Does anyone on Capitol Hill send their kid to an elementary in upper NW?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound new. Charles Allen is just one council member among 18 and has never shown much interest in ed reform (though he certainly talks the talk).

In your shoes, I'd try to lottery into Brent, Maury and Ludlow every year until I succeeded with one of them. I'd try for Latin 1, Latin Cooper, BASIS and Inspired Teaching for middle school.

I wouldn't bother lobbying Charles Allen or lobbying pols. We did that for years with fellow Brent parents and achieved nothing, other than launching an 60 million $ renovation of not-so-great Jefferson Academy (5 years later, still half empty).

Current parent of a Jefferson seventh grader here. While I strongly disagree with your view of the school (I believe it is, in fact, great) you are entitled to you opinion.

But what I want to know is where did you hear that Jefferson is "half empty." If that were true, then why did 37 of the 98 kids who were waitlisted for the current school year never receive an offer? And why did 65 of the 82 kids who were waitlisted for last year not receive an offer?

Fact is, Jefferson still enrolls fewer than 400 students in a building renovated to accommodate at least 800 six or seven years ago. DCPS keeps numbers down, but the space is there for double the current study body. So, yes, still half empty, and still majority at-risk students and less than half in-boundary enrollment at that. At Brent, marvelous administration at Jefferson is no secret. We also know that the roughly the same percentage of Brent 4th graders peel off to the Washington Latins and BASIS as six years ago. Brent buy-in for Jefferson still isn't strong or growing substantially. Wish things were different.

Okay, so if you're correct, the number of students at Jefferson is a result of an intentional DCPS decision to keep the numbers down -- not a lack of demand. There is clearly demand for the school. In fact, judging by the length of the waitlist, it is one of the more popular DCPS middle schools. It also has the highest in-bound enrollment percentage of the three Ward 6 DCPS middle schools.

I also expect that the in-bound enrollment will increase over the coming years. The first couple graduating classes from Van Ness sent groups of kids there, and that will likely continue. And in the immediate neighborhood, kids from the surrounding townhouses are staying at Amidon into the upper grades and may be likely to attend Jefferson due to the major convenience factor.

In other words, "Brent buy-in" is not the end-all-be-all.

I wonder if Eliot-Hine will be in a similar situation in the next few years with more in-boundary families staying at Payne in the upper grades.

Payne parent here, have heard from a number of families that they intend to send their upper grade kids to EH. Definitely will be interesting to see how the next few years go in that regard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound new. Charles Allen is just one council member among 18 and has never shown much interest in ed reform (though he certainly talks the talk).

In your shoes, I'd try to lottery into Brent, Maury and Ludlow every year until I succeeded with one of them. I'd try for Latin 1, Latin Cooper, BASIS and Inspired Teaching for middle school.

I wouldn't bother lobbying Charles Allen or lobbying pols. We did that for years with fellow Brent parents and achieved nothing, other than launching an 60 million $ renovation of not-so-great Jefferson Academy (5 years later, still half empty).

Current parent of a Jefferson seventh grader here. While I strongly disagree with your view of the school (I believe it is, in fact, great) you are entitled to you opinion.

But what I want to know is where did you hear that Jefferson is "half empty." If that were true, then why did 37 of the 98 kids who were waitlisted for the current school year never receive an offer? And why did 65 of the 82 kids who were waitlisted for last year not receive an offer?

Fact is, Jefferson still enrolls fewer than 400 students in a building renovated to accommodate at least 800 six or seven years ago. DCPS keeps numbers down, but the space is there for double the current study body. So, yes, still half empty, and still majority at-risk students and less than half in-boundary enrollment at that. At Brent, marvelous administration at Jefferson is no secret. We also know that the roughly the same percentage of Brent 4th graders peel off to the Washington Latins and BASIS as six years ago. Brent buy-in for Jefferson still isn't strong or growing substantially. Wish things were different.

