Expectations for Future MS Differentiation EOTP

[Anonymous]

I want to get people's experiences and expectations on differentiation for kids who do well east of Rock Creek Park as they reach middle school.

I'll lay my cards out: my son is a couple years away from middle school at a mid-city DCPS elementary school and edging up on middle school math now while he's already reading at that level. He has a couple of friends who are just the same (and not all white or male, thank God), and really loves his friends at school even though they may not read or test as well. I want him to stay with his friends, period, and at his school, differentiation has worked. He is still making progress but it's clear that in middle school he basically needs to be prepared to move up a rung in at least a couple classes even if he is able to be in the same school as his friends.

A couple years ago there were promises (I think) that we'd actually have algebra available, harder English classes available at the schools that are supposed to be there for our kids in Wards 1, 4, and 5. So I'm talking about Cardozo, Lincoln, McFarland, Brookland, McKinley...maybe others.

Does DCPS have a plan to actually have those classes for those kids? If they are already in place, how is it going now? What has been your experience?

Again - we want to stick it out despite any negativity and give our son a chance to go to school with his friends and, I'll be transparent, the diverse experience growing up that his parents did not in typical 80s suburbs, without holding back his learning opportunities. I want to know that an advancing path of learning for kids who are above grade level is going to be there when this cohort gets there in two years. I don't want the world - I mostly just want to know that it's not like "Brookland promised Algebra in 7th grade but since there weren't more than 4 or 5 students they just sent them to 'study hall' with a couple of computers" or similar bullshit.

[Anonymous]

Go to results.osse.dc.org and drill into the PARCc scores by grade for the schools you are talking about.

You can see where there were enough middle school students taking Algebra (or in some cases Geometry) to be tested.

You can also find course offerings on their websites, or look at what the teachers are assigned to teach.

There were never promises re separate English classes being offered at every school, although I think they have that at Hardy and Stuart Hobson now. The rest of the MS promises had to do with extra curriculars.

[Anonymous]

Which DCPS middle school(s)are you considering? Stuart Hobson and Hardy offer a menu of "honors" classes pitched at grade level serving only around one quarter of their students. Sounds like your kids would be OK at either, generally challenged though not necessarily pushed.

If the DCPS MS you have your eye on is close to home, you could do what we do without punishing your kid, hire tutors to supplement in the afternoons and on weekends. We hire tutors and tutor the kid ourselves, 5-8 hours per week, to add rigor and personal attention rather than have the kid commute an hour and a half daily to reach a better school or go private (a real stretch for us financially).

[Anonymous]

Isn't there a new DCPS middle school opening this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't there a new DCPS middle school opening this year?

MacFarland? It'll be a dual language school, but perhaps have a monolingual track due to some of its feeders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't there a new DCPS middle school opening this year?

MacFarland? It'll be a dual language school, but perhaps have a monolingual track due to some of its feeders.

PP her or are you referring to the new "North Middle School" on the grounds of Coolidge HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go to results.osse.dc.org and drill into the PARCc scores by grade for the schools you are talking about.

You can see where there were enough middle school students taking Algebra (or in some cases Geometry) to be tested.

You can also find course offerings on their websites, or look at what the teachers are assigned to teach.

There were never promises re separate English classes being offered at every school, although I think they have that at Hardy and Stuart Hobson now. The rest of the MS promises had to do with extra curriculars.

I checked

https://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/osse/page_content/attachments/2018%20PARCC%20School%20Level%20Math.xlsx

this gave me 2018 PARCC results. Taking what this gives me as a proxy for class availability, I looked at 6th grade (couldn't find any Algebra or Geometry test takers), 7th grade (a few schools) and 8th grade many more, it looks like if your kid is actually able to do the work, there are at minimum Algebra I classes available at the schools below (8th grade Algebra test takers). As I see it, there are ZERO students taking the Algebra I PARCC by 8th grade at Cardozo, CHEC, or MacFarland...not sure if I'm missing others.

