DC Lottery Results

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For 5th grade, we got >270 for Basis. Didn’t know such a bad result was even possible! (Would love to hear horror stories so we can pretend we dodged a bullet there . Our kid likes elementary school math and science but is not advanced… yet.) The total waitlist length in recent years looks like it’s been between 200-260 students, so 270 is a head scratcher.

And then there’s the 2 Latins. >450 for both.

This kind of result is similar to other lottery results we’ve gotten in prior years. Is it a blind random lottery or do they sort of chunk slots by location, demographics, or maybe even things like EAPs or prior attendance issues? Seems weird how consistently we’ve drawn crappy numbers when it’s just a luck-based process. I guess I’m being a bit paranoid. Probability and randomness are what they are.

I'm sure it's just blind luck that *two* members of the city council (Trayon, Nadeau) have children at LAMB, which has probably the longest waitlist of any school in the city.

LAMB may be a special case. There have always been rumors about the lottery there. They were also the last school to join the unified lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For 5th grade, we got >270 for Basis. Didn’t know such a bad result was even possible! (Would love to hear horror stories so we can pretend we dodged a bullet there . Our kid likes elementary school math and science but is not advanced… yet.) The total waitlist length in recent years looks like it’s been between 200-260 students, so 270 is a head scratcher.

And then there’s the 2 Latins. >450 for both.

This kind of result is similar to other lottery results we’ve gotten in prior years. Is it a blind random lottery or do they sort of chunk slots by location, demographics, or maybe even things like EAPs or prior attendance issues? Seems weird how consistently we’ve drawn crappy numbers when it’s just a luck-based process. I guess I’m being a bit paranoid. Probability and randomness are what they are.

I'm sure it's just blind luck that *two* members of the city council (Trayon, Nadeau) have children at LAMB, which has probably the longest waitlist of any school in the city.

Trayon? The one who thinks that Jews control the weather? Well at least his kids are getting an education I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For 5th grade, we got >270 for Basis. Didn’t know such a bad result was even possible! (Would love to hear horror stories so we can pretend we dodged a bullet there . Our kid likes elementary school math and science but is not advanced… yet.) The total waitlist length in recent years looks like it’s been between 200-260 students, so 270 is a head scratcher.

And then there’s the 2 Latins. >450 for both.

This kind of result is similar to other lottery results we’ve gotten in prior years. Is it a blind random lottery or do they sort of chunk slots by location, demographics, or maybe even things like EAPs or prior attendance issues? Seems weird how consistently we’ve drawn crappy numbers when it’s just a luck-based process. I guess I’m being a bit paranoid. Probability and randomness are what they are.

It's blind. The equity lotteries are how they take into account demographics, and that's very transparent.

There's a huge number of people who get the equity preference. One way to qualify is to receive food stamps and something like 20 percent of everyone in DC gets them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For 5th grade, we got >270 for Basis. Didn’t know such a bad result was even possible! (Would love to hear horror stories so we can pretend we dodged a bullet there . Our kid likes elementary school math and science but is not advanced… yet.) The total waitlist length in recent years looks like it’s been between 200-260 students, so 270 is a head scratcher.

And then there’s the 2 Latins. >450 for both.

This kind of result is similar to other lottery results we’ve gotten in prior years. Is it a blind random lottery or do they sort of chunk slots by location, demographics, or maybe even things like EAPs or prior attendance issues? Seems weird how consistently we’ve drawn crappy numbers when it’s just a luck-based process. I guess I’m being a bit paranoid. Probability and randomness are what they are.

I'm sure it's just blind luck that *two* members of the city council (Trayon, Nadeau) have children at LAMB, which has probably the longest waitlist of any school in the city.

LAMB may be a special case. There have always been rumors about the lottery there. They were also the last school to join the unified lottery.

There's a long history of DC officials jumping to the front of school waitlists. The education chancellor had to resign a few years ago when it came out that he skipped the line to get his daughter in somewhere.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-public-schools-leader-to-resign-after-skirting-school-assignment-rules/2018/02/20/9b372230-1662-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For 5th grade, we got >270 for Basis. Didn’t know such a bad result was even possible! (Would love to hear horror stories so we can pretend we dodged a bullet there . Our kid likes elementary school math and science but is not advanced… yet.) The total waitlist length in recent years looks like it’s been between 200-260 students, so 270 is a head scratcher.

And then there’s the 2 Latins. >450 for both.

This kind of result is similar to other lottery results we’ve gotten in prior years. Is it a blind random lottery or do they sort of chunk slots by location, demographics, or maybe even things like EAPs or prior attendance issues? Seems weird how consistently we’ve drawn crappy numbers when it’s just a luck-based process. I guess I’m being a bit paranoid. Probability and randomness are what they are.

It's blind. The equity lotteries are how they take into account demographics, and that's very transparent.

There's a huge number of people who get the equity preference. One way to qualify is to receive food stamps and something like 20 percent of everyone in DC gets them.

