How things change in a decade!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MacArthur will be the top public high school in the city 10 years from now.

Really?! It seems so bad now. I constantly hear about fights and my friend's kids who go to MacArthur say they haven't seen the principal since the first day of school. I don't know...

10 years from now… not in this moment. I just fact checked this though with the people I know who go to MacArthur and they’ve seen the principal… sounds like a weird rumor to start spreading.

Since when is talking to the 2 people you know who go to MacArthur fact checking? The rumor obviously got some truth to it considering the other post confirming his absence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MacArthur will be the top public high school in the city 10 years from now.

Really?! It seems so bad now. I constantly hear about fights and my friend's kids who go to MacArthur say they haven't seen the principal since the first day of school. I don't know...

Principal at McA is rarely seen. My kid says the last time she saw him was right before Halloween.

Why should she be seeing him regularly? The role of the principal isn’t managing the students. Grade level AP, definitely, but not the principal. He’s got a huge job building a new school (both literally and figuratively). He’s doing a fantastic job

The principal should absolutely have eyes on the kids at the beginning of the day and dismissal. very important to be establishing the tone of respect and safety and the culture of the school.

+100

[Anonymous]

Plessy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For elementary schools, here's where the IB participation rate has increased the most from SY19-20 to SY24-25 by percentage point change:
-Garrison 25% to 44%
-Hyde-Addison 63% to 81%
-Bancroft 60% to 75%
-Payne 37% to 50%
-John Lewis 22% to 33%

And where the IB participation rate decreased the most from SY19-20 to SY24-25 by percentage point change:
-John Francis 79% to 58%
-Leckie 28% to 15%
-Ross 87% to 76%
-Thomson 50% to 39%
-Cleveland 37% to 26%
-Tubman 39% to 29%
-Peabody/Watkins 62% to 52%

Some honorable mentions (based on percent change) at schools with low boundary participation rates:
-Whittier 19% to 26%
-Burroughs 21% to 26%

Tubman's in a swing space. That decrease is likely temporary.

I'm surprised by Ross/Thomson/John Francis. Doesn't John Francis have a brand new building? Why the drop in inbound participation? And Thomson? With Thomson, part of that might be nearby options (Garrison/Seaton) being more appealing, but hard to imagine people picking either of those over Ross or John Francis.

PP here - oh, actually I bet I know what's up with JF - they JUST moved to their new building. Probably people who left because they didn't like the swing space often don't come back - they've settled in elsewhere. So they're still seeing the hit from having been in the swing space (which was pretty far away, IIRC).

Yes, you are right. I know because we are one of them. We live in Foggy bottom with three girls ages 6, 3, and 1 - none of whom will attend John Francis bc dropping our oldest off in Shaw for two years was not tenable. We both work in Virginia and it would’ve made our life hell. So we lotteried into Key. Logistically it’s probably the easiest for our commute anyway bc we can just hop over Chain Bridge and now we have a better feeder so we’re just going to stay there. Waiting for PK4 lottery results right now. I’m guessing you’re right that dip should lessen over the next several years as new families enter the school. But kindof interesting that to consider that it lost even our 1 year old bc of the swing space that affected the older sibling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For elementary schools, here's where the IB participation rate has increased the most from SY19-20 to SY24-25 by percentage point change:
-Garrison 25% to 44%
-Hyde-Addison 63% to 81%
-Bancroft 60% to 75%
-Payne 37% to 50%
-John Lewis 22% to 33%

And where the IB participation rate decreased the most from SY19-20 to SY24-25 by percentage point change:
-John Francis 79% to 58%
-Leckie 28% to 15%
-Ross 87% to 76%
-Thomson 50% to 39%
-Cleveland 37% to 26%
-Tubman 39% to 29%
-Peabody/Watkins 62% to 52%

Some honorable mentions (based on percent change) at schools with low boundary participation rates:
-Whittier 19% to 26%
-Burroughs 21% to 26%

Tubman's in a swing space. That decrease is likely temporary.

I'm surprised by Ross/Thomson/John Francis. Doesn't John Francis have a brand new building? Why the drop in inbound participation? And Thomson? With Thomson, part of that might be nearby options (Garrison/Seaton) being more appealing, but hard to imagine people picking either of those over Ross or John Francis.

PP here - oh, actually I bet I know what's up with JF - they JUST moved to their new building. Probably people who left because they didn't like the swing space often don't come back - they've settled in elsewhere. So they're still seeing the hit from having been in the swing space (which was pretty far away, IIRC).

