Stuart Hobson MS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have seen many negative threads. The school seems great this year virtually. Is there a lot of differentiation in-person, how are the teachers, are there fights in the school?

. The IB % is only around a quarter. Unless you think PR is the main problem, that’s all you really need to know. You can make the best of the school, or avoid it. Those are your choices. It’s only going to so good with kids who read 2 or 3 grade levels behind yours in the same science and social studies classes.

IB% doesn’t mean much on the Hill. Brent and Maury students who go to SH are OOB.

Come on, it does when most of the OOB students are coming from Wards 5, 7 and 8. That's been the story at SH since the 1970s. More students still come from outside Ward 6 than in. DCPS focuses on making Deal and Hardy work for IB families, not Hobson. Arghhhh.

And what's wrong with kids from those wards? We're a ward 8 family there and mine is above grade level in reading and math. From the virtual classes that I overhear at home, there sounds like a lot of bright kids in the school.

Ok but the overwhelming majority of kids, no matter where they come from, are not. Only 1 out of 4 kids are on grade level or above in math. Pretty dismal numbers.

Sadly those actually are great numbers for a DC middle school. We’re a Hill family and will definitely be trying for SH OOB. 1/4 on grade level is enough to ensure there will be appropriate classes for our kid. But that’s a minumum - I also need to learn a lot more about how SH handles IEPs, enrichment activities, the social environment, etc. And I also really don’t know what makes a good MS for a kid like mine. I don’t really have any basis to believe right now that a place like Deal would be better just because it has more PARCC 4s and 5s.

Your standards are too low just like DC’s. This is especially in regards to middle school and how important it is to set the basis for high school.

Those of us with above grade level kids and options don’t buy into SH.

You are kidding yourself if you think Deal is not better than SH for higher performing kids. Peer group gets more important and behavioral issues gets more disruptive to learning in the classroom.

Did you send a kid to SH? How do you know? And like I said, my kid is unique. Maybe the smaller size and greater diversity would be better for him (not to mention staying in the neighborhood and forming ties.) SH's scores are solid enogugh - 50% proficiency in English and 25% proficiency in math.

No, I did not send a child to SH. But it’s not hard to talk to neighbors who do and then leave.

Your child is unique because your child has an IEP. That is not the majority and norm in Capitol Hill and not the population most on here are talking about.

Two years ago, Stuart-Hobson had a 93% re-enrollment rate, the 3rd highest in DCPS. That doesn't really align with the "neighbors who leave" theory.

Well... it does when most of the neighbors aren’t in the school in the first place. Would be interesting to see a breakdown of that 7%.

That's different from what was previously written, which suggested they were attending the school and then left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have seen many negative threads. The school seems great this year virtually. Is there a lot of differentiation in-person, how are the teachers, are there fights in the school?

. The IB % is only around a quarter. Unless you think PR is the main problem, that’s all you really need to know. You can make the best of the school, or avoid it. Those are your choices. It’s only going to so good with kids who read 2 or 3 grade levels behind yours in the same science and social studies classes.

IB% doesn’t mean much on the Hill. Brent and Maury students who go to SH are OOB.

Come on, it does when most of the OOB students are coming from Wards 5, 7 and 8. That's been the story at SH since the 1970s. More students still come from outside Ward 6 than in. DCPS focuses on making Deal and Hardy work for IB families, not Hobson. Arghhhh.

And what's wrong with kids from those wards? We're a ward 8 family there and mine is above grade level in reading and math. From the virtual classes that I overhear at home, there sounds like a lot of bright kids in the school.

Ok but the overwhelming majority of kids, no matter where they come from, are not. Only 1 out of 4 kids are on grade level or above in math. Pretty dismal numbers.

Sadly those actually are great numbers for a DC middle school. We’re a Hill family and will definitely be trying for SH OOB. 1/4 on grade level is enough to ensure there will be appropriate classes for our kid. But that’s a minumum - I also need to learn a lot more about how SH handles IEPs, enrichment activities, the social environment, etc. And I also really don’t know what makes a good MS for a kid like mine. I don’t really have any basis to believe right now that a place like Deal would be better just because it has more PARCC 4s and 5s.

Your standards are too low just like DC’s. This is especially in regards to middle school and how important it is to set the basis for high school.

Those of us with above grade level kids and options don’t buy into SH.

You are kidding yourself if you think Deal is not better than SH for higher performing kids. Peer group gets more important and behavioral issues gets more disruptive to learning in the classroom.