Hardy Middle School
School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens
Deal Middle School
Oyster-Adams Bilingual School
Capital City PCS - Middle School
Brightwood Education Campus
Brookland Middle School
McKinley Middle School
Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS
Capitol Hill Montessori School @ Logan
Eliot-Hine Middle School
Jefferson Middle School Academy
Stuart-Hobson Middle School (Capitol Hill Cluster)
Two Rivers PCS - 4th St
Kelly Miller Middle School
Sousa Middle School
Hart Middle School
Johnson Middle School
Kramer Middle School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which DCPS middle school(s)are you considering? Stuart Hobson and Hardy offer a menu of "honors" classes pitched at grade level serving only around one quarter of their students. Sounds like your kids would be OK at either, generally challenged though not necessarily pushed.

If the DCPS MS you have your eye on is close to home, you could do what we do without punishing your kid, hire tutors to supplement in the afternoons and on weekends. We hire tutors and tutor the kid ourselves, 5-8 hours per week, to add rigor and personal attention rather than have the kid commute an hour and a half daily to reach a better school or go private (a real stretch for us financially).

I've never considered tutoring and have no idea what it's like. What's it like? You find someone on Craigslist? Do they come to your house? Do they teach individually or groups? Is it for math or language or what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't there a new DCPS middle school opening this year?

MacFarland? It'll be a dual language school, but perhaps have a monolingual track due to some of its feeders.

PP her or are you referring to the new "North Middle School" on the grounds of Coolidge HS?

MacFarland opened its dual language program already. This year they added a monolingual track for 6th grade and will grow up as those students age.

New North (soon to be renamed something) is opening fall 2019 in part of the Coolidge high school building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which DCPS middle school(s)are you considering? Stuart Hobson and Hardy offer a menu of "honors" classes pitched at grade level serving only around one quarter of their students. Sounds like your kids would be OK at either, generally challenged though not necessarily pushed.

If the DCPS MS you have your eye on is close to home, you could do what we do without punishing your kid, hire tutors to supplement in the afternoons and on weekends. We hire tutors and tutor the kid ourselves, 5-8 hours per week, to add rigor and personal attention rather than have the kid commute an hour and a half daily to reach a better school or go private (a real stretch for us financially).

I've never considered tutoring and have no idea what it's like. What's it like? You find someone on Craigslist? Do they come to your house? Do they teach individually or groups? Is it for math or language or what?

Many possibilities. We hire a cheerful, patient college student who's incredibly good at explaining math concepts for $25/ hour. We advertised FOR such a person on Craigslist and he found us. He comes to our house.

We also use a great on-line math tutoring service--the wonderful tutor is in India--for a $200/month subscription. We're about to form a writing tutoring group with two other 6th grade families, where everybody kicks in around $50 per week to pay a lovely tutor with a strong background in writing instruction. We spend around $150/week on tutoring, plus another $100 week on language, dance and music classes. $250/week to supplement 9 months of the year is chump change when compared to tuition to a pricey private school. Our commute to the local DCPS is 3 minutes, on foot. We could have switched to BASIS a few weeks into the school year but didn't like the way they weed middle school kids out and the over-the-top emphasis on grades, scores and testing.

You have options on tutoring if you have the dough, are resourceful about lining up good tutors, and offer your kid incentives to cooperate (e.g. cool vacations). We don't advertise the tutoring we pay for at the school, and will probably switch to a private for 8th grade +.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which DCPS middle school(s)are you considering? Stuart Hobson and Hardy offer a menu of "honors" classes pitched at grade level serving only around one quarter of their students. Sounds like your kids would be OK at either, generally challenged though not necessarily pushed.

If the DCPS MS you have your eye on is close to home, you could do what we do without punishing your kid, hire tutors to supplement in the afternoons and on weekends. We hire tutors and tutor the kid ourselves, 5-8 hours per week, to add rigor and personal attention rather than have the kid commute an hour and a half daily to reach a better school or go private (a real stretch for us financially).

