Rank Order the Best 3-5 DC Public Charters

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today: "Honey, on an annonymous listserv that is frequented by people with ample time on their hands and varied motives, LAMB came in with 12% of the vote! Guess we know where we're sending our darling!"

18 months from now: "well dear, we only got in to Sela. Guess we better jump on DCUM and talk it up :/"

People leave all of these schools in droves for "less" hot (in the subjective, striving, and/or myopic minds of the DCUM mob) charters, DCPS, and privates all of the time. LAMB packs up to 30 kids in a classroom - some thrive in this child-driven environment, others fail. Same at all of the mentioned schools. What of Bridges? What of Shining Stars? Appletree? Bethune is changing things up and Sela is doing well (put down the guns, haters). The assumption is that Stokes is a good school for everyone (it isn't) or that IT is challenging enough for all students (also nope). "Ranking" schools is BS. Everybody's snowflake is unique, folks!

I wonder, are you somehow related to the crazy Sela booster that Jeff already outed as a sock puppet and active manipulator of DCUM threads:
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/120/327724.page

Because it is quite clear that the problem here wasn't some "haters," but a Sela booster gone wild in her attempts to hide the fact that the principal resigned the first week of school.

In any case, why are we even talking about Sela, a promising but literally new school, when OP is asking about "best 3-5 DC public charters"?

True, OP didn't ask what we're the up and coming/nice alternative if you don't get off the wait list. She asked what were the top 3-5. Let her do the research as far as class size, challenging schools etc.

+1. Both the Sela mention and the "haters" innuendo were superfluous and not helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today: "Honey, on an annonymous listserv that is frequented by people with ample time on their hands and varied motives, LAMB came in with 12% of the vote! Guess we know where we're sending our darling!"

18 months from now: "well dear, we only got in to Sela. Guess we better jump on DCUM and talk it up :/"

People leave all of these schools in droves for "less" hot (in the subjective, striving, and/or myopic minds of the DCUM mob) charters, DCPS, and privates all of the time. LAMB packs up to 30 kids in a classroom - some thrive in this child-driven environment, others fail. Same at all of the mentioned schools. What of Bridges? What of Shining Stars? Appletree? Bethune is changing things up and Sela is doing well (put down the guns, haters). The assumption is that Stokes is a good school for everyone (it isn't) or that IT is challenging enough for all students (also nope). "Ranking" schools is BS. Everybody's snowflake is unique, folks!

I wonder, are you somehow related to the crazy Sela booster that Jeff already outed as a sock puppet and active manipulator of DCUM threads:
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/120/327724.page

Because it is quite clear that the problem here wasn't some "haters," but a Sela booster gone wild in her attempts to hide the fact that the principal resigned the first week of school.

In any case, why are we even talking about Sela, a promising but literally new school, when OP is asking about "best 3-5 DC public charters"?

True, OP didn't ask what we're the up and coming/nice alternative if you don't get off the wait list. She asked what were the top 3-5. Let her do the research as far as class size, challenging schools etc.

+1. Both the Sela mention and the "haters" innuendo were superfluous and not helpful.

Not the Sela poster, or a Sela parent, but I disagree that the mention was superfluous and not helpful. If it's okay to mention Appletree, Bridges, and Bethune, then there's no reason not to mention Sela just like any school that's too new (Bridges above PreK), too early childhood (Appletree) or too low-performing (Bethune) to be considered in the top 3-5.

If OP is interested in language schools, then it's one she should know about - if only because it's probably the easiest to get in to. After all, I haven't yet seen anyone point out to her that the schools that everyone agrees upon as Top Tier are very, very hard to luck into. It's a lottery, after all.

[Anonymous]

to the OP: you're not going to get into all five of the top charters (whatever they are) so you might as well just apply to all that seem strong and are do-able commute wise, and then you research more in depth the ones that you get into or have a high waitlist number.

FWIW, I applied to 10 charters and received admission, ultimately, to three: Appletree, Haynes and Bridges. For the rest (cap city, two rivers, lamb, mundo verde, inspired teaching, stokes, creative minds) my numbers were between 200 and 700. I was extremely lucky to get into a great couple of schools, but I had no illusions that I would be able to get into the top 5 or whatever. Of the six DCPS schools I applied to (West, Barnard, Powell, Cleveland, Marie Reed, Bancroft) all OOB without sibling, I got into Marie Reed last week.

[Anonymous]

I would also argue Shining Stars as an up-and-comer, if you are interested in Montessori. They had a sizable weight list this year. Ultimately, it will come down to the "match" for your kid - and I would encourage OP to do school tours to get a sense of the vibe when there are actually little ones engaged in learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPCB ranks the charter schools into tiers: http://www.dcpcsb.org/PerformanceTier.aspx.

You could start your search with tier one schools. However, you will likely find schools that interest you beyond the Tier One's-- especially the AppleTrees.