Yes, you are right. I know because we are one of them. We live in Foggy bottom with three girls ages 6, 3, and 1 - none of whom will attend John Francis bc dropping our oldest off in Shaw for two years was not tenable. We both work in Virginia and it would’ve made our life hell. So we lotteried into Key. Logistically it’s probably the easiest for our commute anyway bc we can just hop over Chain Bridge and now we have a better feeder so we’re just going to stay there. Waiting for PK4 lottery results right now. I’m guessing you’re right that dip should lessen over the next several years as new families enter the school. But kindof interesting that to consider that it lost even our 1 year old bc of the swing space that affected the older sibling.

Curious why you haven’t moved to Virginia?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MacArthur will be the top public high school in the city 10 years from now.

Really?! It seems so bad now. I constantly hear about fights and my friend's kids who go to MacArthur say they haven't seen the principal since the first day of school. I don't know...

10 years from now… not in this moment. I just fact checked this though with the people I know who go to MacArthur and they’ve seen the principal… sounds like a weird rumor to start spreading.

Yup. I agree. In 10 years McA (or whatever it will be called) will be better than J-R for one reason; I predict fewer OOB students. I bet also that H-A and Hardy will be like 75%+ IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t live on the Hill but close enough that my prediction or maybe just hope is that Eastern will be look almost like JR in ten years except you could actually lottery in.

I also envision Walls having more students of color, Banneker having more white students and McKinley getting almost as hard to get into as those schools.

Roosevelt, Dunbar and Cardozo will still be chronically low-performing.

What can I say…I’m a mostly optimist who doesn’t want to move to the burbs.

I like your optimism.

If Eastern would really throw its shoulder behind the EPIC program and expand it then sure it could become more popular. I have my doubts though. DCPS still does not prioritize the needs of college bound and academically sound students. I don’t really see that changing.

Some of these really terrible schools would get more neighborhood buy-in if they had aggressive tracking. But the woke warriors who run our schools hate anything that results in white kids mostly being in one class and black kids mostly being in another.

At least we aren't SF where they banned algebra in middle school. like straight up banning it. because the silly white parents didn't like seeing the asians in the 'better' class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t live on the Hill but close enough that my prediction or maybe just hope is that Eastern will be look almost like JR in ten years except you could actually lottery in.

I also envision Walls having more students of color, Banneker having more white students and McKinley getting almost as hard to get into as those schools.

Roosevelt, Dunbar and Cardozo will still be chronically low-performing.

What can I say…I’m a mostly optimist who doesn’t want to move to the burbs.

I like your optimism.

If Eastern would really throw its shoulder behind the EPIC program and expand it then sure it could become more popular. I have my doubts though. DCPS still does not prioritize the needs of college bound and academically sound students. I don’t really see that changing.

Some of these really terrible schools would get more neighborhood buy-in if they had aggressive tracking. But the woke warriors who run our schools hate anything that results in white kids mostly being in one class and black kids mostly being in another.

At least we aren't SF where they banned algebra in middle school. like straight up banning it. because the silly white parents didn't like seeing the asians in the 'better' class.

I was just thinking about that recently. Such a crazy thing to do when calculus is still considered an (unofficial) requirement for selective college admissions. Hard to understand what the school board thought was going to happen and why it is better for the affluent families to double up on math or do it in the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t live on the Hill but close enough that my prediction or maybe just hope is that Eastern will be look almost like JR in ten years except you could actually lottery in.

I also envision Walls having more students of color, Banneker having more white students and McKinley getting almost as hard to get into as those schools.

Roosevelt, Dunbar and Cardozo will still be chronically low-performing.

What can I say…I’m a mostly optimist who doesn’t want to move to the burbs.

I like your optimism.

If Eastern would really throw its shoulder behind the EPIC program and expand it then sure it could become more popular. I have my doubts though. DCPS still does not prioritize the needs of college bound and academically sound students. I don’t really see that changing.

Some of these really terrible schools would get more neighborhood buy-in if they had aggressive tracking. But the woke warriors who run our schools hate anything that results in white kids mostly being in one class and black kids mostly being in another.

At least we aren't SF where they banned algebra in middle school. like straight up banning it. because the silly white parents didn't like seeing the asians in the 'better' class.

Not that different from what DC does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t live on the Hill but close enough that my prediction or maybe just hope is that Eastern will be look almost like JR in ten years except you could actually lottery in.

