Expectations for Future MS Differentiation EOTP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our bone-headed elected officials don't care if neighborhood middle schools don't offer nearly enough challenge to gentrifiers' kids. They don't get voted out for not caring.

Correct you know why most people in DC don't even have kids and the school system is over 75% black 60% FARMS and something like 40% at-risk, There is your reason you are talking about less than 5% of the total system that needs to be challenged more and probably less than 2% of the actual voting population.

True, but part of the problem is that the voters who do care aren't organizing even to vote out ANC commissioners and Ward council members who ignore their concerns about schools. I've observed this is my 25 years on Capitol Hill.

While it's true that other big US cities routinely offer test-in middle school programs, our pols effectively come under no pressure to support the creation of this standard option, mainly due to voter reticence. In DC, if you agitate for appropriate challenge for an advanced learner past elementary, you become the nail that sticks up getting hammered as the East Asian saying goes. Few are game to get hammered (called racist, elitist, advised to shut up or move to Fairfax, and a good deal worse). They'd much rather move, go private, supplement extensively at home or whatever. So little changes.

I'm going to switch and push just a bit here

The Whole Wilson Pyramid wasn't created overnight it took a lot of work

Capitol Hill has plenty of good elementary schools now

Stuart Hobson is getting close to be an adequate middle school option

For high school there are a couple different test in schools that fit the bill

I don't blame Hill Parents choosing Latin/Basis over SH but there is enough of a cohort now to make it work if people would just stay at SH. Eastern is a long way from being a Wilson.

Your definition of “adequate” is very different from mine.

39% ELA
18% Math

http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Stuart-Hobson+Middle+School+(Capitol+Hill+Cluster)

They have honors tracking with kids who are higher performing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our bone-headed elected officials don't care if neighborhood middle schools don't offer nearly enough challenge to gentrifiers' kids. They don't get voted out for not caring.

Correct you know why most people in DC don't even have kids and the school system is over 75% black 60% FARMS and something like 40% at-risk, There is your reason you are talking about less than 5% of the total system that needs to be challenged more and probably less than 2% of the actual voting population.

True, but part of the problem is that the voters who do care aren't organizing even to vote out ANC commissioners and Ward council members who ignore their concerns about schools. I've observed this is my 25 years on Capitol Hill.

While it's true that other big US cities routinely offer test-in middle school programs, our pols effectively come under no pressure to support the creation of this standard option, mainly due to voter reticence. In DC, if you agitate for appropriate challenge for an advanced learner past elementary, you become the nail that sticks up getting hammered as the East Asian saying goes. Few are game to get hammered (called racist, elitist, advised to shut up or move to Fairfax, and a good deal worse). They'd much rather move, go private, supplement extensively at home or whatever. So little changes.

I'm going to switch and push just a bit here

The Whole Wilson Pyramid wasn't created overnight it took a lot of work

Capitol Hill has plenty of good elementary schools now

Stuart Hobson is getting close to be an adequate middle school option

For high school there are a couple different test in schools that fit the bill

I don't blame Hill Parents choosing Latin/Basis over SH but there is enough of a cohort now to make it work if people would just stay at SH. Eastern is a long way from being a Wilson.

Your definition of “adequate” is very different from mine.

39% ELA
18% Math

http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Stuart-Hobson+Middle+School+(Capitol+Hill+Cluster)

They have honors tracking with kids who are higher performing.

P.S. Visit the school and see for yourself. That goes for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the effectiveness of hundreds of dollars worth of tutoring a month. The time for learning and studying is during the day at school. What do kids testing well above the taught level do during the day, and how is it not harmful to them to cruise all day and wait for their private tutor to challenge them after school? Beyond the money that I don't have, I'm concerned about the balance, and the odd experience of school that kids would acquire this way.

An OK educational experience is available just around the corner, saving us a 1-1.5 hour school day commute to, say, BASIS, Washington Latin or DCI.

DC really likes attending the neighborhood middle school with pals of many years. The program offers good facilities. Admins and teachers like to claim kid is pushed, obviously not the case.

We don't simply want grade-level academics stemming from the somewhat blah, American-centric DCPS curriculum. We want academics at least a year ahead of grade level across the board, a richer and more international curriculum in places, and more personalized attention supporting the kid's individual interests. Also, we speak a language not taught in DCPS at home, and some of the tutoring pays for literacy work in the language (which we can't teach ourselves).

Speaking this unusual language has made us odd from the get go, so we've given up worrying that we're weird. For us, the balance is found in the kid's enthusiasm for working with terrific tutors after days spent sitting in classes that are a little too big and a little too easy. Happy to spend the money on an arrangement that's essentially providing us with a GT program we can afford, in a neighborhood that we've loved for two decades, without moving to Fairfax, or breaking the bank going private for middle school.

I have news for you. Many families in Fairfax with kids in GT program supplement as well because there is always something more to do. My DS is in the AAP program and we supplement math (through RSM), two languages (because he has to), and enhanced reading lists. This is apart from all the other extracurriculars.

This is all to say that the need to supplement doesn't go away just because a GT program is available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the effectiveness of hundreds of dollars worth of tutoring a month. The time for learning and studying is during the day at school. What do kids testing well above the taught level do during the day, and how is it not harmful to them to cruise all day and wait for their private tutor to challenge them after school? Beyond the money that I don't have, I'm concerned about the balance, and the odd experience of school that kids would acquire this way.

An OK educational experience is available just around the corner, saving us a 1-1.5 hour school day commute to, say, BASIS, Washington Latin or DCI.

DC really likes attending the neighborhood middle school with pals of many years. The program offers good facilities. Admins and teachers like to claim kid is pushed, obviously not the case.

