Middle Schools for Cap Hill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2015 data. LOL.

Brent is less than 70% IB now, so I actually think it’s likely correct to say that 5th grade has very few IBers given that PK is obviously fully IB and the lower grades have very few OOBs students.

Most of the OOB students at Brent live on Capitol Hill, many just a few blocks outside the school's boundary. BS that the 5th grade has very few IBers this year. It's mostly IBers again. It is correct to say that there are hardly any poor kids left at Brent, around 5% at risk.

For Brent to be less than 70% IB, it is nearly mathematically impossible for it to be the case that 5th grade in “mostly” IB students given the demographics of the younger grades.

Huh? This year's 5th grade at Brent is definitely mostly in boundary students. I know because I have a child in 5th grade. My child started at Brent with most of these kids, in the early childhood years, which were 100% in boundary.

What's happening is that more OOB seats are opening in the lower grades with each passing year mainly because in boundary 3-bedroom houses have become so pricey, and inventory so low, that fewer young families are moving into the Brent district with every passing year.

I was gonna call B.S. because conventional wisdom (read: DCUM) says that isn't so. I figured before I replied maybe I should check the published data. Darned if what you said doesn't track with the data. They have been making WL offers in elementary grades for a number of years. Now there is no way to know for sure how many seats they needed to fill based on the WL offers made, but it stands to reason that Brent didn't have to make 50 WL offers to fill only one spot for K. And any WL offers in K+ are OOB kids. Interestingly, over the past few years Maury has gone to the WL less frequently and for fewer WL kids than has Brent. Or even Ludlow for that matter.

Your theory about housing (scarcity, I agree, is the issue) seems logical to me. I think also that as SH has improved and more IB feeder kids stay, combined with Latin and Basis as MS and HS options, combined with application schools with enhanced reputations, that parents with perspective beyond just needs of 3 or 4 year olds might be thinking longer term and making school decisions with a longer time horizon than just "I need to be IB for Brent".

Very interesting trend and data. Thanks for pointing out and making me re-think what I "knew" from reading DCUM common wisdom.

I think its not because of housing within Brent, but because other schools, like LT, have become just as attractive. More housing/schools to pick from, not less.

I have actually long thought that the LT IB is the most desirable on the Hill location-wise, especially if you take into account price. As H St has exploded, I think the cute residential area between it & Stanton Park is basically the ideal spot to live on the Hill. So the crazy rate of gentrification there doesn't surprise me at all. (And check the stats, the rate of gentrification is crazy. LT was T1 2 years ago and now is 9% less economically disadvantaged than Watkins, which I think lost T1 status like 3-4 years before that.)

JO's efforts to increase IB population and have them stick has ben hampered by the presence of Two Rivers 4th Street. If you have ever walked that area between H and TR in the morning you see just how many IB JOW families are walking in their TR shirts to TR. My friends at TR tell me it feels in some grades like a neighborhood school. If even 1/2 of those students went to JOW then it would be closer where LT is. That issue is exacerbated by the fact that IB JOW means IB for SH so those families can have the benefit of TR in ES and then decide whether they want to head down H to the new TR MS.

(To be clear, this is not a shot at TR or charter schools or an argument for why charters are destroying DCPS. TR exists because DCPS failed for years to provide what families desired.)

I think this is right. I think LT would also be even farther along if it weren't for 2R, CHML and SWS, the latter two of which are both IB for LT. I think LT has stopped losing many kids to 2R (in fact, during the pandemic, we gained at least 3 2R families that I know of) and CHML (the swing space really did them in), but obviously still loses kids to SWS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2015 data. LOL.

Brent is less than 70% IB now, so I actually think it’s likely correct to say that 5th grade has very few IBers given that PK is obviously fully IB and the lower grades have very few OOBs students.

Most of the OOB students at Brent live on Capitol Hill, many just a few blocks outside the school's boundary. BS that the 5th grade has very few IBers this year. It's mostly IBers again. It is correct to say that there are hardly any poor kids left at Brent, around 5% at risk.

