Elementary School Recommendations for Family moving to DC from Australia

[Anonymous]

OP, would you consider Fairfax County PS? Specifically, McLean, VA and the Langley pyramid? I grew up in McLean and there was and still is a small and supportive community of Australian military or government families. Churchill Road and Chesterbrook elementary schools have several Australian families.

My sibling worked in Canberra for two years and ended up back in McLean post assignment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, would you consider Fairfax County PS? Specifically, McLean, VA and the Langley pyramid? I grew up in McLean and there was and still is a small and supportive community of Australian military or government families. Churchill Road and Chesterbrook elementary schools have several Australian families.

My sibling worked in Canberra for two years and ended up back in McLean post assignment.

The daily commute from McLean to North East / South East would not be the easiest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you thought about Chevy Chase MD right on the boundary line? So easy to drive to Georgetown and downtown or walk to red line. You can do westbrook > westland > bcc

This. OP sounds risk adverse, so this is a good option.

[Anonymous]

Why not lottery and try to get into a charter? You could be set up through HS or at least MS. You just need to move at the right time, ie, after lottery results are out (April 1) and before deadline to file residency paperwork (not sure - differs for different schools). I think the My School DC people can talk to you and help you figure it out.

The schools people are mentioning are certainly the "safe bet" but in no way "progressive". If you want that you need to emerge from NW, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shepherd Park is a nice neighborhood, but OP should be aware that buying there would mean that her kids have to cross the park (by car or bus) in order to get to middle and high school. Same for her if she works in Georgetown. Commute-wise, it would be better for all of them if they live west of the park.

Also, while Shepherd Elementary is fine, it is not on par with the Deal and Hardy feeders west of the park.

In what way? Similar to Wilson, Shepherd's population is much more socioeconomically diverse than most other feeders, and its test scores reflect that. Almost 30% of its students are considered "economically disadvantaged," vs. 1% of Janney's students, and 4% of Lafayette's students, just to grab data for a couple of west of the park schools.

For some people, some socioeconomic diversity is a positive. Even if OP were uncomfortable with a higher proportion of poor kids, it would likely have little impact on the grades she's interested in--the lower grades at Shepherd are mostly in-boundary. Families that live in-boundary for Shepherd are pretty much all middle/upper middle class, which makes sense given home prices in Shepherd Park/Colonial Village.

Unlike the schools west of Rock Creek Park, Shepherd is always going to lose a fair number of students to private schools in 4th or 5th grade, and replace them with OOB students. Many of the Shepherd IB families have no intention of sending their children, many of whom are black or AA, to Deal and Wilson.

PP here. That is certainly true historically, as many of the (mostly AA) high school kids in the neighborhood do not attend Wilson, instead opting for private, Walls, etc. However, that seems to be changing. In my kid's cohort (current 2nd graders), virtually all parents I know with kids currently at Shepherd have said they intend to send their kids on to Deal and Wilson. Of course, only time will tell, and certainly some will peel off to private etc. But there does seem to be more buy-in for Wilson now than there has been in the past.

Also, many families at schools west of the park also historically have done private after elementary. This is not something that is unique to Shepherd by any stretch. And I expect this will happen less and less across schools as privates get more expensive--not every family has 30-40K per kid to spare.

FWIW, my DC is in 4th at Shepherd and reported to me that, of the 40 4th grade students last year, only 2 weren't back to school this week. That doesn't seem like a "fair number," just feels normal to me.

Agree! I think a lot of people talk about Shepherd Elementary but don’t know much about it beyond what they read here. I have a 6th grader at Deal. There just aren’t a lot of MS aged kids in the neighborhood. Our neighbors’ kids go to a language charter and then there are a handful who go to Jewish day school. There are quite a few Wilson HS students and a ton of little kids. I know of quite a few AA neighbors whose kids went to Deal but then went private for HS. But all in all, the vast majority in the neighborhood are older people with grown kids. Shepherd and Deal are great schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not lottery and try to get into a charter? You could be set up through HS or at least MS. You just need to move at the right time, ie, after lottery results are out (April 1) and before deadline to file residency paperwork (not sure - differs for different schools). I think the My School DC people can talk to you and help you figure it out.

The schools people are mentioning are certainly the "safe bet" but in no way "progressive". If you want that you need to emerge from NW, IMO.