We don't simply want grade-level academics stemming from the somewhat blah, American-centric DCPS curriculum. We want academics at least a year ahead of grade level across the board, a richer and more international curriculum in places, and more personalized attention supporting the kid's individual interests. Also, we speak a language not taught in DCPS at home, and some of the tutoring pays for literacy work in the language (which we can't teach ourselves).

Speaking this unusual language has made us odd from the get go, so we've given up worrying that we're weird. For us, the balance is found in the kid's enthusiasm for working with terrific tutors after days spent sitting in classes that are a little too big and a little too easy. Happy to spend the money on an arrangement that's essentially providing us with a GT program we can afford, in a neighborhood that we've loved for two decades, without moving to Fairfax, or breaking the bank going private for middle school.

I have news for you. Many families in Fairfax with kids in GT program supplement as well because there is always something more to do. My DS is in the AAP program and we supplement math (through RSM), two languages (because he has to), and enhanced reading lists. This is apart from all the other extracurriculars.

This is all to say that the need to supplement doesn't go away just because a GT program is available.

Why supplement so much if he is in AAP? Serious question. When do you stop?

[Anonymous]

PP, that's a good question. There is no "need" to supplement in that a Fairfax GT delivers perfectly good education. For us, I just appreciate the way RSM teaches math because they really emphasize the meaning of concepts the way the school instruction does not. They push the brain in different ways.

For languages, we are a two-immigrant family and we require fluency in heritage languages, hence the tutors in both languages.

[Anonymous]

Your definition of “adequate” is very different from mine.

39% ELA
18% Math

The above scores are two years out of date! Also, the scores tell you nothing about the experience of the honors ELA and math class students at Stuart Hobson.

The reality is that Hobson students are not permitted to take honors ELA classes unless they proficient or advanced in ELA and math. That's right, almost all the kids in the honors classes work at or above grade level. Only around 20% of the students are in these classes.
Make no mistake Hobson is essentially running a school-within-a-school program for advanced learners these days.

My kid scored 5s on the PARCC for ELA and math 4th grade and we're heading to Hobson if we don't get into Latin (our chances aren't great without an older sib). We're not interested in BASIS for a kid who's very bright but has mild anxiety issues and can't afford a private (but an afford tutors). We live a 2-minute walk from Hobson.

[Anonymous]

THIS. If you're interested in Hobson, visit and ask about honors classes. Call me a booster, but the classes serve a small minority of the kids. Even Deal doesn't offer honors ELA.

Some of us in-boundary for the cluster can't do any better than Hobson in DC public without lottery luck at Latin. Yes, we could get into BASIS before Count Day, at least as things stand, but aren't drawn to the crappy facility (come on, no library, stage, outdoor space).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:THIS. If you're interested in Hobson, visit and ask about honors classes. Call me a booster, but the classes serve a small minority of the kids. Even Deal doesn't offer honors ELA.

Some of us in-boundary for the cluster can't do any better than Hobson in DC public without lottery luck at Latin. Yes, we could get into BASIS before Count Day, at least as things stand, but aren't drawn to the crappy facility (come on, no library, stage, outdoor space).

Actually you can't necessarily get into BASIS anymore - which is good since you don't want it.

But they did not clear their WL this year for the first time ever.

[Anonymous]

Right, and how many kids are left on the BASIS 5th grade WL right now? A dozen?

To my knowledge, more than 95% have already been offered spots.

[Anonymous]

I am hoping that the tightening of BASIS and the continuing difficulty of getting into Latin will help SH and eventually Eastern. Maybe my grandchildren will be able to go to a safe and challenging DCPS in Ward 6 after elementary school. We have been waiting a long time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am hoping that the tightening of BASIS and the continuing difficulty of getting into Latin will help SH and eventually Eastern. Maybe my grandchildren will be able to go to a safe and challenging DCPS in Ward 6 after elementary school. We have been waiting a long time.

+1 SH is there. Eastern is a very long haul still

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am hoping that the tightening of BASIS and the continuing difficulty of getting into Latin will help SH and eventually Eastern. Maybe my grandchildren will be able to go to a safe and challenging DCPS in Ward 6 after elementary school. We have been waiting a long time.

Not if the grandchildren are already born, not without the introduction of a bona fide test-in program. None is planned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am hoping that the tightening of BASIS and the continuing difficulty of getting into Latin will help SH and eventually Eastern. Maybe my grandchildren will be able to go to a safe and challenging DCPS in Ward 6 after elementary school. We have been waiting a long time.

+1 SH is there. Eastern is a very long haul still

SH is only there for UMC neighborhood families with advanced learners if you supplement a fair amount. But that's doable if you have the dough for tutors and enrichment programs, along with the organizational prowess, and your kid has a very short commute to the building.

[Anonymous]

At least Stuart Hobson is almost "there." I don't feel like that about Eliot-Hine, and I know Brent parents who don't feel like that about Jefferson. What a freakin shame that DCPS won't let us feed to one strong middle school \

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am hoping that the tightening of BASIS and the continuing difficulty of getting into Latin will help SH and eventually Eastern. Maybe my grandchildren will be able to go to a safe and challenging DCPS in Ward 6 after elementary school. We have been waiting a long time.

+1 SH is there. Eastern is a very long haul still

SH is only there for UMC neighborhood families with advanced learners if you supplement a fair amount. But that's doable if you have the dough for tutors and enrichment programs, along with the organizational prowess, and your kid has a very short commute to the building.

AND your child goes with the flow and isn’t bullied (if that is what it should be called). There is still a lot of tension at SH.