For Brent to be less than 70% IB, it is nearly mathematically impossible for it to be the case that 5th grade in “mostly” IB students given the demographics of the younger grades.

Huh? This year's 5th grade at Brent is definitely mostly in boundary students. I know because I have a child in 5th grade. My child started at Brent with most of these kids, in the early childhood years, which were 100% in boundary.

What's happening is that more OOB seats are opening in the lower grades with each passing year mainly because in boundary 3-bedroom houses have become so pricey, and inventory so low, that fewer young families are moving into the Brent district with every passing year.

I was gonna call B.S. because conventional wisdom (read: DCUM) says that isn't so. I figured before I replied maybe I should check the published data. Darned if what you said doesn't track with the data. They have been making WL offers in elementary grades for a number of years. Now there is no way to know for sure how many seats they needed to fill based on the WL offers made, but it stands to reason that Brent didn't have to make 50 WL offers to fill only one spot for K. And any WL offers in K+ are OOB kids. Interestingly, over the past few years Maury has gone to the WL less frequently and for fewer WL kids than has Brent. Or even Ludlow for that matter.

Your theory about housing (scarcity, I agree, is the issue) seems logical to me. I think also that as SH has improved and more IB feeder kids stay, combined with Latin and Basis as MS and HS options, combined with application schools with enhanced reputations, that parents with perspective beyond just needs of 3 or 4 year olds might be thinking longer term and making school decisions with a longer time horizon than just "I need to be IB for Brent".

Very interesting trend and data. Thanks for pointing out and making me re-think what I "knew" from reading DCUM common wisdom.

I think its not because of housing within Brent, but because other schools, like LT, have become just as attractive. More housing/schools to pick from, not less.

I have actually long thought that the LT IB is the most desirable on the Hill location-wise, especially if you take into account price. As H St has exploded, I think the cute residential area between it & Stanton Park is basically the ideal spot to live on the Hill. So the crazy rate of gentrification there doesn't surprise me at all. (And check the stats, the rate of gentrification is crazy. LT was T1 2 years ago and now is 9% less economically disadvantaged than Watkins, which I think lost T1 status like 3-4 years before that.)

Yes, LT feels like it changed overnight, as did that neighborhood. We have a kind in PK4 now, not at LT, and we had originally hoped to lottery in there because when DC was born it was still considered a "borderline" school. Now it's regularly mentioned alongside Maury and Brent as the most desirable ES on the Hill. It's kind of crazy how fast that happened.

Universal truth of all urban gentrification: Everyone who moves in thinks they "discovered" the neighborhood or that it "changed overnight".

Lived here for 15 years, but okay 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2015 data. LOL.

Brent is less than 70% IB now, so I actually think it’s likely correct to say that 5th grade has very few IBers given that PK is obviously fully IB and the lower grades have very few OOBs students.

Most of the OOB students at Brent live on Capitol Hill, many just a few blocks outside the school's boundary. BS that the 5th grade has very few IBers this year. It's mostly IBers again. It is correct to say that there are hardly any poor kids left at Brent, around 5% at risk.

For Brent to be less than 70% IB, it is nearly mathematically impossible for it to be the case that 5th grade in “mostly” IB students given the demographics of the younger grades.

Huh? This year's 5th grade at Brent is definitely mostly in boundary students. I know because I have a child in 5th grade. My child started at Brent with most of these kids, in the early childhood years, which were 100% in boundary.

What's happening is that more OOB seats are opening in the lower grades with each passing year mainly because in boundary 3-bedroom houses have become so pricey, and inventory so low, that fewer young families are moving into the Brent district with every passing year.

I was gonna call B.S. because conventional wisdom (read: DCUM) says that isn't so. I figured before I replied maybe I should check the published data. Darned if what you said doesn't track with the data. They have been making WL offers in elementary grades for a number of years. Now there is no way to know for sure how many seats they needed to fill based on the WL offers made, but it stands to reason that Brent didn't have to make 50 WL offers to fill only one spot for K. And any WL offers in K+ are OOB kids. Interestingly, over the past few years Maury has gone to the WL less frequently and for fewer WL kids than has Brent. Or even Ludlow for that matter.

