Waitlist Data Up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There were 3629 unique 9th grade applicants in SY25-26.

32% applied to Banneker, 33% applied to McKinley, and 38% applied to Walls.

This is really interesting to me - does it break down by geography and race at all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ludlow-Taylor waitlists didn't move at all, with the exception of PK and a single October offer for 4th grade. Recalling people saying that's related to ongoing construction?

Meanwhile, Brent made 3x the number of offers it did last year. Bussing to Columbia Heights definitely not appealing to people.

Yes regarding L-T. Construction that was supposed to be done before school started in August was not even up out of the ground at that point. They now claim it will be done before kids are back in the building after winter break. I remain skeptical. Glad they didn't overextend with offers in this environment. Next year will likely be a different story once the school can spread out into the new space (though don't expect them to suddenly add a ton of seats, I just think there will be more cushion on the margins).

Not surprised about Brent though we don't know any Brent families who left this year. I am betting they just burned through waitlists when offers were made and they had to clearly disclose the swing space situation. I recall we were in a similar boat with an offer to CHML when they were renovating and it was the same thing -- we were one of many families who turned it down because we didn't want to commit to busing our then-3 yo kid across town daily.

L-T has about 20 more kids than last year even without the WL movement. Classes are bigger than they’ve ever been. DCPS is forcing them to offer too many slots in the lottery. 3rd grade has 24 kids in every class; construction or no construction, they weren’t taking in the lottery except for maybe in 2nd where they added a class to meet demand so could have take more kids. Assuming they’re trying to get back to 3 classes next year so decided to stay with 19/class.

24 kids in a 3rd grade classroom is not large. I'd say that's about right for class size at an in-demand school with strong in bound buy in. I wouldn't want to go larger but I wouldn't complain about that. Everyone always wants smaller classes.

19 kids in a 2nd grade classroom is incredibly small and you don't even get that in Title 1 schools where there are restrictions on class size. A sub-20 class size outside of ECE or later grades due to attrition is fairly unheard of at a school with L-T's test scores. That 2nd grade cohort with smaller class is very lucky (really nice for 2nd when there's a big push for literacy and math fundamentals to get them ready for higher level work the following year) but I would also expect the school to get those classes up to at least 22 via the lottery next year, which would mean offering around 15 spots (9 to lift class size and then conservatively estimating attrition of 6).

It sounds like L-T had the capacity for more students and DCPS rightly sought to get them to capacity. I would also note that demand on L-T should lessen somewhat after JO Wilson's new campus opens next year. I would expect L-T to attract fewer JOW students, especially for ECE, once that is available. L-T likely added more students than normal from the JOW catchment this year because of the swing space, and may also have taken in Brent students for the same reason. Once JOW and Brent reopen with brand new campuses, I don't think you'll see as many people in the broader neighborhood seeking L-T out as an alternative. They'll still get students from Miner and Watkins, but those students will also seek out Brent, Maury, Payne, and likely JOW. So it will relax somewhat.

L-T is fine, I think parents are just freaking out a bit because of a lack of understanding of the broader situation. L-T is not being asked to do anything that any other school in the same situation would be asked to do.

[Anonymous]

Here is the bottom line.

Of the 3 acceptable charters for middle school (Latin, DCI, and Basis), you really only have a shot at Basis.

The chances for DCI and Latin is like wining the powerball with sibling preferences.

End of story.

As to if Basis will be a good fit for your kid, that’s another story and risk you take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the bottom line.

Of the 3 acceptable charters for middle school (Latin, DCI, and Basis), you really only have a shot at Basis.

The chances for DCI and Latin is like wining the powerball with sibling preferences.

End of story.

As to if Basis will be a good fit for your kid, that’s another story and risk you take.

Expand your view.
My kid (and their friends) have had good experiences at Center City, ITS and Sojourner Truth for middle school.

[Anonymous]

I know a lot of people who decided Basis was not the right fit. They mostly went to a dcps middle school and seem happy enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the bottom line.

Of the 3 acceptable charters for middle school (Latin, DCI, and Basis), you really only have a shot at Basis.

