hd cooke: new building, new curriculum....

[Anonymous]

hello:

i've recently learned some things about HD Cooke Elementary in Adams Morgan and was wondering what other parents think of this school. right now it is located near Howard, but next year it will be back in its home neighborhood near the Safeway on Columbia Rd in Adams Morgan (17th st). the new building plans look amazing and the building is certified green/non-toxic. also, the school will be starting an IB curriculum in the fall.

does anyone have a child in this school? is anyone planning to send their child next year or considering sending their child? the test scores are not great at all, but i don't want to overvalue test scores if there are or will be other great things going on at this school. my dd would be PK4 next year and we are in boundary. she currently attends a private preschool.

any thoughts appreciated!

[Anonymous]

We don't attend but saw the principal speak last night at a preschool forum and she was great. She really encouraged parents to get actively involved and is very excited by the new neighborhood. We don't live inbounds but she really got me excited and we will consider it for preschool. It wasn't even on our radar before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:hello:

i've recently learned some things about HD Cooke Elementary in Adams Morgan and was wondering what other parents think of this school. right now it is located near Howard, but next year it will be back in its home neighborhood near the Safeway on Columbia Rd in Adams Morgan (17th st). the new building plans look amazing and the building is certified green/non-toxic. also, the school will be starting an IB curriculum in the fall.

does anyone have a child in this school? is anyone planning to send their child next year or considering sending their child? the test scores are not great at all, but i don't want to overvalue test scores if there are or will be other great things going on at this school. my dd would be PK4 next year and we are in boundary. she currently attends a private preschool.

any thoughts appreciated!

What exciting news! The old HD Cooke was a fright. We're in boundary and didn't dare send my children there. Nice that we will finally have a functioning neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

I would love to hear more about HD Cooke---we are in-bounds as well and would not have previously considered it. Do they have a new principal? (A poster on the previous thread had not had a good experience meeting an HD Cooke principal---don't know if it was the principal you heard or whether the one you heard is new).

[Anonymous]

the principal speaking last night was kathleen black, but i do not know how long she has been there.

i was very interested in the information presented about cooke and will consider for my 4yo. i wish there was some way to have a look at the building, but it won't be finished until august. i am considering going for a tour at their current location near howard to get a sense of the school, the students, the staff etc.

quick question: do the lead teachers in dcps defintely have master's degees? is that a requirement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the principal speaking last night was kathleen black, but i do not know how long she has been there.

i was very interested in the information presented about cooke and will consider for my 4yo. i wish there was some way to have a look at the building, but it won't be finished until august. i am considering going for a tour at their current location near howard to get a sense of the school, the students, the staff etc.

quick question: do the lead teachers in dcps defintely have master's degees? is that a requirement?

Reformed elementary teacher here: Some start with a Masters, but most start with a bachelors and pick up the Masters part-time as they go along. I don't remember if DCPS has a limit on seniority pay raises after a certain point for teachers w/o the Masters. That's a common arrangement. For my 2 cents, I'm not impressed with the products of undergraduate teaching programs. They may have great teaching methods, but a limited understanding of content, even in elementary school. I think the best preparation involves a good liberal arts undergrad. education, followed by a graduate teaching program. Additional focus on teaching methods for an education BA doesn't really solve her content problem.

Glad to hear about the good things happening at Cooke. We're in the Oyster part of Adams Morgan but will be happy to cheer on progress a few blocks away.

[Anonymous]

There is another HD Cooke meeting this Thursday (4/2)

If you have applied to HD Cooke (a DCPS located near the intersection of 17th & Columbia,
NW) for the 2009-2010 school year (or are in boundary and would like to learn more), you
are invited to a gathering at All Souls Church 1500 Harvard ST NW on Thursday, April 2nd.
Here's how this will work: there will be a "getting to know you" potluck dinner starting
at 6:30. Bring your kids (optional, but nice if you can do it) and bring a dish to pass.
Then, at 8:00 PM there will be a formal meeting for those who can stay - we will talk to
someone from dcvoice.org about her experience with an elementary school transformation
she took part in 40 years ago in the district, and will discuss preliminary questions
that we would like to ask the principal and PTA president.

This is an informal meeting for parents only. I think that a crucial thing that needs to
happen is that we all need to get to know each other. For me, the most important thing is
that my kids get to go to school with other kids
whose parents I know, so I would like to meet the parents who have applied in order to
support my decision-making process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is another HD Cooke meeting this Thursday (4/2)

If you have applied to HD Cooke (a DCPS located near the intersection of 17th & Columbia,
NW) for the 2009-2010 school year (or are in boundary and would like to learn more), you
are invited to a gathering at All Souls Church 1500 Harvard ST NW on Thursday, April 2nd.
Here's how this will work: there will be a "getting to know you" potluck dinner starting
at 6:30. Bring your kids (optional, but nice if you can do it) and bring a dish to pass.
Then, at 8:00 PM there will be a formal meeting for those who can stay - we will talk to
someone from dcvoice.org about her experience with an elementary school transformation
she took part in 40 years ago in the district, and will discuss preliminary questions
that we would like to ask the principal and PTA president.

This is an informal meeting for parents only. I think that a crucial thing that needs to
happen is that we all need to get to know each other. For me, the most important thing is
that my kids get to go to school with other kids
whose parents I know, so I would like to meet the parents who have applied in order to
support my decision-making process.

I think this is a great idea -- thanks for organizing and posting! We're in-bounds for Cooke (although likely two or three years from attending, if we do) and would love to attend such a gathering. Unfortunately, tomorrow probably won't work for us (and, honestly, a potluck dinner on one day's notice would always be very difficult), but hopefully we'll be able to attend the next one.