Your theory about housing (scarcity, I agree, is the issue) seems logical to me. I think also that as SH has improved and more IB feeder kids stay, combined with Latin and Basis as MS and HS options, combined with application schools with enhanced reputations, that parents with perspective beyond just needs of 3 or 4 year olds might be thinking longer term and making school decisions with a longer time horizon than just "I need to be IB for Brent".

Very interesting trend and data. Thanks for pointing out and making me re-think what I "knew" from reading DCUM common wisdom.

I think its not because of housing within Brent, but because other schools, like LT, have become just as attractive. More housing/schools to pick from, not less.

I have actually long thought that the LT IB is the most desirable on the Hill location-wise, especially if you take into account price. As H St has exploded, I think the cute residential area between it & Stanton Park is basically the ideal spot to live on the Hill. So the crazy rate of gentrification there doesn't surprise me at all. (And check the stats, the rate of gentrification is crazy. LT was T1 2 years ago and now is 9% less economically disadvantaged than Watkins, which I think lost T1 status like 3-4 years before that.)

JO's efforts to increase IB population and have them stick has ben hampered by the presence of Two Rivers 4th Street. If you have ever walked that area between H and TR in the morning you see just how many IB JOW families are walking in their TR shirts to TR. My friends at TR tell me it feels in some grades like a neighborhood school. If even 1/2 of those students went to JOW then it would be closer where LT is. That issue is exacerbated by the fact that IB JOW means IB for SH so those families can have the benefit of TR in ES and then decide whether they want to head down H to the new TR MS.

(To be clear, this is not a shot at TR or charter schools or an argument for why charters are destroying DCPS. TR exists because DCPS failed for years to provide what families desired.)

I think this is right. I think LT would also be even farther along if it weren't for 2R, CHML and SWS, the latter two of which are both IB for LT. I think LT has stopped losing many kids to 2R (in fact, during the pandemic, we gained at least 3 2R families that I know of) and CHML (the swing space really did them in), but obviously still loses kids to SWS.

I agree. I think the reason LT changed so fast was because there were UMC IB students, they were just choosing those other schools. Once that changed and they had velocity there was a ready made IB population. I think the IB demo of JOW is similar. The hope is that if they can get traction it will accelerate quickly for the same reasons. Of course, SWS and CHML's brand spanking new buildings won't help JOW. (Don't get me started on DCPS prioritizing these schools at the expense of JOW's much needed upgrade.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't put jefferson in the top 10.

According to the USNWR rankings, Jefferson is the third best DCPS standalone middle school (behind only Deal and Hardy). Stuart-Hobson is fourth in that category.

[Anonymous]

Its true that Jefferson and SH are the best dcps middle schools (citywide - all neighborhoods) after Deal and Hardy. The hill area arguably has it better than most of the city outside NW. This doesnt change the fact that lots of hill families are not willing to take the risk of attending.

[Anonymous]

OK, so why isn't Jefferson a lot more popular with UMC in-boundary families and families with children in the several feeder elementary schools? Mainly a question of poor public relations?

At a Jefferson open house I attended this spring, admins were more than a little cagey about what sort of "honors classes" were offered and how students tested into these classes. I couldn't get a straight answer out of them, couldn't make sense of how the placement system worked. By contrast, at Stuart Hobson, I was told exactly how students were evaluated for/admitted to honors English and math classes. I was also told that there weren't any honors science or social studies classes, or any planned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its true that Jefferson and SH are the best dcps middle schools (citywide - all neighborhoods) after Deal and Hardy. The hill area arguably has it better than most of the city outside NW. This doesnt change the fact that lots of hill families are not willing to take the risk of attending.

