Middle Schools for Cap Hill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Advocate for change all you want. Hope and pray for change to your heart’s content. None is coming. Be ready.

+1000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to close this thread? I think the two of you are basically agreeing. The anonymity of this forum makes things impossible. There WERE people on this thread earlier that were making judgmental and negative comments about schools with certain test scores, and assuming the intentions of parents who sent their kids there. There were negative comments made about the behavior of parents who send their kids to IB schools, calling them preachy and acting for political reasons. Doesn't sound like that was you, given your recent posts. Parents have the right and opportunity to send their kids wherever is best for them. We need to stop cutting each other down and bickering, and assuming or judging people for their choices, full stop.

I don't get why UMC CH parents bother with DCPS options after 5th grade. Yes, it's nice to send your kid to a walkable school with a few old friends, but beyond that, the appeal is lost on me, a CH resident since the 90s.

I made a point of visiting the 3 CH middle schools this school year, on weekdays days when students were in the buildings. I've talked to a number of high SES IB parents who send their children to each and still don't see the appeal.

These programs don't offer designated test-in "honors" (grade level) classes, other than for math and ELA at SH. The hallways and playgrounds are rowdy (at least by my standards), the student bodies can be described as diverse, and pre-Covid scores were alarming overall in each case. Most worrying, senior admins seem to quit on a regular basis.

Granted, my comments are "negative," slam me for that, but I visited the schools looking for positives.

What were the reasons these parents gave you for why they are sending their kids to the schools?

*Admins gave impressive presentations at open houses/evidence of strong leadership.
*Neighborhood school better than long commute to charter from CH (especially DCI, hour-long commute by public transportation).
*Effective differentiation in the classroom with "appropriate" challenge provided in core subjects.
*School buildings/campus nicely renovated recently = good facilities.
*Multiple friends from DCPS elementary school going.
*School offered particularly good SpEd help for rising 6th grader with special needs.

Reasons unsaid by parents that I suspect (though probably not all these reasons in case of a particular family):

*Helping to desegregate overwhelmingly AA/Latino DCPS neighborhood school as white family a priority vis a vis parents' politics. Some IB parents I spoke to clearly anti-charter.
*Child didn't get into Latin or BASIS and possibly Inspired Teaching, Two Rivers, CHML via lottery; prospects of getting off WLs before Oct. Count Day poor.
*Parents involved in ES PTA efforts to make the middle school feed work for one or more years prior to enrolling. Liked group spirit of PTA parents advocating for IB enrollment at the school.
*Would have gone w/a private/parochial school if could have afforded for all children in family.
*Parents not interested and/or able to homeschool for MS.

What makes you discount all the actual reasons they gave you?? Those all sound like good, normal reasons to send your kid to a neighborhood school.

For the last time the test scores and overall student body are frankly abysmal. Look the only people sending their kids their are bleeding heart liberals with white guilt who have no idea what is actually best for their children. Asian, black, and hispanic folks of means know better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to close this thread? I think the two of you are basically agreeing. The anonymity of this forum makes things impossible. There WERE people on this thread earlier that were making judgmental and negative comments about schools with certain test scores, and assuming the intentions of parents who sent their kids there. There were negative comments made about the behavior of parents who send their kids to IB schools, calling them preachy and acting for political reasons. Doesn't sound like that was you, given your recent posts. Parents have the right and opportunity to send their kids wherever is best for them. We need to stop cutting each other down and bickering, and assuming or judging people for their choices, full stop.

I don't get why UMC CH parents bother with DCPS options after 5th grade. Yes, it's nice to send your kid to a walkable school with a few old friends, but beyond that, the appeal is lost on me, a CH resident since the 90s.

I made a point of visiting the 3 CH middle schools this school year, on weekdays days when students were in the buildings. I've talked to a number of high SES IB parents who send their children to each and still don't see the appeal.

These programs don't offer designated test-in "honors" (grade level) classes, other than for math and ELA at SH. The hallways and playgrounds are rowdy (at least by my standards), the student bodies can be described as diverse, and pre-Covid scores were alarming overall in each case. Most worrying, senior admins seem to quit on a regular basis.

Granted, my comments are "negative," slam me for that, but I visited the schools looking for positives.

What were the reasons these parents gave you for why they are sending their kids to the schools?

*Admins gave impressive presentations at open houses/evidence of strong leadership.
*Neighborhood school better than long commute to charter from CH (especially DCI, hour-long commute by public transportation).
*Effective differentiation in the classroom with "appropriate" challenge provided in core subjects.
*School buildings/campus nicely renovated recently = good facilities.
*Multiple friends from DCPS elementary school going.
*School offered particularly good SpEd help for rising 6th grader with special needs.

