Roosevelt High School in Petworth?

[Anonymous]

We are one of those families that aimed at Roosevelt. It didn’t make sense for kids who are academically advanced 20 years ago and it doesn’t now.

We really took it seriously. The trouble is that very few kids are at or above grade level and our kids are above grade level in everything. To the point of doing nothing in class but helping friends. Socially, our kids went to school with all these kids all the way through middle school so high school probably would’ve been fine though it is always a struggle.

We sent ours to selective DCPS. Teachers that give our kids’ best work Bs and Cs so they will grow rather than coast.

Coolidge and its early college were also right up there as choices. I like Coolidge Early College because of the possibility that you could get or keep kids who are doing well academically in the school and maybe build toward some academic integration. I would love it if this program was in Roosevelt and associated with a college better than Trinity.

Trinity from what I’ve seen is a community college level university that DCPS teachers use to get Masters degrees. I think the college partners should be closer to the continuum of national level higher education. Howard, Catholic, American.

Frankly what I’d dream of is an early college program at Roosevelt that connects with its international affairs programming and feeds into Georgetown. That’d be guaranteed to draw some families with high achievers and an interestingly diverse set, I would bet.

But I don’t have high expectations that DCPS does what I’d want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just so we’re clear, not a single poster yet (and we’re on page 4) has ever had a kid at Roosevelt.

OP you are on the wrong forum. DCUM is for rich and/or white folks who say they’re liberal and open-minded and in real life are great at talking the talk but never, ever walk the walk.

Roosevelt High School is probably one of the worst high schools in the entire country. You're not open minded if you don't want to send your kids there? Ok, person who has no kids.

[Anonymous]

There are 0% of kids on grade level in math and 12% in ELA. Nobody who’s paying any attention at all chooses that for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just so we’re clear, not a single poster yet (and we’re on page 4) has ever had a kid at Roosevelt.

OP you are on the wrong forum. DCUM is for rich and/or white folks who say they’re liberal and open-minded and in real life are great at talking the talk but never, ever walk the walk.

I’ve never had a kid there but I’ve been in the school to observe classes many times. This was several years ago to be fair but I would never send my kid there. And I know lots of people who are not white and not rich who would never send their kids there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are one of those families that aimed at Roosevelt. It didn’t make sense for kids who are academically advanced 20 years ago and it doesn’t now.

We really took it seriously. The trouble is that very few kids are at or above grade level and our kids are above grade level in everything. To the point of doing nothing in class but helping friends. Socially, our kids went to school with all these kids all the way through middle school so high school probably would’ve been fine though it is always a struggle.

We sent ours to selective DCPS. Teachers that give our kids’ best work Bs and Cs so they will grow rather than coast.

Coolidge and its early college were also right up there as choices. I like Coolidge Early College because of the possibility that you could get or keep kids who are doing well academically in the school and maybe build toward some academic integration. I would love it if this program was in Roosevelt and associated with a college better than Trinity.

Trinity from what I’ve seen is a community college level university that DCPS teachers use to get Masters degrees. I think the college partners should be closer to the continuum of national level higher education. Howard, Catholic, American.

Frankly what I’d dream of is an early college program at Roosevelt that connects with its international affairs programming and feeds into Georgetown. That’d be guaranteed to draw some families with high achievers and an interestingly diverse set, I would bet.

But I don’t have high expectations that DCPS does what I’d want.

Georgetown has had a lot of issues with kids from DCPS. They don’t- or they didn’t- have the resources or remedial programming to get kids to the level of the modal Georgetown student. This of course could have changed, and it’s not just a Georgetown problem or a DCPS problem (Michigan famously had similar issues with Michigan public schools and rural students, every top university does). The chances Georgetown engages in an official program are pretty slim, and they are very selective about who they let in from DCPS as it is (no one feels good about a valedictorian getting a 0.0 GPA at your school and getting kicked out after a year).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just so we’re clear, not a single poster yet (and we’re on page 4) has ever had a kid at Roosevelt.

OP you are on the wrong forum. DCUM is for rich and/or white folks who say they’re liberal and open-minded and in real life are great at talking the talk but never, ever walk the walk.