I think you mean, "...have not previously been willing to take the risk." That appears to be changing but we don't yet have data to know for sure. One of the limiting factors here is going to be that MS is only 3 years and the HS options on the Hill are non-starters. Unless and until that changes there's going to be a cap on how far SH can progress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't Jefferson a lot more popular with UMC in-boundary families and families with children in the several feeder elementary schools? Mainly a question of poor public relations?

At a Jefferson open house I attended this spring, admins were more than a little cagey about what sort of "honors classes" were offered and how students tested into these classes. I couldn't get a straight answer out of them, couldn't make sense of how the placement system worked. By contrast, at Stuart Hobson, I was told exactly how students were evaluated for/admitted to honors English and math classes. I was also told that there weren't any honors science or social studies classes, or any planned.

Brent parents considering Jefferson Academy have complained about this issue repeatedly on DCUM in the last several years. Brent parents who send their children to JA invariably respond with assurances that appropriate rigor is ensured across the board, never mind what the test-in-to-honors-classes-system might be (if there is indeed a system). Needless to say, UMC buy-in at JA from Brent, Tyler and Van Ness remains low and has a desperate feel (as in, we're all for JA, never mind the fact that we were shut out of BASIS and Latin, lack access to Hobson, and can't handle the commute to DCI).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2015 data. LOL.

Brent is less than 70% IB now, so I actually think it’s likely correct to say that 5th grade has very few IBers given that PK is obviously fully IB and the lower grades have very few OOBs students.

Most of the OOB students at Brent live on Capitol Hill, many just a few blocks outside the school's boundary. BS that the 5th grade has very few IBers this year. It's mostly IBers again. It is correct to say that there are hardly any poor kids left at Brent, around 5% at risk.

For Brent to be less than 70% IB, it is nearly mathematically impossible for it to be the case that 5th grade in “mostly” IB students given the demographics of the younger grades.

Huh? This year's 5th grade at Brent is definitely mostly in boundary students. I know because I have a child in 5th grade. My child started at Brent with most of these kids, in the early childhood years, which were 100% in boundary.

What's happening is that more OOB seats are opening in the lower grades with each passing year mainly because in boundary 3-bedroom houses have become so pricey, and inventory so low, that fewer young families are moving into the Brent district with every passing year.

I was gonna call B.S. because conventional wisdom (read: DCUM) says that isn't so. I figured before I replied maybe I should check the published data. Darned if what you said doesn't track with the data. They have been making WL offers in elementary grades for a number of years. Now there is no way to know for sure how many seats they needed to fill based on the WL offers made, but it stands to reason that Brent didn't have to make 50 WL offers to fill only one spot for K. And any WL offers in K+ are OOB kids. Interestingly, over the past few years Maury has gone to the WL less frequently and for fewer WL kids than has Brent. Or even Ludlow for that matter.

Your theory about housing (scarcity, I agree, is the issue) seems logical to me. I think also that as SH has improved and more IB feeder kids stay, combined with Latin and Basis as MS and HS options, combined with application schools with enhanced reputations, that parents with perspective beyond just needs of 3 or 4 year olds might be thinking longer term and making school decisions with a longer time horizon than just "I need to be IB for Brent".

Very interesting trend and data. Thanks for pointing out and making me re-think what I "knew" from reading DCUM common wisdom.

I think its not because of housing within Brent, but because other schools, like LT, have become just as attractive. More housing/schools to pick from, not less.

I have actually long thought that the LT IB is the most desirable on the Hill location-wise, especially if you take into account price. As H St has exploded, I think the cute residential area between it & Stanton Park is basically the ideal spot to live on the Hill. So the crazy rate of gentrification there doesn't surprise me at all. (And check the stats, the rate of gentrification is crazy. LT was T1 2 years ago and now is 9% less economically disadvantaged than Watkins, which I think lost T1 status like 3-4 years before that.)

