SWS Open House Impressions & Info, 1/31
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Anonymous
Visit EC at Brent, Tyler SI, Maury, Peabody, Ludlow Taylor, JO Wilson, Miner, Payne and you'll see similar demographics. What exactly is SWS "getting away with"? Schools like GDS and WIS also attract more international families. Don't judge books by the covers. |
Anonymous
That part of the Northern Hill has a lot of young families and children. SWS could be an all-but neighborhood school based on proximity. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| Does DCPS really not approve of this -- or only EoTP? It's not like the upper NW schools are diverse! |
Anonymous
DCPS really does not approve, or they'd support ES gifted programs and honors classes in middle schools outside math. The difference in Upper NW is that predominantly minority neighborhoods are miles away. SWS has somehow managed to function as an overwhelmingly high-SES program for a long time, despite the fact that the Hill was mostly lower-middle-class until recently. |
Anonymous
Which "Hill" are you talking about? Cap Hill has been a gentrified neighborhood for decades. The boundaries are just pushing farther away from the Historic District. |
Anonymous
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SWS has been predominantly white - at least in part - because it didn't start until PreK. When SWS was part of the Cluster, I think lower SES families would take the spot at PS3 in "traditional" Peabody, and they were barred from switching to SWS at PK4. Also, if you look at the catchment area for Peabody, it is a pretty white area, and has been for quite some time. As PP noted, the Hill has been gentrified for decades.
It will be interesting to see how/if the demographics change with a city-wide draw and a PS3 program. |
Anonymous
What the PP wrote is accurate for the last few years, but SWS was white before the PS3 program started at Peabody. That PS3 program is only about 5 years old and I think SWS is about 15 years old. When my white kids went there 5 to 8 years ago, I wondered why more AA families didn't choose SWS over Peabody. If you lived within the Cluster boundaries, you could choose either program. |
Anonymous
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The party line on MOTH is that black families (even middle class families) preferred the curriculum of the traditional Peabody program. Kids in the traditional program tended to read earlier and get a more traditional academic base.
I read here all the time that white families leave Watkins in droves after 1st or 2nd grade, but it doesn't line up with what some happy Watkins families I meet are telling me. Of course, like Brent, sounds like almost everyone with options will bail before 5th. |
Anonymous
Not exactly. Dive into Ward 6 sub district National Census data for 1990, 2000 and 2010 for a sense of what gentrification has done to demographics. The NE neighborhood north of Stanton Park and south of H has gone from around 20% white to nearly 60% in the last 25 years. Similar change for the blocks north of Lincoln Park. The only area that was predominantly white when the Cluster was set up in the early 90s was in SE, close to the Capitol and around E. Market. Interesting about SWS being so white for lack of PreS3. |
Anonymous
DCPS doesn't post demographic histories of schools on-line, but if you've been watching the numbers at Watkins, you may have noticed that the percentage of white kids has dipped slightly three years in a row. They had more momentum before Inspired Teaching opened, and before the Logan Montessori moved out. Most middle-class Brent parents stay, then bail between 4th and 5th for options low-income families have, too. They leave for BASIS and Latin. Watkins experiences a steadier sort of attrition - a good many middle class parents drift out ever summer between 1st and 5th. |
Anonymous
PP 25 years isn't long enough for you? I did say "decades" -- as in the 80s to 90s forward. This isn't really on point, but I think we can agree it's not just the demographics were not "mostly lower-middle-class until recently". Without looking at the census data -- those numbers reflect what many have observed -- neighborhoods on and towards the north of Cap Hill have become whiter, and that trend has accelerated in the past decade. You could substitute Columbia Heights, Bloomingdale or Petworth for the Hill on that point too. |
Anonymous
We're in year one of Basis, so I don't know if I'd call that a trend. Latin (2006), Yu Ying (2007? 2008?), and 2 Rivers (2003) are popular with Hill families, but there are other charters and private/parochial MS options and traditionally there's also movement to other jurisdictions. The charter landscape has changed and will continue to impact public ES to MS transitions |
Anonymous
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Sorry to belabor the lottery point here, but I'm still confused. If I'm in-bounds for Peabody, but rank
1. SWS 2. Peabody This doesn't ally have any effect on my chances of getting into Peabody? In other words, don't they take in-bound parents who've ranked Peabody first over me? My desire is SWS, but I've come to terms that my chances are more limited there than Peabody, so am I decreasing my odds at Peabody by ranking this way? |
Anonymous
No. See the Tyler SI thread running concurently for insight on how the new lottery works in regard to IB schools. |