Anyone else disillusioned with the whole process?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IMO,
HRCS are Overrated with unexperienced, young teachers that have no classroom management. At first parents are happy to see a room of diverse faces but it quickly crumbles when parents have high demands and teachers don't have the tools to communicate or truly differentiate in the classroom. If you talk to anyone in detail at a HRCS, you will find a disgruntled, unfilled parent and school experience.

My advice is to find schools with a solid teaching staff. In Elementary, your child will flourish in most any environment - solid teachers are the key. In Middle school, you need to look at their peers. Teachers probably have less of an influence because of their peers so choose wisely.

For now pick a school where your children will be cared for and plan carefully for Middle school.

I agree with this post but the middle school feeder patterns make it hard to not be worried in PK.

Totally in agreement. Focus on good teachers for ES. Peers for MS.
I am now facing HS "choices". Any advice, PPs?

Assume you'd be applying for 19-20 or later?

I'd try application schools first -- SWW, Ellington, McKinley and Banneker are all good. Only SWW and Ellington are hard to get into.

For charters I would consider Cap City, Latin (longest of long shots). Bard is worth keeping an eye on.

Thanks. Yes, applying for 19-20.
What about Wilson?

If you are IB, it is great. IB kids generally choose between Wilson and one of the application schools, depending on their interests. But, Wilson doesn't take additional OOB; 'officially' hasn't for years, won't for years. The high OOB numbers you see at Wilson are OOB kids coming up through the feeder middle schools, who are coming from the feeder elementary schools. The school is over capacity and the grade sizes are getting bigger, so not likely to change for a long while.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would take LT off your list for commute reasons. Given where you live and where you have to get to for work, you do not want to fight your way onto Capitol Hill and then off again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IMO,
HRCS are Overrated with unexperienced, young teachers that have no classroom management. At first parents are happy to see a room of diverse faces but it quickly crumbles when parents have high demands and teachers don't have the tools to communicate or truly differentiate in the classroom. If you talk to anyone in detail at a HRCS, you will find a disgruntled, unfilled parent and school experience.

My advice is to find schools with a solid teaching staff. In Elementary, your child will flourish in most any environment - solid teachers are the key. In Middle school, you need to look at their peers. Teachers probably have less of an influence because of their peers so choose wisely.

For now pick a school where your children will be cared for and plan carefully for Middle school.

I agree with this post but the middle school feeder patterns make it hard to not be worried in PK.

Totally in agreement. Focus on good teachers for ES. Peers for MS.
I am now facing HS "choices". Any advice, PPs?

Assume you'd be applying for 19-20 or later?

I'd try application schools first -- SWW, Ellington, McKinley and Banneker are all good. Only SWW and Ellington are hard to get into.

For charters I would consider Cap City, Latin (longest of long shots). Bard is worth keeping an eye on.

Thanks. Yes, applying for 19-20.
What about Wilson?

If you are IB, it is great. IB kids generally choose between Wilson and one of the application schools, depending on their interests. But, Wilson doesn't take additional OOB; 'officially' hasn't for years, won't for years. The high OOB numbers you see at Wilson are OOB kids coming up through the feeder middle schools, who are coming from the feeder elementary schools. The school is over capacity and the grade sizes are getting bigger, so not likely to change for a long while.

And don't forget about all of the students who are at Wilson who live in Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would take LT off your list for commute reasons. Given where you live and where you have to get to for work, you do not want to fight your way onto Capitol Hill and then off again.

OP here, I am very impressed by Ludlow Taylor and willing to make the trek. Also, I technically work in NOMA so that would be terrible actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would take LT off your list for commute reasons. Given where you live and where you have to get to for work, you do not want to fight your way onto Capitol Hill and then off again.

OP here, I am very impressed by Ludlow Taylor and willing to make the trek. Also, I technically work in NOMA so that would be terrible actually.

Wouldn’t*

[Anonymous]

OP if you are willing to travel to Ludlow Taylor what about adding JO Wilson? The principal was so great at Two Rivers and I think the most recent chancellor had his kids there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's grueling and I sympathize with you OP, having been through it several times.