Reasons unsaid by parents that I suspect (though probably not all these reasons in case of a particular family):

*Helping to desegregate overwhelmingly AA/Latino DCPS neighborhood school as white family a priority vis a vis parents' politics. Some IB parents I spoke to clearly anti-charter.
*Child didn't get into Latin or BASIS and possibly Inspired Teaching, Two Rivers, CHML via lottery; prospects of getting off WLs before Oct. Count Day poor.
*Parents involved in ES PTA efforts to make the middle school feed work for one or more years prior to enrolling. Liked group spirit of PTA parents advocating for IB enrollment at the school.
*Would have gone w/a private/parochial school if could have afforded for all children in family.
*Parents not interested and/or able to homeschool for MS.

What makes you discount all the actual reasons they gave you?? Those all sound like good, normal reasons to send your kid to a neighborhood school.

DP--- the pp did not discount those reasons. They are reporting those reasons articulated by the families vs. making assumptions about the " unspoken" reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to close this thread? I think the two of you are basically agreeing. The anonymity of this forum makes things impossible. There WERE people on this thread earlier that were making judgmental and negative comments about schools with certain test scores, and assuming the intentions of parents who sent their kids there. There were negative comments made about the behavior of parents who send their kids to IB schools, calling them preachy and acting for political reasons. Doesn't sound like that was you, given your recent posts. Parents have the right and opportunity to send their kids wherever is best for them. We need to stop cutting each other down and bickering, and assuming or judging people for their choices, full stop.

I don't get why UMC CH parents bother with DCPS options after 5th grade. Yes, it's nice to send your kid to a walkable school with a few old friends, but beyond that, the appeal is lost on me, a CH resident since the 90s.

I made a point of visiting the 3 CH middle schools this school year, on weekdays days when students were in the buildings. I've talked to a number of high SES IB parents who send their children to each and still don't see the appeal.

These programs don't offer designated test-in "honors" (grade level) classes, other than for math and ELA at SH. The hallways and playgrounds are rowdy (at least by my standards), the student bodies can be described as diverse, and pre-Covid scores were alarming overall in each case. Most worrying, senior admins seem to quit on a regular basis.

Granted, my comments are "negative," slam me for that, but I visited the schools looking for positives.

What were the reasons these parents gave you for why they are sending their kids to the schools?

*Admins gave impressive presentations at open houses/evidence of strong leadership.
*Neighborhood school better than long commute to charter from CH (especially DCI, hour-long commute by public transportation).
*Effective differentiation in the classroom with "appropriate" challenge provided in core subjects.
*School buildings/campus nicely renovated recently = good facilities.
*Multiple friends from DCPS elementary school going.
*School offered particularly good SpEd help for rising 6th grader with special needs.

Reasons unsaid by parents that I suspect (though probably not all these reasons in case of a particular family):

*Helping to desegregate overwhelmingly AA/Latino DCPS neighborhood school as white family a priority vis a vis parents' politics. Some IB parents I spoke to clearly anti-charter.
*Child didn't get into Latin or BASIS and possibly Inspired Teaching, Two Rivers, CHML via lottery; prospects of getting off WLs before Oct. Count Day poor.
*Parents involved in ES PTA efforts to make the middle school feed work for one or more years prior to enrolling. Liked group spirit of PTA parents advocating for IB enrollment at the school.
*Would have gone w/a private/parochial school if could have afforded for all children in family.
*Parents not interested and/or able to homeschool for MS.

Well, it's pretty rare not to get into ITS for middle. They have to backfill more than half the class over 5th and 6th. More likely ITS was too far or not appealing for whatever reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everybody doesn't care for the way you IB parents are lending a hand. Boycotts have their uses.

So we should boycott the school we think has a good chance of working for our kid, because you don’t think it works for your kid? makes a lot of sense.

DP but no, no one is saying don't send your kid to your IB if that's what you want. People are specifically reacting to the attitude that choosing not to attend the IB is some kind of betrayal. It's not. It's a practical choice to give your kid the education and environment they need.

And I think a lot of people are also pointing out the inherent privilege of certain parents insisting that the IB school is good enough because they have resources that will ensure their kid is never really in danger of missing out on opportunities by attending a struggling IB school. That privilege might take the form of being wealthy enough to afford to supplement and support your kid outside of school so they don't fall behind academically, having kids without SNs that might require a different school environment, being white, or being firmly ensconced in the UMC versus maybe being the first generation of your family to attend college or have a professional career and feeling more a more tenuous hold on future opportunities for your child. Criticizing people for going to charters, moving, or attending private schools as being part of the problem often ignores these privileges and assumes that every family IB for SH, EH, or JA is similarly sitauted. We aren't. Some of us rightfully worry more about how going to a MS where many kids test below grade level and behavioral issues are common might impact our child's chances of going to college or getting the education they need to do well as an adult. The refusal to even acknowledge that is really insulting.

Curious that you’d throw around the accusation of “privilege” when your supposed solution (moving or going private) is even more privileged.

