Takoma Education Campus?

[Anonymous]

Thoughts on this school for PK-elementary? We're thinking of buying in that area, but are worried about the school.

[Anonymous]

New principal this year. Haven't heard anything else about it so perhaps no news is good news?

[Anonymous]

I live in the neighborhood. Kids are older and never went there.

School is really changing - now PK3 and PK4 are all IB. This wasn't the case before and many families with young children are choosing the school. The campus is new, spacious and modernized (thanks for a fire 4-5 years ago that got the renovation done earlier than planned).

The challenge is that it is a PK3-8 campus that feeds to Coolidge high school. Many neighborhood families with older kids are in charters (mine are). There's talk of a "north middle" but no firm plans or timeline.

If you want a solid DCPS from ECE through high school then don't buy here.

[Anonymous]

Coolidge is about to undergo major renovations and a curriculum overhaul. Given the changes in the neighborhood, more neighbors enrolling their kids in their IB DCPS, and getting involved in the schools (not just Takoma but all the upper ward 4 schools), I expect things to improve dramatically over the next decade.

But, yes, lots of the kids in this neighborhood are in charters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Coolidge is about to undergo major renovations and a curriculum overhaul. Given the changes in the neighborhood, more neighbors enrolling their kids in their IB DCPS, and getting involved in the schools (not just Takoma but all the upper ward 4 schools), I expect things to improve dramatically over the next decade.

But, yes, lots of the kids in this neighborhood are in charters.

Coolidge has had at least 5 overhauls in the last 10 years.

I don't think the demographics of the neighborhood have changed enough to make this a high quality option in the next 10-15 years. I hope I am wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Coolidge is about to undergo major renovations and a curriculum overhaul. Given the changes in the neighborhood, more neighbors enrolling their kids in their IB DCPS, and getting involved in the schools (not just Takoma but all the upper ward 4 schools), I expect things to improve dramatically over the next decade.

But, yes, lots of the kids in this neighborhood are in charters.

Coolidge has had at least 5 overhauls in the last 10 years.

I don't think the demographics of the neighborhood have changed enough to make this a high quality option in the next 10-15 years. I hope I am wrong.

Assuming this is 15:07 PP, you yourself said the PK programs have changed a lot, now filled with IB kids. That has happened in just the past couple of years.

As one of the people actually working on the changes, and not just observing them, I'm more optimistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Coolidge is about to undergo major renovations and a curriculum overhaul. Given the changes in the neighborhood, more neighbors enrolling their kids in their IB DCPS, and getting involved in the schools (not just Takoma but all the upper ward 4 schools), I expect things to improve dramatically over the next decade.

But, yes, lots of the kids in this neighborhood are in charters.

Coolidge has had at least 5 overhauls in the last 10 years.

I don't think the demographics of the neighborhood have changed enough to make this a high quality option in the next 10-15 years. I hope I am wrong.

Assuming this is 15:07 PP, you yourself said the PK programs have changed a lot, now filled with IB kids. That has happened in just the past couple of years.

As one of the people actually working on the changes, and not just observing them, I'm more optimistic.

NP - having PK programs full does not mean that the demographics will change over time. Plenty of people move on for K or 1st.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New principal this year. Haven't heard anything else about it so perhaps no news is good news?

TEC ECE parent here.

The new principal is finding his way. He has a very different leadership style than the prior principal, which some teachers and parents have found off-putting. But he has vision and is becoming more attuned to how to address the needs of the school, including both families and teachers.

FWIW we are happy there, as many ECE parents seem to be.

Something to keep in mind, if you look at test scores and gasp in horror, is that TEC has a 30% ELL student population. One-quarter of its students have IEPs. So, even if your "average" student does ok-to-well, the school average will likely read as low. We aren't worried about our kid ("average" by any account, in the best possible way) but we know that others worry. I just share this info to try to allay fears.

The arts integration aspect is terrific.

Active ECE parents groups always looking for new families. Come join us!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Coolidge is about to undergo major renovations and a curriculum overhaul. Given the changes in the neighborhood, more neighbors enrolling their kids in their IB DCPS, and getting involved in the schools (not just Takoma but all the upper ward 4 schools), I expect things to improve dramatically over the next decade.

But, yes, lots of the kids in this neighborhood are in charters.

Coolidge has had at least 5 overhauls in the last 10 years.

I don't think the demographics of the neighborhood have changed enough to make this a high quality option in the next 10-15 years. I hope I am wrong.

Assuming this is 15:07 PP, you yourself said the PK programs have changed a lot, now filled with IB kids. That has happened in just the past couple of years.

As one of the people actually working on the changes, and not just observing them, I'm more optimistic.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New principal this year. Haven't heard anything else about it so perhaps no news is good news?

TEC ECE parent here.

The new principal is finding his way. He has a very different leadership style than the prior principal, which some teachers and parents have found off-putting. But he has vision and is becoming more attuned to how to address the needs of the school, including both families and teachers.

FWIW we are happy there, as many ECE parents seem to be.

Something to keep in mind, if you look at test scores and gasp in horror, is that TEC has a 30% ELL student population. One-quarter of its students have IEPs. So, even if your "average" student does ok-to-well, the school average will likely read as low. We aren't worried about our kid ("average" by any account, in the best possible way) but we know that others worry. I just share this info to try to allay fears.

The arts integration aspect is terrific.

Active ECE parents groups always looking for new families. Come join us!

Thank you PP, especially the bit about the test scores. Many schools are in the position that TEC is in and people fail to drill down to find out why those scores are what they are. We too have chosen to look beyond the test scores and have been happy at our IB school

[Anonymous]

The thing is as you look toward Coolidge you have to take the other feeder schools into consideration.

So while Takoma may very well be on its way to being a Ward 4 Brent or Maury but that isn't enough to create a strong high school cohort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New principal this year. Haven't heard anything else about it so perhaps no news is good news?

TEC ECE parent here.

The new principal is finding his way. He has a very different leadership style than the prior principal, which some teachers and parents have found off-putting. But he has vision and is becoming more attuned to how to address the needs of the school, including both families and teachers.

FWIW we are happy there, as many ECE parents seem to be.

Something to keep in mind, if you look at test scores and gasp in horror, is that TEC has a 30% ELL student population. One-quarter of its students have IEPs. So, even if your "average" student does ok-to-well, the school average will likely read as low. We aren't worried about our kid ("average" by any account, in the best possible way) but we know that others worry. I just share this info to try to allay fears.

The arts integration aspect is terrific.

Active ECE parents groups always looking for new families. Come join us!

ECE at TEC is truly wonderful! We were very happy there recently and recommend it without hesitation. This was not the case for elementary in our experience, which we tried in earnest for more than one grade, and so we left.

Schools like this TEC in such tough positions, and it's not anyone's fault. Our teachers were great, both principals were solid, and the kids were good kids, but the elementary-level academic experience came up short and our concerns about other issues - social and environmental - were rapidly accelerating. I hope things can continue to change for the better, but I caution new parents to depend on those changes because we were somewhat dependent on them 4 years ago and were pretty disappointed when things didn't work out for the long haul.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, my neighbor (Shepherd Park) had her child as an OOB student in PK3 at TEC recently--right before Shepherd offered PK3--and raved about it. She said ECE is great there.