I’ve never had a kid there but I’ve been in the school to observe classes many times. This was several years ago to be fair but I would never send my kid there. And I know lots of people who are not white and not rich who would never send their kids there.

What about MacFarland? Have you observed there and would you say the same?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are 0% of kids on grade level in math and 12% in ELA. Nobody who’s paying any attention at all chooses that for their kids.

True but there seem to be a lot of people who want DCPS to be better and, especially, want their school of right to be better. Part of that could be accomplished by choosing the school of right. I wonder if people are considering that the best predictor of current/future proficiency is past proficiency (that and family wealth and family education)? If 20-30 families with proficient 8th graders choose Roosevelt, on/above grade level classes could be built for them and proficiency would skyrocket at the school.

It is very hard to grow students entering high school to proficiency (4+ on PARCC/CAPE) who are starting at the lowest performance levels (1's mostly not even two's or three's on PARCC/CAPE). I think parents need to choose what's best for their kids but there may be ways to do that at the school of right if parents join together. That seems to be how elementary schools have improved here but selective schools at the high school level weaken the pool of available prepared students for the other high schools. They are great for the kids who get in but still there are other on/above grade level students who need more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are 0% of kids on grade level in math and 12% in ELA. Nobody who’s paying any attention at all chooses that for their kids.

True but there seem to be a lot of people who want DCPS to be better and, especially, want their school of right to be better. Part of that could be accomplished by choosing the school of right. I wonder if people are considering that the best predictor of current/future proficiency is past proficiency (that and family wealth and family education)? If 20-30 families with proficient 8th graders choose Roosevelt, on/above grade level classes could be built for them and proficiency would skyrocket at the school.

It is very hard to grow students entering high school to proficiency (4+ on PARCC/CAPE) who are starting at the lowest performance levels (1's mostly not even two's or three's on PARCC/CAPE). I think parents need to choose what's best for their kids but there may be ways to do that at the school of right if parents join together. That seems to be how elementary schools have improved here but selective schools at the high school level weaken the pool of available prepared students for the other high schools. They are great for the kids who get in but still there are other on/above grade level students who need more.

It's easier to do that at the grade school level because you don't need differentiation across a full range of academic subjects, and more families are willing to give it a chance. The stakes are lower. And it's still difficult.

Even if you could get a substantial number of parents to try it, the school might or might not try to meet their academic needs. And what you might describe as buying into your neighborhood school and trying to improve it, many others would describe as white gentrifiers with a sense of entitlement trying to bully a school into providing separate classes for their kids. I don't think that would be a fair description, but why risk it for something with a small chance of success? You can also see what DCPS thinks of families that try this in the case of Maury and the attempts to split it up. It doesn't inspire confidence.

If DCPS wanted my kids or yours to go to Roosevelt or any other EOTP high school, they have a clear path forward via offering a test-in program for all of the academic subjects. They don't do that anywhere. I can't change that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are 0% of kids on grade level in math and 12% in ELA. Nobody who’s paying any attention at all chooses that for their kids.

True but there seem to be a lot of people who want DCPS to be better and, especially, want their school of right to be better. Part of that could be accomplished by choosing the school of right. I wonder if people are considering that the best predictor of current/future proficiency is past proficiency (that and family wealth and family education)? If 20-30 families with proficient 8th graders choose Roosevelt, on/above grade level classes could be built for them and proficiency would skyrocket at the school.

It is very hard to grow students entering high school to proficiency (4+ on PARCC/CAPE) who are starting at the lowest performance levels (1's mostly not even two's or three's on PARCC/CAPE). I think parents need to choose what's best for their kids but there may be ways to do that at the school of right if parents join together. That seems to be how elementary schools have improved here but selective schools at the high school level weaken the pool of available prepared students for the other high schools. They are great for the kids who get in but still there are other on/above grade level students who need more.

It's easier to do that at the grade school level because you don't need differentiation across a full range of academic subjects, and more families are willing to give it a chance. The stakes are lower. And it's still difficult.