Believe it or not I want to send my kid IB because I like the neighborhood, don’t want to move, and would like to keep them with friends. It is actually a pretty basic and normal thing people do everywhere with no ulterior motive.

We went to a charter because we wanted to keep our kid with his friends. It was actually sad to see how everyone left our IB for 5th grade. There were only 2 people that he knew in our IB's 5th grade this year, and he'd been at the school since PK4.

And that situation is changing on the Hill, somewhat!

What's confusing about this perpetual argument is how some people seem to think that other peoples' choice in an indictment of them, or some kind of attempt to make an irrefutable proof about something or other. Yes, there are schools where very very few of the kids go to the IB MS. Yes there are schools where an increasing number of kids are going to the IB MS. Yes there are kids who won't do well at the IB MS. Yes there are some who will do fine.

But this happens whenever a choice is presented, especially in the DMV, where 99% of the people here are totally insecure and wish they were living somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to close this thread? I think the two of you are basically agreeing. The anonymity of this forum makes things impossible. There WERE people on this thread earlier that were making judgmental and negative comments about schools with certain test scores, and assuming the intentions of parents who sent their kids there. There were negative comments made about the behavior of parents who send their kids to IB schools, calling them preachy and acting for political reasons. Doesn't sound like that was you, given your recent posts. Parents have the right and opportunity to send their kids wherever is best for them. We need to stop cutting each other down and bickering, and assuming or judging people for their choices, full stop.

I don't get why UMC CH parents bother with DCPS options after 5th grade. Yes, it's nice to send your kid to a walkable school with a few old friends, but beyond that, the appeal is lost on me, a CH resident since the 90s.

I made a point of visiting the 3 CH middle schools this school year, on weekdays days when students were in the buildings. I've talked to a number of high SES IB parents who send their children to each and still don't see the appeal.

These programs don't offer designated test-in "honors" (grade level) classes, other than for math and ELA at SH. The hallways and playgrounds are rowdy (at least by my standards), the student bodies can be described as diverse, and pre-Covid scores were alarming overall in each case. Most worrying, senior admins seem to quit on a regular basis.

Granted, my comments are "negative," slam me for that, but I visited the schools looking for positives.

What were the reasons these parents gave you for why they are sending their kids to the schools?

*Admins gave impressive presentations at open houses/evidence of strong leadership.
*Neighborhood school better than long commute to charter from CH (especially DCI, hour-long commute by public transportation).
*Effective differentiation in the classroom with "appropriate" challenge provided in core subjects.
*School buildings/campus nicely renovated recently = good facilities.
*Multiple friends from DCPS elementary school going.
*School offered particularly good SpEd help for rising 6th grader with special needs.

Reasons unsaid by parents that I suspect (though probably not all these reasons in case of a particular family):

*Helping to desegregate overwhelmingly AA/Latino DCPS neighborhood school as white family a priority vis a vis parents' politics. Some IB parents I spoke to clearly anti-charter.
*Child didn't get into Latin or BASIS and possibly Inspired Teaching, Two Rivers, CHML via lottery; prospects of getting off WLs before Oct. Count Day poor.
*Parents involved in ES PTA efforts to make the middle school feed work for one or more years prior to enrolling. Liked group spirit of PTA parents advocating for IB enrollment at the school.
*Would have gone w/a private/parochial school if could have afforded for all children in family.
*Parents not interested and/or able to homeschool for MS.

Well, it's pretty rare not to get into ITS for middle. They have to backfill more than half the class over 5th and 6th. More likely ITS was too far or not appealing for whatever reason.

OR ... maybe the parents are telling the truth about their preferences to send their kid to the neighborhood school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to close this thread? I think the two of you are basically agreeing. The anonymity of this forum makes things impossible. There WERE people on this thread earlier that were making judgmental and negative comments about schools with certain test scores, and assuming the intentions of parents who sent their kids there. There were negative comments made about the behavior of parents who send their kids to IB schools, calling them preachy and acting for political reasons. Doesn't sound like that was you, given your recent posts. Parents have the right and opportunity to send their kids wherever is best for them. We need to stop cutting each other down and bickering, and assuming or judging people for their choices, full stop.

I don't get why UMC CH parents bother with DCPS options after 5th grade. Yes, it's nice to send your kid to a walkable school with a few old friends, but beyond that, the appeal is lost on me, a CH resident since the 90s.

I made a point of visiting the 3 CH middle schools this school year, on weekdays days when students were in the buildings. I've talked to a number of high SES IB parents who send their children to each and still don't see the appeal.

These programs don't offer designated test-in "honors" (grade level) classes, other than for math and ELA at SH. The hallways and playgrounds are rowdy (at least by my standards), the student bodies can be described as diverse, and pre-Covid scores were alarming overall in each case. Most worrying, senior admins seem to quit on a regular basis.

Granted, my comments are "negative," slam me for that, but I visited the schools looking for positives.

