Middle Schools - Ward 6 Centric

[Anonymous]

Ward Six has three middle schools with ~2,000 seats. There are ~1,000 students in Ward Six middle schools, thus Ward Six uses ~50% of its middle school capacity.

Eliot Hine and Jefferson each have ~300 students in buildings with capacity for ~800 students. Stuart Hobson is at capacity with ~430 students.

Wards Seven & Eight also have significantly underutilized middle school facilities.

Ward Five lacks a regular middle school.

Most Ward Six middle school students are from outside Ward Six.

Stuart Hobson is a top three DCPS middle school (out of ~14) and is 67% proficient. Jefferson and Eliot Hine, while stronger than most DCPS middle schools, are nonetheless struggling at less than 50% proficient. Ward Six middle schools, and especially Stuart Hobson, with half of its students coming from Wards Seven and Eight, are blessings for students desperate for better middle school options.

Most middle schools East of the park are in desperate need of modernization, and modernization funds are running out. It is fast becoming a zero-sum game for modernization resources.

Stuart Hobson is up for modernization in 2012. Jefferson is up for modernization in 2013. Each school is budgeted for about ~$15 million in phase one modernization funds, but it is unlikely that both Ward Six schools will get ~$30 million combined.

Some say that economies of scale kick in for middle schools with enrollment of 500+. Larger schools are less expensive to operate. Additionally the most sought after DCPS middle school - Deal - is north of 950 students.

Ward Six elementary schools have gained enrollment recently, but those gains are not being realized in Ward Six middle schools. Most Ward Six elementary students do not attend Ward Six middle schools.

Neighborhoods almost never volunteer to close a school, and politicians are scared to close schools no matter the merit. There is a strong proclivity for incrementalism by city leaders and most constituencies.

Chancellor Henderson was quoted in the Post saying that Ward Six, with its Middle School Reform Plan (IB programs, DCPS Office of Transformation staff salaries, etc.), gets the most resources.

Discuss.

[Anonymous]

Here is Henderson's quote about Ward 6 from Washington City Paper:

"The proof is in the numbers: At Maury Elementary, student population increased from 263 in 2009–2010 to 289 in 2010–2011. During that same period, Tyler went from 300 students to 348, according to DCPS. Enrollment at nearly every elementary school in the ward has increased, too. DCPS is projecting a total population hike in Ward 6 of 727 students.

“We’re spending more this year in Ward 6 than in any other ward in the city,” says current DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson."

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/41381/dc-neighborhood-schooled/

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks PP for the info. I think I conflated two pieces of info. The Henderson quote seems to indicate that DCPS is spending more on Ward 6 than any other ward is because there are more students. There was also a piece about Ward 5 activists asking for something akin to the Ward 6 effort - and it cited IB programs and DCPS staff assigned full-time to the effort. The point being that Ward 6 at least appears to be getting treatment above and beyond other areas of the city.

[Anonymous]

Ward 6 families have recognized that we have excess middle school capacity and are aggressively working to help encourage more families to take advantage of the local, neighborhood options available. We have been working with the leadership of all three local middle schools to increase programming, raise academic standards, and recruit students to the schools. That said, DCPS is currently conducting a study of school capacity and neighborhood needs. Once that study is complete, I would expect that Ward 6 may have to face some tough choices.

At last week's City Council Roundtable on Middle Schools, Ward 6 parents and Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells called for Ward 5 to get a stand alone Middle School. There was consensus that the Pre-school through 8 model was not implemented well and that sufficient resources weren't available to make that model work well.

Ward 6 schools are subject to the same per-pupil funding as other schools across the city. They get more resources because there are more students. However, a majority of students in Ward 6 middle schools do not live in Ward 6 and we need to reinvest funding into the neighborhoods where students live.

DCPS recently hired an individual to spearhead the development of a Ward 5 Middle School plan. That individual is working to meet with Ward 5 families and develop a plan for a stand alone Ward 5 middle school.

