5th grade -Capitol Hill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're one of the families leaving for 5th grade at a charter- but it's primarily to avoid 5th grade at our current elementary, not Stuart Hobson. We've heard good things from parents there, where they have honors classes, but the academics have been declining with each grade, and even parents who love SH say 5th grade was something they had to tolerate to get to SH. We might come back for 6th, but if our child is happy at the charter, we probably won't. So that's one of the barriers to attracting in boundary families to SH.

+1000 we didn’t lottery out to avoid SH but our elementary- 4th grade was a disaster and have no hope for 5th with our current leadership

Which school is this?

Not the pp, but we fled Watkins under similar circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS doesn't need a 'middle school plan.'

It offers good middle school academics and programming at all of its schools. Parents need to get over their fear and enroll.

this^^

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS doesn't need a 'middle school plan.'

It offers good middle school academics and programming at all of its schools. Parents need to get over their fear and enroll.

Tee hee!

There are more public MIDDLE school students in charters than in DCPS traditional schools. The Mayor was surprisingly frank about admitting that DCPS "doesn't do middle school as well as charters" and this was in addition to her "Deal for All!" platform. So far, Deal is the size of a small town and growing.

Hill families choose (in no particular order): Latin, DCI, Basis, Hardy, private, (not Stuart Hobson, because that's Ward 9) 2 Rivers, Cap City, and parochial.

the Mayor is clueless about schools and school quality, DCPS and charter alike. That anyone would take a pandering campaign line as gospel is just absurd

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will DCPS final tackle it’s middle school problem? So many Hill families are leaving their elementary schools for Latin and Basis in 5th grade, the ones that stay are sort of the left behinds, and the kids are now old enough to get that they didn’t win the lottery. All because there isn’t a middle school plan for DC. Is DCPS at all concerned about what this is doing to their middle schools?

Huh?

There is a pretty large cohort of Brent students headed to Jefferson this fall. Students from the Hill attend Stuart Hobson.

Before Latin and BASIS Hill students went OOB to Deal, Hardy and private school.

whats your definition of "large cohort" are they IB for Brent, upper middle class. its just not true

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS doesn't need a 'middle school plan.'

It offers good middle school academics and programming at all of its schools. Parents need to get over their fear and enroll.

this^^

no. Compared to the best middles in the burbs, they do NOT offer strong programming because there is not enough tracking. When they start real tracking and more advanced classes, more parents will enroll their kids

[Anonymous]

4th and 5th grade are great at Brent. There is a group of upper middle class families going to JA in the Fall. I wouldn’t call it large though but great kids with committed families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will DCPS final tackle it’s middle school problem? So many Hill families are leaving their elementary schools for Latin and Basis in 5th grade, the ones that stay are sort of the left behinds, and the kids are now old enough to get that they didn’t win the lottery. All because there isn’t a middle school plan for DC. Is DCPS at all concerned about what this is doing to their middle schools?

Huh?

There is a pretty large cohort of Brent students headed to Jefferson this fall. Students from the Hill attend Stuart Hobson.

Before Latin and BASIS Hill students went OOB to Deal, Hardy and private school.

Give us a break, a dozen Brent students are heading to Jefferson this fall, if that (parents who get off the Washington Latin or BASIS waitlists over the summer are unlikely to feel solidarity bound).

It's hardly a "large cohort," especially when considering that almost half the 4th graders never made it to 5th grade at Brent. This coming fall, 2/3 of the 4th graders won't be returning to the school, little better than two or three years ago.

Let's not pretend that "barely half" (it was actually close to 2/3s of the 4th grade class) going to Brent this past 5th grade was not a positive change. Next year it will be smaller (although that class has been smaller for the past few years). Should be interesting to see what happens with the larger classes that are coming up. Seems like lottery luck still plays a big part.

And considering the past cohorts from Brent have been under 5, 15 or so is a pretty big change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will DCPS final tackle it’s middle school problem? So many Hill families are leaving their elementary schools for Latin and Basis in 5th grade, the ones that stay are sort of the left behinds, and the kids are now old enough to get that they didn’t win the lottery. All because there isn’t a middle school plan for DC. Is DCPS at all concerned about what this is doing to their middle schools?

1) We do need a middle school plan but I'd happily send my child to Stuart-Hobson. The other middle schools need a lot more TLC than they're getting.

2) Consider that Latin and BASIS are providing high school as well and that may be the real issue.

3) I don't know when they'll tackle it. Do you have a plan for some activism that you would like to share?

It's interesting to see the parents for whom 10% white seems to be a threshold and they feel good about SH but not Jefferson. The schools have pretty equal math scores, with JA outperforming SH with several subgroups, including 6th graders. At SH, only about a third of the NON economically disadvantaged kids are on grade level in math. SH has a median growth percentile below the district average for math too. Clearly both schools have room to improve but it's not clear to me that one is substantially better than the other. Teachers are more likely to leave SH than JA.