Okay, so if you're correct, the number of students at Jefferson is a result of an intentional DCPS decision to keep the numbers down -- not a lack of demand. There is clearly demand for the school. In fact, judging by the length of the waitlist, it is one of the more popular DCPS middle schools. It also has the highest in-bound enrollment percentage of the three Ward 6 DCPS middle schools.

I also expect that the in-bound enrollment will increase over the coming years. The first couple graduating classes from Van Ness sent groups of kids there, and that will likely continue. And in the immediate neighborhood, kids from the surrounding townhouses are staying at Amidon into the upper grades and may be likely to attend Jefferson due to the major convenience factor.

In other words, "Brent buy-in" is not the end-all-be-all.

I wonder if Eliot-Hine will be in a similar situation in the next few years with more in-boundary families staying at Payne in the upper grades.

Payne parent here, have heard from a number of families that they intend to send their upper grade kids to EH. Definitely will be interesting to see how the next few years go in that regard.

Hill Hater here. There is a legitimate upswing in Maury parents sending kids to EH with good reports. Very positive impressions at open houses and convos with principal. I assume it’s the same for Payne. We shall see what happens.

[Anonymous]

Eliot Hine, Jefferson, Stuart Hobson are only options for white neurotypical kids. I won’t be sending me kids there, and FWIW I have zero interest in being guilt tripped for making a different choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound new. Charles Allen is just one council member among 18 and has never shown much interest in ed reform (though he certainly talks the talk).

In your shoes, I'd try to lottery into Brent, Maury and Ludlow every year until I succeeded with one of them. I'd try for Latin 1, Latin Cooper, BASIS and Inspired Teaching for middle school.

I wouldn't bother lobbying Charles Allen or lobbying pols. We did that for years with fellow Brent parents and achieved nothing, other than launching an 60 million $ renovation of not-so-great Jefferson Academy (5 years later, still half empty).

Current parent of a Jefferson seventh grader here. While I strongly disagree with your view of the school (I believe it is, in fact, great) you are entitled to you opinion.

But what I want to know is where did you hear that Jefferson is "half empty." If that were true, then why did 37 of the 98 kids who were waitlisted for the current school year never receive an offer? And why did 65 of the 82 kids who were waitlisted for last year not receive an offer?

Fact is, Jefferson still enrolls fewer than 400 students in a building renovated to accommodate at least 800 six or seven years ago. DCPS keeps numbers down, but the space is there for double the current study body. So, yes, still half empty, and still majority at-risk students and less than half in-boundary enrollment at that. At Brent, marvelous administration at Jefferson is no secret. We also know that the roughly the same percentage of Brent 4th graders peel off to the Washington Latins and BASIS as six years ago. Brent buy-in for Jefferson still isn't strong or growing substantially. Wish things were different.

Okay, so if you're correct, the number of students at Jefferson is a result of an intentional DCPS decision to keep the numbers down -- not a lack of demand. There is clearly demand for the school. In fact, judging by the length of the waitlist, it is one of the more popular DCPS middle schools. It also has the highest in-bound enrollment percentage of the three Ward 6 DCPS middle schools.

I also expect that the in-bound enrollment will increase over the coming years. The first couple graduating classes from Van Ness sent groups of kids there, and that will likely continue. And in the immediate neighborhood, kids from the surrounding townhouses are staying at Amidon into the upper grades and may be likely to attend Jefferson due to the major convenience factor.

In other words, "Brent buy-in" is not the end-all-be-all.

+1 Well-stated. Thank you for writing this out.

Grand, well-stated. Please tell me where this gets us in 4th grade at Brent. If Jefferson is so good, why do so few Brent parents choose it year after year? It's a Jefferson PR problem? Now we've got Latin Cooper to apply for. That charter school seems to have all the momentum for the IB Brent families, along with BASIS, not Jefferson.