The chances for DCI and Latin is like wining the powerball with sibling preferences.

End of story.

As to if Basis will be a good fit for your kid, that’s another story and risk you take.

Still an 11% chance at both Latins without sibling preference. I know two different people without sibling preference who have children in this year's 5th grade class. I have never met anyone who has won the powerball.

DCI is also pretty easy to access via feeders, it just takes an earlier commitment to longer commute/language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were 3629 unique 9th grade applicants in SY25-26.

32% applied to Banneker, 33% applied to McKinley, and 38% applied to Walls.

This is really interesting to me - does it break down by geography and race at all?

No, though I think applicants are more or less reflective of the current student body. Enrollment audit and enrollments per boundary data should give you a pretty good sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ludlow-Taylor waitlists didn't move at all, with the exception of PK and a single October offer for 4th grade. Recalling people saying that's related to ongoing construction?

Meanwhile, Brent made 3x the number of offers it did last year. Bussing to Columbia Heights definitely not appealing to people.

Yes regarding L-T. Construction that was supposed to be done before school started in August was not even up out of the ground at that point. They now claim it will be done before kids are back in the building after winter break. I remain skeptical. Glad they didn't overextend with offers in this environment. Next year will likely be a different story once the school can spread out into the new space (though don't expect them to suddenly add a ton of seats, I just think there will be more cushion on the margins).

Not surprised about Brent though we don't know any Brent families who left this year. I am betting they just burned through waitlists when offers were made and they had to clearly disclose the swing space situation. I recall we were in a similar boat with an offer to CHML when they were renovating and it was the same thing -- we were one of many families who turned it down because we didn't want to commit to busing our then-3 yo kid across town daily.

L-T has about 20 more kids than last year even without the WL movement. Classes are bigger than they’ve ever been. DCPS is forcing them to offer too many slots in the lottery. 3rd grade has 24 kids in every class; construction or no construction, they weren’t taking in the lottery except for maybe in 2nd where they added a class to meet demand so could have take more kids. Assuming they’re trying to get back to 3 classes next year so decided to stay with 19/class.

24 kids in a 3rd grade classroom is not large. I'd say that's about right for class size at an in-demand school with strong in bound buy in. I wouldn't want to go larger but I wouldn't complain about that. Everyone always wants smaller classes.

19 kids in a 2nd grade classroom is incredibly small and you don't even get that in Title 1 schools where there are restrictions on class size. A sub-20 class size outside of ECE or later grades due to attrition is fairly unheard of at a school with L-T's test scores. That 2nd grade cohort with smaller class is very lucky (really nice for 2nd when there's a big push for literacy and math fundamentals to get them ready for higher level work the following year) but I would also expect the school to get those classes up to at least 22 via the lottery next year, which would mean offering around 15 spots (9 to lift class size and then conservatively estimating attrition of 6).

It sounds like L-T had the capacity for more students and DCPS rightly sought to get them to capacity. I would also note that demand on L-T should lessen somewhat after JO Wilson's new campus opens next year. I would expect L-T to attract fewer JOW students, especially for ECE, once that is available. L-T likely added more students than normal from the JOW catchment this year because of the swing space, and may also have taken in Brent students for the same reason. Once JOW and Brent reopen with brand new campuses, I don't think you'll see as many people in the broader neighborhood seeking L-T out as an alternative. They'll still get students from Miner and Watkins, but those students will also seek out Brent, Maury, Payne, and likely JOW. So it will relax somewhat.

L-T is fine, I think parents are just freaking out a bit because of a lack of understanding of the broader situation. L-T is not being asked to do anything that any other school in the same situation would be asked to do.

I agree with you in principle but it is difficult when a school has to admit an influx of high needs kids in upper grades - this has happened to us in both ES and MS. The school isn’t necessarily prepared to handle the behavioral issues that arise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ludlow-Taylor waitlists didn't move at all, with the exception of PK and a single October offer for 4th grade. Recalling people saying that's related to ongoing construction?

