Capitol Hill - middle school and beyond?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

I don’t think so. Deal and Hardy are ok, but I wouldn’t send my kid to JR— and those parents have had years to focus on that issue.

Except most people would send their kids to JR, obviously...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

I don’t think so. Deal and Hardy are ok, but I wouldn’t send my kid to JR— and those parents have had years to focus on that issue.

Except most people would send their kids to JR, obviously...

If they would, then why are JR’s scores so low?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

But what building would be big enough? The instant you do that, people will want to attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

But what building would be big enough? The instant you do that, people will want to attend.

NP. Move Eastern into EH. Consolidate the middle schools in the Eastern building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

But what building would be big enough? The instant you do that, people will want to attend.

NP. Move Eastern into EH. Consolidate the middle schools in the Eastern building.

Then people will be complaining that the high school isn't big enough to support good programming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

But what building would be big enough? The instant you do that, people will want to attend.

NP. Move Eastern into EH. Consolidate the middle schools in the Eastern building.

Then people will be complaining that the high school isn't big enough to support good programming.

This is also a political loser because this theoretical new MS would be seen as "for" the UMC, mostly white families on the Hill. Whereas right now, Eastern's attendance is largely from MC and LMC black students from Wards 7 and 8. Moving the current Eastern population into the smaller, less recently renovated building, so that you can try to attract more white kids in Ward 6 to a new combined MS, would pretty much instantly become a lightening rod issue that most DC politicians would either not want to touch, or would use as a way to prove their commitment to equity (by opposing the new MS).

It's not going to happen, there's no point in even having this conversation.

[Anonymous]

Zone all of the Hill schools to SH and EH. Jefferson has promise but trying to convince Brent and SE Capitol Hill to feel a really strong neighborhood connection/affinity to a school located off the Hill (further away than SH and no closer than Basis) is unlikely to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

But what building would be big enough? The instant you do that, people will want to attend.

NP. Move Eastern into EH. Consolidate the middle schools in the Eastern building.

Then people will be complaining that the high school isn't big enough to support good programming.

This is also a political loser because this theoretical new MS would be seen as "for" the UMC, mostly white families on the Hill. Whereas right now, Eastern's attendance is largely from MC and LMC black students from Wards 7 and 8. Moving the current Eastern population into the smaller, less recently renovated building, so that you can try to attract more white kids in Ward 6 to a new combined MS, would pretty much instantly become a lightening rod issue that most DC politicians would either not want to touch, or would use as a way to prove their commitment to equity (by opposing the new MS).

It's not going to happen, there's no point in even having this conversation.

This is why DCPS will continue to bleed UMC/MC students to charter schools. Prioritizing the needs of distant wards over neighborhood schools due to skin color is pretty wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

But what building would be big enough? The instant you do that, people will want to attend.

NP. Move Eastern into EH. Consolidate the middle schools in the Eastern building.

Then people will be complaining that the high school isn't big enough to support good programming.

This is also a political loser because this theoretical new MS would be seen as "for" the UMC, mostly white families on the Hill. Whereas right now, Eastern's attendance is largely from MC and LMC black students from Wards 7 and 8. Moving the current Eastern population into the smaller, less recently renovated building, so that you can try to attract more white kids in Ward 6 to a new combined MS, would pretty much instantly become a lightening rod issue that most DC politicians would either not want to touch, or would use as a way to prove their commitment to equity (by opposing the new MS).

It's not going to happen, there's no point in even having this conversation.

This is why DCPS will continue to bleed UMC/MC students to charter schools. Prioritizing the needs of distant wards over neighborhood schools due to skin color is pretty wrong.

Well big picture, the fact that Ward 7 and 8 families don't feel their IB schools are meeting their needs is also a problem. And a tougher one to solve.

Also, these aren't "distant wards." They are neighboring wards. Ward 7 is practically in Eastern's backyard.

And I wouldn't say the city prioritizes those wards, either. If ward 6 families collectively decided to send their kids to their by right schools, none of those kids from other wards would be able to get into ways 6 schools. Ward 6 families have the by right priority. Brent, Maury, and L-T all used to have large OOB populations. Now they don't. That didn't happen because DC prioritized those IB kids. It happened because those IB families decided to prioritize their IB schools.

[Anonymous]

Plan for private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

But what building would be big enough? The instant you do that, people will want to attend.

NP. Move Eastern into EH. Consolidate the middle schools in the Eastern building.

Then people will be complaining that the high school isn't big enough to support good programming.

This is also a political loser because this theoretical new MS would be seen as "for" the UMC, mostly white families on the Hill. Whereas right now, Eastern's attendance is largely from MC and LMC black students from Wards 7 and 8. Moving the current Eastern population into the smaller, less recently renovated building, so that you can try to attract more white kids in Ward 6 to a new combined MS, would pretty much instantly become a lightening rod issue that most DC politicians would either not want to touch, or would use as a way to prove their commitment to equity (by opposing the new MS).

It's not going to happen, there's no point in even having this conversation.

This is why DCPS will continue to bleed UMC/MC students to charter schools. Prioritizing the needs of distant wards over neighborhood schools due to skin color is pretty wrong.

Well big picture, the fact that Ward 7 and 8 families don't feel their IB schools are meeting their needs is also a problem. And a tougher one to solve.

