D.C. Public Schools lottery reveals more demand than ever

[Anonymous]

Posted at 01:43 PM ET, 03/26/2012
D.C. Public Schools lottery reveals more demand than ever
By Janice D'Arcy
An unprecedented number of families applied to the D.C, Public Schools lottery this year, suggesting that demand for a school seat continues to grow, and so does the gap between the number of families who want a seat in the District’s higher performing schools and the number of slots available.
DCPS plans to release the exact numbers later today, but officials have said there were more applications for the Pre-school, Pre-K and Out of Boundary Lottery than last year — a year that was itself record-breaking.
There was also an uptick in how many schools are now considered viable. This year families applied, on average, to three schools per application (each applicant can apply up to six schools). That’s a slight increase from last year.
The second number is especially of interest to DCPS officials, as it suggests that parents are considering a broader range of schools.
For instance, two new elementary schools, Bancroft and Maury, were among the top 10 most popular for lottery applications. They join Peabody, Oyster-Adams Bilingual, Brent, Capitol Hill Montessori at Logan, Janney, Murch, Lafayette and Eaton Elementary schools.
Stoddert and Mann Elementary Schools fell out of the top 10, though continued to receive far more applications than there are available slots.

[Anonymous]

Uh oh! Will someone send suicide prevention over there to Mann as they have dropped out of the top 10. No wonder there was a cold-front passing through the DC area. Shivers!!!

[Anonymous]

Can anyone explain the surge in demand for Bancroft and Maury. Bancroft perhaps because its a Deal feeder ...

[Anonymous]

we are not all Deal centric people! Seriously come and visit Maury, don't just cast aspersions!

[Anonymous]

More people stay in the city with young children, housing costs rise, and fewer residents have the extra cash to pay for privates or Catholic school. Makes sense that where gentrification by the upper middle class is strongest within the last 5 years (Hill East = Maury, Mount Pleasant = Bancroft) the schools are seeing more demand.

[Anonymous]

Bancroft -- Deal feeder and spanish immersion.

[Anonymous]

Maury is in a lovely and relatively affordable neighborhood. The preschool teachers are amazing. It has a great, diverse community of families.

[Anonymous]

DCPS itself is not in demand. Free preschool and pre-K are in demand. Six DCPS lottery and as many charters as you want mean there's no reason NOT to apply. That's not the same thing as unique demand for DCPS. I would be more interested in seeing how many people applied only for DCPS and where people actually enrolled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS itself is not in demand. Free preschool and pre-K are in demand. Six DCPS lottery and as many charters as you want mean there's no reason NOT to apply. That's not the same thing as unique demand for DCPS. I would be more interested in seeing how many people applied only for DCPS and where people actually enrolled.

Good point and so true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bancroft -- Deal feeder and spanish immersion.

My oldest went to Bancroft and my youngest is about to enroll. I am not so sure why it's so widely dismissed (even vilified) on DCUM. And we didn't send our oldest to Deal despite it being our feeder school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS itself is not in demand. Free preschool and pre-K are in demand. Six DCPS lottery and as many charters as you want mean there's no reason NOT to apply. That's not the same thing as unique demand for DCPS. I would be more interested in seeing how many people applied only for DCPS and where people actually enrolled.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Posted at 01:43 PM ET, 03/26/2012
D.C. Public Schools lottery reveals more demand than ever
By Janice D'Arcy
An unprecedented number of families applied to the D.C, Public Schools lottery this year, suggesting that demand for a school seat continues to grow, and so does the gap between the number of families who want a seat in the District’s higher performing schools and the number of slots available.
DCPS plans to release the exact numbers later today, but officials have said there were more applications for the Pre-school, Pre-K and Out of Boundary Lottery than last year — a year that was itself record-breaking.
There was also an uptick in how many schools are now considered viable. This year families applied, on average, to three schools per application (each applicant can apply up to six schools). That’s a slight increase from last year.
The second number is especially of interest to DCPS officials, as it suggests that parents are considering a broader range of schools.
For instance, two new elementary schools, Bancroft and Maury, were among the top 10 most popular for lottery applications. They join Peabody, Oyster-Adams Bilingual, Brent, Capitol Hill Montessori at Logan, Janney, Murch, Lafayette and Eaton Elementary schools.
Stoddert and Mann Elementary Schools fell out of the top 10, though continued to receive far more applications than there are available slots.

I wouldn't put too much faith in the lottery application numbers. At the end of the day, the actual 2011-2012 enrollment numbers were lower than 2010-2011. So much for "increasing confidence in DCPS"...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Posted at 01:43 PM ET, 03/26/2012
D.C. Public Schools lottery reveals more demand than ever
By Janice D'Arcy
An unprecedented number of families applied to the D.C, Public Schools lottery this year, suggesting that demand for a school seat continues to grow, and so does the gap between the number of families who want a seat in the District’s higher performing schools and the number of slots available.
DCPS plans to release the exact numbers later today, but officials have said there were more applications for the Pre-school, Pre-K and Out of Boundary Lottery than last year — a year that was itself record-breaking.
There was also an uptick in how many schools are now considered viable. This year families applied, on average, to three schools per application (each applicant can apply up to six schools). That’s a slight increase from last year.
The second number is especially of interest to DCPS officials, as it suggests that parents are considering a broader range of schools.
For instance, two new elementary schools, Bancroft and Maury, were among the top 10 most popular for lottery applications. They join Peabody, Oyster-Adams Bilingual, Brent, Capitol Hill Montessori at Logan, Janney, Murch, Lafayette and Eaton Elementary schools.
Stoddert and Mann Elementary Schools fell out of the top 10, though continued to receive far more applications than there are available slots.

I wouldn't put too much faith in the lottery application numbers. At the end of the day, the actual 2011-2012 enrollment numbers were lower than 2010-2011. So much for "increasing confidence in DCPS"...

Were they lower across the system (including charters) or just across DCPS?

[Anonymous]

Then there are those of us who play the DCPS lottery even though we have no intentions of leaving our Tier 1 Charters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Then there are those of us who play the DCPS lottery even though we have no intentions of leaving our Tier 1 Charters.

wtf?? My first thought was: I'm so glad my child isn't going to the same school as yours.