I don’t disagree that there’s no racial element to the JA v SH debate, but I do genuinely think part of it is that JA isn’t on the Hill. Parents are Moreno inclined to give SH a chance because it’s convenient and in the part of the neighborhood they walk around. For a Brent kid that lives in the central “old” Hill — say near Seward Square? JA is nowhere near them or near anywhere they’d ever go or near anything they’d ever identify as their neighborhood.

Possibly, but there are lots of families who send their kids from the Brent area to BASIS and Latin and plenty of other schools at least as far away. Getting to Jefferson from Eastern Market involves taking the metro three stops and walking three blocks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will DCPS final tackle it’s middle school problem? So many Hill families are leaving their elementary schools for Latin and Basis in 5th grade, the ones that stay are sort of the left behinds, and the kids are now old enough to get that they didn’t win the lottery. All because there isn’t a middle school plan for DC. Is DCPS at all concerned about what this is doing to their middle schools?

1) We do need a middle school plan but I'd happily send my child to Stuart-Hobson. The other middle schools need a lot more TLC than they're getting.

2) Consider that Latin and BASIS are providing high school as well and that may be the real issue.

3) I don't know when they'll tackle it. Do you have a plan for some activism that you would like to share?

It's interesting to see the parents for whom 10% white seems to be a threshold and they feel good about SH but not Jefferson. The schools have pretty equal math scores, with JA outperforming SH with several subgroups, including 6th graders. At SH, only about a third of the NON economically disadvantaged kids are on grade level in math. SH has a median growth percentile below the district average for math too. Clearly both schools have room to improve but it's not clear to me that one is substantially better than the other. Teachers are more likely to leave SH than JA.

I don’t disagree that there’s no racial element to the JA v SH debate, but I do genuinely think part of it is that JA isn’t on the Hill. Parents are Moreno inclined to give SH a chance because it’s convenient and in the part of the neighborhood they walk around. For a Brent kid that lives in the central “old” Hill — say near Seward Square? JA is nowhere near them or near anywhere they’d ever go or near anything they’d ever identify as their neighborhood.

Possibly, but there are lots of families who send their kids from the Brent area to BASIS and Latin and plenty of other schools at least as far away. Getting to Jefferson from Eastern Market involves taking the metro three stops and walking three blocks.

And starting next week the Circulator will run straight there from Eastern Market, every 10 minutes 6am-9pm

[Anonymous]

We are a year away from the possible 5th grade move to middle, but I at this point I can't imagine putting my kid on a city bus every day to get to/from school. I would personally be able to swing the drive, but is it out of the question for DC to provide school busses? I think our kids deserve that. They are exposed to A LOT on mass transit, not to mention the safety issues of not being guaranteed a seat, etc. Especially in situations like Brent where the IB elementary and IB middle schools are so far apart. Not to offer school busses for the DCPS kids is really unacceptable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will DCPS final tackle it’s middle school problem? So many Hill families are leaving their elementary schools for Latin and Basis in 5th grade, the ones that stay are sort of the left behinds, and the kids are now old enough to get that they didn’t win the lottery. All because there isn’t a middle school plan for DC. Is DCPS at all concerned about what this is doing to their middle schools?

1) We do need a middle school plan but I'd happily send my child to Stuart-Hobson. The other middle schools need a lot more TLC than they're getting.

2) Consider that Latin and BASIS are providing high school as well and that may be the real issue.

3) I don't know when they'll tackle it. Do you have a plan for some activism that you would like to share?

It's interesting to see the parents for whom 10% white seems to be a threshold and they feel good about SH but not Jefferson. The schools have pretty equal math scores, with JA outperforming SH with several subgroups, including 6th graders. At SH, only about a third of the NON economically disadvantaged kids are on grade level in math. SH has a median growth percentile below the district average for math too. Clearly both schools have room to improve but it's not clear to me that one is substantially better than the other. Teachers are more likely to leave SH than JA.

I don’t disagree that there’s no racial element to the JA v SH debate, but I do genuinely think part of it is that JA isn’t on the Hill. Parents are Moreno inclined to give SH a chance because it’s convenient and in the part of the neighborhood they walk around. For a Brent kid that lives in the central “old” Hill — say near Seward Square? JA is nowhere near them or near anywhere they’d ever go or near anything they’d ever identify as their neighborhood.

Possibly, but there are lots of families who send their kids from the Brent area to BASIS and Latin and plenty of other schools at least as far away. Getting to Jefferson from Eastern Market involves taking the metro three stops and walking three blocks.

Oh, sure... but the point is that once you're shopping for inconvenient schools that you feel no attachment to, you go with the best one. If I'm dragging my kid all over the city, I'm dragging them to Latin or Basis... not mediocre JA. I might give SH a chance because it's convenient and feels like a neighborhood school, but why would I give JA a chance over Basis or Latin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will DCPS final tackle it’s middle school problem? So many Hill families are leaving their elementary schools for Latin and Basis in 5th grade, the ones that stay are sort of the left behinds, and the kids are now old enough to get that they didn’t win the lottery. All because there isn’t a middle school plan for DC. Is DCPS at all concerned about what this is doing to their middle schools?

