Current feedback from Capital City parents - 6th grade and up

[Anonymous]

We're relocating, so we started the process late. Higher WL #s at Two Rivers and Haynes, just got the call from Capital City, probably accepting.

DC is coming from a magnet arts school with a repetitive traditional curriculum that did not work well for her. She is a quick, motivated learner, ID'd gifted in science and math, reads at a HS level and has mostly been bored out of her mind for years, testing in the top 2% but disengaged and getting mostly lousy grades. Her science teacher last year was amazing and made a huge difference for her in that subject, but overall, that's still an issue. She participates well in outside activities, but is shut down in school.

We're not looking for rigor, but for her to enjoy school for a while and regain her interest in learning in a school setting (instead of surviving school and learning mostly outside of school). We want some freedom from busywork and 25lbs. of backpack, and for her to feel safe and accepted.

The archives are telling me that, on the one hand, this is what CC is all about, and on the other, that kids may not be learning well in the upper grades.

If you are a CC parent, lay it on me. Does this sound like a good match with reasonable expectations? What concerns do you have? What are you keeping an eye on? Have you considered leaving?

Tell me about the social life of the school. I specifically want to hear from parents whose kids have some social challenges. DC is friendly and fun with lots of good friends outside of school, but she had no friends in her grade and some bullying issues. Partly young for her age, partly nonconforming, partly normal communication issues for a gifted kid who assumes everyone else understands what she's thinking, partly because, according to the teachers, her class year has had unusually bad social and bullying issues.

Did you see any of that in previous years? How was it addressed?

TIA.

[Anonymous]

I recommend that you go to the Middle School Open House on Saturday and talk to some parents there.

Also - post your question on the CCPCS yahoo group. You will get some great responses.

[Anonymous]

Yes, they'll be there this weekend.

Didn't know there was a Yahoo group. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

When you talk to families remember that this year the middle school is going to be a very different place from the previous years. Last year, the middle school was split between the lower school and the upper school - two very different cultures.

My experience is with the lower school - and I am not naive to say that bullying did not exist - but they had a lot of programs on bullying awareness and the 5th graders last year had a poster program for anti-bullying.

The school has a wonderful arts program - the drama teacher is great, they have great space for art and music as well. Re-doing the auditorium is a future project but they have a plan to get there.

[Anonymous]

AhHa. Cap City past 3rd grade is awful.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, 21:12.

22:40, do you have more specific feedback that I can use?

[Anonymous]

OP,
My DC sounds a lot like your child and I worried that he was going to be bored by the upper school CCPCS curriculum. Boring and rigorous is one thing (at least they learn) but boring and not rigorous is another. I am a fan in theory of expeditionary learning, but I'm not sure it's carried out well at CCPCS. It's hard to sustain enthusiasm week after week on long projects, and if kids are behind academically then long group projects aren't going to go very deep.

OTOH, the community is great so I almost chose it just for that. But there are lot of kids with major problems outside of school and I worried that that would end up being overwhelming over time both for my DC and also for the school in general.

Have you considered a private school just for these middle school years? They are usually high quality and also very hands-on, which might motivate and appeal to your daughter. IMO, middle school is more or less the weakest part of public school in DC-- there are better high school options and elementary options. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP,
My DC sounds a lot like your child and I worried that he was going to be bored by the upper school CCPCS curriculum. Boring and rigorous is one thing (at least they learn) but boring and not rigorous is another. I am a fan in theory of expeditionary learning, but I'm not sure it's carried out well at CCPCS. It's hard to sustain enthusiasm week after week on long projects, and if kids are behind academically then long group projects aren't going to go very deep.

OTOH, the community is great so I almost chose it just for that. But there are lot of kids with major problems outside of school and I worried that that would end up being overwhelming over time both for my DC and also for the school in general.

Have you considered a private school just for these middle school years? They are usually high quality and also very hands-on, which might motivate and appeal to your daughter. IMO, middle school is more or less the weakest part of public school in DC-- there are better high school options and elementary options. Good luck!

I agree the MS is the weakest part of the public school - not only in DC but across the country.