But you know what is more grueling? Applying to private school in this city.
It's a long, painful, expensive process with even worse odds than the public lottery.
Plenty of top kids don't get in anywhere.
We're in year two of trying to leave DCPS (have had a great experience but now have an older kid who now wants to apply/attend elsewhere).
Results are out Friday and I fully expect not to get in anywhere again (despite having an excellent application).

The school situation in this city is not easy.

Not OP, but forgive me if I don't feel that sorry for you. You can afford private.

[Anonymous]

The lottery system turns us into consumers/ customers rather than citizens/ community members. If we don't like something at a school- there is little incentive to roll up our sleeves and invest to improve the school. We just roll the dice again and just leave.

[Anonymous]

I just want to say that the strongest child in my dd’s diverse, eotp first grade is an African American girl. I’m not white or black. Actually, this was true in both of my kids’ classes. Don’t stress much, mom. If she is advanced and you are supporting her and giving her rich experiences at home, she will do well anywhere. I really dislike charter schools and lottery because they’re diverting striving families from all backgrounds from neighborhood schools that really, truly could be great if you’d just send your talented, smart, well prepared kids there. I’m glad my kids are growing up with smart peers of all co,ors, ethnicities and ses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just want to say that the strongest child in my dd’s diverse, eotp first grade is an African American girl. I’m not white or black. Actually, this was true in both of my kids’ classes. Don’t stress much, mom. If she is advanced and you are supporting her and giving her rich experiences at home, she will do well anywhere. I really dislike charter schools and lottery because they’re diverting striving families from all backgrounds from neighborhood schools that really, truly could be great if you’d just send your talented, smart, well prepared kids there. I’m glad my kids are growing up with smart peers of all co,ors, ethnicities and ses.

I understand these posts, but it is worth noting that charters are ALSO full of students who are less well prepared, in classes with students with more advantages. On a percentage basis, charters have just as many high needs children. There are also far fewer charters with an overwhelmingly white/affluent student body than DCPS, and most of your neighbors who are not attending your DCPS are desperately seeking OOB spaces at one of the higher performing, more affluent DCPS schools.

For every higher SES kid who chooses a charter school, an equal number of at-risk kids enroll, conserving resources if you will, from your neighborhood school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's grueling and I sympathize with you OP, having been through it several times.

But you know what is more grueling? Applying to private school in this city.
It's a long, painful, expensive process with even worse odds than the public lottery.
Plenty of top kids don't get in anywhere.
We're in year two of trying to leave DCPS (have had a great experience but now have an older kid who now wants to apply/attend elsewhere).
Results are out Friday and I fully expect not to get in anywhere again (despite having an excellent application).

The school situation in this city is not easy.

Not OP, but forgive me if I don't feel that sorry for you. You can afford private.

DP, we also moved from DCPS to private, but I agree that it's sort of tone deaf for PP to give her sob story here in the DC public schools forum, state that it's "more grueling than what everyone here is experiencing, and expect folks to feel sorry for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, as a parent to another early elementary AA child and lottery veteran, I empathize. What school is your child in now, and what general area do you live in? Based on this, perhaps we could give some realistic suggestions.

DC is at Appletree. PK3, we didn't love it--it was a little too rigid and we felt like it stifled DC a bit. It may have been partly due to the teachers and partly due to the Appletree model being a bit too much for a 3 year old. This year, however, DC has had excellent teachers and it's been much more age appropriate in our view.

We live Petworth/Brightwood Park. I work downtown and DH works in MoCo so we would love Shepherd. I just don't know if its realistic with so few spots. I would also love Inspired Teaching, but honestly who wouldn't?

PP here--we actually really liked Appletree CH when we toured a few years ago--kids and staff seemed happy, and liked their evidence-based approach to educational outcomes. Ultimately, we ranked our IB (Shepherd) first. Actually, plenty of folks from your neighborhood send their kids to Shepherd, and there should be a few spaces available, so I'd list it for K. You never know. Sounds like it would work great for commutes, too.

As for ITS, I also liked their philosophy and we enjoyed that tour too. We have friends (also AA) that loved the school at first, but found that it didn't meet their kids' needs after a few years. Of course, this was a few years ago, so info is dated, and I would still list it--you can always do more research if your kids get in.

