1st Grade at Seaton for an advanced reader
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Anonymous
Shaw MS is probabaly the best shot at a truly integrated neighborhood middle school. It should be a priority. |
Anonymous
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What schools would feed Shaw MS? Cleveland, Garrison, Ross, Seaton, and Thomson, according to https://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Final%20Recommendations%20on%20Student%20Assignment%208-18-14.pdf
SWW would go to "Columbia Heights MS" (I have no idea what that is) with Tubman, Marie Reed, and Cooke, then all of the Shaw and Columbia Heights MS kids would go to Cardozo. So if you'd send your kid to a Shaw MS, there's no reason not to support combining the current SWW feeders and the current Cardozo feeders at Cardozo, and enlarging the elementary grades at Francis-Stevens to create even more kids feeding into Cardozo. |
Anonymous
Look at Brookland. They built a fancy new school and gave it a principal with experience catering to high-income people. And it still didn't attract them. Why would you think DCPS would want to try again in Shaw--and if they did, why wouldn't you expect parents would be saying all the same things they say now about Brookland Middle? Most rich parents want to send their kids to school with other rich kids. But in DCPS, 4 out of 5 middle schoolers are poor. So DCPS can't just magically make a school be full of rich kids to satisfy rich parents, and they have no desire to do so anyway. |
Anonymous
Another to watch is MacFarland. It's open with just dual-language program students now, but will open the rest next year. I'm confident it will remain a solidly Title 1 school. "Rich" kids parents are risk averse. Look how long it's taken Hardy to become a school that IB parents look forward to, and it has far stronger feeder schools than Cardozo / Shaw Middle. |
Anonymous
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Eastern is a similarly cautionary tale.
Rich Capitol Hill parents said the school was in bad condition. So DCPS renovated it. They said they wanted rigor, and the school offers a full IB program. They said they wanted extracurriculars and there are lots of clubs and sports. Now parents say "there isn't a cohort of high-performing kids" and "the IB scores are lower than in the Montgomery County magnets." A lot of rich people in DC got that way by being risk-averse. They are lawyers, compliance people, accountants--paid to notice problems and guide their bosses to the safer path. They are not inclined to try out a school where their kid will stand out. If DCPS did open Shaw it's not going to be a panacea where all of a sudden every rich family in PK3 at Seaton is going to stay through MS. And even if they did, plenty of poor families would stay too, and that is what's intolerable to a lot of DCPS parents. |
Anonymous
Well, Eastern still doesn't offer "rigor". The letters I and B do not change the fact that ONE PERCENT of the students are on grade level in math. ONE PERCENT. There isn't a cohort of high-performing kids and there isn't a cohort of adequately-performing kids either. A person doesn't have to be risk averse to want a school where more than one percent of the kids are on grade level. The idea was that DCPS would apply the lessons learned from Eastern and Brookland, and take a different approach with re-designing Shaw Middle in a way that feeder school parents would be optimistic about. But as PP said, it's now evident that DCPS was lying the whole time about that plan and it was merely a pretext to keep the building. |
Anonymous
The thing is, there is NO incentive for families to send their kid to Shaw MS or Cardozo Education Campus if they are happy with their current feeder going into Francis Stevens. The only people that would benefit from combining the feeders are kids from Garrison and Seaton (Cleveland can go to MacFarland) because they would get a stronger cohort from the kids at Ross and Thomson. Meanwhile, the kids from Ross and Thomson will have a weaker cohort if the feeders combine. As it currently stands, all the schools feeding into Francis Stevens is pretty strong. Why would Ross and Thomson families buy into that? |
Anonymous
This conversation started with the OP asking what *Seaton* families were doing to improve Cardozo middle school. Getting F-S feeder schools to go there seems like a pretty clear way to raise Cardozo's test scores and IB percentage. And only the dual-language kids at Cleveland can go to Macfarland. |
Anonymous
PP, get a clue. They will never be able to force FS feeders to accept Cardozo. It will never, ever, ever work. That is why they are not going to try it. It will not work. |
Anonymous
. Let’s be real. How many Ross students are happily going to Francis-Stevens? And frankly, there was a time that no one went to Deal either. These things can change. |
Anonymous
Things can change, but only if there is an effort to change them. Is there any effort whatsoever underway to improve Cardozo EC? Nope! |
Anonymous
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In case the OP is still reading for answers to the original question:
Our first-grader is at Seaton, has been there since PK3, and is an advanced reader. We've been very happy with the efforts his teachers have made to keep building his skills. At the beginning of the school year, teachers were coming up to him and remarking that they had heard about his reading skills, so it was clear that there had been discussions about him, following a reading assessment in K. A few weeks into the school year, he got into several charters off the wait list, but we declined the spots. In discussing one of the charter options with the Seaton principal (we were really torn and just wanted to get her perspective) we noted that he loves Seaton but we wanted to be sure that he'd have a curriculum that fits his needs as he moves through elementary. She was very gracious and encouraged us to choose what we thought was the best fit. When we opted to stay, the teacher team developed a plan for him, which includes participating in a daily 4th-grade reading group with homework, reading aloud to a PK class, and tutoring a PK early reader. He loves it. I understand this is not the model you're looking for, and you have concerns about what is developmentally appropriate. I would encourage you to talk with the faculty at Seaton directly to learn more about how they might handle your child's situation, and look at the reading materials they use at different levels. For our child, going to a reading group with older kids and reading to younger kids are special activities that increase his pleasure in reading. We haven't had any concerns with his exposure to "big kids", and I actually think it's good for him since he's the older child in our family. The older cohorts at Seaton, in my observation, are kind and polite. Many of them have multiple siblings, and are used to mixed age groups for playing, watching out for one another, etc. The school, in general, has a peaceful, warm vibe. |
Anonymous
PP, thank you for your helpful input. It sounds like your son is getting a great opportunity at Seaton. This year, we were feeling like DC's attention span and behavior were not really up to the challenge  but next year could definitely be different. I'm still hoping for a charter where we can be set through middle or high school, but it seems like Seaton is a good option if not.
Is your DS the only advanced reader, or are there others? |
Anonymous
This is awesome information. Thanks for taking the time to share. |
Anonymous
This is wonderful information, thank you so much. Our son is in Pre-K 3 at Seaton right now and we are really trying to figure out what our kid's education will look like if we stay for the duration, and we constantly agonize about whether or not to try and lottery or move to a different DCPS zone. Our son is reading now and is a math/science-inclined person, and I want to make sure he is engaged over the years. I love that the teachers were able to work with your child to create a plan. The peaceful environment at Seaton and the strong teachers are so appealing, and I'm always looking for reasons to stay--this gives me a lot of hope! |