JO's efforts to increase IB population and have them stick has ben hampered by the presence of Two Rivers 4th Street. If you have ever walked that area between H and TR in the morning you see just how many IB JOW families are walking in their TR shirts to TR. My friends at TR tell me it feels in some grades like a neighborhood school. If even 1/2 of those students went to JOW then it would be closer where LT is. That issue is exacerbated by the fact that IB JOW means IB for SH so those families can have the benefit of TR in ES and then decide whether they want to head down H to the new TR MS.

(To be clear, this is not a shot at TR or charter schools or an argument for why charters are destroying DCPS. TR exists because DCPS failed for years to provide what families desired.)

I think this is right. I think LT would also be even farther along if it weren't for 2R, CHML and SWS, the latter two of which are both IB for LT. I think LT has stopped losing many kids to 2R (in fact, during the pandemic, we gained at least 3 2R families that I know of) and CHML (the swing space really did them in), but obviously still loses kids to SWS.

I agree. I think the reason LT changed so fast was because there were UMC IB students, they were just choosing those other schools. Once that changed and they had velocity there was a ready made IB population. I think the IB demo of JOW is similar. The hope is that if they can get traction it will accelerate quickly for the same reasons. Of course, SWS and CHML's brand spanking new buildings won't help JOW. (Don't get me started on DCPS prioritizing these schools at the expense of JOW's much needed upgrade.)

CHML’s reno was moved up because of lead. SWS’s modernization was actually years behind what DC originally promised. It sounds like you didn’t walk through either of the buildings but they most certainly needed renovations. Please do not make it sound like because they are city-wide schools, they don’t also deserve right-size classrooms and facilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't Jefferson a lot more popular with UMC in-boundary families and families with children in the several feeder elementary schools? Mainly a question of poor public relations?

At a Jefferson open house I attended this spring, admins were more than a little cagey about what sort of "honors classes" were offered and how students tested into these classes. I couldn't get a straight answer out of them, couldn't make sense of how the placement system worked. By contrast, at Stuart Hobson, I was told exactly how students were evaluated for/admitted to honors English and math classes. I was also told that there weren't any honors science or social studies classes, or any planned.

Brent parents considering Jefferson Academy have complained about this issue repeatedly on DCUM in the last several years. Brent parents who send their children to JA invariably respond with assurances that appropriate rigor is ensured across the board, never mind what the test-in-to-honors-classes-system might be (if there is indeed a system). Needless to say, UMC buy-in at JA from Brent, Tyler and Van Ness remains low and has a desperate feel (as in, we're all for JA, never mind the fact that we were shut out of BASIS and Latin, lack access to Hobson, and can't handle the commute to DCI).

Anyone on the hill who wants access to SH can lottery into Watkins in fifth grade. They keep 4 classes despite attrition to BASIS and Latin. Odds aren’t bad for fifth grade at JO and LT, either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't Jefferson a lot more popular with UMC in-boundary families and families with children in the several feeder elementary schools? Mainly a question of poor public relations?

At a Jefferson open house I attended this spring, admins were more than a little cagey about what sort of "honors classes" were offered and how students tested into these classes. I couldn't get a straight answer out of them, couldn't make sense of how the placement system worked. By contrast, at Stuart Hobson, I was told exactly how students were evaluated for/admitted to honors English and math classes. I was also told that there weren't any honors science or social studies classes, or any planned.

Brent parents considering Jefferson Academy have complained about this issue repeatedly on DCUM in the last several years. Brent parents who send their children to JA invariably respond with assurances that appropriate rigor is ensured across the board, never mind what the test-in-to-honors-classes-system might be (if there is indeed a system). Needless to say, UMC buy-in at JA from Brent, Tyler and Van Ness remains low and has a desperate feel (as in, we're all for JA, never mind the fact that we were shut out of BASIS and Latin, lack access to Hobson, and can't handle the commute to DCI).

Anyone on the hill who wants access to SH can lottery into Watkins in fifth grade. They keep 4 classes despite attrition to BASIS and Latin. Odds aren’t bad for fifth grade at JO and LT, either.