This is a great link. At first it didn't work because of the "." at the end. This one works:
http://www.dcpcsb.org/PerformanceTier.aspx

Tier 1 charter schools, by performance, are:

Achievement Preparatory Academy PCS Ward: 8
Capital City PCS - Lower School Ward: 4
Center City PCS - Brightwood Ward: 4
Center City PCS - Petworth Ward: 4
Cesar Chavez PCS - Chavez Prep Ward: 7
Community PCS - Butler Ward: 2
DC Prep PCS - Edgewood Middle Campus Ward: 5
E.L. Haynes PCS Ward: 1
Howard University PCMS Ward: 1
KIPP DC PCS - KEY Academy Ward: 7
KIPP-DC PCS - AIM Ward: 8
KIPP-DC PCS - WILL Ward: 2
KIPP-DCPCS: College Preparatory Ward: 8
Latin American Montessori Bilingual PCS (LAMB) Ward: 4
Paul PCS Ward: 4
SEED PCS - Middle School Ward: 7
The SEED Public Charter School of Washington DC Ward: 7
Thurgood Marshall Academy PCS Ward: 8
Two Rivers PCS - Elementary School Ward: 6
Washington Latin PCS - 16th St. Campus Ward: 4
Washington Latin PCS - 16th Street-High School Ward: 4
Washington Yu Ying PCS Ward: 5

[Anonymous]

CM!!!

[Anonymous]

There's basically a top 10 for popularity, assuming you want entering grades, not MS/HS. Haynes, LAMB, Two Rivers, Capital City, Mundo Verde, Creative Minds, Inspired Teaching, Yu Ying, Stokes, maybe a couple others due to your preferences. These do not always match the top 10 for scores and my belief about the reason why these high-scoring schools are unpopular here is that they are either remote from new parents who would post here or are overly focused on passing tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CM!!!

+1

[Anonymous]

Agreed with PP who said popularity vs. tier ranking is skewed. Some of the top schools in terms of popularity and reputation (such as Inspired Teaching or Creative Minds or Cap City) may not be Tier I because of statistical things or test scores while other Tier I schools (like DC Prep or Haynes) with great test scores are unpopular with middle class parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agreed with PP who said popularity vs. tier ranking is skewed. Some of the top schools in terms of popularity and reputation (such as Inspired Teaching or Creative Minds or Cap City) may not be Tier I because of statistical things or test scores while other Tier I schools (like DC Prep or Haynes) with great test scores are unpopular with middle class parents.

CM is too new to even have scores and some of the other programs are early childhood so they don't "tier"

[Anonymous]

Latin and BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed with PP who said popularity vs. tier ranking is skewed. Some of the top schools in terms of popularity and reputation (such as Inspired Teaching or Creative Minds or Cap City) may not be Tier I because of statistical things or test scores while other Tier I schools (like DC Prep or Haynes) with great test scores are unpopular with middle class parents.

CM is too new to even have scores and some of the other programs are early childhood so they don't "tier"

Same with MV and IT. This was IT's first official test year and not enough to earn a tier. The issue becomes that by the time a school is ranked tier 1, it's almost impossible to get in. You've got to take a risk in early (unproven) years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed with PP who said popularity vs. tier ranking is skewed. Some of the top schools in terms of popularity and reputation (such as Inspired Teaching or Creative Minds or Cap City) may not be Tier I because of statistical things or test scores while other Tier I schools (like DC Prep or Haynes) with great test scores are unpopular with middle class parents.

CM is too new to even have scores and some of the other programs are early childhood so they don't "tier"

Same with MV and IT. This was IT's first official test year and not enough to earn a tier. The issue becomes that by the time a school is ranked tier 1, it's almost impossible to get in. You've got to take a risk in early (unproven) years.

Maybe not even that, one of the articles said CM had almost 900 people on its waitlist and they don't even have testing info yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed with PP who said popularity vs. tier ranking is skewed. Some of the top schools in terms of popularity and reputation (such as Inspired Teaching or Creative Minds or Cap City) may not be Tier I because of statistical things or test scores while other Tier I schools (like DC Prep or Haynes) with great test scores are unpopular with middle class parents.

CM is too new to even have scores and some of the other programs are early childhood so they don't "tier"

Same with MV and IT. This was IT's first official test year and not enough to earn a tier. The issue becomes that by the time a school is ranked tier 1, it's almost impossible to get in. You've got to take a risk in early (unproven) years.

Maybe not even that, one of the articles said CM had almost 900 people on its waitlist and they don't even have testing info yet.

And, MV is over 1,000!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed with PP who said popularity vs. tier ranking is skewed. Some of the top schools in terms of popularity and reputation (such as Inspired Teaching or Creative Minds or Cap City) may not be Tier I because of statistical things or test scores while other Tier I schools (like DC Prep or Haynes) with great test scores are unpopular with middle class parents.

CM is too new to even have scores and some of the other programs are early childhood so they don't "tier"

Same with MV and IT. This was IT's first official test year and not enough to earn a tier. The issue becomes that by the time a school is ranked tier 1, it's almost impossible to get in. You've got to take a risk in early (unproven) years.

Maybe not even that, one of the articles said CM had almost 900 people on its waitlist and they don't even have testing info yet.

Yes same thing with IT and even Sela will have a similar look in 1-2 years. My point was the best chances of getting in are year 1. It used to be 3-4 years before a charter was "proven". Now that time period is 1-2 years. No complaints here, I think charters these days are like dating. You pretty much know within the first year