Upper elementary at a Title 1 school

[Anonymous]

We encourage a lot of reading outside of school. We have a family tradition of watching a documentary every Thursday night- and discussing. We pick a variety of summer camps and have a couple more academic choices (in normal times). We probably do a lot of what other upper middle class families do- travel, visit museums, encourage/pay for interests, take the occasional outschool class, etc. Maybe I spend a bit more time being intentional about this than I would otherwise…. But I don’t have to be intentional about other things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We encourage a lot of reading outside of school. We have a family tradition of watching a documentary every Thursday night- and discussing. We pick a variety of summer camps and have a couple more academic choices (in normal times). We probably do a lot of what other upper middle class families do- travel, visit museums, encourage/pay for interests, take the occasional outschool class, etc. Maybe I spend a bit more time being intentional about this than I would otherwise…. But I don’t have to be intentional about other things.

Thank you for sharing this. It sounds reasonable and straightforward, and really what we all hope to do for our kids with enough time and resources (and what we make an effort to achieve even if we don't have those things). I think we will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is starting third grade at a Title 1. We have been trying to lottery to a charter foryears but no luck. We loved the school but by second grade there are HUGE acheivement gaps. So far its worked because the classes are so small (around 16-20) and there are good supports for kids who need help.
I also talk with the teacher a lot about keeping my kid challenged. But the academics definitely are teaching down, not up. the attitude is "your kid will be fine anywhere" is tiresome. The fourth and fifth grades are ususally down to one class compared to 4 classes in first grade. Familiies leave also due to the middle school feed. MacFarland is a no go. My kid has had amazing teachers but don't kid yourself on diferentiation. Even the best teacher cant really reach the kid one grade above and the kid two grades behind.

Which school is this? We’re considering a few MacFarland feeders right now.

Sound like Powell, but I guess it can be another feeder school and I say this as a former Powell parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would you send your kid to a suboptimal college? Anyone who can flees crappy schools. Do yourself and your kids a favor and leave now

+1. The achievement gap gets much bigger from 2nd grade on up. Most of the teachers time is spent working on bringing the bottom up.

Your above grade level kid will not have a peer group. Giving worksheets or computer games with harder problems to the child is less than ideal as compared to having a similar peer group and being taught higher level academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you send your kid to a suboptimal college? Anyone who can flees crappy schools. Do yourself and your kids a favor and leave now

+1. The achievement gap gets much bigger from 2nd grade on up. Most of the teachers time is spent working on bringing the bottom up.

Your above grade level kid will not have a peer group. Giving worksheets or computer games with harder problems to the child is less than ideal as compared to having a similar peer group and being taught higher level academics.

I don't doubt this, but really where are families that can't afford Ward 3 schools supposed to go? The neighborhood schools have achievement gap issues, the HRCS have complaints about weak academics in upper grades (which doesn't seem that different from achievement gap issues, except all of the higher SES kids are being under-educated in a group instead of individually), and there is no such thing as OOB seats for "Deal feeders" anymore. What are normal families supposed to do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you send your kid to a suboptimal college? Anyone who can flees crappy schools. Do yourself and your kids a favor and leave now

+1. The achievement gap gets much bigger from 2nd grade on up. Most of the teachers time is spent working on bringing the bottom up.

Your above grade level kid will not have a peer group. Giving worksheets or computer games with harder problems to the child is less than ideal as compared to having a similar peer group and being taught higher level academics.

I don't doubt this, but really where are families that can't afford Ward 3 schools supposed to go? The neighborhood schools have achievement gap issues, the HRCS have complaints about weak academics in upper grades (which doesn't seem that different from achievement gap issues, except all of the higher SES kids are being under-educated in a group instead of individually), and there is no such thing as OOB seats for "Deal feeders" anymore. What are normal families supposed to do?

They're going to tell you to move or go private. They have no idea what regular folks lives are like or what they should do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We noticed a lot of movement pre-K 3 through kindergarten. After that, things were pretty stable until end of 4th.

Academic quality has varied more by teacher, which would happen at any school. We have had amazing teachers, good teachers, and ok teachers. Some have been better at differentiation. My kid hasn’t taken PARCC because of COVID, so I can’t say what their score would be… but on all other metrics they are doing great.

The bigger thing I think we have “missed” out on is activities. Our school has some, but I know other “wealthier” schools have more programming, especially in aftercare. We have some basic offerings through volunteer organizations. My kids do not notice, love aftercare, etc. And- most of the time- I appreciate that aftercare is so low key. But I have, at various times, been really jealous when I have heard the various after school clubs and activities other friends have through school. Logistically, it would just be easier if I could use aftercare for my kids extracurricular pursuits.

I totally agree in aftercare and after school activities

Same at our school. The UMC parents have tried to bring more activities but the PTA is controlled by three people who are adamant that NO activities can be added unless they are free to every single kid. Its so frustrating.

FWIW, Mundo Verde has the exact same situation with the PTA and the policy toward activities. This is not just a DCPS or a Title I thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you send your kid to a suboptimal college? Anyone who can flees crappy schools. Do yourself and your kids a favor and leave now

+1. The achievement gap gets much bigger from 2nd grade on up. Most of the teachers time is spent working on bringing the bottom up.

Your above grade level kid will not have a peer group. Giving worksheets or computer games with harder problems to the child is less than ideal as compared to having a similar peer group and being taught higher level academics.

This is not a universal experience. My above-grade-level kid does have a peer group, and when they have mastered a concept, the teacher encourages them to deepen their understanding and practice explaining it to the other kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you send your kid to a suboptimal college? Anyone who can flees crappy schools. Do yourself and your kids a favor and leave now

+1. The achievement gap gets much bigger from 2nd grade on up. Most of the teachers time is spent working on bringing the bottom up.