I believe that the changes that CCPCS made this year will help - but once again this is theory as opposed to being proved out.
I am sure someone will correct me - so please take this as directional as opposed to the specifics. (I am a parent who has other things to do)

The new MS is 5th-8th grade
They have a dedicated MS Principal
They are attempting to keep the MS classes small - even smaller than the elemntary at ~23
They are creating teams (they have another word for it) so that the students will have the same core teachers 2 years in a row

The OP had a concern of 25 lbs of books each day in the backpack- I would expect this is what you might see at BASIS - this is not the culture of the school at CCPCS. The lower school has had decent DC CAS scores - and does not drill and kill to get them.

[Anonymous]

CCPCS lower school only had a 65% proficiency rate this year on the CAS, correct? That is pretty horrible and not related to test prep. The CAS is a standards based assessment so good teaching should propel kids beyond 65% regardless of test prep. That score leaves a lot of kids basic and below basic, which is unacceptable - especially in a charter with so many resources. High school was around 45% proficient. Sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CCPCS lower school only had a 65% proficiency rate this year on the CAS, correct? That is pretty horrible and not related to test prep. The CAS is a standards based assessment so good teaching should propel kids beyond 65% regardless of test prep. That score leaves a lot of kids basic and below basic, which is unacceptable - especially in a charter with so many resources. High school was around 45% proficient. Sad.

Remember though, you still have many many ESL kids which definitely affects the scores. To the person who said that CC is awful after 3rd grade, get a life and go away. I had 2 kids at CC last year. One who is staying for 5th grade and the other who is moving on to high school. I actually really liked CC's middle school, but we were in the upper school. My son is extremely bright and the teachers were amazing! I asked them to challenge him and they did. My son spent 6th through 8th grade at CC. He had a wonderful group of friends.

Bullying was pretty much nonexistent in the upper school. The school just really does not tolerate it. The kids tend to be very excepting and caring toward one another. While I did not think that it was rigorous enough for high school (a lot of 8th grade parents stayed this year for high school), I thought it was a perfect environment for middle school. The required portfolio at the end of 8th grade was VERY challenging though. I didn't need him to do Calculus in 6th grade and be fluent in 5 languages. I needed him to be happy and thoughtful.

[Anonymous]

I'm bumping this because we are looking at CCPCS for middle school for next year. I went ahead and did the lottery, but obviously (1) we might not get in and (2) we will still need to do some compare and contrast between any options we do have. We are mostly concerned with the nicest possible social environment (understanding that middle school is tough for that in any climate) and building skills that go beyond "just" academics. Like OP, we are not interested in 25 pound backpacks on an 11-year-old frame, though of course we don't want a total lack of challenge. Some balance between interesting work and a happy atmosphere. What do current families think -- is this happening at CCPCS?

[Anonymous]

A friend's daughter is in the middle school and she is complaining about poor behavior in classes with little to no teacher control. Calling out, swearing, goofing around. This is beyond normal middle school shenanigans - it's seriously affecting teaching and learning. Seems they are not well equipped to deal with behavior management. FWIW, she's been there since Pre-K and is pretty miserable in the middle school.

[Anonymous]

The above will likely continue unless the school can stanch the fleeing of students who have come up through the ranks starting in PK.

Right now, what you have is basically a brand new MS school. More than half of the students are new. A significant portion of the staff is new. A significant portion of the administration is either new or new to administration. The model and traditions are new. So it's an experiment.

It's a nice facility though.

[Anonymous]

I kow a founding family who pulled both their kids and sent them to private after 5th grade.

[Anonymous]

I'm the parent of a current CCPCS 6th grader. We've been at the school since K, so I can speak to some of the changes involved in the new MS. We remain quite happy with the school. We haven't seen any uncontrolled discipline issues like the ones mentioned by a previous poster. To the contrary, in fact--in our experience, the teachers and administrators have been clear about their expectations and prompt in dealing with discipline issues. Even with all the new students, the atmosphere remains warm and welcoming.

To me, one of the real strengths of the MS program is the way students are directed to reflect on their own learning process. My DC participated in the last conference, and part of the discussion centered on her own assessment of her strengths and limitations as a student--and this was something that ALL the students did. Since my DC has learning challenges related to ADHD, we've found this focus on what the school calls the "habits of scholars" really valuable; it helps students to see that progress comes through specific skills, not through magic or wishful thinking. And it has made a difference for my DC--both in her attitude toward her work and in her achievement.

I can't really speak to whether the program will be a good fit for a gifted student--that's not my DC's profile. (As an SN kid, she doesn't test especially well. And that's another factor in the school's test scores, BTW.) I will say that we've always found the teachers at CCPCS willing to work with us.