It's still transparent what the criteria are and how many seats each school has.

[Anonymous]

It is starting to be more than a handful at EH recently. EH also offers math and ELA acceleration. Similar story at SH. People with bright kids do sometimes turn down Basis to instead just try these schools. It is somewhat hard to believe unless you have a child there or you have otherwise recently taken a hard look at these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is starting to be more than a handful at EH recently. EH also offers math and ELA acceleration. Similar story at SH. People with bright kids do sometimes turn down Basis to instead just try these schools. It is somewhat hard to believe unless you have a child there or you have otherwise recently taken a hard look at these schools.

That they'd prefer those middle schools isn't at all hard to believe. I just wonder what the plan is for high school.

[Anonymous]

DCPS application high schools and/or private high school mostly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is starting to be more than a handful at EH recently. EH also offers math and ELA acceleration. Similar story at SH. People with bright kids do sometimes turn down Basis to instead just try these schools. It is somewhat hard to believe unless you have a child there or you have otherwise recently taken a hard look at these schools.

As has been discussed on here on many threads, the nuance that is missed in many of these broad sweeping conversations about good/bad schools is the huge achievement gaps that are important to understand when looking at the city to understand the big picture. But when the schools scores are lumped together and an average score is presented, IMO it at the very least makes it harder to understand what is really happening at a school. Many people on these threads talk about the importance of having a cohort of peers achieving at higher levels, which many of these middle schools do. Ideally everybody at a school would be achieving at higher levels, but we have a long ways to go to reaching that and is worth of a whole separate discussion about how we can get there as a city.

If you look at sub groups at some of these schools being discussed (SH or EH for example) you will see they match or outperform their peers in the same subgroups across the city. As a parent who has a now 7th grader at one of those schools, I can say that there are assignments and teachers that push them, and options for more advanced courses. I also know there are kids who cannot or choose not to complete the assignments at the same level, but I know that in each of my child's classes there are a large number of kids who are doing the work, getting pushed to think one step further, doing well on class and standardized tests, etc. And for those who are thinking about the high school long game, kids from these schools get into SWW, Banneker, McKinley, privates, and increasingly the EPIC program at Eastern (TBD how much traction that picks up)

All that to say, there are options for academically advanced kids at more than just a handful of schools in this city, and there are many families at these schools by choice (in addition to the ones there b/c they didn't win a lottery a few years ago).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middle school seats are one of the most competitive seats in the city. There are not that many decent ones in the city.

If you are EOTP and don’t get Latin, Basis, and are not in a feeder for DCI, honestly, I would just move to burbs to good pyramid for 5/6 to 12th. The schools there are much better there then WOTP schools.

I agree with PP about moving now. I think schools WOTP would be fine. The reason to move is because there is so much stress involved with figuring out high school and odds are your kid will end up at a different high school than their middle school friends. And if you have more than one kid, it's that whole cycle of stress all over again. I wish we had moved after our first kid struck out in the MS lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is starting to be more than a handful at EH recently. EH also offers math and ELA acceleration. Similar story at SH. People with bright kids do sometimes turn down Basis to instead just try these schools. It is somewhat hard to believe unless you have a child there or you have otherwise recently taken a hard look at these schools.

As has been discussed on here on many threads, the nuance that is missed in many of these broad sweeping conversations about good/bad schools is the huge achievement gaps that are important to understand when looking at the city to understand the big picture. But when the schools scores are lumped together and an average score is presented, IMO it at the very least makes it harder to understand what is really happening at a school. Many people on these threads talk about the importance of having a cohort of peers achieving at higher levels, which many of these middle schools do. Ideally everybody at a school would be achieving at higher levels, but we have a long ways to go to reaching that and is worth of a whole separate discussion about how we can get there as a city.

If you look at sub groups at some of these schools being discussed (SH or EH for example) you will see they match or outperform their peers in the same subgroups across the city. As a parent who has a now 7th grader at one of those schools, I can say that there are assignments and teachers that push them, and options for more advanced courses. I also know there are kids who cannot or choose not to complete the assignments at the same level, but I know that in each of my child's classes there are a large number of kids who are doing the work, getting pushed to think one step further, doing well on class and standardized tests, etc. And for those who are thinking about the high school long game, kids from these schools get into SWW, Banneker, McKinley, privates, and increasingly the EPIC program at Eastern (TBD how much traction that picks up)

All that to say, there are options for academically advanced kids at more than just a handful of schools in this city, and there are many families at these schools by choice (in addition to the ones there b/c they didn't win a lottery a few years ago).

I totally believe you about the middle schools. But the selective admissions high schools are so random in terms of who they let in, it's not something to count on. So the middle school decision is at least partly about, if you don't get in, are you comfortable with Eastern or are you able to pay for private school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this true for PK at CHML too?

No, PK is great! It’s the only part of the school that’s actually Montessori accredited.