Generally speaking I think this is such an unrealistic-in-practice idea. Sure you technically could do this to your kid, but at what cost? Take them out of elementary school where they have been with all their friends and put them in new one where they know nobody for a year? Then they have to move schools again in a year where they need to make friends all over again? My kid would have been really unhappy if I did this to her. I understand desperate times = desperate measures . .. but I'd rather just move once (to Basis or Latin, assuming you get a slot).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't Jefferson a lot more popular with UMC in-boundary families and families with children in the several feeder elementary schools? Mainly a question of poor public relations?

At a Jefferson open house I attended this spring, admins were more than a little cagey about what sort of "honors classes" were offered and how students tested into these classes. I couldn't get a straight answer out of them, couldn't make sense of how the placement system worked. By contrast, at Stuart Hobson, I was told exactly how students were evaluated for/admitted to honors English and math classes. I was also told that there weren't any honors science or social studies classes, or any planned.

You answered your own question, because there are charters that actually have honors classes and have better cohorts

This isn't hard folks everyone is trying to trade up to get into the best slot for their kids period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't Jefferson a lot more popular with UMC in-boundary families and families with children in the several feeder elementary schools? Mainly a question of poor public relations?

At a Jefferson open house I attended this spring, admins were more than a little cagey about what sort of "honors classes" were offered and how students tested into these classes. I couldn't get a straight answer out of them, couldn't make sense of how the placement system worked. By contrast, at Stuart Hobson, I was told exactly how students were evaluated for/admitted to honors English and math classes. I was also told that there weren't any honors science or social studies classes, or any planned.

You answered your own question, because there are charters that actually have honors classes and have better cohorts

This isn't hard folks everyone is trying to trade up to get into the best slot for their kids period.

For us (in bounds for Jefferson), the possibility of a charter that goes through high school is just too appealing. We are fine with Jefferson, although I wish it was closer, but if our kids get into a charter that goes through high school why not give it a shot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2015 data. LOL.

Brent is less than 70% IB now, so I actually think it’s likely correct to say that 5th grade has very few IBers given that PK is obviously fully IB and the lower grades have very few OOBs students.

Most of the OOB students at Brent live on Capitol Hill, many just a few blocks outside the school's boundary. BS that the 5th grade has very few IBers this year. It's mostly IBers again. It is correct to say that there are hardly any poor kids left at Brent, around 5% at risk.

For Brent to be less than 70% IB, it is nearly mathematically impossible for it to be the case that 5th grade in “mostly” IB students given the demographics of the younger grades.

Huh? This year's 5th grade at Brent is definitely mostly in boundary students. I know because I have a child in 5th grade. My child started at Brent with most of these kids, in the early childhood years, which were 100% in boundary.

What's happening is that more OOB seats are opening in the lower grades with each passing year mainly because in boundary 3-bedroom houses have become so pricey, and inventory so low, that fewer young families are moving into the Brent district with every passing year.

I was gonna call B.S. because conventional wisdom (read: DCUM) says that isn't so. I figured before I replied maybe I should check the published data. Darned if what you said doesn't track with the data. They have been making WL offers in elementary grades for a number of years. Now there is no way to know for sure how many seats they needed to fill based on the WL offers made, but it stands to reason that Brent didn't have to make 50 WL offers to fill only one spot for K. And any WL offers in K+ are OOB kids. Interestingly, over the past few years Maury has gone to the WL less frequently and for fewer WL kids than has Brent. Or even Ludlow for that matter.

Your theory about housing (scarcity, I agree, is the issue) seems logical to me. I think also that as SH has improved and more IB feeder kids stay, combined with Latin and Basis as MS and HS options, combined with application schools with enhanced reputations, that parents with perspective beyond just needs of 3 or 4 year olds might be thinking longer term and making school decisions with a longer time horizon than just "I need to be IB for Brent".

Very interesting trend and data. Thanks for pointing out and making me re-think what I "knew" from reading DCUM common wisdom.

I think its not because of housing within Brent, but because other schools, like LT, have become just as attractive. More housing/schools to pick from, not less.

