Ward 4&5 Current DPCS parents shut out of Latin/BASIS/ITS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ward 4 DCPS parent here. MacFarland is our inbounds middle. Lotteried into Hardy feeder in mid/late elementary . The current principal at MacFarland was at Hardy for a few years and did great things. I am encouraged by his presence at MacFarland but the timing of that possibility is not synced up with our MS years (in MS now).

Honestly I believe that MacFarland will be the next good DC middle school, leapfrogging the Hill schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ward 4 DCPS parent here. MacFarland is our inbounds middle. Lotteried into Hardy feeder in mid/late elementary . The current principal at MacFarland was at Hardy for a few years and did great things. I am encouraged by his presence at MacFarland but the timing of that possibility is not synced up with our MS years (in MS now).

Honestly I believe that MacFarland will be the next good DC middle school, leapfrogging the Hill schools.

Maybe, but anyone in elementary school now will be old enough to teach there by the time it happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if you're near Cap City, that's going to be a much better commute for you than ITS.

Commute to cap city is a nightmare. We are now at a school WOTP and our commute is much more enjoyable. It’s much longer mileage-wise but only a little longer time-wise and actually moves! The traffic along north capitol, missouri or Blair is just terrible. There is no good way to get there unless you can walk.

Never done the commute to ITS so can’t compare, but would not recommend capital city in terms of ease of access.

It really depends where in Ward 4 someone lives. We are in Ward 4 and CapCity is a 2-minute drive for me (and I would never send my kid there, regardless); ITS is one that we considered, but the 25-minute commute each way just wasn't worth it for us. Any of the WOTP schools would be at least a 20-minute drive each way for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ward 4 DCPS parent here. MacFarland is our inbounds middle. Lotteried into Hardy feeder in mid/late elementary . The current principal at MacFarland was at Hardy for a few years and did great things. I am encouraged by his presence at MacFarland but the timing of that possibility is not synced up with our MS years (in MS now).

Honestly I believe that MacFarland will be the next good DC middle school, leapfrogging the Hill schools.

My MacFarland 8th grader is going to Banneker next year.

Maybe, but anyone in elementary school now will be old enough to teach there by the time it happens.

[Anonymous]

Sorry for bad formatting above.

My MacFarland 8th grader is going to Banneker next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if you're near Cap City, that's going to be a much better commute for you than ITS.

Commute to cap city is a nightmare. We are now at a school WOTP and our commute is much more enjoyable. It’s much longer mileage-wise but only a little longer time-wise and actually moves! The traffic along north capitol, missouri or Blair is just terrible. There is no good way to get there unless you can walk.

Never done the commute to ITS so can’t compare, but would not recommend capital city in terms of ease of access.

It really depends where in Ward 4 someone lives. We are in Ward 4 and CapCity is a 2-minute drive for me (and I would never send my kid there, regardless); ITS is one that we considered, but the 25-minute commute each way just wasn't worth it for us. Any of the WOTP schools would be at least a 20-minute drive each way for us.

Uh, it's a 10 minute drive from CapCity to Inspired? Unclear how you can be 2 minutes from one but 25 from the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if you're near Cap City, that's going to be a much better commute for you than ITS.

Commute to cap city is a nightmare. We are now at a school WOTP and our commute is much more enjoyable. It’s much longer mileage-wise but only a little longer time-wise and actually moves! The traffic along north capitol, missouri or Blair is just terrible. There is no good way to get there unless you can walk.

Never done the commute to ITS so can’t compare, but would not recommend capital city in terms of ease of access.

It really depends where in Ward 4 someone lives. We are in Ward 4 and CapCity is a 2-minute drive for me (and I would never send my kid there, regardless); ITS is one that we considered, but the 25-minute commute each way just wasn't worth it for us. Any of the WOTP schools would be at least a 20-minute drive each way for us.

Uh, it's a 10 minute drive from CapCity to Inspired? Unclear how you can be 2 minutes from one but 25 from the other.

Are you sure you know where CapCity is?! I am, at most, a 2 minute drive from CapCity, probably less (I live three blocks away). It's a 16 minute drive right now from CapCity to ITS during DCPS spring break week (traffic is unusually light) and before rush hour. Prior to the lottery deadline, when I was figuring out what schools are reasonable, I used Googlemaps and Waze at least a dozen times on various days during rush hour to see how long it would take us to get to ITS (and many other schools) and it was routinely ~25 min.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ward 4 DCPS parent here. MacFarland is our inbounds middle. Lotteried into Hardy feeder in mid/late elementary . The current principal at MacFarland was at Hardy for a few years and did great things. I am encouraged by his presence at MacFarland but the timing of that possibility is not synced up with our MS years (in MS now).

Honestly I believe that MacFarland will be the next good DC middle school, leapfrogging the Hill schools.

Well a MacFarland kid just won the spelling bee, so you might be right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Where are the "cohort of high achievers" who did not get into application HSs or good privates going?

(Real question, not snark -- we are considering SH but stress about HS path and want to know how this actually work for families -- we cannot afford private and I know that HS applications are a bit of a crapshoot and there are talented kids with great grades and high PARCC scores who get shut out. I am curious what they wind up doing because if we go, that could be us.)

I don't think there are talented kids with great grades getting routinely shut out of Banneker. Definitely not from McKinley. If your standard is Walls and nothing else, then yes, it is a crapshoot and you need a plan B.

McKinley definitely won't turn you away, but if you are not interested in STEM, that might be an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish I had added Stuart-Hobson feeders to my 5th grade list just to have the option.

SH isn’t a good school either, for what it’s worth.