[Anonymous]

i dont think jefferson or EH are really all that substantially different from SH. i dont think SH is necessarily so different from hardy. while deal is a different school with a larger cohort of high achievers and more advanced offerings, its also enormous and there are some disadvantages to that. reputations change slowly and may not fully reflect the current situation.

[Anonymous]

Some truth to this. If your kid is a high flyer academically, Deal will provide the most opportunities. It also will provide a greater variety of ECs and all the competitive teams (sports and things like debate) will be of a higher caliber. All this is great if your kid is a star. And with a star I would choose Deal hands down.

Non-stars can feel a bit lost at Deal, so for them the academics at SH etc might be enough, and they might have more opportunities to engage in ECs that are less competitive. You can be a big fish in a small pond outside deal. Pros and cons to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i dont think jefferson or EH are really all that substantially different from SH. i dont think SH is necessarily so different from hardy. while deal is a different school with a larger cohort of high achievers and more advanced offerings, its also enormous and there are some disadvantages to that. reputations change slowly and may not fully reflect the current situation.

The biggest problem with Jefferson for Hill families is that it's not close. Once you factor in a real commute, why not head to BASIS instead? SH benefits from literally being in the backyard of many families on the Hill, so it at least has the convenience factor going for it. SH has also been more transparent about having honors classes for math/ELA & how you're placed into them (although I understand that may have changed a bit post-pandemic) where Jefferson you had to be willing to accept the wink & nod that it would all work out. EH I think has recently(?) instituted honors classes, so that should help. Anyway, for high performing students, I think the experiences at SH/Jefferson/EH are not all that different, but the size of the relevant cohorts still are + SH is close (to the Hill) & has fantastic arts programming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i dont think jefferson or EH are really all that substantially different from SH. i dont think SH is necessarily so different from hardy. while deal is a different school with a larger cohort of high achievers and more advanced offerings, its also enormous and there are some disadvantages to that. reputations change slowly and may not fully reflect the current situation.

The biggest problem with Jefferson for Hill families is that it's not close. Once you factor in a real commute, why not head to BASIS instead? SH benefits from literally being in the backyard of many families on the Hill, so it at least has the convenience factor going for it. SH has also been more transparent about having honors classes for math/ELA & how you're placed into them (although I understand that may have changed a bit post-pandemic) where Jefferson you had to be willing to accept the wink & nod that it would all work out. EH I think has recently(?) instituted honors classes, so that should help. Anyway, for high performing students, I think the experiences at SH/Jefferson/EH are not all that different, but the size of the relevant cohorts still are + SH is close (to the Hill) & has fantastic arts programming.

I haven’t heard about honors at EH but it is an IB school so that is a built in additional focus that can challenge kids.

Jefferson is not on the Hill, agree! If we sent all the Hill schools to EH, kids can just hop on metro from Cap South/EM to Stadium Armory, a bus, or bike!

[Anonymous]

while not on the hill, the circulator does a loop that runs from eastern market down barracks row through navy yard directly to jefferson. jefferson is directly across the street from the wharf development. it would be 100x better if there were still a centrally located hill middle school at the old hine junior high school on pennsylvania or something like that. but im not sure that everyone at brent and tyler is much closer to hobson or elliot hine than to jefferson. basis despite being an easy commute from the hill has some quirks where it may not be for everyone. the other desirable options are pretty far away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:while not on the hill, the circulator does a loop that runs from eastern market down barracks row through navy yard directly to jefferson. jefferson is directly across the street from the wharf development. it would be 100x better if there were still a centrally located hill middle school at the old hine junior high school on pennsylvania or something like that. but im not sure that everyone at brent and tyler is much closer to hobson or elliot hine than to jefferson. basis despite being an easy commute from the hill has some quirks where it may not be for everyone. the other desirable options are pretty far away.

I mean, Brent is about twice as close to SH as it is to Jefferson and Tyler is 1/2 a mile closer to SH than Jefferson. For most Brent families, SH is a doable commute on foot, whereas Jefferson is not, for multiple reasons. Probably Tyler families wouldn't commute on foot to SH, but it's right en route to Union Station and is easily doable on a bike even for the most novice rider.