Yes, because it is MONTESSORI!!!! It is designed for ECE. The idea that children and preteens should get to pick what and how they learn is stupidity.

It is so poorly implemented at CHML too. The students have no idea how a "normal" classroom should look and function. They don't have the attention spans to sit through any kind of direct instruction, they think they can do whatever they want, and therefore, struggle when they get to high school and are expected to function in a regular classroom setting. The 4th-5th grade classrooms are full of behavior problems and this is known as many parents opt to pull their kids out after 3rd grade. Montessori can work but only highly motivated and independent students can succeed and CHML is full of kids who were kicked out of their DCPS school/charters/etc. It just does not work.

I don’t believe either of you truly are Momtessorians and would be able to speak to the validity of your responses. Montessori was NOT designed for ECE. It is a philosophy that can be applied at any plane of development. Montessori began working on her design of the Secondary space, but she unfortunately passed away before it was completed.

CHML does not actually do Montessori beyond the primary grade band. Any issues that exist in 1st grade and beyond can not be blamed on Montessori because they aren’t even following what they would need to do to be accredited.

[Anonymous]

Hi. We recently moved to dc and our child got accepted into Watkins for 1st grade. Any opinions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is starting to be more than a handful at EH recently. EH also offers math and ELA acceleration. Similar story at SH. People with bright kids do sometimes turn down Basis to instead just try these schools. It is somewhat hard to believe unless you have a child there or you have otherwise recently taken a hard look at these schools.

As has been discussed on here on many threads, the nuance that is missed in many of these broad sweeping conversations about good/bad schools is the huge achievement gaps that are important to understand when looking at the city to understand the big picture. But when the schools scores are lumped together and an average score is presented, IMO it at the very least makes it harder to understand what is really happening at a school. Many people on these threads talk about the importance of having a cohort of peers achieving at higher levels, which many of these middle schools do. Ideally everybody at a school would be achieving at higher levels, but we have a long ways to go to reaching that and is worth of a whole separate discussion about how we can get there as a city.

If you look at sub groups at some of these schools being discussed (SH or EH for example) you will see they match or outperform their peers in the same subgroups across the city. As a parent who has a now 7th grader at one of those schools, I can say that there are assignments and teachers that push them, and options for more advanced courses. I also know there are kids who cannot or choose not to complete the assignments at the same level, but I know that in each of my child's classes there are a large number of kids who are doing the work, getting pushed to think one step further, doing well on class and standardized tests, etc. And for those who are thinking about the high school long game, kids from these schools get into SWW, Banneker, McKinley, privates, and increasingly the EPIC program at Eastern (TBD how much traction that picks up)

All that to say, there are options for academically advanced kids at more than just a handful of schools in this city, and there are many families at these schools by choice (in addition to the ones there b/c they didn't win a lottery a few years ago).

I totally believe you about the middle schools. But the selective admissions high schools are so random in terms of who they let in, it's not something to count on. So the middle school decision is at least partly about, if you don't get in, are you comfortable with Eastern or are you able to pay for private school?

The selective high schools are NOT that random. Only Walls is. If your kid (on grade level) could be happy at Banneker or McKinley or Walls, you will get a spot at one of the 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this true for PK at CHML too?

No, PK is great! It’s the only part of the school that’s actually Montessori accredited.

Yes, because it is MONTESSORI!!!! It is designed for ECE. The idea that children and preteens should get to pick what and how they learn is stupidity.

It is so poorly implemented at CHML too. The students have no idea how a "normal" classroom should look and function. They don't have the attention spans to sit through any kind of direct instruction, they think they can do whatever they want, and therefore, struggle when they get to high school and are expected to function in a regular classroom setting. The 4th-5th grade classrooms are full of behavior problems and this is known as many parents opt to pull their kids out after 3rd grade. Montessori can work but only highly motivated and independent students can succeed and CHML is full of kids who were kicked out of their DCPS school/charters/etc. It just does not work.

I don’t believe either of you truly are Momtessorians and would be able to speak to the validity of your responses. Montessori was NOT designed for ECE. It is a philosophy that can be applied at any plane of development. Montessori began working on her design of the Secondary space, but she unfortunately passed away before it was completed.

CHML does not actually do Montessori beyond the primary grade band. Any issues that exist in 1st grade and beyond can not be blamed on Montessori because they aren’t even following what they would need to do to be accredited.

+1. Critique CHML as much as you want, but Montessori past ECE is not a free for all “pick what you want.” For instance, each day kids spend the first 10 mins creating their own work plan for their day- but the work plan must includes lessons across all the different disciplines, those lessons must align to what is being taught, and the children’s work plans need to be signed off by the teacher.

There is choice AND there is structure and guidance. When implemented correctly, Montessori teaches a ton about structured work planning and discipline within choice.

(Btw, we had a really great experience at LAMB in 4/5 where we saw this implemented in a way that was really perfect and totally age appropriate)