your opinions of bancroft?

[Anonymous]

hello folks. just wondering if anyone has their child enrolled in bancroft and what your opinion of the school is. it's dual-immersion, correct? does that mean it's the same model as oyster?

thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

My daughter attends Bancroft and we have been very pleased so far - I turned down a school west of the park in favor of Bancroft because I really wanted her to learn Spanish. She is in Kindergarten and is making great academic strides. It's billed as bilingual. She has two teachers - one speaks in English to the kids and the other speaks in Spanish. They split up in to English and Spanish groups for activities during the day. In her class they pair up kids depending on their level of fluency in English and Spanish. The school has a high Latino population which helps with the exposure to Spanish. Many people have told me it's what Oyster used to be like back in the day. The school is quite diverse, in my daughter's class about half the kids are Latino the rest are a diverse mix (black, white, Asian, African). She has one special each day (PE, art, library, science and music). She has two great teachers (although I've heard that there are a couple of duds). They have aftercare until 6:30. The PTA undertakes a few activites - Christmas tree sales, dinner nights in Mt Pleasnt. I've been a little underwhelmed by the administration - I couldn't get anyone to call me back for a tour last year. You may also want to post on the Mt Pleasant forum for more feedback. I posted there last year and got lots of responses. Here's the link to the post:

http://www.mtpleasantdc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6157

[Anonymous]

thanks very much for the reply and the link.

i am wondering: are you happy with the aftercare there? also, did (does) your daughter attend pre-k there?

[Anonymous]

I thought the Mt. Pleasant forum sounded weirdly over-optimistic. Kool-aidy, in fact.

I do know parents who wanted to give Bancroft a chance and actually did enroll a DC there - only to pull DC out a short time later. Fortunately, for those families there were OOB slots at Eaton and lottery luck at E.L. Haynes.

[Anonymous]

Hi

I posted the 8:59 post. We have been satisfied with aftercare so far. My daughter goes to a classroom with other Kindergarteners where they work on homework, play, read books, color etc. It runs until 6:30. I think a couple of organizations provide aftercare options (Asian American Lead, DC Parks and Rec) - not too sure how that is split up. As the kids get older, I think 3rd grade, they can participate in DC Scores - it's a soccer and writing program. Jennifer Ramos is the aftercare coordinator there and can probably provide more information.

My daughter was not there for pre-k, but my good friend who referred me had a son in pre-k (I believe it was immersion) and she was quite happy with it.

I would definitely schedule a tour to check things out or try to attend a PTA meeting. I feel many of the opinions on this website tend to be skewed - if it's not a school west of the park or one of a few select charter schools then the posters here tend to write a school off. I like the diversity of Bancroft, but some parents may are not be as comfortable with that. I also get the feeling that the school has changed (for the better) over the past few years so people's experiences may not reflect its current situation. I have not had a child go through all the grades at Bancroft so can't comment on anything beyond our current experience, but many of the posters on the Mt Pleasant forum do have older children.

[Anonymous]

op here. thanks so much for this input. we are actually out-of-boundary for bancroft by a block, so i am thinking about putting dd into the oob lottery. we are very interested in the bilingual aspect of the school, as dd is already bilingual.

[Anonymous]

Does Bancroft start at Preschool for 3s or Pre-K for 4s?

[Anonymous]

if you check the Title I statistics for Bancroft, you would not be pleased. Since Rhee's arrival sadly the school's testing compliance has only decreased.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:if you check the Title I statistics for Bancroft, you would not be pleased. Since Rhee's arrival sadly the school's testing compliance has only decreased.

Considering the brief time of Rhee's tenure, I wouldn't put that on her doorstep. Testing is enforced by the chancellor, but performance at this stage is going to be HIGHLY reflective of the principal and the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:if you check the Title I statistics for Bancroft, you would not be pleased. Since Rhee's arrival sadly the school's testing compliance has only decreased.

Also compare with the rest of the city. I believe that the school system changed tests within the past couple of years, and all of the schools-- including the Mann, Lafayette, Murch types-- saw a precipitous drop in the same year.

[Anonymous]

I have a friend whose daughter is 3 and attends Bancroft - so I believe they have a preschool program for 3s as well as a pre-K for 4s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if you check the Title I statistics for Bancroft, you would not be pleased. Since Rhee's arrival sadly the school's testing compliance has only decreased.

Also compare with the rest of the city. I believe that the school system changed tests within the past couple of years, and all of the schools-- including the Mann, Lafayette, Murch types-- saw a precipitous drop in the same year.

There was a discussion about this on the DCPS forum (in the last few months. DC switched to the same test Massachusetts uses, which is considered the most difficult in the country. Thus the drop-off in scores (and the deceptively low proficiency scores when compared with MD and VA public schools).

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/34635.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if you check the Title I statistics for Bancroft, you would not be pleased. Since Rhee's arrival sadly the school's testing compliance has only decreased.

Considering the brief time of Rhee's tenure, I wouldn't put that on her doorstep. Testing is enforced by the chancellor, but performance at this stage is going to be HIGHLY reflective of the principal and the school.

Agreed. Can't blame this on Rhee. Low performance at the school reflects the school and the principal in Bancroft's case.

[Anonymous]

sure, not at rhee's doorstep but that does not change the fact that it's a deficient environment with drug dealing on the playground - ask any mtp parents if they send their kids there...won't be many.

[Anonymous]

I live in Mount Pleasant and love the idea of sending my daughter to a neighbhorhood school that's in walking distance from home. But I'm still holding out to see if things improve at Bancroft by the time she is school-age (in the next 3 years). The student population is so skewed toward low-income, non-native English speakers (about 80%) and not representative of the neighborhood as a whole that it doesn't seem diverse in the true sense (balanced mix of kids from different backgrounds). I know many people are working hard to improve the school, but test scores are unimpressive and with older thugs hanging out on school grounds selling drugs and playground equipment that is constantly vandalized, it hardly seems inviting for neighbhorhood toddlers.