Murch?

[Anonymous]

we are considering Murch for our child and would love feedback--both positive and negative. thank you!

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of Murch boosters on this forum. Murch has a wonderful community of parents supporting its programs and there are some excellent teachers there. There are also some teachers that aren’t so good, but you will find this at other publics and privates. New playground is very nice. New principal is better than the last. Hope you go to an open house and get a feeling in addition to advice you get here.

[Anonymous]

Want to get a good sense of a school's community? Take your child for a walk past the school right around the time school gets out. Overhear the parents chatting. Watch how the children behave towards each other. If you're lucky you'll catch a teacher or the principal talking about a class project. Try this for a few days in a row and if you can project yourself and your child into the scene and feel good about it then chances are you're found a school that is a good fit.

I would be surprised if Murch disappoints you.

[Anonymous]

DD is in K at Murch and we have been thrilled with it so far. They have recess for an hour per day, an hour of "free choice time", lots of specials, lots of literature, and lots of hands on learning. I'm only familiar with the Pre-K and K (they are in a separate building) but the teachers all seem good. I thought public K would be rows of desks and lots of worksheets, but this is the opposite. The classes are all 21-23 kids for K, with a teacher and an aide, the 1st grade classes were bigger this year. Size is something to ask about as you look at schools, I understand that sizes can vary quite a bit among the upper NW schools. Also, several schools - Janney, Stoddard - are undergoing extensive rennovations over the next few years, something else to factor in. Murch just had an open house on Friday, I think the next one is in December.

[Anonymous]

Murch loses a lot of its in-boundary students in the last 2 or 3 years (and fills those spots with out-of-boundary kids), and I've never learned the reason why. Moreover, This is NOT the case at Janney, Lafayette, Key, etc.

This is a question you might ask of the admin. or staff there when you tour.

[Anonymous]

Our two children attended Murch and we loved the experience. Great teachers (especially the kindergarted teachers and aides), friendly involved parents who make sure the school gets everything it needs, diverse student body, and a spanking new playground. It's great to drive past the school in the afternoons and see the whole neighborhood out there using the school. It's true that a lot of kids leave from 4th grade on to go to private school, but this may slow down, since Deal is getting such good reviews. My kids went to private after Murch, but we loved our time there and would do it again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Murch loses a lot of its in-boundary students in the last 2 or 3 years (and fills those spots with out-of-boundary kids), and I've never learned the reason why. Moreover, This is NOT the case at Janney, Lafayette, Key, etc.

This is a question you might ask of the admin. or staff there when you tour.

If true, this doesn't appear to have affected the school's scores, so... how many is a lot? Can you cite a source (so that this doesn't sound so much like anonymous rumormongering)?

[Anonymous]

Classrooms at Murch are too crowded. If you need even minimal special services for your child, you will get ignored. If you have other options, take them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Classrooms at Murch are too crowded. If you need even minimal special services for your child, you will get ignored. If you have other options, take them.

What data do you have to support this? If the staff:student ratio at Murch is measurably different from the other high-performing NW schools, why are their test scores nonetheless commensurate with their peer group of schools? Your post may or may not be objectively true, but without any useful citation it looks like bitter anony-bashing.

[Anonymous]

I do not think that OP was that interested in data driven information. After all they can look up the test scores on their own at www.nclb.osse.dc.gov .
If OP looks up scores for Murch and peer schools, they should make sure to look at the grade by grade breakdowns and subgroup breakdowns to understand the performance of all of the students at these schools and compare those details as well as comparing the overall scores. Sometimes things look different in the details.
Test scores themselves don't tell the whole story and that is why the advice to visit the playground after school and talk to parents, teachers and administrators is spot on. Get a feeling for the school and decide whether or not you feel the fit.
Murch is a fine school. They try hard to serve all of their students within the constraints of dcps. Is it a perfect school? No, but they do succeed in many areas. Hope that OP checks it out.

[Anonymous]

My DS is in Murch 4th right now. He lost about 7 kids at the end of 3rd last year whose parents wanted them to go to private school without taking extra testing which would be required after 4th grade. We also have a large number of diplomatic families at Murch since embassies rent apartments along Connecticut Ave and like the school.

I think this year he'll probably lose about 12 kids or so since folks want to get their kids into private schools now before middle school or they hope to get into some of the top charter schools before the rush for 6th grade. I am not sure why this happens at Murch and not Janney or Lafayette, but my impression is that a fair number of kids go off to private schools earlier from Murch.

I already know 4 parents who want to move their kids to Washington Latin for 5th grade and not stay at Murch.

[Anonymous]

Im a parent of a 4th grade boy aT Murch too. i think the kids who are going to be going to latin all (mostly?) have siblings there already. Ive had a couple of older kids go through Murch and I think that it is very strong now-- but there were 2 very depressing years under the last Principal, which may be why those older siblings left. We considered leaving under the old leadership but are very glad that we did not.

[Anonymous]

Those two years were depressing but attrition in the older grades dates back further than that. Kids started leaving for Washington Latin before those two bad years. Those kids leaving probably had more to do with WL opening and being a choice vs. a reaction to those two bad years. we think worries about Deal drove attrition and we hope that the rave reviews we are hearing about Deal will start to change that trend.
This trend of leaving Murch in the later years will be hard to break. It is like snowball, once someone says they are leaving to avoid DCPS middle school, others start to worry and make plans themselves. In the past, the few kids that have gone on to Deal have had a bit of a hard time because they don't know as many kids as the children coming from Janney or Lafayette. This year more kids went on to Deal, and we are hearing great things from all.
The new leadership at Murch is better than the last but we are not hearing the excitement we heard at the beginning of the year.

[Anonymous]

WL offers a classical curriculum. Murch offers DCPS Standards, birthday parties, and basketball. Depends on your priorities.

[Anonymous]

wow 1035.
thanks.