Even if you could get a substantial number of parents to try it, the school might or might not try to meet their academic needs. And what you might describe as buying into your neighborhood school and trying to improve it, many others would describe as white gentrifiers with a sense of entitlement trying to bully a school into providing separate classes for their kids. I don't think that would be a fair description, but why risk it for something with a small chance of success? You can also see what DCPS thinks of families that try this in the case of Maury and the attempts to split it up. It doesn't inspire confidence.

If DCPS wanted my kids or yours to go to Roosevelt or any other EOTP high school, they have a clear path forward via offering a test-in program for all of the academic subjects. They don't do that anywhere. I can't change that.

This thread has multiple examples of trying to browbeat or guilt parents of grade-level students into attending Roosevelt and EOTP schools like it, without realizing that DCPS does not consider that a priority. At all.

[Anonymous]

Nope. Tell them to buy in Shaw which is closer to Banneker, McKinley Tech and SWW - all dcps magnet schools. Or they should buy or rent in the Jackson Reed district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Tell them to buy in Shaw which is closer to Banneker, McKinley Tech and SWW - all dcps magnet schools. Or they should buy or rent in the Jackson Reed district.

NO! These schools are not a “strategy” when you have to test in and it can be very competitive. Maybe less so for McKinley, but the point remains.

What if they don’t get in? They will literally have no public option.

The only rational option if you haven’t already been accepted to a magnet is to rent or buy for JR or MacArthur.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just so we’re clear, not a single poster yet (and we’re on page 4) has ever had a kid at Roosevelt.

OP you are on the wrong forum. DCUM is for rich and/or white folks who say they’re liberal and open-minded and in real life are great at talking the talk but never, ever walk the walk.

+1. This city is full of progressives who “love their neighborhood” and crave “diversity.” But when it really matters. When it’s about their most important skin in the game. They’re driving their Prius across the park every day and right past the neighbors that they “love.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just so we’re clear, not a single poster yet (and we’re on page 4) has ever had a kid at Roosevelt.

OP you are on the wrong forum. DCUM is for rich and/or white folks who say they’re liberal and open-minded and in real life are great at talking the talk but never, ever walk the walk.

+1. This city is full of progressives who “love their neighborhood” and crave “diversity.” But when it really matters. When it’s about their most important skin in the game. They’re driving their Prius across the park every day and right past the neighbors that they “love.”

Where do you send your kids, PP?

How many of these PPs judging EOTP people were rich enough to buy WOTP and would never consider slumming it with us? It's really not a good look and makes me glad I live EOTP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just so we’re clear, not a single poster yet (and we’re on page 4) has ever had a kid at Roosevelt.

OP you are on the wrong forum. DCUM is for rich and/or white folks who say they’re liberal and open-minded and in real life are great at talking the talk but never, ever walk the walk.

+1. This city is full of progressives who “love their neighborhood” and crave “diversity.” But when it really matters. When it’s about their most important skin in the game. They’re driving their Prius across the park every day and right past the neighbors that they “love.”

Where do you send your kids, PP?

How many of these PPs judging EOTP people were rich enough to buy WOTP and would never consider slumming it with us? It's really not a good look and makes me glad I live EOTP.

Ignore the troll, PP. You know and I know that our neighbors were the ones telling us how to get into better schools and were doing that cross town school drive before us. We do that commute and it's eye opening how blind Ward 3 residents are to how it really is in the rest of the city. Then they think it can't really be that bad because it's still DC/DCPS after all or they make assumptions and judge us hard. Oh well, their loss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just so we’re clear, not a single poster yet (and we’re on page 4) has ever had a kid at Roosevelt.

OP you are on the wrong forum. DCUM is for rich and/or white folks who say they’re liberal and open-minded and in real life are great at talking the talk but never, ever walk the walk.

+1. This city is full of progressives who “love their neighborhood” and crave “diversity.” But when it really matters. When it’s about their most important skin in the game. They’re driving their Prius across the park every day and right past the neighbors that they “love.”

Let me guess: You don't have any kids.

Also, I bet you dont have a problem with the city putting a giant thumb on the scale in the school lottery so that kids from Wards 7 and 8 get into the best schools on the other side of town.