What were the reasons these parents gave you for why they are sending their kids to the schools?

*Admins gave impressive presentations at open houses/evidence of strong leadership.
*Neighborhood school better than long commute to charter from CH (especially DCI, hour-long commute by public transportation).
*Effective differentiation in the classroom with "appropriate" challenge provided in core subjects.
*School buildings/campus nicely renovated recently = good facilities.
*Multiple friends from DCPS elementary school going.
*School offered particularly good SpEd help for rising 6th grader with special needs.

Reasons unsaid by parents that I suspect (though probably not all these reasons in case of a particular family):

*Helping to desegregate overwhelmingly AA/Latino DCPS neighborhood school as white family a priority vis a vis parents' politics. Some IB parents I spoke to clearly anti-charter.
*Child didn't get into Latin or BASIS and possibly Inspired Teaching, Two Rivers, CHML via lottery; prospects of getting off WLs before Oct. Count Day poor.
*Parents involved in ES PTA efforts to make the middle school feed work for one or more years prior to enrolling. Liked group spirit of PTA parents advocating for IB enrollment at the school.
*Would have gone w/a private/parochial school if could have afforded for all children in family.
*Parents not interested and/or able to homeschool for MS.

Well, it's pretty rare not to get into ITS for middle. They have to backfill more than half the class over 5th and 6th. More likely ITS was too far or not appealing for whatever reason.

OR ... maybe the parents are telling the truth about their preferences to send their kid to the neighborhood school?

Yes clearly they do prefer it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to close this thread? I think the two of you are basically agreeing. The anonymity of this forum makes things impossible. There WERE people on this thread earlier that were making judgmental and negative comments about schools with certain test scores, and assuming the intentions of parents who sent their kids there. There were negative comments made about the behavior of parents who send their kids to IB schools, calling them preachy and acting for political reasons. Doesn't sound like that was you, given your recent posts. Parents have the right and opportunity to send their kids wherever is best for them. We need to stop cutting each other down and bickering, and assuming or judging people for their choices, full stop.

I don't get why UMC CH parents bother with DCPS options after 5th grade. Yes, it's nice to send your kid to a walkable school with a few old friends, but beyond that, the appeal is lost on me, a CH resident since the 90s.

I made a point of visiting the 3 CH middle schools this school year, on weekdays days when students were in the buildings. I've talked to a number of high SES IB parents who send their children to each and still don't see the appeal.

These programs don't offer designated test-in "honors" (grade level) classes, other than for math and ELA at SH. The hallways and playgrounds are rowdy (at least by my standards), the student bodies can be described as diverse, and pre-Covid scores were alarming overall in each case. Most worrying, senior admins seem to quit on a regular basis.

Granted, my comments are "negative," slam me for that, but I visited the schools looking for positives.

What were the reasons these parents gave you for why they are sending their kids to the schools?

*Admins gave impressive presentations at open houses/evidence of strong leadership.
*Neighborhood school better than long commute to charter from CH (especially DCI, hour-long commute by public transportation).
*Effective differentiation in the classroom with "appropriate" challenge provided in core subjects.
*School buildings/campus nicely renovated recently = good facilities.
*Multiple friends from DCPS elementary school going.
*School offered particularly good SpEd help for rising 6th grader with special needs.

Reasons unsaid by parents that I suspect (though probably not all these reasons in case of a particular family):

*Helping to desegregate overwhelmingly AA/Latino DCPS neighborhood school as white family a priority vis a vis parents' politics. Some IB parents I spoke to clearly anti-charter.
*Child didn't get into Latin or BASIS and possibly Inspired Teaching, Two Rivers, CHML via lottery; prospects of getting off WLs before Oct. Count Day poor.
*Parents involved in ES PTA efforts to make the middle school feed work for one or more years prior to enrolling. Liked group spirit of PTA parents advocating for IB enrollment at the school.
*Would have gone w/a private/parochial school if could have afforded for all children in family.
*Parents not interested and/or able to homeschool for MS.

What makes you discount all the actual reasons they gave you?? Those all sound like good, normal reasons to send your kid to a neighborhood school.

For the last time the test scores and overall student body are frankly abysmal. Look the only people sending their kids their are bleeding heart liberals with white guilt who have no idea what is actually best for their children. Asian, black, and hispanic folks of means know better.

Agree that an IB MS is often a twisted choice on the part of bleeding-heart white liberals. That said, there are CH parents who can't be described as such going with these schools for lack of a better MS option. We know a few, playing the MS game year by year. Moving for a MS can be a worse option than enrolling at JA, SH or EH for some families. Life is complicated.

