but the truth is, nobody knows what the EOTP high schools will look like in 10 years. DC is a city that has changed so quickly. Look at Garrison, for example--it was going to be shut down and a few years later, it's impossible to get in OOB (in the younger grades, granted). That turnaround took, what, 5 years? More people want to live closer to work, want to stay in the city once they have kids, and you are seeing more diversity (economic and otherwise) in the city's schools EOTP. So far, the big changes have been mostly in elementary, but a decade is a long time. Nobody knows what these schools will look like in 10 years. Nobody knows if the lockdown will reverse the gains that have been made.

With that caveat, my advice is to move. Despite what it may feel sometimes with PKers at home, these are the good times, right now. You should live your life in a way that will allow you to get the most out of this time. If that means moving to a neighborhood that is more your speed, or has a bigger yard, or whatever, you should do it! As others have said, maybe you'll find that the middle or high schools just aren't a good fit for your kid. That could also happen WOTP! You don't know yet whether your kid is the sort who will be accepted into the application schools, but I choose to assume my PK'er will be lol! If our kids aren't, we'll cross that bridge in 2030, whatever that looks like. Home equity in a neighborhood that you are not committed to is not worth a decade of your life. My 2 cents FWIW--good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:so in your opinion, wilson is THAT great? Because basically it's terrible publics, slim chance charters, or spend the extra money saved on housing at a private school? Or put it all in a house WOTP and secure a spot at wilson?

It's not that it's great, it's just the only place in DC where you can buy or rent a house and have a right to a high school where a majority of students score at least a 3 on each part of the PARCC.

There are places outside of DC where you can achieve that too. In Montgomery County, look at the areas zoned for Einstein, Richard Montgomery, Rockville, Sherwood, Wheaton HS, where there are many houses in the $450-600k range where you can have 3+ bedrooms, 2+ baths, and a backyard. There are other parts of the metro area that are comparable--parts of Fairfax, Alexandria, etc. These areas are diverse, with lots of stuff for kids to do. It's just a question of whether you're willing to drive to the metro/MARC/VRE or if you want to stay in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love Takoma Park but people talk like Coolidge would be the end of the line for education potential.

Takoma Park is in Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are acting like the answer is very obvious on this thread, but the truth is, nobody knows what the EOTP high schools will look like in 10 years. DC is a city that has changed so quickly. Look at Garrison, for example--it was going to be shut down and a few years later, it's impossible to get in OOB (in the younger grades, granted). That turnaround took, what, 5 years? More people want to live closer to work, want to stay in the city once they have kids, and you are seeing more diversity (economic and otherwise) in the city's schools EOTP. So far, the big changes have been mostly in elementary, but a decade is a long time. Nobody knows what these schools will look like in 10 years. Nobody knows if the lockdown will reverse the gains that have been made.

With that caveat, my advice is to move. Despite what it may feel sometimes with PKers at home, these are the good times, right now. You should live your life in a way that will allow you to get the most out of this time. If that means moving to a neighborhood that is more your speed, or has a bigger yard, or whatever, you should do it! As others have said, maybe you'll find that the middle or high schools just aren't a good fit for your kid. That could also happen WOTP! You don't know yet whether your kid is the sort who will be accepted into the application schools, but I choose to assume my PK'er will be lol! If our kids aren't, we'll cross that bridge in 2030, whatever that looks like. Home equity in a neighborhood that you are not committed to is not worth a decade of your life. My 2 cents FWIW--good luck!

Here's the thing- the gulfs and the risks get much higher with each grade level. So yes, many elementary schools have improved and are hard to get into. However, things are MUCH slower to improve at the MS level and even slower at HS. Hardy Middle School is the closest thing to a success story in the last decade or even 2 and still only a fraction of IB kids attend. When you have a kid who is meeting or exceeding grade level, a voracious reader, interested in math and science, hungry for learning - sending them to an under-performing school is going to be a non starter. Schools where they don't assign any homework and where the overwhelming focus is getting kids who are barely reading to get through 9th grade.

