Middle Schools
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Anonymous
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Top Tier Public Middle Schools in DC (no particular order)
(1) Latin (2) Hardy (3) Deal (4) Cap City (5) Two Rivers (6) Stuart Hobson (7) KIPP Second Tier Public Middle Schools in DC (1) Jefferson (2) Sousa (3) DC Prep I am just throwing this out there. There is no intended ethnic part to it, I am learning more about the MS landscape, and I explicitly asked for edits or additions. Relax, this is an anonymous forum and not a scholarly journal. Sorry if you are offended. |
Anonymous
Oyster Adams is a PreK to 8 program and the list has middle schools on it that are 6, 7 and 8 (except for Latin which is 5 also.). Threre are some strong educational campuses, but they not usually open to students graduating from 5th grade. |
Anonymous
| 2rivers is also preschool-8 |
Anonymous
Cap City is also PK - 8, right? What do you mean that Education Campuses are not usually open to students graduating from 5th? Finally, which are the strong education campuses? |
Anonymous
ok, understood oyster accepts kids from bancroft, tho |
Anonymous
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The hunt for DCPS middle school options
By Bill Turque Posted at 3:00 PM ET, 01/23/2011 Many DCPS families head for the exit ramp at the end of their elementary school years to seek out charter or private options. That's because despite a few well publicized success stories, such as Sousa and Deal, many of the city's middle schools still suffer from poor academic achievement and low enrollment that limits money available for programs. But middle school revitalization may soon become more of a front-burner issue. New D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown (D), who decided to keep education under jurisdiction of the council's Committee of the Whole, has declared middle schools a top priority. DCPS, trying to promote its middle school sector more aggressively, held a fair at Eliot-Hine Saturday, drawing about 500 people through two of its three hours. One potential new bright spot is Jefferson in Ward 6, which will open a separate sixth grade "academy," in 2011-12 and pursue authorization for an International Baccalaureate Middle Years program. DCPS hopes to use IB programs, which stress language (Jefferson will offer Chinese) leadership and intercultural understanding, as ways of retaining more families after elementary school. School officials are trying to spark interest at Jefferson's "feeder" elementary schools, Amidon-Bowen, Brent and Thomson. DCPS hopes to use Jefferson as a bridge in a renewed public education system in Ward 6, connecting improved elementary schools and the new Eastern High School, due admit its first freshmen this fall. One potential customer browsing the fair Saturday was LaTanya McLendon, whose oldest son, Mikhail Hackley, is a fifth-grader at Randle Highlands Elementary in Ward 7. His official "destination" middle school is Kramer, where just 19 percent of the students read at proficiency level on the 2010 DC CAS. "The main option for me is a mandatory second language," said McLendon, as well as rich music and art programs. Jefferson's sixth grade academy is open to families citywide through the annual out-of-boundary lottery. The on-line application period begins Friday and runs until 1:59 p.m. on Feb. 28. Families can apply to up to six schools. The lottery itself will be held on March 2, with results posted on line March 3 and mailed home March 8. For more information see the section in the DCPS Web site here. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcschools/ |
Anonymous
| Ugh. As usual, WaPo articles sound as if they are written straight from a press release without any independent sourcing, shallow analysis and few details. The WaPo seems to deteriorate with each passing day .... |
Anonymous
| This was a blog post. Not an article. Best you understand the difference in the age of new media. But I agree. I would like to see some more analysis, too. But a regurgitated press release in a blog post online doesn't necessarily signal the demise of journalism. |
Anonymous
| Any thougts on Howard University's PSC for math and science. It is a middle school to high school. |
Anonymous
| Doesn't this just make you want to rush out to Sousa and enroll your child? |
Anonymous
We went to Two Rivers since it started and left in 4th grade to attend 5th at Washington Latin. There's a huge yearly exodus from 4th and 5th grade at Two Rivers to Latin, BTW. Read the critical reviews from Greatschools.com and other school review sites to see exactly why. I wouldn't recommend someone send their child to TR for middle school at all. Buildings aside, Latin does a great job of reaching students at whatever level they are at, and challenging them to do their very best. If you're looking for a great 5th grade English teacher, Ms. Wags is the best! She goes overboard to engage the students and make reading tough literature fun. I have a carpool of 3 to 4 boys any given morning, and in between chatting about their favorite video games, they'll talk about the differences in plots, characters, etc. in the books they've read. I find them fascinating to listen to. The rest of the teachers are equally wonderful and passionate about each child learning something new each day. I agree you need the support of the parents (a PTA) to make a school great, but you also need a good administration that will work with the parents, and that's one thing Latin does very well. The middle school principle and director are totally responsive, and that's reassuring. We're definitely at Latin through the middle years and probably for high school, too. |
Anonymous
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Of course the carpool is necessary because the bus is such a zoo. Right?
In a vast sea of terrible options, Latin is sort of passable. The teacher may be passionate, but they sure don't stick around. What was the turnover on the 5th grade staff this year? 50%? If you can't get into Deal and you can't (won't) move, Latin is a option I suppose. This school doesn't even come close to local privates or our suburban counterparts. It's sad what we settle for in the District. |
Anonymous
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I will give you that the bus is a little like Lord of the Flies and that the facilities could be a lot nicer, but the teachers at Latin are wonderful, enthusiastic and inspiring. They really want kids to love learning. The teachers are young (one of my favorite fifth grade teachers from last year left on a Fulbright scholarship -- she inspired the kids to organize events to help people around the world such as the earthquake victims in Haiti -- wish she would still be there for my younger kids), but I see that as a positive. In the six years we were at a well regarded DCPS, we had one teacher who was truly excellent. In fact, I walked away from back to school night wishing I could go back to school (and this IS middle school). In this era of test and drill, it is truly amazing to find a school where education and learning do not come at the expense of The Test.
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Anonymous
I went to the top private in Orlando in middle school and the bus was VERY Lord of the Flies - I think most of that is just the age of the kids. |
Anonymous
| The school is like Lord of the Flies too, which is the real problem. |