In addition to Shepherd, what else would people suggest as schools with a reasonable chance of getting in and good fit for OP--Takoma? West?

PP again, and a couple more thoughts--would you consider language immersion schools if you can support it? Might be some additional options there.

Also, I know you said that you just selected a few options, but I would use all 12 options. Might as well maximize chances with a good mix of long shots and safeties, since it's your kid's third year in the lottery. I would want to give a college effort one last time before considering other options, like moving to a Deal/Hardy feeder, trying for private/parochial, or moving to MD.

Good luck!

OP here, I'm super risk averse when it comes to my kids education. So, I'm using all the 12 options. Here they are:

Mann
Eaton
Hyde Addison
Shepherd
Ludlow-Taylor
El Haynes
Yu Ying
Inspired Teaching
Two Rivers
Lee Montessori
Breakthrough
Mundo Verde at 8th

Hmm. You don't exactly have a safety on here, do you. I guess you know that and will use your IB? Which is what?

I would take off some of the super long shots at the top and maybe consider something like Takoma or West. But that is not knowing your IB.

I sorta did even though I've sorta convinced myself that Breakthrough is a safety. Truesdell is my neighborhood. Should I add West? My understanding is that it's like impossible to get into West.

Isn’t West in a swing space next year? That might improve your chances of getting in out of boundary if IB parents opt to wait until West returns to its building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

My DC had terrible lottery numbers 3 years in a row. We had the same plan to flee when he was a toddler. Fortunately that third year there was a lot of waitlist movement and we finally lucked into a school that has been fantastic for my DC by every measure. As early as 1st grade the school did pullouts for children that were ahead academically. He has other opportunities that I never had growing up. Also there are children who look like him that are also succeeding and push him to work even harder. I played the lottery for 1st and 2nd (because I’m paranoid like that) and did get into several of our former top choices both years. Turned them down and my oldest will be in 4th next year. Who knows, we still may head to the suburbs, but frankly most suburban schools haven’t exactly mastered achievement gap issues either.

It’s tough and this process sucks, but just wanted to give you guys some hope.

Which school is this that models excelling academics and plenty of AA kids being given this path? Sounds like a school most AA families would want to check out for next years lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, as a parent to another early elementary AA child and lottery veteran, I empathize. What school is your child in now, and what general area do you live in? Based on this, perhaps we could give some realistic suggestions.

DC is at Appletree. PK3, we didn't love it--it was a little too rigid and we felt like it stifled DC a bit. It may have been partly due to the teachers and partly due to the Appletree model being a bit too much for a 3 year old. This year, however, DC has had excellent teachers and it's been much more age appropriate in our view.

We live Petworth/Brightwood Park. I work downtown and DH works in MoCo so we would love Shepherd. I just don't know if its realistic with so few spots. I would also love Inspired Teaching, but honestly who wouldn't?

PP here--we actually really liked Appletree CH when we toured a few years ago--kids and staff seemed happy, and liked their evidence-based approach to educational outcomes. Ultimately, we ranked our IB (Shepherd) first. Actually, plenty of folks from your neighborhood send their kids to Shepherd, and there should be a few spaces available, so I'd list it for K. You never know. Sounds like it would work great for commutes, too.

As for ITS, I also liked their philosophy and we enjoyed that tour too. We have friends (also AA) that loved the school at first, but found that it didn't meet their kids' needs after a few years. Of course, this was a few years ago, so info is dated, and I would still list it--you can always do more research if your kids get in.

In addition to Shepherd, what else would people suggest as schools with a reasonable chance of getting in and good fit for OP--Takoma? West?

What about ITS didn't meet their needs? It seems like one of the top schools for middle class AA families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Takoma is possible, because they are expanding now that 6th grade will be at New North. And because there are people there who get lucky in the lottery and leave after PK for what they think are better schools. Good building and the arts program is real -- I live nearby (older kids) and see children going to and from with string or brass instruments in tow.

Unproven middle school feed, but increasing energy about it from families in the neighborhood and of course OP's kid won't be ready for that for 6 years -- a lifetime.

I have been waitingn13 years, though many kids, to be comfortable with our IB middle and high school - still not there. Six years is not very long!