Capital City?

[Anonymous]

Shocked to find that my DC has gotten off the PK waitlist. Didn't think we had a chance despite our low waitlist number so didn't really contemplate it. I searched the archives and found that the reviews for the school are quite good. Is that still the case?

[Anonymous]

reputation still good. remember school is likely moving to Peabody & Blair in Ward 4 for 2012-13 school year. so depending on your location, your other options for K, that may or may not be good news. the school will certainly change with the move, less urban, increasing to 2 sections of each of the younger grades (currently just 22 preK, 24K, I think -- it might be 20 preK, 22K, split between 2 blended prek/K classes -- at new location will be 40, 44, presumably, split between 4 blended classes)

[Anonymous]

when CCPCS moves to the new location with more space, will they be keeping the split grade model (ie--prek/k, 1/2, 3/4)?

[Anonymous]

what are your other K options?

the school will likely change a bit in its new location. the location, which is quite a distance from a metro and in a much less dense area of the city, will probably favor parents who are able to drive there and/or manage that commute. i think this will result in less diverse student body. this may not be what you vaule, but...i think it will happen.

the school is good now, but also seems to be coasting on reputation a bit. you'll see that test scores have been declining. perhaps the move will give the school a boost. i think expanding into middle and high school might have been a mistake, personally.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, no other solid K options. Her other PK option is good but it only goes through PK and I think she would benefit from being with older kids (blended classes) but am open to opinions, of course.

[Anonymous]

We just finished PreK at CCPCS and loved it. If you have the option, I would definitely take it.

Personally, I do not think test scores are everything and I think that 1 of the reasons why CCPCS does not score as high as some other schools is b/c they do not teach to the test OR spend a ton of time teaching how to take standardized tests (I am saying this from conversations with parents as opposed to 1st hand experience).

Now, they are concerned that the school did not make AYP this past year and put a plan in place to do a series of evaluations throughout the year to see where knowledge gaps were and adjust the curriculum / get additional support as needed.

Will the school change when they move to the new location beginning in the fall of 2012? Absolutely. And there will be growing pains. It is my understanding that they are planning on keeping the mixed age classrooms as this is something that they do in a thoughtful manner. The parents, teachers and administrators are all conscious of all the changes that will occur. Right now the lower school is tiny - 1 class per grade. By adding a 2nd class it will still be small, but will open the school up to other opportunities due to having a critical mass.

I hope you do enroll - I believe it is a special place.

[Anonymous]

PP I am not at Cap City, though I applied and did not get in. But I have to say declining scores may be an issue even if they don't "teach to the test". These tests are pretty basic they are meant to assess basic levels of knowledge of math and reading comprehension. Many including myself believe that reading comprehension basically just tests general knowledge so if the scores are declining it may indicate that they teaching less or taking in kids with a smaller base to start with or some combination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP I am not at Cap City, though I applied and did not get in. But I have to say declining scores may be an issue even if they don't "teach to the test". These tests are pretty basic they are meant to assess basic levels of knowledge of math and reading comprehension. Many including myself believe that reading comprehension basically just tests general knowledge so if the scores are declining it may indicate that they teaching less or taking in kids with a smaller base to start with or some combination.

the other issue w test scores re CCPCS is that since the population they are testing is so small (25 kids per grade) if you have a few kids per grade that are one way or the other for academic performance, you can see swings in results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP I am not at Cap City, though I applied and did not get in. But I have to say declining scores may be an issue even if they don't "teach to the test". These tests are pretty basic they are meant to assess basic levels of knowledge of math and reading comprehension. Many including myself believe that reading comprehension basically just tests general knowledge so if the scores are declining it may indicate that they teaching less or taking in kids with a smaller base to start with or some combination.

the other issue w test scores re CCPCS is that since the population they are testing is so small (25 kids per grade) if you have a few kids per grade that are one way or the other for academic performance, you can see swings in results.

This is a good point.