But what if she strikes out on viable charter options? That's increasingly common as the lottery becomes more competitive. It's harder to have a reasonable Plan B coming from abroad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not lottery and try to get into a charter? You could be set up through HS or at least MS. You just need to move at the right time, ie, after lottery results are out (April 1) and before deadline to file residency paperwork (not sure - differs for different schools). I think the My School DC people can talk to you and help you figure it out.

The schools people are mentioning are certainly the "safe bet" but in no way "progressive". If you want that you need to emerge from NW, IMO.

Did you read OP's first - and follow up posts?

She asked for certainty and a path like she has in Australia where she knows where her child will go through high school. Trying the lottery is the furtherest thing from her stated desire -- and with her housing budget, she needn't put herself through that stress both now, and at middle and again at high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you thought about Chevy Chase MD right on the boundary line? So easy to drive to Georgetown and downtown or walk to red line. You can do westbrook > westland > bcc

This. OP sounds risk adverse, so this is a good option.

You want to talk over-crowded schools?! These schools make Janney look sparse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shepherd Park is a nice neighborhood, but OP should be aware that buying there would mean that her kids have to cross the park (by car or bus) in order to get to middle and high school. Same for her if she works in Georgetown. Commute-wise, it would be better for all of them if they live west of the park.

Also, while Shepherd Elementary is fine, it is not on par with the Deal and Hardy feeders west of the park.

In what way? Similar to Wilson, Shepherd's population is much more socioeconomically diverse than most other feeders, and its test scores reflect that. Almost 30% of its students are considered "economically disadvantaged," vs. 1% of Janney's students, and 4% of Lafayette's students, just to grab data for a couple of west of the park schools.

For some people, some socioeconomic diversity is a positive. Even if OP were uncomfortable with a higher proportion of poor kids, it would likely have little impact on the grades she's interested in--the lower grades at Shepherd are mostly in-boundary. Families that live in-boundary for Shepherd are pretty much all middle/upper middle class, which makes sense given home prices in Shepherd Park/Colonial Village.

Unlike the schools west of Rock Creek Park, Shepherd is always going to lose a fair number of students to private schools in 4th or 5th grade, and replace them with OOB students. Many of the Shepherd IB families have no intention of sending their children, many of whom are black or AA, to Deal and Wilson.

PP here. That is certainly true historically, as many of the (mostly AA) high school kids in the neighborhood do not attend Wilson, instead opting for private, Walls, etc. However, that seems to be changing. In my kid's cohort (current 2nd graders), virtually all parents I know with kids currently at Shepherd have said they intend to send their kids on to Deal and Wilson. Of course, only time will tell, and certainly some will peel off to private etc. But there does seem to be more buy-in for Wilson now than there has been in the past.

Also, many families at schools west of the park also historically have done private after elementary. This is not something that is unique to Shepherd by any stretch. And I expect this will happen less and less across schools as privates get more expensive--not every family has 30-40K per kid to spare.

Only the Hardy feeders are comparable to Shepherd in this particular respect. At the Deal feeders, this is more distant history; there is no noticeable exodus in 5th.

And yes, the percentage of economically disadvantaged and OOB kids is what will make the school seem less desirable to many. If we're realistic, most people will not see a relatively high percentage of economically disadvantaged kids as an asset, even if it wouldn't necessarily deter them from enrolling in the school.

Lastly, and this is certainly a matter of personal preference, Shepherd has uniforms while the elementary schools WOTP don't. We attended a school with uniforms for PK, and it felt liberating to move on to a school that doesn't. Now OP might be used to uniforms if she is from Australia (unlike someone like myself from continental Europe), but she also mentioned she is looking for a progressive school, and uniforms are not exactly a sign of a progressive school culture in the US.

PP here and I agree with you that historically the late elementary exodus has been more of a thing for Shepherd and Hardy feeders vs. the other Deal feeders. But again, it seems to be happening less so these days--I predict it'll be a non-issue by the time OP's oldest gets to upper elementary, if it isn't already.

Re: economically disadvantaged families at Shepherd, whether desirable or not, the percentage is shrinking, and is mostly concentrated in the upper grades. I only mentioned this to help explain the lower PARCC scores than more affluent Deal/Wilson feeders.