I've never considered tutoring and have no idea what it's like. What's it like? You find someone on Craigslist? Do they come to your house? Do they teach individually or groups? Is it for math or language or what?

Many possibilities. We hire a cheerful, patient college student who's incredibly good at explaining math concepts for $25/ hour. We advertised FOR such a person on Craigslist and he found us. He comes to our house.

We also use a great on-line math tutoring service--the wonderful tutor is in India--for a $200/month subscription. We're about to form a writing tutoring group with two other 6th grade families, where everybody kicks in around $50 per week to pay a lovely tutor with a strong background in writing instruction. We spend around $150/week on tutoring, plus another $100 week on language, dance and music classes. $250/week to supplement 9 months of the year is chump change when compared to tuition to a pricey private school. Our commute to the local DCPS is 3 minutes, on foot. We could have switched to BASIS a few weeks into the school year but didn't like the way they weed middle school kids out and the over-the-top emphasis on grades, scores and testing.

You have options on tutoring if you have the dough, are resourceful about lining up good tutors, and offer your kid incentives to cooperate (e.g. cool vacations). We don't advertise the tutoring we pay for at the school, and will probably switch to a private for 8th grade +.

This is insane.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t expect much OP. The focus is always on helping the kids struggling. Brookland middle has been a bust on that front. I don’t have hopes for McFarland. All the feeders are still losing most of the UMC kids and some of the strongest performers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which DCPS middle school(s)are you considering? Stuart Hobson and Hardy offer a menu of "honors" classes pitched at grade level serving only around one quarter of their students. Sounds like your kids would be OK at either, generally challenged though not necessarily pushed.

If the DCPS MS you have your eye on is close to home, you could do what we do without punishing your kid, hire tutors to supplement in the afternoons and on weekends. We hire tutors and tutor the kid ourselves, 5-8 hours per week, to add rigor and personal attention rather than have the kid commute an hour and a half daily to reach a better school or go private (a real stretch for us financially).

I've never considered tutoring and have no idea what it's like. What's it like? You find someone on Craigslist? Do they come to your house? Do they teach individually or groups? Is it for math or language or what?

Many possibilities. We hire a cheerful, patient college student who's incredibly good at explaining math concepts for $25/ hour. We advertised FOR such a person on Craigslist and he found us. He comes to our house.

We also use a great on-line math tutoring service--the wonderful tutor is in India--for a $200/month subscription. We're about to form a writing tutoring group with two other 6th grade families, where everybody kicks in around $50 per week to pay a lovely tutor with a strong background in writing instruction. We spend around $150/week on tutoring, plus another $100 week on language, dance and music classes. $250/week to supplement 9 months of the year is chump change when compared to tuition to a pricey private school. Our commute to the local DCPS is 3 minutes, on foot. We could have switched to BASIS a few weeks into the school year but didn't like the way they weed middle school kids out and the over-the-top emphasis on grades, scores and testing.

You have options on tutoring if you have the dough, are resourceful about lining up good tutors, and offer your kid incentives to cooperate (e.g. cool vacations). We don't advertise the tutoring we pay for at the school, and will probably switch to a private for 8th grade +.

This is insane.

No it is not. It is smart and ambitious. Laying the ground work for her child to be the same. I do this too on a smaller scale and it makes a big difference.
We all do not have access to the better schools so we do what we can.

[Anonymous]

+100. Smart and ambitious is exactly right. You save time on a school commute, piles of money on a private, and the pain of moving to the burbs for a formal GT program.

You compensate by lining up good tutors to fill in the gaps for a bright and motivated child.

Don't kid yourself. Plenty of "insane" high SES DC parents hire tutors for advanced learners these days it's just that few advertise this.

[Anonymous]

No it's insane this is the United States of America not freaking China or India

Take that prep bs and shove it