DC School Lottery 25/26 & Best Schools in DC
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Anonymous
NP. I disagree with this if you are comparing a school like Stoke EE with Van Ness. Their test scores are lower for different reasons. Stokes has a much lower at risk population (11% to Van Ness 46%) which raises questions about why Stokes EE isn't doing better with fewer students at risk. Stokes is also an immersion charter, that comes with benefits and challenges, OP should be aware of them. Stokes EE math scores are concerning to me and I question whether some of that is due to the focus on language immersion becomes some (not all) immersion programs can giver short shrift to core academics due to the structure of immersion programming. Stokes EE has also had teacher turnover issues in recent years. Not just year to year -- they have had a serious issue with teachers leaving midyear. This has several causes, including lower pay, the need to find teachers with language skills so hiring from a smaller pool, and possibly issues with administration. Van Ness has a more consistent teaching staff, which is true of many DCPS schools because their staff belong to the teachers union which guarantees extremely competitive pay and good benefits, so teachers do tend to stay put. Will also note that DCPS's ECE program tends to have more highly educated teachers because the vast majority have masters degrees in ECE. This is not true at Stokes, though their ECE teachers have dual language ability. So there is a trade off. But you should at least know what it is going in. Finally, Van Ness is a short walk through a nice neighborhood for OP. Stokes EE is a car commute across the river -- not insanely far away but not close either. There still could be reasons to preference Stokes EE over Van Ness -- a strong preference for dual language, access to DCI for MS and HS (if it holds up), desiring a smaller school, etc. But it's also perfectly reasonable to be okay with lower test scores at a nearby neighborhood school with a fantastic ECE program and dedicated longterm staff over a charter with some staffing issues, a dual immersion model you might not be totally bought into, and a commute that is likely 2-4x as long. The TLDR here is that I look more critically at the test scores of a charter I have to commute a long distance to and that has a unique curriculum than I do the test scores of my IB DCPS, especially if that charter has a low at risk percentage. Those test scores are telling me something different than the test scores at my IB. |
Anonymous
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Regarding Lee, again, it's not going to be that convenient for you at either location. The East End location is newer, the Brookland one is still a relatively young school but more established. I think it's well-managed. But still, the test scores leave a lot to be desired, especially when considered relative to the demographics.
Bottom line it's a question of whether you think Montessori is right for your child. Sometimes it sounds great to parents but doesn't fit their specific kid. And sometimes it seems great in PK3 to be around older kids, not so great in K when there are only 8 or so K kids in the classroom and the rest are preschoolers. |
Anonymous
I wasn’t suggesting she go to Stokes. I was saying that someone viewing schools primarily through the lens of test scores was not going to be happy with VN. Bad overall achievement and subpar growth are not a good combo. |
Anonymous
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I have a kid at Lee EE. There were hiccups in the previous years but the new principal and executive director both seem highly competent. They adhere to the strictest standard (AMI) version of Montessori, which is what we were looking for. They do not test prep at all, so test scores will not be as good as other schools with similar populations. The teachers are highly dedicated and actively try to build community. When it comes to strengths, our kid is far more emotionally regulated than other kids his age. He’ll still run around and be an active kid, but he can handle big emotions readily where other kids at other schools do not. I credit Lee for that.
I have some experience with Global Citizens, but in another role and not as a parent, and it’s all very positive. They’re dedicated and transparent (maybe too transparent). The school is very well run, even though it’s still rather new. They are looking for new digs but they’re pretty proscriptive as to where they want to go. They won’t leave the Minnesota Ave metro stop area is my understanding. The high school that is also on campus is kept strictly separate, and there’s no interaction. As an aside, people forget that testing, particularly the type that the District mandates, is a performance for the student. It’s like an interview. People get nervous and if it’s not reflective of what people are used to, they’ll do poorly. Further, especially for younger kids, testing as it’s presented on MySchoolDC is a proxy for income, not the school’s effects on the child’s academic progress. If a kid is at 30% AMI, it’s rather likely they are 3 grades behind. If a school can get that kid to 1 grade behind, it’s a miracle worker. |
Anonymous
As far as Global Citizens, their plan is to stay in ward 7. They are going to move out of the high school eventually. They just have to find a spot. |
Anonymous
| The CAPE test scores are only for grades 3-5. Are the VN test scores really bad for a title 1 with 40+% at-risk? I wouldn’t know. Inspired is PreK3-8 and has pretty good test scores, but the middle school is very small in size. |
Anonymous
| Do you prioritize and care about immersion? If so, what language? To what degree is this true? I think that is the most important question to resolve ahead of the PreK3 lottery. |
Anonymous
The middle school at Inspired is about 40-45 kids per grade. It's two homerooms in every grade, all the way up. Inspired has good test scores because it has a decent middle school. That attracts people and causes them to stay. Van Ness doesn't have as good a middle school (though no doubt some will speak up in favor of it). That causes people to leave. VN's proficiency stats are not great in light of its demographics but mainly its growth scores are low. |
Anonymous
| Basis! |
Anonymous
Not possible as the family is entering the lottery for Prek3. |
Anonymous
If I wanted Montessori and lived IB for Van Ness I'd be looking at Capitol Hill Montessori about Lee East End, just for the commute. CHML also goes through 8th grade if OP ends up wanting that, though I highly suspect she will either move or lottery into a WOTP school or BASIS rather than her kid getting through elementary anywhere else. |
Anonymous
Note: I believe Seaton is going to a swing space 2026-2028. So you'd only get one year in the current location, and then have to commute to the new location. Which means that you might have luck in the ECE lottery; this current year they actually made offers to OOB Pk3 students with no sibling preference. |
Anonymous
Also, Seaton and Garrison and Cleveland lose their by right access to John Francis for middle school in 3 years --- current 2nd graders won't have it, not will anyone younger. Big hopes for the new middle school. |
Anonymous
they hype on creative minds has died a slow death over the last 3 years. Even with a change in the head of school. If you live close by its probably fine for lower grades. But I know parents who were really disallusioned by 2nd grade |
Anonymous
| the shaw area dcps schools are all great choices if you generally live in that part of town (and/or need more preK lottery choices); but i think they are actually pretty similar in quality to van ness |