Shepherd vs Eaton
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Anonymous
I think that 96% for white students on report card is the highest I’ve seen in DC. But do know the sample size is small so not sure how much weight to give it. Off hand, I’d say that score for black students is top 5-10 in DC also. |
Anonymous
True, I am measuring raw data. I assume by gender roles, that means that there is not a conscious attempt to avoid stereotypes and limits on what boys and girls should/should not do. Expectations that boys and girls will be or prefer certain things in play or academically. It can be subtle, but impactful. If my son shows up and wants to dress up for Halloween as nurse or my daughter wants to dress up as a firefighter, that should not be subject to ridicule or discussion. Or, if my son wants to play with the doll house, or my daughter wants to play with the race track, etc. |
Anonymous
Sorry, I understood what you meant. I guess I was asking for PP to share why they didn’t recommend Shepherd as it pertains to gender roles. |
Anonymous
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This is a stupid comparison. Both schools are great. Both are high performing. Both have good leadership. Both feed into great middle schools. (I'm in the Hardy > Deal camp; elder kid went to Deal, younger is at Hardy; but honestly the difference really doesn't matter.)
The only question that should matter - what is your/kids commute? (This matters for both elementary and possibly middle school. Both ES are "nearish" to metro lines, but not super close. Deal is near the Conn Ave bus lines, Hardy is on the Wisc Ave lines. Deal is semi-metro accessible. Hardy isnt. Are you near the red line - if so which branch?) |
Anonymous
I've heard one anecdote related to this -- keep in mind this is an experience shared with me, not a personal one for my family: a grade had a disproportionately larger percentage of boys than girls. Close to 75% if I remember correctly. Teachers sort of took a "boys will be boys" approach to it and sort of expected it to be high energy mayhem that was pretty disruptive for some learners. |
Anonymous
+1 I feel this way about both Shepherd and Banneker. This board always has white parents posting some version of "convince me this school is worthy of my kid" and then arguing that statistics that show it's actually better than their other options don't really reflect reality because ... their spidey sense tells them it's just not a good "fit." Okay! Go somewhere else. Eaton's a great school, there's nothing wrong with Hardy, and the thing that you just can't quite put your finger on won't bother you there. |
Anonymous
+100 |
Anonymous
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OP, my 2 non-Christian children have been very happy at Shepherd for the last 5 years. We actually left a WoTP school that our older child has lotteried into in order to attend Shepherd, and it was definitely the right choice. We love the kids, the community, and (most of) the teachers. Last week the school organized a very impressive family-oriented Black Lives Matter march, and it was a really wonderful event.
Regarding the "gender roles" issue a PP mentioned, my younger child is in a grade that is 75+% boys, and yes it can get rambunctious, but it has nothing to do with gender role expectations. A lot of the grade, including several of the girls, are high energy kids. As for the treats and snacks, yes there are a lot of treats given throughout the year. We eat relatively healthfully at home (and in the lunches I pack for my kids) but frankly, I don't care if they eat treats at school. They are children and they enjoy treats! So what? OP, if you don't feel that Shepherd is the right school for your child, by all means pass your spot along to someone who does. It's a really excellent school, and the waitlist far exceeds the available slots. |
Anonymous
(OP) Whoa there. I am, and my kids are, Black and proud. The schools my kids go to now are more diverse than Eaton. I love the fact that Shepherd is majority Black, and that is why it has been our first lottery choice for three years. That doesn't mean we don't want to weigh the options, keep an open mind about non-Shepherd schools, and consider other factors and feelings about the culture at both. Eaton is one of few "high performing" schools we considered, b/c has more Black and Latinx students than many WOTP schools. |
Anonymous
Do you have any boys? I would recommend Shepherd if you do--I don't know any other schools that have such a large cohort of high-achieving black boys in the DCPS system. No knock against Eaton, since they're pretty diverse also, but all things being equal I'd choose Shepherd for black boys. |
Anonymous
It seems like you are referring to Eaton as high performing but not Shepherd. Forgive me if you’re not. It’s clear, that Shepherd is a better performing school in every single category. So as another black mom, allow me to ask why you keep expressing reservations about Shepherd? You mentioned that you have to psych yourself up for Shepherd as opposed to Eaton. As a black parent, the first thing I look at is performance of black students at a particular school. As mentioned up thread, looking at raw scores does nothing for you as it’s apparent that demographics (income and race) can alter that. Eaton black students raw scores: Math 51% ELA 41% Eaton white Math 90% ELA 91% Shepherd Black Math 54% ELA 50% Shepherd White Math 94% ELA 94% Eaton is 50% white Shepherd is 17% Eaton’s larger white population is why you see the raw scores appearing to do better. Thus, the DC Report scarf grades Shepherd > Eaton because they look at how peers perform against one another. However, when you look at white alone and black alone, Shepherd performs better in both. So can we please stop with the insinuated narrative that Eaton is better performing. Also, PS, I have many black peers that wouldn’t consider Shepherd or Banneker. Usually for similar reasons as white friends. |
Anonymous
Oh, interesting breakdown. Of course Shepherd is high-performing, that's why we like it. It's one of the highest performing schools in the city and by far a better option for Black kids than other high performing schools. Also, I'm not a DCPS expert -- if I was, I would not have posted here. What I wanted was un-filtered reactions, which is what I got, and it's helped. But I'm not racist, and the only bias I do have is that I prefer my kid to be around more Black kids than less. I didn't wan't this strong desire to cloud my judgement and not give Eaton a look. Thanks! |
Anonymous
What on earth? Yesterday you were arguing that Eaton was better on metrics, Shepherd wasn't progressive enough, forces junk food and gender norms, and doesn't have a good enough website for you to discern their mission, and you were leaning toward Eaton but would probably have to end up at Shepherd. Now you've always had a strong desire to go to Shepherd and just wanted to give Eaton a fair shake? There's been a really sharp change in the OP tone here and I'm finding it hard to believe. |
Anonymous
I think you are conflating a bunch of responses and are assuming they are all OP |
Anonymous
| No, all of those responses were someone identifying themselves as OP. And OP never popped up at the time and said 'someone is impersonating me here.' |