All that aside, I was actually comparing the proximity of SH to its Hill schools/IB residents and Jefferson to its Hill schools/IB residents. There's no comparison distance/commute-wise. That said, Jefferson is obviously convenient to some of its IB and everything is not about the Hill. It's just that Hill buy-in is what would make the school more attractive to UMC families. SH has the advantage of being very convenient to most of its IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound new. Charles Allen is just one council member among 18 and has never shown much interest in ed reform (though he certainly talks the talk).

In your shoes, I'd try to lottery into Brent, Maury and Ludlow every year until I succeeded with one of them. I'd try for Latin 1, Latin Cooper, BASIS and Inspired Teaching for middle school.

I wouldn't bother lobbying Charles Allen or lobbying pols. We did that for years with fellow Brent parents and achieved nothing, other than launching an 60 million $ renovation of not-so-great Jefferson Academy (5 years later, still half empty).

Current parent of a Jefferson seventh grader here. While I strongly disagree with your view of the school (I believe it is, in fact, great) you are entitled to you opinion.

But what I want to know is where did you hear that Jefferson is "half empty." If that were true, then why did 37 of the 98 kids who were waitlisted for the current school year never receive an offer? And why did 65 of the 82 kids who were waitlisted for last year not receive an offer?

Fact is, Jefferson still enrolls fewer than 400 students in a building renovated to accommodate at least 800 six or seven years ago. DCPS keeps numbers down, but the space is there for double the current study body. So, yes, still half empty, and still majority at-risk students and less than half in-boundary enrollment at that. At Brent, marvelous administration at Jefferson is no secret. We also know that the roughly the same percentage of Brent 4th graders peel off to the Washington Latins and BASIS as six years ago. Brent buy-in for Jefferson still isn't strong or growing substantially. Wish things were different.

Okay, so if you're correct, the number of students at Jefferson is a result of an intentional DCPS decision to keep the numbers down -- not a lack of demand. There is clearly demand for the school. In fact, judging by the length of the waitlist, it is one of the more popular DCPS middle schools. It also has the highest in-bound enrollment percentage of the three Ward 6 DCPS middle schools.

I also expect that the in-bound enrollment will increase over the coming years. The first couple graduating classes from Van Ness sent groups of kids there, and that will likely continue. And in the immediate neighborhood, kids from the surrounding townhouses are staying at Amidon into the upper grades and may be likely to attend Jefferson due to the major convenience factor.

In other words, "Brent buy-in" is not the end-all-be-all.

+1 Well-stated. Thank you for writing this out.

Grand, well-stated. Please tell me where this gets us in 4th grade at Brent. If Jefferson is so good, why do so few Brent parents choose it year after year? It's a Jefferson PR problem? Now we've got Latin Cooper to apply for. That charter school seems to have all the momentum for the IB Brent families, along with BASIS, not Jefferson.

I will not try to guess why some people made a choice different than mine.

All I can tell you is that my experience -- as the parent of a current Jefferson student -- has been amazingly positive. I would be happy to entertain any questions about that.

In any event, for the reasons I previously discussed, I believe that in-bound enrollment at Jefferson will increase over the coming years, regardless how many (or how few) "IB Brent families" decide to attend.

[Anonymous]

All the thread does is remind me how depressing it is that we can’t have a pan-Hill middle school like Deal. It would have the potential to be both good and diverse. Feed Brent/Maury/SWS in SH and immediately IB buy in would triple and you can feed Miner/Payne/Tyler too. Maybe split the MS between SH and EH. Honestly you could do the same thing with just the EH feeders and it would still work, I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound new. Charles Allen is just one council member among 18 and has never shown much interest in ed reform (though he certainly talks the talk).

