S/O - do improving middle schools ever drive change at elementary schools?

[Anonymous]

In the watkins ludlow thread, it was suggested that Ludlow might help transform SH, which in turn might accelerate changes at Watkins - several people said that middle schools never change elementary schools.

Is that true elsewhere? Were all the Deal feeders already considered desirable when Deal began to be considered desirable?

There will of course be debate if Hardy is even considered desirable now, but have the changes there accelerated changes at any of its feeders?

[Anonymous]

I think a good enough middle school can definitely improve recruitment and retention in the feeders. But the feeders still have to meet the present needs of the children, it doesn't fix everything.

[Anonymous]

Re Deal.

Yes, the elementary schools have been considered strong for a long time, but people worried about Deal.

Same for the Hardy feeders vs Hardy itself.

[Anonymous]

I think so. Access to Stuart-Hobson is the main reason I would look at JO Wilson.

But it depends what you mean by "drive change". Improve retention in upper grades, yes. But it can also mean the school attracts kids who are being ill-served elsewhere. And if the elementary has bad teachers or a bad principal, a middle school might motivate people to put up with it, but would not change it. Maybe a second-order effect by attracting motivated parents could occur.

[Anonymous]

FWIW at the Stuart Hobson 6th grade program last week, the Principal said that the incoming 6th graders were the strongest class ever to enter - I think he said 70+% were 4/5s. So it is probably a bit symbiotic. Higher performing kids coming from several schools will create a stronger cohort at MS, making it more attractive to stay in the ES that feed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW at the Stuart Hobson 6th grade program last week, the Principal said that the incoming 6th graders were the strongest class ever to enter - I think he said 70+% were 4/5s. So it is probably a bit symbiotic. Higher performing kids coming from several schools will create a stronger cohort at MS, making it more attractive to stay in the ES that feed.

Yes! If only DCPS understood this and cared at all about middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW at the Stuart Hobson 6th grade program last week, the Principal said that the incoming 6th graders were the strongest class ever to enter - I think he said 70+% were 4/5s. So it is probably a bit symbiotic. Higher performing kids coming from several schools will create a stronger cohort at MS, making it more attractive to stay in the ES that feed.

So the principals already have the 5th grade PARCC scores of the kids who just finished 5th grade?

Also if this is true, it will be interesting to see if there is a rapid jump in PARCC scores. The most recent results for 6th graders at Stuart-Hobson was 33% getting 4s and 5s in English and 20% getting 4s and 5s in math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW at the Stuart Hobson 6th grade program last week, the Principal said that the incoming 6th graders were the strongest class ever to enter - I think he said 70+% were 4/5s. So it is probably a bit symbiotic. Higher performing kids coming from several schools will create a stronger cohort at MS, making it more attractive to stay in the ES that feed.

So the principals already have the 5th grade PARCC scores of the kids who just finished 5th grade?

Also if this is true, it will be interesting to see if there is a rapid jump in PARCC scores. The most recent results for 6th graders at Stuart-Hobson was 33% getting 4s and 5s in English and 20% getting 4s and 5s in math.

Schools get scores over the summer. Supposedly the city-wide and school by school data is coming out by end of this week.

Individual student reports should be available for parents by end of Sept.

At the other end of the spectrum, I would expect scores for McKinley Tech HS to be up significantly in a year, reflecting its incoming 9th grade class. They required a 4 or 5 for incoming freshman, which was new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW at the Stuart Hobson 6th grade program last week, the Principal said that the incoming 6th graders were the strongest class ever to enter - I think he said 70+% were 4/5s. So it is probably a bit symbiotic. Higher performing kids coming from several schools will create a stronger cohort at MS, making it more attractive to stay in the ES that feed.

So the principals already have the 5th grade PARCC scores of the kids who just finished 5th grade?

Also if this is true, it will be interesting to see if there is a rapid jump in PARCC scores. The most recent results for 6th graders at Stuart-Hobson was 33% getting 4s and 5s in English and 20% getting 4s and 5s in math.

Schools get scores over the summer. Supposedly the city-wide and school by school data is coming out by end of this week.

Individual student reports should be available for parents by end of Sept.

At the other end of the spectrum, I would expect scores for McKinley Tech HS to be up significantly in a year, reflecting its incoming 9th grade class. They required a 4 or 5 for incoming freshman, which was new.

Elementary schools at least haven't gotten them. They were told Wednesday or Thursday to expect them.