[Anonymous]

look, i'm one of those liberals, and my choice is to engage and ask for things of the system that should benefit everyone. It's OK for me not to ask for everything for my kid. I don't think it's all zero-sum. To the extent that it is for you, you do you. For my family, we engage and hope it helps everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to close this thread? I think the two of you are basically agreeing. The anonymity of this forum makes things impossible. There WERE people on this thread earlier that were making judgmental and negative comments about schools with certain test scores, and assuming the intentions of parents who sent their kids there. There were negative comments made about the behavior of parents who send their kids to IB schools, calling them preachy and acting for political reasons. Doesn't sound like that was you, given your recent posts. Parents have the right and opportunity to send their kids wherever is best for them. We need to stop cutting each other down and bickering, and assuming or judging people for their choices, full stop.

I don't get why UMC CH parents bother with DCPS options after 5th grade. Yes, it's nice to send your kid to a walkable school with a few old friends, but beyond that, the appeal is lost on me, a CH resident since the 90s.

I made a point of visiting the 3 CH middle schools this school year, on weekdays days when students were in the buildings. I've talked to a number of high SES IB parents who send their children to each and still don't see the appeal.

These programs don't offer designated test-in "honors" (grade level) classes, other than for math and ELA at SH. The hallways and playgrounds are rowdy (at least by my standards), the student bodies can be described as diverse, and pre-Covid scores were alarming overall in each case. Most worrying, senior admins seem to quit on a regular basis.

Granted, my comments are "negative," slam me for that, but I visited the schools looking for positives.

What were the reasons these parents gave you for why they are sending their kids to the schools?

*Admins gave impressive presentations at open houses/evidence of strong leadership.
*Neighborhood school better than long commute to charter from CH (especially DCI, hour-long commute by public transportation).
*Effective differentiation in the classroom with "appropriate" challenge provided in core subjects.
*School buildings/campus nicely renovated recently = good facilities.
*Multiple friends from DCPS elementary school going.
*School offered particularly good SpEd help for rising 6th grader with special needs.

Reasons unsaid by parents that I suspect (though probably not all these reasons in case of a particular family):

*Helping to desegregate overwhelmingly AA/Latino DCPS neighborhood school as white family a priority vis a vis parents' politics. Some IB parents I spoke to clearly anti-charter.
*Child didn't get into Latin or BASIS and possibly Inspired Teaching, Two Rivers, CHML via lottery; prospects of getting off WLs before Oct. Count Day poor.
*Parents involved in ES PTA efforts to make the middle school feed work for one or more years prior to enrolling. Liked group spirit of PTA parents advocating for IB enrollment at the school.
*Would have gone w/a private/parochial school if could have afforded for all children in family.
*Parents not interested and/or able to homeschool for MS.

What makes you discount all the actual reasons they gave you?? Those all sound like good, normal reasons to send your kid to a neighborhood school.

For the last time the test scores and overall student body are frankly abysmal. Look the only people sending their kids their are bleeding heart liberals with white guilt who have no idea what is actually best for their children. Asian, black, and hispanic folks of means know better.

My kid goes to one of these schools. I don’t profess to know the politics of every parent at the school, but those who I do know are, in general, no more liberal than your average DC resident. If I had to label my own politics, I’d call myself a moderate Democrat (think Joe Manchin).

I’m not sending my high-achieving kid to this school to make a political statement or anything like that. I’m sending him there because I think the program, the principal and and the teachers are great. If 2019 PARCC overall scores were the only thing that mattered, there would be no point in having these discussions, because we are all presumably capable of looking those up ourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to close this thread? I think the two of you are basically agreeing. The anonymity of this forum makes things impossible. There WERE people on this thread earlier that were making judgmental and negative comments about schools with certain test scores, and assuming the intentions of parents who sent their kids there. There were negative comments made about the behavior of parents who send their kids to IB schools, calling them preachy and acting for political reasons. Doesn't sound like that was you, given your recent posts. Parents have the right and opportunity to send their kids wherever is best for them. We need to stop cutting each other down and bickering, and assuming or judging people for their choices, full stop.

I don't get why UMC CH parents bother with DCPS options after 5th grade. Yes, it's nice to send your kid to a walkable school with a few old friends, but beyond that, the appeal is lost on me, a CH resident since the 90s.

I made a point of visiting the 3 CH middle schools this school year, on weekdays days when students were in the buildings. I've talked to a number of high SES IB parents who send their children to each and still don't see the appeal.

These programs don't offer designated test-in "honors" (grade level) classes, other than for math and ELA at SH. The hallways and playgrounds are rowdy (at least by my standards), the student bodies can be described as diverse, and pre-Covid scores were alarming overall in each case. Most worrying, senior admins seem to quit on a regular basis.

Granted, my comments are "negative," slam me for that, but I visited the schools looking for positives.

Here’s your chance. Please list what you consider *great* about the program. We know the principals and the teachers in many DCPS schools are fantastic people. No argument there. But they operate in a very difficult context. So what makes the program great other than the people?

What were the reasons these parents gave you for why they are sending their kids to the schools?