Also, these aren't "distant wards." They are neighboring wards. Ward 7 is practically in Eastern's backyard.

And I wouldn't say the city prioritizes those wards, either. If ward 6 families collectively decided to send their kids to their by right schools, none of those kids from other wards would be able to get into ways 6 schools. Ward 6 families have the by right priority. Brent, Maury, and L-T all used to have large OOB populations. Now they don't. That didn't happen because DC prioritized those IB kids. It happened because those IB families decided to prioritize their IB schools.

actually eastern is in ward 7 now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

But what building would be big enough? The instant you do that, people will want to attend.

NP. Move Eastern into EH. Consolidate the middle schools in the Eastern building.

Then people will be complaining that the high school isn't big enough to support good programming.

This is also a political loser because this theoretical new MS would be seen as "for" the UMC, mostly white families on the Hill. Whereas right now, Eastern's attendance is largely from MC and LMC black students from Wards 7 and 8. Moving the current Eastern population into the smaller, less recently renovated building, so that you can try to attract more white kids in Ward 6 to a new combined MS, would pretty much instantly become a lightening rod issue that most DC politicians would either not want to touch, or would use as a way to prove their commitment to equity (by opposing the new MS).

It's not going to happen, there's no point in even having this conversation.

This is why DCPS will continue to bleed UMC/MC students to charter schools. Prioritizing the needs of distant wards over neighborhood schools due to skin color is pretty wrong.

EH is in Ward 7 now …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

But what building would be big enough? The instant you do that, people will want to attend.

NP. Move Eastern into EH. Consolidate the middle schools in the Eastern building.

Then people will be complaining that the high school isn't big enough to support good programming.

This is also a political loser because this theoretical new MS would be seen as "for" the UMC, mostly white families on the Hill. Whereas right now, Eastern's attendance is largely from MC and LMC black students from Wards 7 and 8. Moving the current Eastern population into the smaller, less recently renovated building, so that you can try to attract more white kids in Ward 6 to a new combined MS, would pretty much instantly become a lightening rod issue that most DC politicians would either not want to touch, or would use as a way to prove their commitment to equity (by opposing the new MS).

It's not going to happen, there's no point in even having this conversation.

This is why DCPS will continue to bleed UMC/MC students to charter schools. Prioritizing the needs of distant wards over neighborhood schools due to skin color is pretty wrong.

EH is in Ward 7 now …

And we're talking about changing the feeder rights of Ward 6 elementary schools so they feed into a Ward 6 middle school, so you're proving my point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

But what building would be big enough? The instant you do that, people will want to attend.

NP. Move Eastern into EH. Consolidate the middle schools in the Eastern building.

Then people will be complaining that the high school isn't big enough to support good programming.

This is also a political loser because this theoretical new MS would be seen as "for" the UMC, mostly white families on the Hill. Whereas right now, Eastern's attendance is largely from MC and LMC black students from Wards 7 and 8. Moving the current Eastern population into the smaller, less recently renovated building, so that you can try to attract more white kids in Ward 6 to a new combined MS, would pretty much instantly become a lightening rod issue that most DC politicians would either not want to touch, or would use as a way to prove their commitment to equity (by opposing the new MS).

It's not going to happen, there's no point in even having this conversation.

This is why DCPS will continue to bleed UMC/MC students to charter schools. Prioritizing the needs of distant wards over neighborhood schools due to skin color is pretty wrong.

EH is in Ward 7 now …

And we're talking about changing the feeder rights of Ward 6 elementary schools so they feed into a Ward 6 middle school, so you're proving my point.

Jefferson and Stuart-Hobson are both in Ward 6. Are you saying you don’t want any Ward 6 elementary kids to be zoned for Eliot-Hine, which is in Ward 7?

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Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

But what building would be big enough? The instant you do that, people will want to attend.

NP. Move Eastern into EH. Consolidate the middle schools in the Eastern building.

Then people will be complaining that the high school isn't big enough to support good programming.

This is also a political loser because this theoretical new MS would be seen as "for" the UMC, mostly white families on the Hill. Whereas right now, Eastern's attendance is largely from MC and LMC black students from Wards 7 and 8. Moving the current Eastern population into the smaller, less recently renovated building, so that you can try to attract more white kids in Ward 6 to a new combined MS, would pretty much instantly become a lightening rod issue that most DC politicians would either not want to touch, or would use as a way to prove their commitment to equity (by opposing the new MS).

It's not going to happen, there's no point in even having this conversation.

This is why DCPS will continue to bleed UMC/MC students to charter schools. Prioritizing the needs of distant wards over neighborhood schools due to skin color is pretty wrong.

EH is in Ward 7 now …

And we're talking about changing the feeder rights of Ward 6 elementary schools so they feed into a Ward 6 middle school, so you're proving my point.

Jefferson and Stuart-Hobson are both in Ward 6. Are you saying you don’t want any Ward 6 elementary kids to be zoned for Eliot-Hine, which is in Ward 7?

Pay attention. We're talking about feeding all the Hill elementary schools (which are in Ward 6) into one middle school. People pushed back on that saying that it wasn't politically feasible because it would exclude people from Wards 7 and 8, which is ridiculous, because the city has expressed a desire to have neighborhood schools. You don't have that now, because you're taking all the neighborhood schools and feeding them into three different middle schools.