Go ahead a move - and maybe you will get lucky. But a decade is really not that long in terms of school improvement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are acting like the answer is very obvious on this thread, but the truth is, nobody knows what the EOTP high schools will look like in 10 years. DC is a city that has changed so quickly. Look at Garrison, for example--it was going to be shut down and a few years later, it's impossible to get in OOB (in the younger grades, granted). That turnaround took, what, 5 years? More people want to live closer to work, want to stay in the city once they have kids, and you are seeing more diversity (economic and otherwise) in the city's schools EOTP. So far, the big changes have been mostly in elementary, but a decade is a long time. Nobody knows what these schools will look like in 10 years. Nobody knows if the lockdown will reverse the gains that have been made.

With that caveat, my advice is to move. Despite what it may feel sometimes with PKers at home, these are the good times, right now. You should live your life in a way that will allow you to get the most out of this time. If that means moving to a neighborhood that is more your speed, or has a bigger yard, or whatever, you should do it! As others have said, maybe you'll find that the middle or high schools just aren't a good fit for your kid. That could also happen WOTP! You don't know yet whether your kid is the sort who will be accepted into the application schools, but I choose to assume my PK'er will be lol! If our kids aren't, we'll cross that bridge in 2030, whatever that looks like. Home equity in a neighborhood that you are not committed to is not worth a decade of your life. My 2 cents FWIW--good luck!

ALL OF THIS!

[Anonymous]

Hardy was renovated in 2006. It is only in the last 4 years that people are committed to it as opposed to accepting it because nothing else worked.

Brookland re-opened with a new Principal in 2015 - 5 years later still not a choice - but rather a school that people will accept if nothing else works.

The reason I am saying this is - until DC fixes the Middle School feeders - you can't discuss the High Schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hardy was renovated in 2006. It is only in the last 4 years that people are committed to it as opposed to accepting it because nothing else worked.

Brookland re-opened with a new Principal in 2015 - 5 years later still not a choice - but rather a school that people will accept if nothing else works.

The reason I am saying this is - until DC fixes the Middle School feeders - you can't discuss the High Schools.

Stuart-Hobson has changed a lot as well. Brookland grew in both enrollmemt and test scores last year. Another two or three years of growth and it will be acceptable.

[Anonymous]

My kids are in HS now and when they were in lower elementary we certainly considered moving to all the schools that 10 years ago were considered just 10 years away and are still considered just 10 years away.

[Anonymous]

I agree it is a long time to live in Upper NW if you don't actually want to, for a high school that is good but not perfect. You can always move back to the Wilson zone later.

[Anonymous]

It all boils down to your risk tolerance. If you're okay with a lot of uncertainty, then move; otherwise, stay put. A second factor is how you feel about maintaining a sense of community for your kids - some people are able to do this really well even if they move alot and for others, it's not so easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love Takoma Park but people talk like Coolidge would be the end of the line for education potential.

Takoma Park is in Maryland.

Jesus, you really should get out more.

[Anonymous]

I'd add Duke Ellington (if your kid has an arts interest - and arts is not just performance art, we know someone who got in for creative writing and museum studies, for example) to the list of acceptable high schools. It's very competitive.

in terms of ten years out, I'd maybe consider Roosevelt as possibly improving in 10 years. The Math PARCC scores are depressing, and ELA is bad but not quite as depressing (if you add in a 3 score).

The school was renovated recently and is beautiful inside, but is half empty. It's in a neighborhood that has gentrified a lot. I think DCPS is feeling some pressure to see a return on that renovation investment, so if they add some programs, who knows. There's also an outside chance that schools might get pulled out of the Deal/WIlson feeder and if that happens the schools would likely feed Rosevelt (revisiting feeders in 2023). McKinley Tech would be the other to tech.

If you save 200K on a house EOTP, you might then have 200K to spend on private high school - the catholic schools might still be affordable, so you could think about St Johns, too.

[Anonymous]

Not a whole lot will change unless they start yanking feeders out of the Deal/Wilson path, and not just Shepherd Park: all of Lafayette and probably others WOTP would have to go. That would right-size Deal and Wilson while giving a sizable UMC cohort to whatever schools are chosen. This certainly would be unpopular to some -- and the transportation changes needed would be expensive to pull off -- but it probably would be doable if the right carrot was involved.

The other option is a citywide lottery, which is both practically impossible (the overall size of the UMC cohort in dcps isn't big enough to scatter across the city and affect any sort of widespread change) and politically impossible.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would stay put. Why risk it? There truly is a huge gap between Wilson and the other comprehensives. These high schools average in the 700s composite on the sat-that is terrible.