*Admins gave impressive presentations at open houses/evidence of strong leadership.
*Neighborhood school better than long commute to charter from CH (especially DCI, hour-long commute by public transportation).
*Effective differentiation in the classroom with "appropriate" challenge provided in core subjects.
*School buildings/campus nicely renovated recently = good facilities.
*Multiple friends from DCPS elementary school going.
*School offered particularly good SpEd help for rising 6th grader with special needs.

Reasons unsaid by parents that I suspect (though probably not all these reasons in case of a particular family):

*Helping to desegregate overwhelmingly AA/Latino DCPS neighborhood school as white family a priority vis a vis parents' politics. Some IB parents I spoke to clearly anti-charter.
*Child didn't get into Latin or BASIS and possibly Inspired Teaching, Two Rivers, CHML via lottery; prospects of getting off WLs before Oct. Count Day poor.
*Parents involved in ES PTA efforts to make the middle school feed work for one or more years prior to enrolling. Liked group spirit of PTA parents advocating for IB enrollment at the school.
*Would have gone w/a private/parochial school if could have afforded for all children in family.
*Parents not interested and/or able to homeschool for MS.

What makes you discount all the actual reasons they gave you?? Those all sound like good, normal reasons to send your kid to a neighborhood school.

For the last time the test scores and overall student body are frankly abysmal. Look the only people sending their kids their are bleeding heart liberals with white guilt who have no idea what is actually best for their children. Asian, black, and hispanic folks of means know better.

My kid goes to one of these schools. I don’t profess to know the politics of every parent at the school, but those who I do know are, in general, no more liberal than your average DC resident. If I had to label my own politics, I’d call myself a moderate Democrat (think Joe Manchin).

I’m not sending my high-achieving kid to this school to make a political statement or anything like that. I’m sending him there because I think the program, the principal and and the teachers are great. If 2019 PARCC overall scores were the only thing that mattered, there would be no point in having these discussions, because we are all presumably capable of looking those up ourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to close this thread? I think the two of you are basically agreeing. The anonymity of this forum makes things impossible. There WERE people on this thread earlier that were making judgmental and negative comments about schools with certain test scores, and assuming the intentions of parents who sent their kids there. There were negative comments made about the behavior of parents who send their kids to IB schools, calling them preachy and acting for political reasons. Doesn't sound like that was you, given your recent posts. Parents have the right and opportunity to send their kids wherever is best for them. We need to stop cutting each other down and bickering, and assuming or judging people for their choices, full stop.

I don't get why UMC CH parents bother with DCPS options after 5th grade. Yes, it's nice to send your kid to a walkable school with a few old friends, but beyond that, the appeal is lost on me, a CH resident since the 90s.

I made a point of visiting the 3 CH middle schools this school year, on weekdays days when students were in the buildings. I've talked to a number of high SES IB parents who send their children to each and still don't see the appeal.

These programs don't offer designated test-in "honors" (grade level) classes, other than for math and ELA at SH. The hallways and playgrounds are rowdy (at least by my standards), the student bodies can be described as diverse, and pre-Covid scores were alarming overall in each case. Most worrying, senior admins seem to quit on a regular basis.

Granted, my comments are "negative," slam me for that, but I visited the schools looking for positives.

What were the reasons these parents gave you for why they are sending their kids to the schools?

*Admins gave impressive presentations at open houses/evidence of strong leadership.
*Neighborhood school better than long commute to charter from CH (especially DCI, hour-long commute by public transportation).
*Effective differentiation in the classroom with "appropriate" challenge provided in core subjects.
*School buildings/campus nicely renovated recently = good facilities.
*Multiple friends from DCPS elementary school going.
*School offered particularly good SpEd help for rising 6th grader with special needs.

Reasons unsaid by parents that I suspect (though probably not all these reasons in case of a particular family):

*Helping to desegregate overwhelmingly AA/Latino DCPS neighborhood school as white family a priority vis a vis parents' politics. Some IB parents I spoke to clearly anti-charter.
*Child didn't get into Latin or BASIS and possibly Inspired Teaching, Two Rivers, CHML via lottery; prospects of getting off WLs before Oct. Count Day poor.
*Parents involved in ES PTA efforts to make the middle school feed work for one or more years prior to enrolling. Liked group spirit of PTA parents advocating for IB enrollment at the school.
*Would have gone w/a private/parochial school if could have afforded for all children in family.
*Parents not interested and/or able to homeschool for MS.

What makes you discount all the actual reasons they gave you?? Those all sound like good, normal reasons to send your kid to a neighborhood school.

For the last time the test scores and overall student body are frankly abysmal. Look the only people sending their kids their are bleeding heart liberals with white guilt who have no idea what is actually best for their children. Asian, black, and hispanic folks of means know better.

