Moving to DC:Oyster/Eaton/Hyde/Stoddert/Murch?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Numbers for some NW ES according to the method mentioned before. Arranged from MOST diverse to LEAST diverse.

(In parentheses) is the in-boundary percentage for each school. This should help inform about the diversity of the neighborhood.

MOST DIVERSE
Eaton=.3052 (36%)
Hyde=.3691 (38%)
Hearst=.4091 (18%)
Mann=.4127 (86%)
Key=.4413 (84%)
Stoddert=.4463 (81%)
Murch=.4589 (66%)
Janney=.5268 (92%)
Lafayette=.5544 (85%)
LEAST DIVERSE

I don't see how Oyster isn't list as one of the most diverse schools in Ward 3 (if not the most diverse). You need to check your numbers.

The numbers are correct. Oyster was not computed. Oyster is in the middle of the pack:

Oyster=.4459.

(Oyster is as hispanic-latino as some of the other schools are white.)

Murch is not 66% IB.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for all the helpful information & opinions!

It's interesting that a few posters mentioned Hearst as just this morning I came across a listing for another house that I like (as with all the houses, we'll have to actually look at it before making an offer, obviously --we're planning on coming to DC for a house hunting trip next week) & it happens to zoned for Hearst. Judging by both the information available online about test scores & diversity & the opinions here, that looks like it could be a great option, as well. The only reason we haven't really looked into Janney, Lafayette & Mann at this point is because we haven't found any houses we like that fit our criteria ( # of bedrooms, proximity to a metro, etc.) that are zoned for those particular schools.

I guess the overriding opinion seems to be that all these schools (& the ones they feed into) are good choices both in terms of academics & diversity so we should just choose based on the housing options? Frankly, in terms of diversity, although both economic & racial diversity would be ideal, I'm slightly more concerned about the former, particularly at the middle & high school levels. The schools I attended growing up were extremely homogeneous in that pretty much everyone came from a wealthy family. Looking back, I don't think it was a particularly healthy environment in many ways so that's not something I really want for my own kids (hence the general preference for public vs. private schools).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Numbers for some NW ES according to the method mentioned before. Arranged from MOST diverse to LEAST diverse.

(In parentheses) is the in-boundary percentage for each school. This should help inform about the diversity of the neighborhood.

MOST DIVERSE
Eaton=.3052 (36%)
Hyde=.3691 (38%)
Hearst=.4091 (18%)
Mann=.4127 (86%)
Key=.4413 (84%)
Stoddert=.4463 (81%)
Murch=.4589 (66%)
Janney=.5268 (92%)
Lafayette=.5544 (85%)
LEAST DIVERSE

I don't see how Oyster isn't list as one of the most diverse schools in Ward 3 (if not the most diverse). You need to check your numbers.

The numbers are correct. Oyster was not computed. Oyster is in the middle of the pack:

Oyster=.4459.

(Oyster is as hispanic-latino as some of the other schools are white.)

Murch is not 66% IB.

I didn't think so either. But that's what it says here: http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Murch+Elementary+School.

This really surprises me, too, so let's just say that 66% is "provisional" for right now. It is sourced, so it's currently the best we've got, but it just doesn't look right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you care about middle school, go with Murch so that you can feed to deal. Hyde and Stoddert do not and Eaton may not.

Hearst feeds to deal and will continue to do so. Other than Murch which is right across the street from Deal and Janney Hearst is the next closest ES to Deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the helpful information & opinions!

It's interesting that a few posters mentioned Hearst as just this morning I came across a listing for another house that I like (as with all the houses, we'll have to actually look at it before making an offer, obviously --we're planning on coming to DC for a house hunting trip next week) & it happens to zoned for Hearst. Judging by both the information available online about test scores & diversity & the opinions here, that looks like it could be a great option, as well. The only reason we haven't really looked into Janney, Lafayette & Mann at this point is because we haven't found any houses we like that fit our criteria ( # of bedrooms, proximity to a metro, etc.) that are zoned for those particular schools.

I guess the overriding opinion seems to be that all these schools (& the ones they feed into) are good choices both in terms of academics & diversity so we should just choose based on the housing options? Frankly, in terms of diversity, although both economic & racial diversity would be ideal, I'm slightly more concerned about the former, particularly at the middle & high school levels. The schools I attended growing up were extremely homogeneous in that pretty much everyone came from a wealthy family. Looking back, I don't think it was a particularly healthy environment in many ways so that's not something I really want for my own kids (hence the general preference for public vs. private schools).

OP-- we are IB for Hearst and love it. Good luck with the house hunt!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I found that surprising. My guess, completely uninformed, is that these schools would be among the most diverse elementary schools in DCPS. It would be very entertaining to see the numbers across DC for the next time someone refers to Upper Caucasia. (Diversity for these people only means "not-white," which I find annoying.)

I pulled the racial compositions from the DCPS School Profiles (http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/).

Many schools are 1.0, so no diversity at all. Made me wonder what score the city population as a whole gets? From the census it looks like .4458 to me, although the double stats for whites and hispanic/latino was confusing. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/11000.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Numbers for some NW ES according to the method mentioned before. Arranged from MOST diverse to LEAST diverse.

(In parentheses) is the in-boundary percentage for each school. This should help inform about the diversity of the neighborhood.

MOST DIVERSE
Eaton=.3052 (36%)
Hyde=.3691 (38%)
Hearst=.4091 (18%)
Mann=.4127 (86%)
Key=.4413 (84%)
Stoddert=.4463 (81%)
Murch=.4589 (66%)
Janney=.5268 (92%)
Lafayette=.5544 (85%)
LEAST DIVERSE

I don't see how Oyster isn't list as one of the most diverse schools in Ward 3 (if not the most diverse). You need to check your numbers.

The numbers are correct. Oyster was not computed. Oyster is in the middle of the pack:

Oyster=.4459.

(Oyster is as hispanic-latino as some of the other schools are white.)

Murch is not 66% IB.

I didn't think so either. But that's what it says here: http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Murch+Elementary+School.

This really surprises me, too, so let's just say that 66% is "provisional" for right now. It is sourced, so it's currently the best we've got, but it just doesn't look right.

Murch was 86% IB this past year.

[Anonymous]

And Mann was 95% IB last year (check their website under enrollment)

[Anonymous]

Yeah, after I started knowing real numbers and comparing to DCPS posted numbers, I stopped believing DCPS posted numbers across the board. They're not all wrong, but ... if you really want to know about a school, you have to visit it and talk to people there.

[Anonymous]

We just bought in Eaton. Our kid won't be at the middle school level for 8 years, so honestly, it's just not something I could really figure in right now given there isn't even any certainty over what is happening with boundaries. The Eaton boundary gave us: a great elementary school, close to Metro, as close into the city as we could afford and still get a good school for elementary and fed into Wilson, which was much more of a factor for me than middle school, and the space we needed.

[Anonymous]

^^by then I bet Hardy will be as strong as Deal PP, congrats on your new house!

[Anonymous]

Your lack of Spanish will in no way inhibit your child's Spanish education (however, learning disabilities can cause issues with the extra burden of a second language). We love Oyster as much as life itself and cannot recommend it more highly. If you can afford an Oyster home, go for it. We initially came from OOB and it was a stroke of good luck that got us in, but we've never regretted it. Fabulous community, good academics, new and promising leadership, and great teachers... You can't go wrong.