[Anonymous]

Deal is closer to 1100 than 950. Incoming sixth grade class is 400 this year. I heard this week that they're going to put trailers on the tennis court soon.

Deal also has the lowest per-pupil expenditure of any middle school. Full schools are cheap to operate.

This is not just a middle school problem or a ward 6 problem. School choice has been successful, exposing the gap between the schools the city has and the ones that people want. Overall, 40% of the schools in the city are 60% full or less. In wards 7 & 8, 65% of the schools are 60% full or less. Every school in Ward 3 is at 110% of capacity or greater; Mann is highest at 140%! At the same time, 55% of the students who attend DCPS in ward 3 do not live in ward 3.

[Anonymous]

Did anyone get off the wait list at Deal this year? A OOB child of a DCPS administrator is attending and I was curious if was legit, or if insiders get to jump the line?

[Anonymous]

I heard a Capitol Hill rumor that Stuart-Hobson is going to combine with Eliot Hine. Cluster parents will freak but there is no reason that Ward 6 should have three middle schools with one in an elementary school facility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard a Capitol Hill rumor that Stuart-Hobson is going to combine with Eliot Hine. Cluster parents will freak but there is no reason that Ward 6 should have three middle schools with one in an elementary school facility.

I've heard this too. I wonder what the impact would be. The fear is that it would destroy Hobson which is a functional school now. From my point of view it would be OK - Hine is my in-boundary school. It's 2 blocks from me and I'd love it to be an option for my kids.

[Anonymous]

Deal also has the lowest per-pupil expenditure of any middle school. Full schools are cheap to operate.

--------------------------------This School--------(DC) School Average
% Eligible for Free Lunch---------23%--------------44%

Poverty is expensive.

[Anonymous]

IB programs are NOT the answer. The success of Deal has nothing to do with IB. IB was something that principal Kim brought on early as a focus for the school to improve on. People need to stop thinking that the IB program is the answer and start looking for answers in doing the work of transforming schools.

[Anonymous]

IB may not be the whole answer. But for many parents it represents a check that DCPS is offering a full range of classes plus a robust second language. It has to when an outside agency is looking over its shoulder and will only offer accreditation if the full program is implemented. Are there any non IB Middle schools with a daily second language? The early focus to improve on and unite willing faculty around may be a catalyst to Deal success. Why do you discount it as a factor?

[Anonymous]

SH and Hardy both have daily second language without IB.

[Anonymous]

I think for any offerings at MS, critical mass is really critical, be it for offering a second language, specials, advanced courses, extra-curricular affairs. For my emerging middle schooler, who does well in school and has a really broad spectrum of interests, I'm looking for a school with that critical mass. What I like about Eliot-Hine is that they separate student communities by grade level, each with its own colors and on its own floor. (I've only been in a couple of times but it looks to me that E-H has a gorgeous building and space to grow!) This configuration helps create small communities within which students know one another and staff knows students, while offering critical mass within the school as a whole to go beyond basics. While I like IB and the external accountability that comes with it, I too think that's no panacea. Would love to see Eliot-Hine as our option. It's close and its backing with Eastern gives it opportunities to make MS-HS transition easier and to benefit from HS offerings, during school and out of school time.

[Anonymous]

19:58 here. I say IB is not the answer because IB is radically different from school to school. IB does not require you to have high quality offerings nor can it "check" school to make sure that is happening. That sort of oversight comes from building principals. I say that IB is not critical to Deal because the principal said something similar to me when we met. Now that my child has been in the school for three years, I get it. IB is a nice decorative flower on a cake, but it is not the cake. It would do us all well to focus on quality MS programs, not on labels like IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard this too. I wonder what the impact would be. The fear is that it would destroy Hobson which is a functional school now. From my point of view it would be OK - Hine is my in-boundary school. It's 2 blocks from me and I'd love it to be an option for my kids.

I can understand how moving Stuart Hobson to Eliot Hine makes sense in some ways. But in other ways it is absolute crazy talk to mess with one of the only successful middle schools. In a system starved for good middle schools, why potentially screw up one of the few things working well?