Upper elementary at a Title 1 school
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Anonymous
OP here. Actually we’re at the Title 1 and I’m convinced it’s mostly racism scaring people away. They look at a playground of brown kids and assume they’re below grade level and misbehaved. They’re not. The games the big kids play with the little kids are adorable and sweet, and all of the 3rd-4th graders I know (classmates siblings and kids from activities) seem bright and are certainly well spoken. I understand not all Title 1 schools are created equal, but I’m happy my child has the experience of seeing kids that don’t look like her being leaders and doing better in some things than her. Those are life lessons that really can change how a person interacts with the world going forward. |
Anonymous
Yay! We are like you (maybe a few years out, been to one going on 5 years). Absolutely no regrets and many upsides, and I agree that people are often looking at demographics to try to assess the school. You should have seen some of the cognitive dissonance that occured when some white parents saw that their kids were behind some kids of color academically. Hopefully stereotypes get broken when our kids get to grow up in an environment where all kinds of kids are succeeding |
Anonymous
OP, I wish you well. I really do. But when we attended a similar school for ECE I thought the same thing, and there were actually a lot of things that legitimately made people want to leave the school. Disorganization. Incompetent front office staff. Some teachers great, others intensely strict and vindictive. For advanced kids, differentiation was playing math games on a computer. 95% of the kids were sweet and charming and well-behaved, but it only takes one kid with a serious behavior problem to disrupt the classroom all day ever day. A really really screwed up Instructional Superintendent and weird policy things from downtown. And most of all, a terrible middle school feeder. I'm glad you've had a nice 6 weeks of Kindergarten, but there's a lot you haven't experienced yet, and a lot of things that you may care more about later that you aren't really engaging with now. It's racism, but it isn't *just* racism. The shortcomings of DCPS are real and those of us who want DCPS to succeed must face the issues and work to address them. |
Anonymous
This is why one of the many reasons I don’t send my brown kid to my IB. He is not there to make you feel good about yourself. also, please don’t say “hola” to me when you see me in the neighborhood, I speak English. |
Anonymous
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Would you rather OP cross the street and send their kid to an all white suburb? |
Anonymous
Not the PP, but I'd rather the OP get real about DCPS's problems, which go way beyond racism and are in many ways the fault of the adults who work for DCPS. That's what I would rather OP do. |
Anonymous
it's all tangled though. my kids have been at a title 1 for many years and are thriving, and I've had many hours over conversations over the years with parents who moved and parents who stayed. the ones who were racist never said "we are racist and that's why we are leaving" they found many excuses to look for other problems within the school -- *even when their kids were clearly thriving*. the ones who have stayed did not. |
Anonymous
DCPS teacher here who can confirm this parent’s experience of one child with a major behavior issue negatively impacting the entire class. It can be a very stressful and intimidating experience for the other students. A skilled teacher will handle it and hopefully get extra support from other adults in the building but it still has a big impact on others. We can treat that child with compassion and help the other kids do so too. But that can get pretty real pretty quickly when the out of control child is hitting, throwing furniture or threatening other children. |
Anonymous
| PP here - also this can happen at ANY school, not just Title 1 |
Anonymous
I have found that the people most okay with this type of school are also the peoe who are planning to move out of DC regardless, and tend to have bright children without significant special needs. It's one thing to be okay with a low performing school when your kid is doing well. Not when your kid isn't, for any reason. |
Anonymous
Yes. And sometimes Title I schools have more in-house specialists to help deal with it. At our Title I there was a kid really struggling with disruptive and attention-seeking behaviors. We switched to MV in the early part of K. Guess who also switched to MV shortly after? |
Anonymous
Part of this is that DCPS can differentiate better than almost every charter in the city. So if your child is brighter than the advanced group at the charter, but not quite MCPS magnet material (or you don’t think that environment would be good for them), then often a DCPS, even a Title 1, is the only option for meeting your child where they are. Maybe they’ll be a group of one, but for some kids that’s better than being bored and getting into trouble in another school’s small group. |
Anonymous
| As someone whose kids stayed in a dual language title I until the upper grades, I’ll tell you, take it year by year and assess how your kid is doing. It was hard to leave friends and beloved teachers, but it was a good move for our kids who are now getting so much more, especially extras like science as a core subject and much better academic enrichment. There were very bright kids and dear friends (of all backgrounds—we truly befriended awesome kids and families across the SES spectrum and still keep in touch) at the old school, but the overall culture set by some teachers and admin was punitive and often joyless. some teachers were amazing though, and our children had no difficulty academically at their new school. The difference in parent engagement at the new school is incredible, and the amount of resources invested in the school is truly game changing. |
Anonymous
This is hilarious. PP is living in an alternate reality. Your child who you think is so bright and smarter than the other kids in your low performing school will be just average in a higher performing school in DCPS or at a charter. He will not be at the top of the class. It’s all relative and obvious PP doesn’t get out of her title 1 DCPS bubble. |
Anonymous
| What schools do teach science as a core subject in DC? |