Did you send a kid to SH? How do you know? And like I said, my kid is unique. Maybe the smaller size and greater diversity would be better for him (not to mention staying in the neighborhood and forming ties.) SH's scores are solid enogugh - 50% proficiency in English and 25% proficiency in math.

No, I did not send a child to SH. But it’s not hard to talk to neighbors who do and then leave.

Your child is unique because your child has an IEP. That is not the majority and norm in Capitol Hill and not the population most on here are talking about.

Two years ago, Stuart-Hobson had a 93% re-enrollment rate, the 3rd highest in DCPS. That doesn't really align with the "neighbors who leave" theory.

Well... it does when most of the neighbors aren’t in the school in the first place. Would be interesting to see a breakdown of that 7%.

That's different from what was previously written, which suggested they were attending the school and then left.

NP. I bolded the claim above. I hate when people present actual facts and then folks shift the original claim. There is no doubt many IB folks don't give the school a chance, but that's not at all the same as what was claimed.

[Anonymous]

So what are they doing at Deal that they are not doing at Stuart Hobson?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what are they doing at Deal that they are not doing at Stuart Hobson?

If "they" means the students, they are having rich parents.

[Anonymous]

So if the IB kids aren’t going to SH? Where are they going?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have seen many negative threads. The school seems great this year virtually. Is there a lot of differentiation in-person, how are the teachers, are there fights in the school?

. The IB % is only around a quarter. Unless you think PR is the main problem, that’s all you really need to know. You can make the best of the school, or avoid it. Those are your choices. It’s only going to so good with kids who read 2 or 3 grade levels behind yours in the same science and social studies classes.

IB% doesn’t mean much on the Hill. Brent and Maury students who go to SH are OOB.

Come on, it does when most of the OOB students are coming from Wards 5, 7 and 8. That's been the story at SH since the 1970s. More students still come from outside Ward 6 than in. DCPS focuses on making Deal and Hardy work for IB families, not Hobson. Arghhhh.

And what's wrong with kids from those wards? We're a ward 8 family there and mine is above grade level in reading and math. From the virtual classes that I overhear at home, there sounds like a lot of bright kids in the school.

Ok but the overwhelming majority of kids, no matter where they come from, are not. Only 1 out of 4 kids are on grade level or above in math. Pretty dismal numbers.

Sadly those actually are great numbers for a DC middle school. We’re a Hill family and will definitely be trying for SH OOB. 1/4 on grade level is enough to ensure there will be appropriate classes for our kid. But that’s a minumum - I also need to learn a lot more about how SH handles IEPs, enrichment activities, the social environment, etc. And I also really don’t know what makes a good MS for a kid like mine. I don’t really have any basis to believe right now that a place like Deal would be better just because it has more PARCC 4s and 5s.

Your standards are too low just like DC’s. This is especially in regards to middle school and how important it is to set the basis for high school.

Those of us with above grade level kids and options don’t buy into SH.

You are kidding yourself if you think Deal is not better than SH for higher performing kids. Peer group gets more important and behavioral issues gets more disruptive to learning in the classroom.

Did you send a kid to SH? How do you know? And like I said, my kid is unique. Maybe the smaller size and greater diversity would be better for him (not to mention staying in the neighborhood and forming ties.) SH's scores are solid enogugh - 50% proficiency in English and 25% proficiency in math.

No, I did not send a child to SH. But it’s not hard to talk to neighbors who do and then leave.

Your child is unique because your child has an IEP. That is not the majority and norm in Capitol Hill and not the population most on here are talking about.

Two years ago, Stuart-Hobson had a 93% re-enrollment rate, the 3rd highest in DCPS. That doesn't really align with the "neighbors who leave" theory.

Well... it does when most of the neighbors aren’t in the school in the first place. Would be interesting to see a breakdown of that 7%.

That's different from what was previously written, which suggested they were attending the school and then left.

No, it’s entirely consistent. If they have IB families join and then leave they’re more likely to be part of that 7% than kids coming from neighborhoods with even crappier options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have seen many negative threads. The school seems great this year virtually. Is there a lot of differentiation in-person, how are the teachers, are there fights in the school?

. The IB % is only around a quarter. Unless you think PR is the main problem, that’s all you really need to know. You can make the best of the school, or avoid it. Those are your choices. It’s only going to so good with kids who read 2 or 3 grade levels behind yours in the same science and social studies classes.

IB% doesn’t mean much on the Hill. Brent and Maury students who go to SH are OOB.