Meanwhile, Brent made 3x the number of offers it did last year. Bussing to Columbia Heights definitely not appealing to people.

Yes regarding L-T. Construction that was supposed to be done before school started in August was not even up out of the ground at that point. They now claim it will be done before kids are back in the building after winter break. I remain skeptical. Glad they didn't overextend with offers in this environment. Next year will likely be a different story once the school can spread out into the new space (though don't expect them to suddenly add a ton of seats, I just think there will be more cushion on the margins).

Not surprised about Brent though we don't know any Brent families who left this year. I am betting they just burned through waitlists when offers were made and they had to clearly disclose the swing space situation. I recall we were in a similar boat with an offer to CHML when they were renovating and it was the same thing -- we were one of many families who turned it down because we didn't want to commit to busing our then-3 yo kid across town daily.

L-T has about 20 more kids than last year even without the WL movement. Classes are bigger than they’ve ever been. DCPS is forcing them to offer too many slots in the lottery. 3rd grade has 24 kids in every class; construction or no construction, they weren’t taking in the lottery except for maybe in 2nd where they added a class to meet demand so could have take more kids. Assuming they’re trying to get back to 3 classes next year so decided to stay with 19/class.

24 kids in a 3rd grade classroom is not large. I'd say that's about right for class size at an in-demand school with strong in bound buy in. I wouldn't want to go larger but I wouldn't complain about that. Everyone always wants smaller classes.

19 kids in a 2nd grade classroom is incredibly small and you don't even get that in Title 1 schools where there are restrictions on class size. A sub-20 class size outside of ECE or later grades due to attrition is fairly unheard of at a school with L-T's test scores. That 2nd grade cohort with smaller class is very lucky (really nice for 2nd when there's a big push for literacy and math fundamentals to get them ready for higher level work the following year) but I would also expect the school to get those classes up to at least 22 via the lottery next year, which would mean offering around 15 spots (9 to lift class size and then conservatively estimating attrition of 6).

It sounds like L-T had the capacity for more students and DCPS rightly sought to get them to capacity. I would also note that demand on L-T should lessen somewhat after JO Wilson's new campus opens next year. I would expect L-T to attract fewer JOW students, especially for ECE, once that is available. L-T likely added more students than normal from the JOW catchment this year because of the swing space, and may also have taken in Brent students for the same reason. Once JOW and Brent reopen with brand new campuses, I don't think you'll see as many people in the broader neighborhood seeking L-T out as an alternative. They'll still get students from Miner and Watkins, but those students will also seek out Brent, Maury, Payne, and likely JOW. So it will relax somewhat.

L-T is fine, I think parents are just freaking out a bit because of a lack of understanding of the broader situation. L-T is not being asked to do anything that any other school in the same situation would be asked to do.

I agree with you in principle but it is difficult when a school has to admit an influx of high needs kids in upper grades - this has happened to us in both ES and MS. The school isn’t necessarily prepared to handle the behavioral issues that arise.

That's a separate issue, because the influx of kids with higher needs in upper grades only occurs because the in-bound percentage drops in these grades. It doesn't happen because DCPS is forcing the school to accept more kids via lottery, since this only adds a handful of kids per grade. Even if every kid coming in via lottery is high needs (which is never the case, plenty of kids coming in via lottery do so because they simply have invested parents who were unhappy with their boundary school, and kids with invested parents looking for strong schools don't tend to have higher needs) it won't significantly change the vibe of the school. But when you have dozens of in-bounds kids leave the school in 4th and 5th for charters and privates, the school winds up offering many more lottery seats out of necessity (it literally has seats to fill just to fill out the class) and that can create issues because the 4th/5th grade classes will have very different needs and issues than the lower grades.

If you don't want this to happen, encourage families to stay through the terminal grade and attend the feeder. As long as there is high attrition in upper grades and by MS, you will wind up with lots more kids coming in via lottery in these grades.

But DCPS saying "please boost your 3rd grade classes from 22 to 24 because we believe you have the capacity" is not going to significantly change the make up of the school. If it's a strong school with good teaching and good academics, it will just mean an extra 6 kids have access to both of those resources, which is a net positive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the bottom line.