+1

Stuart-Hobson is a good school for many. Cohort of high achievers. Great drama program and very good music program. More than 10 kids going to application HSes or good privates. I think it’s actually a good option for a girl, because you don’t need to worry about getting mixed up in the majority of the (other kind of) drama.

Where are the "cohort of high achievers" who did not get into application HSs or good privates going?

(Real question, not snark -- we are considering SH but stress about HS path and want to know how this actually work for families -- we cannot afford private and I know that HS applications are a bit of a crapshoot and there are talented kids with great grades and high PARCC scores who get shut out. I am curious what they wind up doing because if we go, that could be us.)

How many of these people exist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wells is the school of right for many in zone 4&5, so, for those who are zoned for it, are you considering it?

We are zoned for Wells, but not going to enroll there. We will be enrolling at DCI for middle (and high) school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish I had added Stuart-Hobson feeders to my 5th grade list just to have the option.

SH isn’t a good school either, for what it’s worth.

+1

Stuart-Hobson is a good school for many. Cohort of high achievers. Great drama program and very good music program. More than 10 kids going to application HSes or good privates. I think it’s actually a good option for a girl, because you don’t need to worry about getting mixed up in the majority of the (other kind of) drama.

Where are the "cohort of high achievers" who did not get into application HSs or good privates going?

(Real question, not snark -- we are considering SH but stress about HS path and want to know how this actually work for families -- we cannot afford private and I know that HS applications are a bit of a crapshoot and there are talented kids with great grades and high PARCC scores who get shut out. I am curious what they wind up doing because if we go, that could be us.)

How many of these people exist?

Well if you read the thread, you will see that SH sent about 38 kids to Walls/Banneker/McKinley/Ellington in the 22-23 cycle. That definitely qualifies as a "cohort." It also does not include kids who went to private schools, moved IB for J-R or a suburban school, but were also high achievers.

If you look at PARCC scores for that same year, 16% of students at the school scored a 4 or 5 on the PARCC for math, 41% for ELA. The math scores are concerning so I'd look at your individual kid and consider some kind of supplementing (still cheaper than private for MS), but those ELA scores are pretty strong and indicate a high achieving cohort for sure.

If I were a Ward 4/5/7/8 family that got locked out of Latin/BASIS and didn't want to move or pay for private, I would absolutely be adding the SH feeders as a backup. L-T is unlikely at this point, but JOW and Watkins are not. It's certainly strong enough to be a backup (and is the backup for many Ward 6 families who might prefer Latin or BASIS but will accept SH as the guaranteed alternative, which is how SH built up that cohort of strong students to begin with -- many simply didn't get lucky in the lottery for charters and the parents decided to give SH a shot rather than move).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ward 4 DCPS parent here. MacFarland is our inbounds middle. Lotteried into Hardy feeder in mid/late elementary . The current principal at MacFarland was at Hardy for a few years and did great things. I am encouraged by his presence at MacFarland but the timing of that possibility is not synced up with our MS years (in MS now).

Honestly I believe that MacFarland will be the next good DC middle school, leapfrogging the Hill schools.

Well a MacFarland kid just won the spelling bee, so you might be right.

I am sure he will excel at Roosevelt High School, where 93% of the student body is below grade level in English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Where are the "cohort of high achievers" who did not get into application HSs or good privates going?

(Real question, not snark -- we are considering SH but stress about HS path and want to know how this actually work for families -- we cannot afford private and I know that HS applications are a bit of a crapshoot and there are talented kids with great grades and high PARCC scores who get shut out. I am curious what they wind up doing because if we go, that could be us.)

I don't think there are talented kids with great grades getting routinely shut out of Banneker. Definitely not from McKinley. If your standard is Walls and nothing else, then yes, it is a crapshoot and you need a plan B.

McKinley definitely won't turn you away, but if you are not interested in STEM, that might be an issue.

McKinley accepted 20% of those who applied according to the stats. They're turning someone away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish I had added Stuart-Hobson feeders to my 5th grade list just to have the option.

SH isn’t a good school either, for what it’s worth.

+1

Stuart-Hobson is a good school for many. Cohort of high achievers. Great drama program and very good music program. More than 10 kids going to application HSes or good privates. I think it’s actually a good option for a girl, because you don’t need to worry about getting mixed up in the majority of the (other kind of) drama.

Where are the "cohort of high achievers" who did not get into application HSs or good privates going?

(Real question, not snark -- we are considering SH but stress about HS path and want to know how this actually work for families -- we cannot afford private and I know that HS applications are a bit of a crapshoot and there are talented kids with great grades and high PARCC scores who get shut out. I am curious what they wind up doing because if we go, that could be us.)

How many of these people exist?

Well if you read the thread, you will see that SH sent about 38 kids to Walls/Banneker/McKinley/Ellington in the 22-23 cycle. That definitely qualifies as a "cohort." It also does not include kids who went to private schools, moved IB for J-R or a suburban school, but were also high achievers.

If you look at PARCC scores for that same year, 16% of students at the school scored a 4 or 5 on the PARCC for math, 41% for ELA. The math scores are concerning so I'd look at your individual kid and consider some kind of supplementing (still cheaper than private for MS), but those ELA scores are pretty strong and indicate a high achieving cohort for sure.

If I were a Ward 4/5/7/8 family that got locked out of Latin/BASIS and didn't want to move or pay for private, I would absolutely be adding the SH feeders as a backup. L-T is unlikely at this point, but JOW and Watkins are not. It's certainly strong enough to be a backup (and is the backup for many Ward 6 families who might prefer Latin or BASIS but will accept SH as the guaranteed alternative, which is how SH built up that cohort of strong students to begin with -- many simply didn't get lucky in the lottery for charters and the parents decided to give SH a shot rather than move).

You are in the bubble of low standards in DC.

4 is NOT high achieving. It is just on grade level.