Come on, it does when most of the OOB students are coming from Wards 5, 7 and 8. That's been the story at SH since the 1970s. More students still come from outside Ward 6 than in. DCPS focuses on making Deal and Hardy work for IB families, not Hobson. Arghhhh.

And what's wrong with kids from those wards? We're a ward 8 family there and mine is above grade level in reading and math. From the virtual classes that I overhear at home, there sounds like a lot of bright kids in the school.

Ok but the overwhelming majority of kids, no matter where they come from, are not. Only 1 out of 4 kids are on grade level or above in math. Pretty dismal numbers.

Sadly those actually are great numbers for a DC middle school. We’re a Hill family and will definitely be trying for SH OOB. 1/4 on grade level is enough to ensure there will be appropriate classes for our kid. But that’s a minumum - I also need to learn a lot more about how SH handles IEPs, enrichment activities, the social environment, etc. And I also really don’t know what makes a good MS for a kid like mine. I don’t really have any basis to believe right now that a place like Deal would be better just because it has more PARCC 4s and 5s.

Your standards are too low just like DC’s. This is especially in regards to middle school and how important it is to set the basis for high school.

Those of us with above grade level kids and options don’t buy into SH.

You are kidding yourself if you think Deal is not better than SH for higher performing kids. Peer group gets more important and behavioral issues gets more disruptive to learning in the classroom.

Did you send a kid to SH? How do you know? And like I said, my kid is unique. Maybe the smaller size and greater diversity would be better for him (not to mention staying in the neighborhood and forming ties.) SH's scores are solid enogugh - 50% proficiency in English and 25% proficiency in math.

No, I did not send a child to SH. But it’s not hard to talk to neighbors who do and then leave.

Your child is unique because your child has an IEP. That is not the majority and norm in Capitol Hill and not the population most on here are talking about.

Two years ago, Stuart-Hobson had a 93% re-enrollment rate, the 3rd highest in DCPS. That doesn't really align with the "neighbors who leave" theory.

Well... it does when most of the neighbors aren’t in the school in the first place. Would be interesting to see a breakdown of that 7%.

That's different from what was previously written, which suggested they were attending the school and then left.

No, it’s entirely consistent. If they have IB families join and then leave they’re more likely to be part of that 7% than kids coming from neighborhoods with even crappier options.

face it, you got shown up by the data. you’re just making baseless claims because of some weird agenda or defensiveness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what are they doing at Deal that they are not doing at Stuart Hobson?

Getting all the kids to perform at a much higher level. Look at the PARCC scores. The difference is really huge.

It’s not hard to have more challenging curriculum when your baseline starts at on grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what are they doing at Deal that they are not doing at Stuart Hobson?

Simple. Five overwhelmingly UMC DCPS elementary schools feed into a single middle school in Upper NW.

Meanwhile, down here on Cap Hill, half a dozen predominantly UMC DCPS elementary schools feed into several different middle schools. Although the concept of the creation of a pan Ward 6 middle school enjoyed broad local support during the 2014 DCPS boundary and feeder review, the idea went nowhere.

*Maury and SWS feed into Eliot-Hine
*Brent and Van Ness feed into Jefferson Academy
*Ludlow-Taylor and Watkins feed into Stuart Hobson

Under this arrangement, no predominantly UMC middle school emerges, so no critical mass of in-boundary students materializes at any one school. The result is that most neighborhood families in a strongly UMC neighborhood go with alternatives for middle school - privates, BASIS, Washington Latin and other charters, move away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what are they doing at Deal that they are not doing at Stuart Hobson?

Simple. Five overwhelmingly UMC DCPS elementary schools feed into a single middle school in Upper NW.

Meanwhile, down here on Cap Hill, half a dozen predominantly UMC DCPS elementary schools feed into several different middle schools. Although the concept of the creation of a pan Ward 6 middle school enjoyed broad local support during the 2014 DCPS boundary and feeder review, the idea went nowhere.

*Maury and SWS feed into Eliot-Hine
*Brent and Van Ness feed into Jefferson Academy
*Ludlow-Taylor and Watkins feed into Stuart Hobson

Under this arrangement, no predominantly UMC middle school emerges, so no critical mass of in-boundary students materializes at any one school. The result is that most neighborhood families in a strongly UMC neighborhood go with alternatives for middle school - privates, BASIS, Washington Latin and other charters, move away.