Of the 3 acceptable charters for middle school (Latin, DCI, and Basis), you really only have a shot at Basis.

The chances for DCI and Latin is like wining the powerball with sibling preferences.

End of story.

As to if Basis will be a good fit for your kid, that’s another story and risk you take.

Expand your view.
My kid (and their friends) have had good experiences at Center City, ITS and Sojourner Truth for middle school.

ITS okay, but CC and SJ have incredibly low test scores (CC especially low in ELA, SJ better in ELA but especially low in math). And all three of these schools are teeny tiny, which means (1) not a lot of seats available, and (2) will be hard to find a cohort of high achieving kids when overall test scores are so low.

By middle school parents aren't merely looking for pleasant experience. They want to make sure their children will be prepared for HS academics with a pathway to college. This is alarmingly hard in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ludlow-Taylor waitlists didn't move at all, with the exception of PK and a single October offer for 4th grade. Recalling people saying that's related to ongoing construction?

Meanwhile, Brent made 3x the number of offers it did last year. Bussing to Columbia Heights definitely not appealing to people.

Yes regarding L-T. Construction that was supposed to be done before school started in August was not even up out of the ground at that point. They now claim it will be done before kids are back in the building after winter break. I remain skeptical. Glad they didn't overextend with offers in this environment. Next year will likely be a different story once the school can spread out into the new space (though don't expect them to suddenly add a ton of seats, I just think there will be more cushion on the margins).

Not surprised about Brent though we don't know any Brent families who left this year. I am betting they just burned through waitlists when offers were made and they had to clearly disclose the swing space situation. I recall we were in a similar boat with an offer to CHML when they were renovating and it was the same thing -- we were one of many families who turned it down because we didn't want to commit to busing our then-3 yo kid across town daily.

L-T has about 20 more kids than last year even without the WL movement. Classes are bigger than they’ve ever been. DCPS is forcing them to offer too many slots in the lottery. 3rd grade has 24 kids in every class; construction or no construction, they weren’t taking in the lottery except for maybe in 2nd where they added a class to meet demand so could have take more kids. Assuming they’re trying to get back to 3 classes next year so decided to stay with 19/class.

24 kids in a 3rd grade classroom is not large. I'd say that's about right for class size at an in-demand school with strong in bound buy in. I wouldn't want to go larger but I wouldn't complain about that. Everyone always wants smaller classes.

19 kids in a 2nd grade classroom is incredibly small and you don't even get that in Title 1 schools where there are restrictions on class size. A sub-20 class size outside of ECE or later grades due to attrition is fairly unheard of at a school with L-T's test scores. That 2nd grade cohort with smaller class is very lucky (really nice for 2nd when there's a big push for literacy and math fundamentals to get them ready for higher level work the following year) but I would also expect the school to get those classes up to at least 22 via the lottery next year, which would mean offering around 15 spots (9 to lift class size and then conservatively estimating attrition of 6).

It sounds like L-T had the capacity for more students and DCPS rightly sought to get them to capacity. I would also note that demand on L-T should lessen somewhat after JO Wilson's new campus opens next year. I would expect L-T to attract fewer JOW students, especially for ECE, once that is available. L-T likely added more students than normal from the JOW catchment this year because of the swing space, and may also have taken in Brent students for the same reason. Once JOW and Brent reopen with brand new campuses, I don't think you'll see as many people in the broader neighborhood seeking L-T out as an alternative. They'll still get students from Miner and Watkins, but those students will also seek out Brent, Maury, Payne, and likely JOW. So it will relax somewhat.

L-T is fine, I think parents are just freaking out a bit because of a lack of understanding of the broader situation. L-T is not being asked to do anything that any other school in the same situation would be asked to do.