Your above grade level kid will not have a peer group. Giving worksheets or computer games with harder problems to the child is less than ideal as compared to having a similar peer group and being taught higher level academics.

This is not a universal experience. My above-grade-level kid does have a peer group, and when they have mastered a concept, the teacher encourages them to deepen their understanding and practice explaining it to the other kids.

Which school is this? Would love to see credit given where earned!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you send your kid to a suboptimal college? Anyone who can flees crappy schools. Do yourself and your kids a favor and leave now

+1. The achievement gap gets much bigger from 2nd grade on up. Most of the teachers time is spent working on bringing the bottom up.

Your above grade level kid will not have a peer group. Giving worksheets or computer games with harder problems to the child is less than ideal as compared to having a similar peer group and being taught higher level academics.

This is not a universal experience. My above-grade-level kid does have a peer group, and when they have mastered a concept, the teacher encourages them to deepen their understanding and practice explaining it to the other kids.

Which school is this? Would love to see credit given where earned!

Whittier. This approach worked well in both distance learning and in-person.

I also want to highlight that our final 8th grade class, which just graduated, sent kids off to Walls, Banneker, Duke Ellington, McKinley Tech, and Coolidge Early College, among other high schools. I'm excited to see where Ida B Wells kids head off to this time next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you send your kid to a suboptimal college? Anyone who can flees crappy schools. Do yourself and your kids a favor and leave now

+1. The achievement gap gets much bigger from 2nd grade on up. Most of the teachers time is spent working on bringing the bottom up.

Your above grade level kid will not have a peer group. Giving worksheets or computer games with harder problems to the child is less than ideal as compared to having a similar peer group and being taught higher level academics.

I don't doubt this, but really where are families that can't afford Ward 3 schools supposed to go? The neighborhood schools have achievement gap issues, the HRCS have complaints about weak academics in upper grades (which doesn't seem that different from achievement gap issues, except all of the higher SES kids are being under-educated in a group instead of individually), and there is no such thing as OOB seats for "Deal feeders" anymore. What are normal families supposed to do?

It is simply not a good situation. For Middle School, there are chances to enter BASIS, Latin, a few others depending on your academic priorities. For High School, there are chances to enter BASIS, Walls, and Banneker, all three of which encourage above-grade-level work. In addition, the Catholic schools are all pretty decent, they accept non-Catholic students, and are quite a bit cheaper than the privates. As you and a few others have said, Wilson does not emphasize academic upward mobility in the same way that it used to, but unless you are in-boundary it's not an option anyway.

[Anonymous]

Other folks have mentioned the academics, but I'll talk for a second about social aspects and classroom management.

i was a huge booster of our IB Title 1 school in the early years and firmly committed to keeping my kids there through MS. Well, I kept my oldest there through 5th and then pulled the others.

In the early years, the behavioral impact of multi-generational trauma were not as obvious. As the kids got older, the behavior got worse, and more dangerous. It wasn't all of the kids, or even a majority. But even 3 violent kids in a 20-kid classroom is going to create an impossible situation for the teachers, administration, and fellow students.

Intellectually, I understand that these kids were acting in a rational manner, related to the environments in which they were living and the trauma they had experienced, not to mention the violence they'd witnessed.

Intellecutally, I also understood that by moving my younger kids, I was leaving all of the amazing non-violent kids who were doing their best in a bad situation. But it was just too much after a while.

Tl;dr version: DCPS needs to do a lot more to deal with upper elementary kids who have experienced violence and trauma, because there's no way to keep that out of the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Other folks have mentioned the academics, but I'll talk for a second about social aspects and classroom management.

i was a huge booster of our IB Title 1 school in the early years and firmly committed to keeping my kids there through MS. Well, I kept my oldest there through 5th and then pulled the others.

In the early years, the behavioral impact of multi-generational trauma were not as obvious. As the kids got older, the behavior got worse, and more dangerous. It wasn't all of the kids, or even a majority. But even 3 violent kids in a 20-kid classroom is going to create an impossible situation for the teachers, administration, and fellow students.

Intellectually, I understand that these kids were acting in a rational manner, related to the environments in which they were living and the trauma they had experienced, not to mention the violence they'd witnessed.

Intellecutally, I also understood that by moving my younger kids, I was leaving all of the amazing non-violent kids who were doing their best in a bad situation. But it was just too much after a while.

Tl;dr version: DCPS needs to do a lot more to deal with upper elementary kids who have experienced violence and trauma, because there's no way to keep that out of the classroom.

There IS a way to keep it out of SOME of the classrooms: it is called differentiation. Historically, this approach to education has created safe spaces for kids in some but not all of their classrooms. DCPS has minimized differentiation because of half-baked educational policy that has gained prominence in the last 15 years, but unfortunately isn't going to be reversed in the near future.

[Anonymous]

I really wish posters would name the schools they have experience with. It would be really valuable for those of us still deciding where to send our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you send your kid to a suboptimal college? Anyone who can flees crappy schools. Do yourself and your kids a favor and leave now

+1. The achievement gap gets much bigger from 2nd grade on up. Most of the teachers time is spent working on bringing the bottom up.

Your above grade level kid will not have a peer group. Giving worksheets or computer games with harder problems to the child is less than ideal as compared to having a similar peer group and being taught higher level academics.

This is not a universal experience. My above-grade-level kid does have a peer group, and when they have mastered a concept, the teacher encourages them to deepen their understanding and practice explaining it to the other kids.

Again, I think there is where the Title 1s really differ and it's useful to be naming schools. at some Title 1s your kids will have a dozen very motivated peers, and at others they may have 1 or none. totally different experiences..