Northwest DC Public Charter Schools

[Anonymous]

I have a good handle on the highly ranked DC public elementary schools, but don't know much about the choices in the Public Charter Schools. Does anyone know a good resource for finding out about the choices and rankings of the schools? Can anyone provide me feedback on schools in NW DC that your children attend that I should research/consider? I am looking for a pre-K spot for 2009-2010 and know I have some time before the lotteries but want to start the research process.
TIA

[Anonymous]

I have heard very good things about Cap City and Haynes. Cap City is notoriously hard to get into (lottery). I know two people who pulled their kids out of DC Bilingual Charter because the kids were falling behind academically. And if you check this board, you will see there are a couple of big boosters on Yu Ying, the Chinese immersion charter school -- it just started, so I'm not sure there's much info there.

[Anonymous]

I have a pre-k'r at EL Haynes, and couldn't be happier with the program. I am truly impressed.
there were 17 slots for over 150 kids.

[Anonymous]

If you go on the DC Public Charter School website, you can find all the test results for charter schools.

[Anonymous]

Cap City
Yu Ying
EL Haynes

and don't forget Two Rivers.

[Anonymous]

Yu Ying rocks. My son has been there for six weeks and he's speaking Chinese. The building is brand new and the staff are high energy. I love all the other parents, who come from all over the city and are very committed to the "world school" culture.

[Anonymous]

Some WaPo staffer is really trolling for traffic. This spam is all over DCUM this morning. I actually went and checked it out and while there is a collection of articles about a few schools (none of the ones I was interested in: just KIPP, DC Prep, and Howard Middle) there is NO discussion whatsoever in any of the forums of the "hotter" schools. None. Nada. Zip.

Don't bother looking there for any inside information.

[jsteele]

We are removing the spam and I edited the above message to remove the quoted spam. Perhaps it time for the Post to organize another "bloggers ethics conference"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a good handle on the highly ranked DC public elementary schools, but don't know much about the choices in the Public Charter Schools. Does anyone know a good resource for finding out about the choices and rankings of the schools? Can anyone provide me feedback on schools in NW DC that your children attend that I should research/consider? I am looking for a pre-K spot for 2009-2010 and know I have some time before the lotteries but want to start the research process.
TIA

Well, for girls- Excel Academy is an undiscovered gem. I recommend you check it out for yourself- I have a prek daughter there this year, and we love it.

[Anonymous]

I am excited about Excel being in the District and offering an option to girls...but it is not in NW.

[Anonymous]

I recently took my daughter out of Hyde LPCS, a great elementary and high school setting.
She was in 7th grade...the middle school is excellent academically, however administration
is going thru a myriad of staff changes. The school is located in NE, off North Capital St.

In the meantime, can anyone recommend a top ranking Charter for High school. I trust as
most of you know, when there are administrative changes at the top that means until
leadership gets its feet firmly planted, staff have no real guidance in place upon which to
seek support or act. Not sure if I will consider high school, since I'm not sure how the
middle and high school leadership, if any interrelate. I'll have to check further, but
thought I would put my feelers out to see if any one has had a grand experience in the
DC high school setting.

Please advise.

Thanks J

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have heard very good things about Cap City and Haynes. Cap City is notoriously hard to get into (lottery). I know two people who pulled their kids out of DC Bilingual Charter because the kids were falling behind academically. And if you check this board, you will see there are a couple of big boosters on Yu Ying, the Chinese immersion charter school -- it just started, so I'm not sure there's much info there.

I'd like to know how the people who pulled their kids out from DC Bilingual found out their kids are falling behind academically. Did you have your kids tested by a private tester? Did it come from the school?
All I've heard are positive things about DC Bilingual especially this school year 2009-10. Lots of great leadership and new teachers apparantly. Many of my friends could not be happier and their kids are fluent in Spanish already as young as Kindergarten (having started at the PRe-K 3 level). The only complaint I've heard is about the traffic in that area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard very good things about Cap City and Haynes. Cap City is notoriously hard to get into (lottery). I know two people who pulled their kids out of DC Bilingual Charter because the kids were falling behind academically. And if you check this board, you will see there are a couple of big boosters on Yu Ying, the Chinese immersion charter school -- it just started, so I'm not sure there's much info there.

I'd like to know how the people who pulled their kids out from DC Bilingual found out their kids are falling behind academically. Did you have your kids tested by a private tester? Did it come from the school?
All I've heard are positive things about DC Bilingual especially this school year 2009-10. Lots of great leadership and new teachers apparantly. Many of my friends could not be happier and their kids are fluent in Spanish already as young as Kindergarten (having started at the PRe-K 3 level). The only complaint I've heard is about the traffic in that area.

As a friend said "It's like sending your kid to private school, but it's free!". And this friend went to a shi shi private school here in the DC area and would never think of sending their kids to one -- given their hugely positive experience at DC Bilingual.

[Anonymous]

My friends pulled them out of DC Bilingual based on their test scores. Kids are now at other NW DCPS and are doing great.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the low scores in question are the english test scores, and if these are lower because the school is bilingual? My kid did immersion in MoCo, and they warned us that english test scores would be lower until 5th grade or so - because the kids are being taught another language not english - then when our kids entered MS they would catch up and do better than their peers on english/language tests. We found this to be true.