My kid goes to one of these schools. I don’t profess to know the politics of every parent at the school, but those who I do know are, in general, no more liberal than your average DC resident. If I had to label my own politics, I’d call myself a moderate Democrat (think Joe Manchin).

I’m not sending my high-achieving kid to this school to make a political statement or anything like that. I’m sending him there because I think the program, the principal and and the teachers are great. If 2019 PARCC overall scores were the only thing that mattered, there would be no point in having these discussions, because we are all presumably capable of looking those up ourselves.

Here is your chance. Please explain what you find *great* about the middle school program. Faculty at DCPS schools are very often fantastic people. Why do you feel drawn to the program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to close this thread? I think the two of you are basically agreeing. The anonymity of this forum makes things impossible. There WERE people on this thread earlier that were making judgmental and negative comments about schools with certain test scores, and assuming the intentions of parents who sent their kids there. There were negative comments made about the behavior of parents who send their kids to IB schools, calling them preachy and acting for political reasons. Doesn't sound like that was you, given your recent posts. Parents have the right and opportunity to send their kids wherever is best for them. We need to stop cutting each other down and bickering, and assuming or judging people for their choices, full stop.

I don't get why UMC CH parents bother with DCPS options after 5th grade. Yes, it's nice to send your kid to a walkable school with a few old friends, but beyond that, the appeal is lost on me, a CH resident since the 90s.

I made a point of visiting the 3 CH middle schools this school year, on weekdays days when students were in the buildings. I've talked to a number of high SES IB parents who send their children to each and still don't see the appeal.

These programs don't offer designated test-in "honors" (grade level) classes, other than for math and ELA at SH. The hallways and playgrounds are rowdy (at least by my standards), the student bodies can be described as diverse, and pre-Covid scores were alarming overall in each case. Most worrying, senior admins seem to quit on a regular basis.

Granted, my comments are "negative," slam me for that, but I visited the schools looking for positives.

For the record, Jefferson has advanced math (with some 6th graders taking 7th grade math, etc.), as well as an advanced writing class.

I don’t know as much about EH, but I understand that it has an IB program.

And, no, I’m not asserting that these programs are equivalent to certain suburban honors programs. I’m just responding to the statement above about honors at SH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to close this thread? I think the two of you are basically agreeing. The anonymity of this forum makes things impossible. There WERE people on this thread earlier that were making judgmental and negative comments about schools with certain test scores, and assuming the intentions of parents who sent their kids there. There were negative comments made about the behavior of parents who send their kids to IB schools, calling them preachy and acting for political reasons. Doesn't sound like that was you, given your recent posts. Parents have the right and opportunity to send their kids wherever is best for them. We need to stop cutting each other down and bickering, and assuming or judging people for their choices, full stop.

I don't get why UMC CH parents bother with DCPS options after 5th grade. Yes, it's nice to send your kid to a walkable school with a few old friends, but beyond that, the appeal is lost on me, a CH resident since the 90s.

I made a point of visiting the 3 CH middle schools this school year, on weekdays days when students were in the buildings. I've talked to a number of high SES IB parents who send their children to each and still don't see the appeal.

These programs don't offer designated test-in "honors" (grade level) classes, other than for math and ELA at SH. The hallways and playgrounds are rowdy (at least by my standards), the student bodies can be described as diverse, and pre-Covid scores were alarming overall in each case. Most worrying, senior admins seem to quit on a regular basis.

Granted, my comments are "negative," slam me for that, but I visited the schools looking for positives.

What were the reasons these parents gave you for why they are sending their kids to the schools?

*Admins gave impressive presentations at open houses/evidence of strong leadership.
*Neighborhood school better than long commute to charter from CH (especially DCI, hour-long commute by public transportation).
*Effective differentiation in the classroom with "appropriate" challenge provided in core subjects.
*School buildings/campus nicely renovated recently = good facilities.
*Multiple friends from DCPS elementary school going.
*School offered particularly good SpEd help for rising 6th grader with special needs.

Reasons unsaid by parents that I suspect (though probably not all these reasons in case of a particular family):

*Helping to desegregate overwhelmingly AA/Latino DCPS neighborhood school as white family a priority vis a vis parents' politics. Some IB parents I spoke to clearly anti-charter.
*Child didn't get into Latin or BASIS and possibly Inspired Teaching, Two Rivers, CHML via lottery; prospects of getting off WLs before Oct. Count Day poor.
*Parents involved in ES PTA efforts to make the middle school feed work for one or more years prior to enrolling. Liked group spirit of PTA parents advocating for IB enrollment at the school.
*Would have gone w/a private/parochial school if could have afforded for all children in family.
*Parents not interested and/or able to homeschool for MS.

What makes you discount all the actual reasons they gave you?? Those all sound like good, normal reasons to send your kid to a neighborhood school.

For the last time the test scores and overall student body are frankly abysmal. Look the only people sending their kids their are bleeding heart liberals with white guilt who have no idea what is actually best for their children. Asian, black, and hispanic folks of means know better.

