OP Here.. Any reasoning on why? Also the replies here have been SUPER helpful..so thank you again! Thus far were looking closely at Chisolm, ITS, MV8, YuYing, Barnard, Stokes, SWS, Lamb if we want to make the commute (know alot of families there who rave about it), ludlow, peabody |
Because it's a good school and gets you to 8th, with a decent track record of selective high school admissions. If you have more than one kid, it keeps them in one location and on one calendar together, which is so nice. |
ITDS is very small and you should go in middle school knowing very limited curriculum offerings, EC, and sports. |
I think it works for some kids and not others, same as Montessori or immersion. No school is going to be all things to all kids. |
+1, I don't get that comment. We have a kid in upper grades at L-T and are very happy with both academics and EC opportunities. There is angst among *parents* in the upper grades over MS and HS. But that's true at any Hill elementary. There is no easy or obvious MS/HS path on the Hill if you value academics. There are options, but it's complicated. That's the case at L-T, Brent, Maury, Payne, SWS, CHML, Two Rivers, you name it. But I do think parents at elementaries that feed to S-H tend to be a smidge less stressed (but only a smidge, it's still not most parents' dream school and it doesn't solve the HS issue). |
Ludlow has a 5th grade with a lot of academic high performers this year and AFAIK they're all headed for SH except 1 interviewing for privates. It's totally possible I'm not privy to every kid's plans, but I certainly get the sense that many/most families are comfortable giving SH a try. |
SWS academics are weaker than the weakest immersion with zero language benefit. I know our immersion school isn’t perfect but we were thrilled to leave sws. Weird patronizing not very smart principal combined with bizarre parent culture (don’t get me started on the “prom”) combined with poor academics and aggressive parents pushing misinformation that they’re kids are “so advanced?” No thanks. My guess is that principal pushes dcps middle schools because he knows SWS kids will struggle anywhere else. |
Yeah that’s what everyone told us about except they all enrolled in charters or moved. |
There are no charters worth moving to post-5th unless you happen to luck into DCI or have a very specific type of child (ITDS). Ludlow has had an increasing trend of kids staying for 5th (partially just a result of the lottery getting harder for sure) and of kids from 5th heading to SH. I think the trend would have accelerated faster if not for Latin Cooper opening and the year where kids could get into it for 6th. In the current jobs and interest rate climate, I think a much smaller chunk of families is positioned to move or pay for private than even a few years ago. |
Lots of people left DC this year. I bet there will be 6th grade spots for Latin. Latin >>>>> any dcps middle sorry. |
Another Ludlow parent here and this tracks with our experience as well. Pretty much all of the families with high performing 5th graders this year tried to lottery for Latin and BASIS. But they didn't get a spot (or in a few cases, didn't get a spot at Latin and ultimately decided BASIS was not a good fit for that particular kid/family), stayed at L-T, and are pretty happy with S-H as their backup. I expect we'll see more families in this same situation each year moving forward, as it's nearly impossible to get into Latin many years (it can depend on how many siblings are entering in 5th) and BASIS is great for some but not others (and is also far from a guaranteed admit). Moving sucks and few people want to buy or sell right now. Some will, but most won't. People also often start to get more comfy with S-H as their kid enters 5th, because they know kids who are actually there, go see the musical, attend open houses, etc. It becomes a real place and it turns out it's better than they originally thought, with the added benefit of being just up the road. |
You are very wrong about Latin being likely to have many 6th grade spots. If you mean there might be 1-3 for the whole city, well, sure… |
Did not mean that as a knock on Latin. I just anecdotally know many people that are moving from dc there. |
The only benefit is the location. Personally we were ready to move to Maryland if we didn’t get a charter spot. The only people I know who were happy to go to SH were those who didn’t prioritize strong academics and really cared about not having their kid take public transportation. Which I understand of course. |
DP, but do they all have current 5th graders? More likely they are sprinkled throughout the grades. Last year Latin made 8 total offers by October across both campuses (excluding equitable access, if you qualify for that your approach will be different). And that was likely for only 2-3 spots total, as most of those offers were made after school started when families have generally figured out another solution they are happy with (or have already paid nonrefundable private school tuition). So even if that magically doubled next year, which I think is unlikely, you're talking about *maybe* 4 or 5 spots for a waitlist of around 300. No one's plan should involve getting into Latin for 6th. That's a total shot in the dark. |