I have actually long thought that the LT IB is the most desirable on the Hill location-wise, especially if you take into account price. As H St has exploded, I think the cute residential area between it & Stanton Park is basically the ideal spot to live on the Hill. So the crazy rate of gentrification there doesn't surprise me at all. (And check the stats, the rate of gentrification is crazy. LT was T1 2 years ago and now is 9% less economically disadvantaged than Watkins, which I think lost T1 status like 3-4 years before that.)

JO's efforts to increase IB population and have them stick has ben hampered by the presence of Two Rivers 4th Street. If you have ever walked that area between H and TR in the morning you see just how many IB JOW families are walking in their TR shirts to TR. My friends at TR tell me it feels in some grades like a neighborhood school. If even 1/2 of those students went to JOW then it would be closer where LT is. That issue is exacerbated by the fact that IB JOW means IB for SH so those families can have the benefit of TR in ES and then decide whether they want to head down H to the new TR MS.

(To be clear, this is not a shot at TR or charter schools or an argument for why charters are destroying DCPS. TR exists because DCPS failed for years to provide what families desired.)

I think this is right. I think LT would also be even farther along if it weren't for 2R, CHML and SWS, the latter two of which are both IB for LT. I think LT has stopped losing many kids to 2R (in fact, during the pandemic, we gained at least 3 2R families that I know of) and CHML (the swing space really did them in), but obviously still loses kids to SWS.

I agree. I think the reason LT changed so fast was because there were UMC IB students, they were just choosing those other schools. Once that changed and they had velocity there was a ready made IB population. I think the IB demo of JOW is similar. The hope is that if they can get traction it will accelerate quickly for the same reasons. Of course, SWS and CHML's brand spanking new buildings won't help JOW. (Don't get me started on DCPS prioritizing these schools at the expense of JOW's much needed upgrade.)

JO Wilson is in line for modernization too so that make little sense. There was certainly nothing done at JOW expense. Over the past decade SWS has been in trailers twice and was strung along on modernization the entire time.

Swing space is a mixed bag. Be careful what you wish for and that goes double if your kid is in grades 3-5

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't Jefferson a lot more popular with UMC in-boundary families and families with children in the several feeder elementary schools? Mainly a question of poor public relations?

At a Jefferson open house I attended this spring, admins were more than a little cagey about what sort of "honors classes" were offered and how students tested into these classes. I couldn't get a straight answer out of them, couldn't make sense of how the placement system worked. By contrast, at Stuart Hobson, I was told exactly how students were evaluated for/admitted to honors English and math classes. I was also told that there weren't any honors science or social studies classes, or any planned.

Brent parents considering Jefferson Academy have complained about this issue repeatedly on DCUM in the last several years. Brent parents who send their children to JA invariably respond with assurances that appropriate rigor is ensured across the board, never mind what the test-in-to-honors-classes-system might be (if there is indeed a system). Needless to say, UMC buy-in at JA from Brent, Tyler and Van Ness remains low and has a desperate feel (as in, we're all for JA, never mind the fact that we were shut out of BASIS and Latin, lack access to Hobson, and can't handle the commute to DCI).

Anyone on the hill who wants access to SH can lottery into Watkins in fifth grade. They keep 4 classes despite attrition to BASIS and Latin. Odds aren’t bad for fifth grade at JO and LT, either.

Generally speaking I think this is such an unrealistic-in-practice idea. Sure you technically could do this to your kid, but at what cost? Take them out of elementary school where they have been with all their friends and put them in new one where they know nobody for a year? Then they have to move schools again in a year where they need to make friends all over again? My kid would have been really unhappy if I did this to her. I understand desperate times = desperate measures . .. but I'd rather just move once (to Basis or Latin, assuming you get a slot).

Other parents choose differently than you do, because the fifth grade at Watkins is full, and the kids go to SH. So, Hill parents may see that as a desperate option but there are other families that choose it as a better option over their own feeder pattern.