Thomson Elementary

[Anonymous]

I work in the building directly behind Thomson and in simply observing every day it seems like a really nice school. Mainly Latino and Asian as far as I can tell. It's nice how staff members come out every morning to greet the children and Shepherd them into school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't say Thomson is a struggling school. It is classified as rising and has great scores considering the number of ELL students.

I was looking at Thomson closely as an option for my DS. If you look at the breakdown based on race, there is a large gap between the Asian students and the non-Asian students, particularly Hispanic. This tells me that the school doesn't have anything to do with the great schools. The school's being carried by the Asian kids.

What do you mean the school is being carried by the Asian kids? They only make up about 20% of the population. Check your data in dcps school profiles! The school has been given the label of a reward school not because the Asian kids are carrying the school, but due tot he hard work of all the staff, students, and parents involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't say Thomson is a struggling school. It is classified as rising and has great scores considering the number of ELL students.

I was looking at Thomson closely as an option for my DS. If you look at the breakdown based on race, there is a large gap between the Asian students and the non-Asian students, particularly Hispanic. This tells me that the school doesn't have anything to do with the great schools. The school's being carried by the Asian kids.

What do you mean the school is being carried by the Asian kids? They only make up about 20% of the population. Check your data in dcps school profiles! The school has been given the label of a reward school not because the Asian kids are carrying the school, but due tot he hard work of all the staff, students, and parents involved.

The overall DC-CAS scores are impressive. 71% proficient in math and 60% proficient reading for 2014. But when you break down by race, a different picture emerges. 88% of the Asian kids were proficient in 2013, 58% of Hispanic kids were proficient, and 59% of AA students were proficient in 2013. Not sure why but LearnDC doesn't have 2014 data for the Asian kids or AA kids. For reading, 67% of Asian kids 48% of Hispanic kids, and 53% of AA were proficient in 2013. Again, LearnDC doesn't have 2014 for Asians or AA.

[Anonymous]

Those are still good numbers for a school with a high farms rate. I wouldn't have an issue sending my kid there.

[Anonymous]

This looks like a pretty good school!

[Anonymous]

Those are still good numbers for a school with a high farms rate. I wouldn't have an issue sending my kid there.

It's got a huge waitlist. I think we're still in the 70s for PK3 (not inbounds).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Those are still good numbers for a school with a high farms rate. I wouldn't have an issue sending my kid there.

It's got a huge waitlist. I think we're still in the 70s for PK3 (not inbounds).

It's a tiny school with many sibs. I spoke to the principal before and she said they rarely get passed 30 on the waitlist.

[Anonymous]

Thomson parent, here.

Thomson was our third choice in the PK3 lottery last year and will be our first choice this year.

I was sold after the first four weeks. By the end of September, we were delighted by how our daughter's social skills began to tangibly blossom, and we were just so surprised to see her suddenly start writing her name (!) on things and to witness the evolution of her drawings from scribbles to recognizable objects and people. The classroom "center" approach seems conducive to differentiation by ability, so that each student can learn at their own pace. Her teacher is very experienced and a good communicator -- so far, we really like her.

Admittedly, parent and after school events tend to be a little chaotic. Lots of translation, confusion, noise. I wonder whether this calms down later in the school year. The PTA is still in its nascent stages of development.

In addition to the open houses, I think the school's Twitter feed is a good introduction to what the school is all about...

[Anonymous]

Just noticed that the school is classified Reward now (not Rising). Could anyone comment? How does the lack of a playground affect the kids, especially the younger ones?

[Anonymous]

I wonder what will happen to all the Chinese kids when Museum Square is knocked down? That is where many of the kids come from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cantonese is different from Mandarin, but uses the same characters. Part of the reason DCPS does Mandarin is because it gets supports from the Chinese embassy for Mandarin. All schools in DCPS that teach Chinese, teach Mandarin.

Cantonese speakers in this country generally use traditional characters, not mainland simplified. Most Cantonese speakers living downtown hit the road for MoCo when their kids reach 2nd or 3rd grade. We meet them at the Cantonese weekend school our kids attend in Rockville. MoCo carefully transitions bilingual kids from Cantonese to Mandarin in public school language classes, which isn't done in DC public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cantonese is different from Mandarin, but uses the same characters. Part of the reason DCPS does Mandarin is because it gets supports from the Chinese embassy for Mandarin. All schools in DCPS that teach Chinese, teach Mandarin.

Cantonese speakers in this country generally use traditional characters, not mainland simplified. Most Cantonese speakers living downtown hit the road for MoCo when their kids reach 2nd or 3rd grade. We meet them at the Cantonese weekend school our kids attend in Rockville. MoCo carefully transitions bilingual kids from Cantonese to Mandarin in public school language classes, which isn't done in DC public schools.

How many Cantonese speakers are there in DCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

How many Cantonese speakers are there in DCPS?

DCPS and OSSE are covered entities under the DC Language Access Act, and are required to do Biennial Language Access Plans (BLAPs). But I could not find either online. They should be able to provide them to you. According to http://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ohr/publication/attachments/LA%20Coordinator%20Directory_12-9-14.pdf, DCPS's language access coordinator, who is in charge of BLAPs, is

Elba Garcia
Office of Bilingual Education Director
[e-mail]
office: [phone]
Desk: [phone]

And OSSE's is
Tanya Mackall
Management Analyst
[e-mail]
[phone]

If they can't get you this information, you should be able to contact the Office of Human Rights, which administers the Act.

Census data also might be able to tell you how many Cantonese speakers there are in DC and break it down by age, but that focuses on who speaks it as a primary language, and doesn't say how many attend DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Did anyone attend yesterday's open house? Please share your thoughts.

[Anonymous]

Bump