Re: uniforms, that's certainly a consideration for some. I personally don't like uniforms, but I know many other Shepherd families really do, or are neutral about them. However, the school does seem to be loosening up, with more kids now simply wearing a Shepherd green t-shirt to school instead of the white polos (which I always felt was ridiculous in PK3/4 when my kid would come home with essentially rainbow colored food and marker stains on her shirt).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not lottery and try to get into a charter? You could be set up through HS or at least MS. You just need to move at the right time, ie, after lottery results are out (April 1) and before deadline to file residency paperwork (not sure - differs for different schools). I think the My School DC people can talk to you and help you figure it out.

The schools people are mentioning are certainly the "safe bet" but in no way "progressive". If you want that you need to emerge from NW, IMO.

But what if she strikes out on viable charter options? That's increasingly common as the lottery becomes more competitive. It's harder to have a reasonable Plan B coming from abroad.

Chances are slim, and OP needs to be aware that if she does get in she will miss out on the experience of neighborhood schools, where all the classmates live close. That's an invaluable advantage of DCPS schools with very high IB attendance such as Janney.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would def +1 to Shepherd Park. You can get a very nice size house, feed to Deal, walkable access to diverse and lively areas Takoma Park and Siver Spring.

Only small parts of SP can truly be considered walkable to Silver Spring or Takoma Park.

Really? I don’t know many parts of SP that are not under a mile to SS. The southern GA ave part May be like 1.1 or 1.2 but that would make them 0.6-0.7 to Takoma and Nextdoor to Walter Reed. SP is pretty small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shepherd Park is a nice neighborhood, but OP should be aware that buying there would mean that her kids have to cross the park (by car or bus) in order to get to middle and high school. Same for her if she works in Georgetown. Commute-wise, it would be better for all of them if they live west of the park.

Also, while Shepherd Elementary is fine, it is not on par with the Deal and Hardy feeders west of the park.

There is a dedicated city bus that drops off in from of Deal. Also? What measurement are you using to compare? Compare Shepherd to Hearst and the others. Then adjust for SES and report back. I don’t have a kid at Shepherd but did this exercise when shopping and was surprised. Don’t let Shepherd scare you because it’s predominantly black.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shepherd Park is a nice neighborhood, but OP should be aware that buying there would mean that her kids have to cross the park (by car or bus) in order to get to middle and high school. Same for her if she works in Georgetown. Commute-wise, it would be better for all of them if they live west of the park.

Also, while Shepherd Elementary is fine, it is not on par with the Deal and Hardy feeders west of the park.

There is a dedicated city bus that drops off in from of Deal. Also? What measurement are you using to compare? Compare Shepherd to Hearst and the others. Then adjust for SES and report back. I don’t have a kid at Shepherd but did this exercise when shopping and was surprised. Don’t let Shepherd scare you because it’s predominantly black.

If you have to "adjust for SES"...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shepherd Park is a nice neighborhood, but OP should be aware that buying there would mean that her kids have to cross the park (by car or bus) in order to get to middle and high school. Same for her if she works in Georgetown. Commute-wise, it would be better for all of them if they live west of the park.

Also, while Shepherd Elementary is fine, it is not on par with the Deal and Hardy feeders west of the park.

There is a dedicated city bus that drops off in from of Deal. Also? What measurement are you using to compare? Compare Shepherd to Hearst and the others. Then adjust for SES and report back. I don’t have a kid at Shepherd but did this exercise when shopping and was surprised. Don’t let Shepherd scare you because it’s predominantly black.

If you have to "adjust for SES"...

DP. My guess is that you have no idea what "adjusting for SES" even means. If you did, you wouldn't be so scared off by a majority minority and socioeconomically diverse school. Or, maybe you would--in which case, MAGA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shepherd Park is a nice neighborhood, but OP should be aware that buying there would mean that her kids have to cross the park (by car or bus) in order to get to middle and high school. Same for her if she works in Georgetown. Commute-wise, it would be better for all of them if they live west of the park.

Also, while Shepherd Elementary is fine, it is not on par with the Deal and Hardy feeders west of the park.

There is a dedicated city bus that drops off in from of Deal. Also? What measurement are you using to compare? Compare Shepherd to Hearst and the others. Then adjust for SES and report back. I don’t have a kid at Shepherd but did this exercise when shopping and was surprised. Don’t let Shepherd scare you because it’s predominantly black.

If you have to "adjust for SES"...

What do you mean?