Actually, DCPS' target class size is 22 and they aren't supposed to make schools fill via lottery beyond that. It's in the worksheet your LSAT should see/get to give feedback on in February-ish when they're setting the number of lottery slots in each grade. Yes, schools often have larger classes than that, but not because of planned lottery spots. I also think L-T will likely aim to "right size" the 2nd grade back to 3 classes next year for 3rd rather than fill 4 classes more. Also, L-T didn't add more students than normal from the JOW catchment this year because they added fewer students via the lottery than normal. That's because DCPS didn't make them fill unclaimed lottery slots this year and the school chose not to because of construction; so, for instance, 4 of the 6 kids offered 5th grade slots took them and DCPS did not make them move the WL to fill the other 2 slots because the school as already at its total capacity, so they qualified for a waiver.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ludlow-Taylor waitlists didn't move at all, with the exception of PK and a single October offer for 4th grade. Recalling people saying that's related to ongoing construction?

Meanwhile, Brent made 3x the number of offers it did last year. Bussing to Columbia Heights definitely not appealing to people.

Yes regarding L-T. Construction that was supposed to be done before school started in August was not even up out of the ground at that point. They now claim it will be done before kids are back in the building after winter break. I remain skeptical. Glad they didn't overextend with offers in this environment. Next year will likely be a different story once the school can spread out into the new space (though don't expect them to suddenly add a ton of seats, I just think there will be more cushion on the margins).

Not surprised about Brent though we don't know any Brent families who left this year. I am betting they just burned through waitlists when offers were made and they had to clearly disclose the swing space situation. I recall we were in a similar boat with an offer to CHML when they were renovating and it was the same thing -- we were one of many families who turned it down because we didn't want to commit to busing our then-3 yo kid across town daily.

L-T has about 20 more kids than last year even without the WL movement. Classes are bigger than they’ve ever been. DCPS is forcing them to offer too many slots in the lottery. 3rd grade has 24 kids in every class; construction or no construction, they weren’t taking in the lottery except for maybe in 2nd where they added a class to meet demand so could have take more kids. Assuming they’re trying to get back to 3 classes next year so decided to stay with 19/class.

24 kids in a 3rd grade classroom is not large. I'd say that's about right for class size at an in-demand school with strong in bound buy in. I wouldn't want to go larger but I wouldn't complain about that. Everyone always wants smaller classes.

19 kids in a 2nd grade classroom is incredibly small and you don't even get that in Title 1 schools where there are restrictions on class size. A sub-20 class size outside of ECE or later grades due to attrition is fairly unheard of at a school with L-T's test scores. That 2nd grade cohort with smaller class is very lucky (really nice for 2nd when there's a big push for literacy and math fundamentals to get them ready for higher level work the following year) but I would also expect the school to get those classes up to at least 22 via the lottery next year, which would mean offering around 15 spots (9 to lift class size and then conservatively estimating attrition of 6).

It sounds like L-T had the capacity for more students and DCPS rightly sought to get them to capacity. I would also note that demand on L-T should lessen somewhat after JO Wilson's new campus opens next year. I would expect L-T to attract fewer JOW students, especially for ECE, once that is available. L-T likely added more students than normal from the JOW catchment this year because of the swing space, and may also have taken in Brent students for the same reason. Once JOW and Brent reopen with brand new campuses, I don't think you'll see as many people in the broader neighborhood seeking L-T out as an alternative. They'll still get students from Miner and Watkins, but those students will also seek out Brent, Maury, Payne, and likely JOW. So it will relax somewhat.

L-T is fine, I think parents are just freaking out a bit because of a lack of understanding of the broader situation. L-T is not being asked to do anything that any other school in the same situation would be asked to do.

I agree with you in principle but it is difficult when a school has to admit an influx of high needs kids in upper grades - this has happened to us in both ES and MS. The school isn’t necessarily prepared to handle the behavioral issues that arise.

That's a separate issue, because the influx of kids with higher needs in upper grades only occurs because the in-bound percentage drops in these grades. It doesn't happen because DCPS is forcing the school to accept more kids via lottery, since this only adds a handful of kids per grade. Even if every kid coming in via lottery is high needs (which is never the case, plenty of kids coming in via lottery do so because they simply have invested parents who were unhappy with their boundary school, and kids with invested parents looking for strong schools don't tend to have higher needs) it won't significantly change the vibe of the school. But when you have dozens of in-bounds kids leave the school in 4th and 5th for charters and privates, the school winds up offering many more lottery seats out of necessity (it literally has seats to fill just to fill out the class) and that can create issues because the 4th/5th grade classes will have very different needs and issues than the lower grades.