This. SH is the best and has the most potential to keep improving partially because its worst performing feeder, JOW, isn’t bad and is starting to gentrify (and LT skyrocketed test scores & gentrification wise over the last 5 years), and partly because of geography. SH has the distinct advantage of being right on the Hill, in a fully gentrified neighborhood where its wealthiest IB families actually live. EH and, to an even greater extent, Jefferson, will never be able to replicate that no matter how they perform academically.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but change at SH remains slow. When we bought our IB house 15 years ago, we felt we had reason to hope that our future children could attend a strong, majority IB middle school with their elementary school friends. This thinking was pure fantasy on our part.

SH isn't even one-quarter in-boundary today, around the same IB percentage as when the school still had 5th graders 12 or 13 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but change at SH remains slow. When we bought our IB house 15 years ago, we felt we had reason to hope that our future children could attend a strong, majority IB middle school with their elementary school friends. This thinking was pure fantasy on our part.

SH isn't even one-quarter in-boundary today, around the same IB percentage as when the school still had 5th graders 12 or 13 years ago.

Agreed. Watkins’ stalled progress and even, at times, backwards movement IB %wise over the last 10-15 years obviously didn’t help, especially when you consider how big it is relative to the other two feeders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what are they doing at Deal that they are not doing at Stuart Hobson?

Simple. Five overwhelmingly UMC DCPS elementary schools feed into a single middle school in Upper NW.

Meanwhile, down here on Cap Hill, half a dozen predominantly UMC DCPS elementary schools feed into several different middle schools. Although the concept of the creation of a pan Ward 6 middle school enjoyed broad local support during the 2014 DCPS boundary and feeder review, the idea went nowhere.

*Maury and SWS feed into Eliot-Hine
*Brent and Van Ness feed into Jefferson Academy
*Ludlow-Taylor and Watkins feed into Stuart Hobson

Under this arrangement, no predominantly UMC middle school emerges, so no critical mass of in-boundary students materializes at any one school. The result is that most neighborhood families in a strongly UMC neighborhood go with alternatives for middle school - privates, BASIS, Washington Latin and other charters, move away.

Yep. There could be a high performing neighborhood middle school on the hill tomorrow, but calling for that is “racist” so instead we have six elementary schools all within about a mile from each other feeding into three different middle schools in ways that make no sense and result in three weak middle schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what are they doing at Deal that they are not doing at Stuart Hobson?

Getting all the kids to perform at a much higher level. Look at the PARCC scores. The difference is really huge.

It’s not hard to have more challenging curriculum when your baseline starts at on grade level.

And the Deal kids will be better prepared and do better in high school than the SH kids if they both went to the same high school.

The Deal kids will also have a much higher chance of getting into Walls or top privates in the city. This then translate to better colleges.

I’m sorry but those that just look at middle school as a separate entity don’t get the big picture. Middle school builds the foundation for high school which builds the foundation for college.

Find out the percentage of kids at SH who go onto competitive high schools like Walls or top privates. I bet you it’s single digits. Now look at the same comparison with the Deal kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what are they doing at Deal that they are not doing at Stuart Hobson?

Simple. Five overwhelmingly UMC DCPS elementary schools feed into a single middle school in Upper NW.

Meanwhile, down here on Cap Hill, half a dozen predominantly UMC DCPS elementary schools feed into several different middle schools. Although the concept of the creation of a pan Ward 6 middle school enjoyed broad local support during the 2014 DCPS boundary and feeder review, the idea went nowhere.

*Maury and SWS feed into Eliot-Hine
*Brent and Van Ness feed into Jefferson Academy
*Ludlow-Taylor and Watkins feed into Stuart Hobson

Under this arrangement, no predominantly UMC middle school emerges, so no critical mass of in-boundary students materializes at any one school. The result is that most neighborhood families in a strongly UMC neighborhood go with alternatives for middle school - privates, BASIS, Washington Latin and other charters, move away.

Yep. There could be a high performing neighborhood middle school on the hill tomorrow, but calling for that is “racist” so instead we have six elementary schools all within about a mile from each other feeding into three different middle schools in ways that make no sense and result in three weak middle schools.

To us, the lack of a high-performing neighborhood middle school is the worst part about living on Capitol Hill. My kids have been in a stable cohort since age 3 at our in-boundary school. The school loses half the kids to BASIS and Wash Latin between 4th and 5th grades. The remaining kids scatter to many different middle and high schools. You know that the exodus is coming, but it hits swiftly and hard just the same. The pols don't give a hoot, year after year. Whatever happened to Alice Deal for all?