Not Ward 3 - What changes are you looking for so that you would want to attend local school
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Anonymous
I like it! Do you have any interest in being DME under Catania or Bowser? 
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Anonymous
None of the above applies to hardy. Kids can access lockers in case of need. Kids of the same class age have lunch together (regardless of sex!). This is what you told the hardy Principal (i.e. this is what you think). You did not tell us what she said. |
Anonymous
Same. Chose our charter over private school for the immersion language. |
Anonymous
Ward 5 has charters that meet this criteria. Unfortunately, it's all luck to get in. |
Anonymous
Please read again my message (above) if you are truly interested in the topic of this thread. Not only did I state what we want, but also said measure that parents of proficient students in Ward 8 have identified are requested since so many years... For political reasons, and against good sense and teaching/learning basic principles, DCPS has never supported or introduced the measures I mentioned a) & b). Teachers are often intimidated by parents (and sometimes kids in HS) and just let them move to next grade level to avoid confrontation. DCPS introduced DC-CAS but has never enforced the common sense principle that all kids "below basic" in, let's say English and Math, should not move up to the next grade. Decision is delegated to teachers and Principals, who have little incentives to get kids to repeat the school year (they do not want to confront the parents; they do not want to keep in the school for more than the due years the lower performing kids -- who are often disruptive too) . DCPS should get rid of political conditioning and take a stand on this matter: "Below basic" students (in Math & English) should not be allowed to move up to the next grade. Since they are instead allowed to move up, in schools like Kramer where the "Below basic" are about 25% of the student population, the consequence is only one: the following year class will teach below grade level. The good and proficient students are unprotected in our schools. "Below basic" are allowed to progress to the next level. At the same time, honor advanced separate classes for proficient/advanced students are not introduced... Hope this helps to understand what we (my partner and I; the parents of proficient kids from my neighborhood) think: we either want DCPS to take a stand against the malpractice of allowing "Below basic" students to progress; or we want advanced/honor separate classes for our proficient kids. |
Anonymous
| I wanna say again that Mr Simmons, Kramer Principal, is an outstanding Principal. |
Anonymous
I asked once in person and once by email. She avoided answering the question in person and didn't respond when I asked again by email. |
Anonymous
If below basic kids aren't passed, it eventually affects the graduation rate and DPS cares more about appearances than about educating children -- that was obvious in the cheating scandal. DCPS is obviously doing a poor job of educating students wherever they fall along the proficiency scale. they deny the importance of the role of parents, but somehow only manage to educate the children of parents engaged in their kids education. |
Anonymous
Odd. Maybe she had reasons to let you out... She was very frank and precise with me and other IB parents when we asked this question. She told us that she needs 15 advanced kids to fulfill an advanced class in English & Math. She already had the number this year, though she said 2-3 kids needed a boost at the beginning, and will have much more than 15 in sixth grade next year. If you are IB, you are still on time to come on board for next year sixth grade! And if you are a real IB mom interested in Hardy, just ask Principal Pride to get you in contact with the forthcoming 6th grade IB parents , she ll give you one if our reference so we can get to talk. IB Hardy mom ( from next year) |
Anonymous
You know I don't think DCPS dismisses parents and I don't think they are all about appearances, lots of pressure yes, but not everyone is a cynical manipulator out there. That said, they have to work with what they have and many parents for many reasons can't contribute enough to their child's educational needs. Given that is a reality for a certain cohort other strategies need to be employed. However, my feeling in DC is that there is a bubble group of kids quite smart and capable of doing more rigorous work that do not because there is so much focus on the cohort in crisis. There are tremendous demands placed on both the school administration and teachers in these circumstances. This is why I like Cantania's focus on redirecting needs. That said ideally there would be smaller number of these type of schools in crisis and more where there is solid performance. Yes it is lovely to have a schools scoring at 90% on test like the DC Cas, but you have to wonder if they are teaching that or parents are providing that through extras. If DC had more solid 75% schools we would not have this boundary crisis because many of us would quit driving across town and help build these type of schools. The problem is that we have a few 80-90 % schools and a lot of 30% and below schools. |
Anonymous
... and bilingual. NP here. |
Anonymous
Even if every white kid in the city went to public schools this would only be possible at maybe a handful of schools. Just pure numbers work against that possibility. Why does having 50% white kids matter? I would like a plurality, but I can't imagine saying that would be a minimum given the city I liven in and the fundamental reality of this country becoming a majority minority country. |
Anonymous
The vast majority of DCUM end up with a school that works for their kids - at each grade level - because when the school doesn't work for them for one year they are gone the next. The schools that get less than stellar discussion here have mixed records and sometimes less than stellar test scores, but the performance of the children of DCUM parents tracks with the educational attainment and expectations of the DCUM parents. My kids did great, while others at the schools they attended, did not. Were the courses always challenging? No, of course not, but that is a feature of HS for smart kids. They got lots of AP credits, went to great colleges and are very successful young adults now. |
Anonymous
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1. over 50% proficiency. Ideally at least 25% advanced.
2. no parents or students swear, smoke, or hit on school property. |
Anonymous
You know I don't think DCPS dismisses parents and I don't think they are all about appearances, lots of pressure yes, but not everyone is a cynical manipulator out there. That said, they have to work with what they have and many parents for many reasons can't contribute enough to their child's educational needs. Given that is a reality for a certain cohort other strategies need to be employed. However, my feeling in DC is that there is a bubble group of kids quite smart and capable of doing more rigorous work that do not because there is so much focus on the cohort in crisis. There are tremendous demands placed on both the school administration and teachers in these circumstances. This is why I like Cantania's focus on redirecting needs. That said ideally there would be smaller number of these type of schools in crisis and more where there is solid performance. Yes it is lovely to have a schools scoring at 90% on test like the DC Cas, but you have to wonder if they are teaching that or parents are providing that through extras. If DC had more solid 75% schools we would not have this boundary crisis because many of us would quit driving across town and help build these type of schools. The problem is that we have a few 80-90 % schools and a lot of 30% and below schools. They may not all be cynical manipulators , but they sure haven't been able to really improve things since their initial bumbling "no excuses" effort. Maybe they realized it's beyond them and just gave up -- on all the kids -- not just the ones who really need help (which will take time and lots of expertise -- which they do not have). Meanwhile, kids with supportive parents do not receive the education they need either. Oh, They get it from their families, but not from the school system-- where they are treated more like movable little scoring machines. |