Which schools, if any, excelled during the pandemic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lafayette got everyone back. That was huge.

Everyone, as in not a single person left out? That is impressive. I think they win.

Everyone who wanted a space. There were some grades - K I think -- that took longer, but I believe everyone who wanted to had a spot in the end.

Murch got everyone back too.

Same with Key, even welcoming the trickle of newly vaccinated families ready to go back. And did well by those who stayed remote.

[Anonymous]

This is a weird question.

DC is an extreme, extreme outlier nationally in its slowness in getting kids back in the classroom. Maybe the only place in the U.S. that did worse than DC was San Francisco.

And we're asking who excelled?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a weird question.

DC is an extreme, extreme outlier nationally in its slowness in getting kids back in the classroom. Maybe the only place in the U.S. that did worse than DC was San Francisco.

And we're asking who excelled?

+1. I guess DCPS is known for its low bar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lafayette got everyone back. That was huge.

Everyone, as in not a single person left out? That is impressive. I think they win.

Everyone who wanted a space. There were some grades - K I think -- that took longer, but I believe everyone who wanted to had a spot in the end.

Murch got everyone back too.

As did Brent. 2 days a week from March, 5 days a week by April.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a weird question.

DC is an extreme, extreme outlier nationally in its slowness in getting kids back in the classroom. Maybe the only place in the U.S. that did worse than DC was San Francisco.

And we're asking who excelled?

I don't think anyone excelled. But, there could be some who did the virtual part better, who communicated better, and who did bring back more kids faster. So far only Lafayette and maybe a couple more rich white schools could possibly claim this (population similar to private schools).

Will enjoy reading analysis of DC's major failures in this area for years to come.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a weird question.

DC is an extreme, extreme outlier nationally in its slowness in getting kids back in the classroom. Maybe the only place in the U.S. that did worse than DC was San Francisco.

And we're asking who excelled?

Daycares excelled. Private schools excelled. *All* other schools in DC failed miserably.

[Anonymous]

Counter-narrative to "rich white schools" succeeded: Whittier offered seats to all students PK4 and up, four days a week. By May there were 150 kids attending daily.

We couldn't get enough PK3 to come back to avoid simulcasting, which would have been a disaster, so we had in-person pop-ups where kids and teachers met up for a few hours every few weeks to play games, do crafts, and learn social skills.

Communication was as good as it could be given the shifting winds of DCPS Central Office, including weekly Zoom with the principal for parents with any questions or concerns. Overall, I was really impressed with how resilient and creative the administration and staff have been throughout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a weird question.

DC is an extreme, extreme outlier nationally in its slowness in getting kids back in the classroom. Maybe the only place in the U.S. that did worse than DC was San Francisco.

And we're asking who excelled?

Daycares excelled. Private schools excelled. *All* other schools in DC failed miserably.

+1. My k student went to daycare with younger siblings and did virtual PreK 4 last year and K this year until she went back in person 4 days. Day cares are the real heroes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seaton

i second this, although I know not every kid got an in person space. But I think they way they coordinated the virtual was really effective (so many small groups, reading partners tutors for half the kids, book club for every grade, etc). my kids both showed a lot of growth and so did their friends, so i think the learning part really worked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a weird question.

DC is an extreme, extreme outlier nationally in its slowness in getting kids back in the classroom. Maybe the only place in the U.S. that did worse than DC was San Francisco.

And we're asking who excelled?

Daycares excelled. Private schools excelled. *All* other schools in DC failed miserably.

Perhaps, but whose whose fault was that?

Principals striving to reopen broadly and efficiently could only accomplish so much without strong support and clear directives from the top. I'm under the impression that admins, teachers and families at a DCSP ES EotP did their utmost to get all the kids back as soon as possible. However, they were largely stymied by weak support from the Chancellor, the Mayor, the city council and the WTU to do any better. They were also hamstrung by poor top-down plant/facilities management planning over the years. How many kids could our school's leaders bring back to a building that was at around 150% over capacity pre-pandemic per CDC guidelines re social distancing?

Pretty clearly, the school didn't fail us; the mismanaged system did in the usual toxic political environment.

[Anonymous]

Basis was incredible. Maybe even better than in person. Certainly not at all worse. I could not have been more impressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a weird question.

DC is an extreme, extreme outlier nationally in its slowness in getting kids back in the classroom. Maybe the only place in the U.S. that did worse than DC was San Francisco.

And we're asking who excelled?

Daycares excelled. Private schools excelled. *All* other schools in DC failed miserably.

Perhaps, but whose whose fault was that?

Principals striving to reopen broadly and efficiently could only accomplish so much without strong support and clear directives from the top. I'm under the impression that admins, teachers and families at a DCSP ES EotP did their utmost to get all the kids back as soon as possible. However, they were largely stymied by weak support from the Chancellor, the Mayor, the city council and the WTU to do any better. They were also hamstrung by poor top-down plant/facilities management planning over the years. How many kids could our school's leaders bring back to a building that was at around 150% over capacity pre-pandemic per CDC guidelines re social distancing?

Pretty clearly, the school didn't fail us; the mismanaged system did in the usual toxic political environment.

Weird how schools in most of the rest of the country were able to open in August and stay open throughout most if not the entire pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Counter-narrative to "rich white schools" succeeded: Whittier offered seats to all students PK4 and up, four days a week. By May there were 150 kids attending daily.

We couldn't get enough PK3 to come back to avoid simulcasting, which would have been a disaster, so we had in-person pop-ups where kids and teachers met up for a few hours every few weeks to play games, do crafts, and learn social skills.

Communication was as good as it could be given the shifting winds of DCPS Central Office, including weekly Zoom with the principal for parents with any questions or concerns. Overall, I was really impressed with how resilient and creative the administration and staff have been throughout.

+1, we attend Whittier and were very happy with the way they handled the year. Great communication from the administration. Even before they offered IPL, our kids had hours of live instruction everyday.

[Anonymous]

Maybe better to split off quality of virtual vs actually providing any or substantial IPL. Our school offered IPL fairly early on for anyone who wanted, although never went beyond hybrid, but the virtual was pretty poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LAMB

+1

LAMB’s virtual instruction was very good.