My kid goes to one of these schools. I don’t profess to know the politics of every parent at the school, but those who I do know are, in general, no more liberal than your average DC resident. If I had to label my own politics, I’d call myself a moderate Democrat (think Joe Manchin).

I’m not sending my high-achieving kid to this school to make a political statement or anything like that. I’m sending him there because I think the program, the principal and and the teachers are great. If 2019 PARCC overall scores were the only thing that mattered, there would be no point in having these discussions, because we are all presumably capable of looking those up ourselves.

Here is your chance. Please explain what you find *great* about the middle school program. Faculty at DCPS schools are very often fantastic people. Why do you feel drawn to the program?

Please explain what is great about the teachers, and also why the test scores are so bad despite having great teachers. Really, I would love for the teachers to be great, but surely you can be a little more specific. Are there any projects or initiatives at the school that you find impressive? Any particularly good programs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to close this thread? I think the two of you are basically agreeing. The anonymity of this forum makes things impossible. There WERE people on this thread earlier that were making judgmental and negative comments about schools with certain test scores, and assuming the intentions of parents who sent their kids there. There were negative comments made about the behavior of parents who send their kids to IB schools, calling them preachy and acting for political reasons. Doesn't sound like that was you, given your recent posts. Parents have the right and opportunity to send their kids wherever is best for them. We need to stop cutting each other down and bickering, and assuming or judging people for their choices, full stop.

I don't get why UMC CH parents bother with DCPS options after 5th grade. Yes, it's nice to send your kid to a walkable school with a few old friends, but beyond that, the appeal is lost on me, a CH resident since the 90s.

I made a point of visiting the 3 CH middle schools this school year, on weekdays days when students were in the buildings. I've talked to a number of high SES IB parents who send their children to each and still don't see the appeal.

These programs don't offer designated test-in "honors" (grade level) classes, other than for math and ELA at SH. The hallways and playgrounds are rowdy (at least by my standards), the student bodies can be described as diverse, and pre-Covid scores were alarming overall in each case. Most worrying, senior admins seem to quit on a regular basis.

Granted, my comments are "negative," slam me for that, but I visited the schools looking for positives.

What were the reasons these parents gave you for why they are sending their kids to the schools?

*Admins gave impressive presentations at open houses/evidence of strong leadership.
*Neighborhood school better than long commute to charter from CH (especially DCI, hour-long commute by public transportation).
*Effective differentiation in the classroom with "appropriate" challenge provided in core subjects.
*School buildings/campus nicely renovated recently = good facilities.
*Multiple friends from DCPS elementary school going.
*School offered particularly good SpEd help for rising 6th grader with special needs.

Reasons unsaid by parents that I suspect (though probably not all these reasons in case of a particular family):

*Helping to desegregate overwhelmingly AA/Latino DCPS neighborhood school as white family a priority vis a vis parents' politics. Some IB parents I spoke to clearly anti-charter.
*Child didn't get into Latin or BASIS and possibly Inspired Teaching, Two Rivers, CHML via lottery; prospects of getting off WLs before Oct. Count Day poor.
*Parents involved in ES PTA efforts to make the middle school feed work for one or more years prior to enrolling. Liked group spirit of PTA parents advocating for IB enrollment at the school.
*Would have gone w/a private/parochial school if could have afforded for all children in family.
*Parents not interested and/or able to homeschool for MS.

What makes you discount all the actual reasons they gave you?? Those all sound like good, normal reasons to send your kid to a neighborhood school.

For the last time the test scores and overall student body are frankly abysmal. Look the only people sending their kids their are bleeding heart liberals with white guilt who have no idea what is actually best for their children. Asian, black, and hispanic folks of means know better.

My kid goes to one of these schools. I don’t profess to know the politics of every parent at the school, but those who I do know are, in general, no more liberal than your average DC resident. If I had to label my own politics, I’d call myself a moderate Democrat (think Joe Manchin).

I’m not sending my high-achieving kid to this school to make a political statement or anything like that. I’m sending him there because I think the program, the principal and and the teachers are great. If 2019 PARCC overall scores were the only thing that mattered, there would be no point in having these discussions, because we are all presumably capable of looking those up ourselves.

Here is your chance. Please explain what you find *great* about the middle school program. Faculty at DCPS schools are very often fantastic people. Why do you feel drawn to the program?

Please explain what is great about the teachers, and also why the test scores are so bad despite having great teachers. Really, I would love for the teachers to be great, but surely you can be a little more specific. Are there any projects or initiatives at the school that you find impressive? Any particularly good programs?

Excellent differentiation, personalized attention, etc.

Test scores are primarily a reflection of demographics, and, in general, upper-income kids at Ward 6 middle schools do just as well on the PARCC as upper-income one kids at Ward 3 middle schools.