If you don't want this to happen, encourage families to stay through the terminal grade and attend the feeder. As long as there is high attrition in upper grades and by MS, you will wind up with lots more kids coming in via lottery in these grades.

But DCPS saying "please boost your 3rd grade classes from 22 to 24 because we believe you have the capacity" is not going to significantly change the make up of the school. If it's a strong school with good teaching and good academics, it will just mean an extra 6 kids have access to both of those resources, which is a net positive.

Actually, that's not true anymore. It's also because the WTU max and target are now both different for K-2 and 3-5, so theoretically a school that loses no kids to attrition can be asked to take more for 3-5 now. That happened to this year's 3rd grade at L-T, which took in considerably more kids than departed. I don't know what you mean by "dozens of in-bounds kids leave the school in 4th and 5th for charters and privates," but pre-4th isn't a high attrition year at L-T at all. 5th, yes, though the attrition at L-T was closer to a dozen than 2. My informal count puts it at 15 kids who left out of 64 this past year (only 5 girls total left and 1 was because of a move to the midwest), so the attrition level is nothing comparable to Brent, for instance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the bottom line.

Of the 3 acceptable charters for middle school (Latin, DCI, and Basis), you really only have a shot at Basis.

The chances for DCI and Latin is like wining the powerball with sibling preferences.

End of story.

As to if Basis will be a good fit for your kid, that’s another story and risk you take.

Expand your view.
My kid (and their friends) have had good experiences at Center City, ITS and Sojourner Truth for middle school.

ITS okay, but CC and SJ have incredibly low test scores (CC especially low in ELA, SJ better in ELA but especially low in math). And all three of these schools are teeny tiny, which means (1) not a lot of seats available, and (2) will be hard to find a cohort of high achieving kids when overall test scores are so low.

By middle school parents aren't merely looking for pleasant experience. They want to make sure their children will be prepared for HS academics with a pathway to college. This is alarmingly hard in DC.

+1. Such small schools will not have a good cohort of high achieving kids. In addition, they won’t have actual classes of high performing kids for separate tracking.p.

I will also add the negatives of such small schools are there is not the breath of curriculum, variety of courses, and many electives. Lastly, not much EC, clubs, and sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the bottom line.

Of the 3 acceptable charters for middle school (Latin, DCI, and Basis), you really only have a shot at Basis.

The chances for DCI and Latin is like wining the powerball with sibling preferences.

End of story.

As to if Basis will be a good fit for your kid, that’s another story and risk you take.

Expand your view.
My kid (and their friends) have had good experiences at Center City, ITS and Sojourner Truth for middle school.

ITS okay, but CC and SJ have incredibly low test scores (CC especially low in ELA, SJ better in ELA but especially low in math). And all three of these schools are teeny tiny, which means (1) not a lot of seats available, and (2) will be hard to find a cohort of high achieving kids when overall test scores are so low.

By middle school parents aren't merely looking for pleasant experience. They want to make sure their children will be prepared for HS academics with a pathway to college. This is alarmingly hard in DC.

+1. Such small schools will not have a good cohort of high achieving kids. In addition, they won’t have actual classes of high performing kids for separate tracking.p.

I will also add the negatives of such small schools are there is not the breath of curriculum, variety of courses, and many electives. Lastly, not much EC, clubs, and sports.

Fair on the latter, but Truth definitely has kids tracking in Algebra in 7th, Geometry in 8th, and puts kids in groups for ELA. So flyers are flying from our experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were 3629 unique 9th grade applicants in SY25-26.

32% applied to Banneker, 33% applied to McKinley, and 38% applied to Walls.

This is really interesting to me - does it break down by geography and race at all?

Only once you get to actual attendance numbers.