1) We do need a middle school plan but I'd happily send my child to Stuart-Hobson. The other middle schools need a lot more TLC than they're getting.

2) Consider that Latin and BASIS are providing high school as well and that may be the real issue.

3) I don't know when they'll tackle it. Do you have a plan for some activism that you would like to share?

It's interesting to see the parents for whom 10% white seems to be a threshold and they feel good about SH but not Jefferson. The schools have pretty equal math scores, with JA outperforming SH with several subgroups, including 6th graders. At SH, only about a third of the NON economically disadvantaged kids are on grade level in math. SH has a median growth percentile below the district average for math too. Clearly both schools have room to improve but it's not clear to me that one is substantially better than the other. Teachers are more likely to leave SH than JA.

Precisely.
I don’t disagree that there’s no racial element to the JA v SH debate, but I do genuinely think part of it is that JA isn’t on the Hill. Parents are Moreno inclined to give SH a chance because it’s convenient and in the part of the neighborhood they walk around. For a Brent kid that lives in the central “old” Hill — say near Seward Square? JA is nowhere near them or near anywhere they’d ever go or near anything they’d ever identify as their neighborhood.

Possibly, but there are lots of families who send their kids from the Brent area to BASIS and Latin and plenty of other schools at least as far away. Getting to Jefferson from Eastern Market involves taking the metro three stops and walking three blocks.

Oh, sure... but the point is that once you're shopping for inconvenient schools that you feel no attachment to, you go with the best one. If I'm dragging my kid all over the city, I'm dragging them to Latin or Basis... not mediocre JA. I might give SH a chance because it's convenient and feels like a neighborhood school, but why would I give JA a chance over Basis or Latin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will DCPS final tackle it’s middle school problem? So many Hill families are leaving their elementary schools for Latin and Basis in 5th grade, the ones that stay are sort of the left behinds, and the kids are now old enough to get that they didn’t win the lottery. All because there isn’t a middle school plan for DC. Is DCPS at all concerned about what this is doing to their middle schools?

1) We do need a middle school plan but I'd happily send my child to Stuart-Hobson. The other middle schools need a lot more TLC than they're getting.

2) Consider that Latin and BASIS are providing high school as well and that may be the real issue.

3) I don't know when they'll tackle it. Do you have a plan for some activism that you would like to share?

It's interesting to see the parents for whom 10% white seems to be a threshold and they feel good about SH but not Jefferson. The schools have pretty equal math scores, with JA outperforming SH with several subgroups, including 6th graders. At SH, only about a third of the NON economically disadvantaged kids are on grade level in math. SH has a median growth percentile below the district average for math too. Clearly both schools have room to improve but it's not clear to me that one is substantially better than the other. Teachers are more likely to leave SH than JA.

Precisely.
I don’t disagree that there’s no racial element to the JA v SH debate, but I do genuinely think part of it is that JA isn’t on the Hill. Parents are Moreno inclined to give SH a chance because it’s convenient and in the part of the neighborhood they walk around. For a Brent kid that lives in the central “old” Hill — say near Seward Square? JA is nowhere near them or near anywhere they’d ever go or near anything they’d ever identify as their neighborhood.

Possibly, but there are lots of families who send their kids from the Brent area to BASIS and Latin and plenty of other schools at least as far away. Getting to Jefferson from Eastern Market involves taking the metro three stops and walking three blocks.

Oh, sure... but the point is that once you're shopping for inconvenient schools that you feel no attachment to, you go with the best one. If I'm dragging my kid all over the city, I'm dragging them to Latin or Basis... not mediocre JA. I might give SH a chance because it's convenient and feels like a neighborhood school, but why would I give JA a chance over Basis or Latin?

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are a year away from the possible 5th grade move to middle, but I at this point I can't imagine putting my kid on a city bus every day to get to/from school. I would personally be able to swing the drive, but is it out of the question for DC to provide school busses? I think our kids deserve that. They are exposed to A LOT on mass transit, not to mention the safety issues of not being guaranteed a seat, etc. Especially in situations like Brent where the IB elementary and IB middle schools are so far apart. Not to offer school busses for the DCPS kids is really unacceptable.

How do you think kids got to school EVERY day across DC? When Rhee closed all of the schools were you banging on the table wondering how these kids will get to school each day? But your precious child who lives on Cap Hill deserves a school bus? Look around and see how the rest of DC lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:4th and 5th grade are great at Brent. There is a group of upper middle class families going to JA in the Fall. I wouldn’t call it large though but great kids with committed families.

I really really hate to be pessimistic because this is real progress. But the proof will be if these families choose to STAY at JA after one year of PARCC test prep.