In your shoes, I'd try to lottery into Brent, Maury and Ludlow every year until I succeeded with one of them. I'd try for Latin 1, Latin Cooper, BASIS and Inspired Teaching for middle school.

I wouldn't bother lobbying Charles Allen or lobbying pols. We did that for years with fellow Brent parents and achieved nothing, other than launching an 60 million $ renovation of not-so-great Jefferson Academy (5 years later, still half empty).

Current parent of a Jefferson seventh grader here. While I strongly disagree with your view of the school (I believe it is, in fact, great) you are entitled to you opinion.

But what I want to know is where did you hear that Jefferson is "half empty." If that were true, then why did 37 of the 98 kids who were waitlisted for the current school year never receive an offer? And why did 65 of the 82 kids who were waitlisted for last year not receive an offer?

Fact is, Jefferson still enrolls fewer than 400 students in a building renovated to accommodate at least 800 six or seven years ago. DCPS keeps numbers down, but the space is there for double the current study body. So, yes, still half empty, and still majority at-risk students and less than half in-boundary enrollment at that. At Brent, marvelous administration at Jefferson is no secret. We also know that the roughly the same percentage of Brent 4th graders peel off to the Washington Latins and BASIS as six years ago. Brent buy-in for Jefferson still isn't strong or growing substantially. Wish things were different.

Okay, so if you're correct, the number of students at Jefferson is a result of an intentional DCPS decision to keep the numbers down -- not a lack of demand. There is clearly demand for the school. In fact, judging by the length of the waitlist, it is one of the more popular DCPS middle schools. It also has the highest in-bound enrollment percentage of the three Ward 6 DCPS middle schools.

I also expect that the in-bound enrollment will increase over the coming years. The first couple graduating classes from Van Ness sent groups of kids there, and that will likely continue. And in the immediate neighborhood, kids from the surrounding townhouses are staying at Amidon into the upper grades and may be likely to attend Jefferson due to the major convenience factor.

In other words, "Brent buy-in" is not the end-all-be-all.

+1 Well-stated. Thank you for writing this out.

Grand, well-stated. Please tell me where this gets us in 4th grade at Brent. If Jefferson is so good, why do so few Brent parents choose it year after year? It's a Jefferson PR problem? Now we've got Latin Cooper to apply for. That charter school seems to have all the momentum for the IB Brent families, along with BASIS, not Jefferson.

So you're presumably in your 30s or 40s and giving into peer pressure bc other Brent parents don't like it? Do they also tell you what to do at recess?

[Anonymous]

I have had multiple kids go through Deal.
Deal is a pretty average school. It makes me sad that it is considered the star of DCPS middle schools because it is fine but not particularly challenging.
I had 3 kids attend Deal. All my kids are very different from each other and none of them found Deal particularly challenging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i dont think jefferson or EH are really all that substantially different from SH. i dont think SH is necessarily so different from hardy. while deal is a different school with a larger cohort of high achievers and more advanced offerings, its also enormous and there are some disadvantages to that. reputations change slowly and may not fully reflect the current situation.

The biggest problem with Jefferson for Hill families is that it's not close. Once you factor in a real commute, why not head to BASIS instead? SH benefits from literally being in the backyard of many families on the Hill, so it at least has the convenience factor going for it. SH has also been more transparent about having honors classes for math/ELA & how you're placed into them (although I understand that may have changed a bit post-pandemic) where Jefferson you had to be willing to accept the wink & nod that it would all work out. EH I think has recently(?) instituted honors classes, so that should help. Anyway, for high performing students, I think the experiences at SH/Jefferson/EH are not all that different, but the size of the relevant cohorts still are + SH is close (to the Hill) & has fantastic arts programming.

How are they doing honors classes? It looks from last year's test scores like EH and SH were both using differentiation in 8th grade to put the kids who are extremely behind in 8th grade math and the kids who are just somewhat behind, on level, or advanced into algebra. Or were there multiple, tracked algebra classes? Do they do ELA the same way?