[Anonymous]

Capital City's scores are NOT declining. The special education subgroup and ELL subgroup has not made the adequate progress threshold. Those subgroups scores are not moving. However, they are not declining. Capital City still scored in the top five of all charters in both the areas of math and ELA. Check the dc public charter schools website that have school "report cards" for confirmation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP I am not at Cap City, though I applied and did not get in. But I have to say declining scores may be an issue even if they don't "teach to the test". These tests are pretty basic they are meant to assess basic levels of knowledge of math and reading comprehension. Many including myself believe that reading comprehension basically just tests general knowledge so if the scores are declining it may indicate that they teaching less or taking in kids with a smaller base to start with or some combination.

It looks to me like there are many ELL's at Capital City. These tests are not easy/straightforward for all English Language learners. I think you should take that into consideration when looking at the school's test scores. Be fair. I wish NCLB law was more fair, but it is pretty unrealistic as written.

[Anonymous]

As I live in the neighborhood I applied to CCPCS last year and was very excited to get a 6th grade spot for my son. The entire year was a bust but we decided to stay because we thought every school has bad teachers and 7th grade should definitely be better. He was tutored all summer long so that he will not be a year below grade level even though he did score Proficient in Reading and almost Advanced in Math (by 1 point) as DC CAS is pretty basic.

Being an ESL student, I had requested to have him enrolled in ESL classes. He did, for only a couple of weeks because the teacher was busy with other students who neede her help more, I was told. This year, he was tested for English Language proficiency and according to his 7th grade teacher, he scored lower than last year, after attending the school for more than a year, which means that he has regressed. I am also quite disappointed in this year's language and science teachers. Some of the reading is so complicated and boring that it just feels that things are being copied haphazardly from the internet without putting any thought in the quality of the material.

Apparently the school is much better at the lower elementary grades. However, students are still accepted for the current school year as limited spots at every grade level are being advertised week after week in the weekly newsletter. I know for a fact that more than half of last year's 5th graders chose to move to other schools for this year. I could pull him out right away or have him regularly tutored like many of his classmates who choose to stay for whatever reason.

[Anonymous]

I have a son in the Upper School in the eighth grade. While I have complaints, as I am sure that most parents do no matter when their children are enrolled, I have found the teaching staff to be incredible. One of my major issues is that I want him to do more writing. I would probably have this complaint no matter where he was. My son did very well on the DC CAS.

On the other hand, I have a 4th grader in the lower school who did very poorly on the DC CAS. I really hated that the school essentially got dinged for his score. It was definitely not based on a lack teaching or bad teachers. My son is just immature and has some learning difficulties in some areas. This year he is doing much better. We've kept him at Capital City because I think the care and attention to him has really paid off this year. He feels secure and knows that everyone is routing for him to succeed.

[Anonymous]

If your son did very poorly in the DC CAS, then he's at least 1 year below grade level.
Unless he catches up this year, he will be 2 years below grade level by the end of the year.
I also have heard that the upper school teachers are quite better than the middle school teachers of the lower school.

[Anonymous]

our experience with cap city has been uneven. i think it is fair to characterize the views of my fellow parents that way as well. i do know that parents have more issues/complaints/problems as children age. the lower grades are quite good. my take on this is that there is a lack of strong leadership there. the teachers are not well-trained, frankly. i am not sure the principals and other academic officers are either and so there is a
sense of "the blind leading the blind" sometimes, particularly when you really start pressing the teacher/principal for details/action plans etc.

given all of this, i think it is fair to say that the expansion they are planning is going to prove a challenge. i think they are planning to literally double the size of the school in the next year or so. now maybe the relatively suburban location will indirectly help them out by drawing a more educated, middle-class population, since the new school is not easily accessible by public transportation. plenty of middle class parents who own property in a denser part of the city will be happy to drive to avoid a lowe performing dcps.

one big benefit of ccpcs is the supportive, communal feel of the place. that is something that they do right. more than any other school i have experienced, ccpcs feels like a happy and safe place.