I also envision Walls having more students of color, Banneker having more white students and McKinley getting almost as hard to get into as those schools.

Roosevelt, Dunbar and Cardozo will still be chronically low-performing.

What can I say…I’m a mostly optimist who doesn’t want to move to the burbs.

I like your optimism.

If Eastern would really throw its shoulder behind the EPIC program and expand it then sure it could become more popular. I have my doubts though. DCPS still does not prioritize the needs of college bound and academically sound students. I don’t really see that changing.

Some of these really terrible schools would get more neighborhood buy-in if they had aggressive tracking. But the woke warriors who run our schools hate anything that results in white kids mostly being in one class and black kids mostly being in another.

At least we aren't SF where they banned algebra in middle school. like straight up banning it. because the silly white parents didn't like seeing the asians in the 'better' class.

They're reversing course.

NYT:

The San Francisco school board narrowly approved a plan on Tuesday evening to bring back eighth-grade algebra across all the district’s public schools, 12 years after the system stopped offering it.

The course was removed from middle schools under the rationale that many students — especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds — would benefit from having more time to master foundational math before tackling algebra in high school.

But the plan didn’t work. The number of students enrolled in advanced high school math declined, and wide racial gaps remained. Meanwhile, many parents enrolled their children in summer and after-school math courses to keep them accelerated, often paying out of pocket.

For years, San Francisco “tried to achieve equity not by raising the floor, but by lowering the ceiling,” said Thomas S. Dee, a Stanford University economist who studied the policy with colleagues. “It’s a problem we see nationally,” he added.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t live on the Hill but close enough that my prediction or maybe just hope is that Eastern will be look almost like JR in ten years except you could actually lottery in.

I also envision Walls having more students of color, Banneker having more white students and McKinley getting almost as hard to get into as those schools.

Roosevelt, Dunbar and Cardozo will still be chronically low-performing.

What can I say…I’m a mostly optimist who doesn’t want to move to the burbs.

I like your optimism.

If Eastern would really throw its shoulder behind the EPIC program and expand it then sure it could become more popular. I have my doubts though. DCPS still does not prioritize the needs of college bound and academically sound students. I don’t really see that changing.

Some of these really terrible schools would get more neighborhood buy-in if they had aggressive tracking. But the woke warriors who run our schools hate anything that results in white kids mostly being in one class and black kids mostly being in another.

At least we aren't SF where they banned algebra in middle school. like straight up banning it. because the silly white parents didn't like seeing the asians in the 'better' class.

They're reversing course.

NYT:

The San Francisco school board narrowly approved a plan on Tuesday evening to bring back eighth-grade algebra across all the district’s public schools, 12 years after the system stopped offering it.

The course was removed from middle schools under the rationale that many students — especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds — would benefit from having more time to master foundational math before tackling algebra in high school.

But the plan didn’t work. The number of students enrolled in advanced high school math declined, and wide racial gaps remained. Meanwhile, many parents enrolled their children in summer and after-school math courses to keep them accelerated, often paying out of pocket.

For years, San Francisco “tried to achieve equity not by raising the floor, but by lowering the ceiling,” said Thomas S. Dee, a Stanford University economist who studied the policy with colleagues. “It’s a problem we see nationally,” he added.

This. Affluent will supplement. The poor, smart kids are screwed. Obviously who ever voted for this policy did not grow up poor but smart like myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t live on the Hill but close enough that my prediction or maybe just hope is that Eastern will be look almost like JR in ten years except you could actually lottery in.

I also envision Walls having more students of color, Banneker having more white students and McKinley getting almost as hard to get into as those schools.

Roosevelt, Dunbar and Cardozo will still be chronically low-performing.

What can I say…I’m a mostly optimist who doesn’t want to move to the burbs.

I like your optimism.

If Eastern would really throw its shoulder behind the EPIC program and expand it then sure it could become more popular. I have my doubts though. DCPS still does not prioritize the needs of college bound and academically sound students. I don’t really see that changing.

Some of these really terrible schools would get more neighborhood buy-in if they had aggressive tracking. But the woke warriors who run our schools hate anything that results in white kids mostly being in one class and black kids mostly being in another.

At least we aren't SF where they banned algebra in middle school. like straight up banning it. because the silly white parents didn't like seeing the asians in the 'better' class.

Not that different from what DC does.

No, DCPS strongly favors putting kids in Algebra by 8th and is fairly permissive about placing 7th graders in Algebra.