[Anonymous]

FEEDBACK FROM THE COOKE OPEN HOUSE:

What you have in Principal Black and her team is a fresh ambitious group of education professionals who have the shared goal of making Cooke a safe and positive place where kids are inspired to learn. As an example: in light of low Reading and Math proficiency rates, Cooke now has an Instructional Support Team with Literacy and Numeracy Professional Developers who work with both teachers and students in order to ensure that students are getting the exposure they need to develop early reading and math skills. I spoke a great length with the Numeracy Professional Developer about the process which is “everyday math.” Beginning in the lower classes, the curriculum exposes kids to mathematical concepts such as algebra, tables & graphs, geometry, word problems etc. in a fun way so that when kids see these “concepts” in later math classes, they are already familiar them and less intimidated. These changes already seem to be working … Math proficiency went up by 14% from 2007 to 2008. The focus is to move the school forward as a whole … by a process of tracking individual students making sure they get the attention and assistance they need to stay interested and grow academically.

next year is going to be a tricky year as the school moves into its new digs … but I think it will also be a key year when many decisions about the use and allocation of resources will be made.

For those who got in out of boundary … enrolling now ensures that you kids will be able to stay in Cooke and move through to its feeder schools, etc. no matter where you live in the District.

I am ready to commit to Cooke … sending my kids there and participating in the school to ensure they have the resources they need to teach my kids well. I would love for my kids to go to school with your kids and to work together with you on the PTA, in the classrooms, etc.

[Anonymous]

SUMMARY OF THE COOKE OPEN HOUSE YESTERDAY:

Hi Everyone,

Here are my notes from the Open House today. It was well organized and almost all the early learning teachers were available during the Q&A session after we visited the preschool, pre-k and kindergarten classroom.

* Ms. Black said she had recently received news that DCPS was planning to add one additional class each of PS (3 yr olds) and PK (4 yr olds) next year. So she thinks that she will be able to provide spots for all interested. She is adding people who missed the out of boundary lottery to the official waitlist as they contact her by phone or email, or walk in off the street.
* More information on the IB program can be found at IBO.org
* Deal Jr. High is the informal "feeder" for continuation of the IB program. So far, students have been very successful with using the out of boundary lottery to transition to Deal (Columbia Heights Campus is the official feeder). Ms. Black is putting together a plan to present to DCPS to formalize the feeder relationship with Deal under the IB program, but will need parental involvement to make it happen.
* They plan to have lots of walking field trips starting this fall when they return to the renovated space.
* They are already getting interest from community groups in the area to participate in various aspects of the school, and the Howard students that have been involved while they were in the swing space are already starting to commit to taking the Howard shuttle over to continue their involvement.
* As we have heard in the past, the bilingual aspects of the educational program are not formalized, but there is some spanish instruction. It seemed that half the classrooms in the "early learning" program were more bilingual in nature (one at each age level), but that may be an artifact of the old curriculum as they transition to IB. FLES is offered, which guarantees 1.5 hours/week. The librarian is also a native spanish speaker, so there is an additional opportunity for exposure there.
* The school is currently a Provision 2, Title 1 building, so all kids eat breakfast and lunch for free. The program is in jeopardy due to federal funding cuts. Lunch would cost $1.35 if it were not covered. Lots of kids bring their own lunch. Parents provide afternoon snacks on a rotating basis.
* There is a max of 18 kids per classroom.
* The early learning teachers seem to have a solid, sophisticated approach to discipline. One did not use time outs - she uses "responsive classroom" techniques instead and discusses issues with the kids rather than putting them in a time out. Most classrooms have a "take a break" chair and the teachers said that they had kids regularly say that they were going to take a break when they got frustrated, etc. They indicated that once they reach kindergarten, the kids start to understand more about when they are being defiant and that's when discipline becomes more of an issue, but there was clearly a considered approach.
* Out of 53 total staff, 30 were hired new this year.
* Written homework starts in kindergarten. In grades 1-5 it is assigned every M-Th night. Assignments center around literacy in the early years - reading to parents, parents reading to children, etc. Typical homework starting in kindergarten might include 15 minutes of reading and 15 minutes of response work.
* Twins are kept together or separated based on a combination parental preference and teacher observations.
*After care is free (it is supposed to be on a sliding scale, but no one has experienced DCPS pursuing payment, which maxes out at $25/week) and pickup times are flexible according to parental choice. Parents may be asked to pick up younger kids a little earlier if they are just unable to handle the very long day. There are structured and unstructured activities (DCScores does soccer, for instance). A snack is provided.
* The head of the PTA stopped by - we wrote down a list of our names and email addresses (those of us who were there) for her and she said she would get us into the loop on upcoming activities.
* Typical schedule:
o 8:00 - 8:40 Breakfast (optional)
o 8:45 School Opening
o Classroom Opening (song, dance, time on carpet)
o Special Subject (art, music, PE, spanish, libarary)
o Instruction
o Recess
o Lunch in Classroom (for little kids, family style)
o Nap (after lunch until 2ish)
o Afternoon...?

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the terrific summaries!

[Anonymous]

I am trying to figure out what to do next year, as we have been waitlisted everywhere for prek next year. Is there anyone who has already decided to send their prek child to cooke who would be willing to talk offline? my email address is [e-mail]

Many thanks.

[Anonymous]

I'm planning to send my kids there, and know of at least 15 other parents who are also planning to do so.

[Anonymous]

If you planning to send your kids to H.D. Cooke and/or interested in sending kids there, please sign up for the Yahoo parents group.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HDCookeParents/

This will help us get organized, get to know each other and communicate with the new principal.