Help me with Kindergarten tours

[Anonymous]

I posted this in the wrong forum so am now reposting with a twist:

We are currently in process of touring elementary schools for DD who starts Kindergarten next year. Only interested in DC public and public charter at this time. We are touring our boundary school along with many others. The information is overwhelming. My question for the DCUM's that have been through this, is what were your biggest deciding factors in determining how to rank your top schools for the lottery? Can you rank for me from most to least important?

Some that I've captured so far include:
- The look on the kids' faces (do they look happy)
- How the teachers talk to/interact with the kids
- Proximity to home
- Curriculum and if teachers are trained on curriculum
- Cadence of the day (e.g. do they do math in AM or PM)
- Special features (e.g. "we were set on dual language because...")
- Good gut feeling
- Transportation options
- Diversity of student body and teachers
- Test scores
- Other?

[Anonymous]

1. Commute
2. Cost and availability of before or after care
3. Diversity of student body and teachers
4. Specials
5. Test scores

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Commute
2. Cost and availability of before or after care
3. Diversity of student body and teachers
4. Specials
5. Test scores

This. You will get better advice if you tell us your IB school or at least your neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

DCPS does not transport anyone except special needs.

I DGAF about the "cadence" (is that a fancy word for schedule?)

How much outdoor time and PE time do the kids get, and do they actually have a facility that can make that happen even on rainy days? Beware the cafetorinaysium.

Reputation for handling behaviors and special needs-- at this age it might be you who needs support.

How much of a cluster is their dropoff traffic and parking.

Do the test scores comport with their percentage of at-risk kids? Schools that have low test scores and few at-risk kids get the side-eye. How is the student growth metric?

Student re-enrollment and attrition during the year.

[Anonymous]

Grades served and feeder rights/preferences. If you look at a DCI feeder, understand whether you are having a right or a preference at DCI.

Don't hold your breath for the new Montessori middle school, these people are in for an uphill climb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted this in the wrong forum so am now reposting with a twist:

We are currently in process of touring elementary schools for DD who starts Kindergarten next year. Only interested in DC public and public charter at this time. We are touring our boundary school along with many others. The information is overwhelming. My question for the DCUM's that have been through this, is what were your biggest deciding factors in determining how to rank your top schools for the lottery? Can you rank for me from most to least important?


Some that I've captured so far include:

- The look on the kids' faces (do they look happy) -- to me, same as gut feeling.
- How the teachers talk to/interact with the kids -- also fits in gut feeling for me.
4 Proximity to home
- Curriculum and if teachers are trained on curriculum
- Cadence of the day (e.g. do they do math in AM or PM)
1 Special features (e.g. "we were set on dual language because...") - We prioritized Montessori but that was all from gut feeling having toured a couple of them. We also prioritized Spanish because of connection to culture/language.

2 Good gut feeling

6 Transportation options
5 Diversity of student body and teachers
3 Test scores
- Other?


-- This is how I'd do it now, I have one in K. This is not how we did actually do the lottery. We prioritized commute higher than I maybe would now, knowing that so few schools are really any good through 5th. You don't want to have to move again after K if you can help it. There are schools that may be worth the drive/bus/headache. Not that many but some.

[Anonymous]

1. Does it look like the place is organized and kids are on task? That was really big for us.
1a. The look on the kids' faces (do they look happy)
1b. How the teachers talk to/interact with the kids
2. Proximity to home (can't fix a busted commute)
2a Transportation options
3. Special features
4. Recess time
5. Diversity - I judge you if you are white and not willing to be at a school with less than 20% white students. Just letting you know I AM JUDGING YOU RIGHT NOW! (Whatever, do what you want.)
6. Test score growth for poor (scoring) students.
7. Any answer they offer on differentiation at higher grades.
LAST. Curriculum - they say a F-ing TON about it, then a couple years later they say the latest and greatest is so much better than what they had before. So disregard a lot of what you hear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Does it look like the place is organized and kids are on task? That was really big for us.
1a. The look on the kids' faces (do they look happy)
1b. How the teachers talk to/interact with the kids
2. Proximity to home (can't fix a busted commute)
2a Transportation options
3. Special features
4. Recess time
5. Diversity - I judge you if you are white and not willing to be at a school with less than 20% white students. Just letting you know I AM JUDGING YOU RIGHT NOW! (Whatever, do what you want.)
6. Test score growth for poor (scoring) students.
7. Any answer they offer on differentiation at higher grades.
LAST. Curriculum - they say a F-ing TON about it, then a couple years later they say the latest and greatest is so much better than what they had before. So disregard a lot of what you hear.

For better or worse, it was Curriculum which had us choose Montessori which I am still happy with. That is because no school seemed to have a super clear picture of what their curriculum was, and I suspect it changes like you said. Montessori can be done badly of course, but at least it's very well thought-through and seems to have coherence and intention and a philosophical underpinning that basically every other school lacked. I'm sure my kids would still be learning, I just couldn't figure out what it was they were doing when we were lotterying.

[Anonymous]

OP here, this is helpful so far. What about technology? I toured a couple of schools that have a giant "smart screen" at the front of the classroom. It seemed like it was always on in most classrooms we saw. Every single kinder class I saw was watching a video/animated short on the screen. Am I wrong to be totally turned off by this? The schools touted it as awesome and how they really embrace technology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, this is helpful so far. What about technology? I toured a couple of schools that have a giant "smart screen" at the front of the classroom. It seemed like it was always on in most classrooms we saw. Every single kinder class I saw was watching a video/animated short on the screen. Am I wrong to be totally turned off by this? The schools touted it as awesome and how they really embrace technology.

Not all parents are big fans of technology in the classroom. I've seen a lot of complaints on this site about too much school screentime for little kids.

[Anonymous]

OP again - I am IB for Maury but we are considering moving. I am very interested in LAMB among others so if we got in we would move closer.

[Anonymous]

Some of the items on your list compel me to say that you need to remember you are choosing a school, not a single teacher or a specific set of classmates.

At every school there will be classes that are a dream and classes that are a nightmare, teachers that are rockstars and teachers that don't gel with your kid, schedules and "cadence" will change, curriculum can change year to year, amout o f recess can change too. So don't let items that specific sway you as much as other considerations. There simply are no guarantees.

I've had two kids in the same schools and their experiences were so different at each (of three schools) that it was almost as if they went to different schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the items on your list compel me to say that you need to remember you are choosing a school, not a single teacher or a specific set of classmates.

At every school there will be classes that are a dream and classes that are a nightmare, teachers that are rockstars and teachers that don't gel with your kid, schedules and "cadence" will change, curriculum can change year to year, amout o f recess can change too. So don't let items that specific sway you as much as other considerations. There simply are no guarantees.

I've had two kids in the same schools and their experiences were so different at each (of three schools) that it was almost as if they went to different schools.

In that case, what sort of things actually matter, especially when considering a school for multiple kids that may have different needs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the items on your list compel me to say that you need to remember you are choosing a school, not a single teacher or a specific set of classmates.

At every school there will be classes that are a dream and classes that are a nightmare, teachers that are rockstars and teachers that don't gel with your kid, schedules and "cadence" will change, curriculum can change year to year, amout o f recess can change too. So don't let items that specific sway you as much as other considerations. There simply are no guarantees.

I've had two kids in the same schools and their experiences were so different at each (of three schools) that it was almost as if they went to different schools.

In that case, what sort of things actually matter, especially when considering a school for multiple kids that may have different needs?

1) COMMUTE. Seriously, this is a big thing. Make sure you try out getting there in the morning and evening and ask yourself if you can honestly swing it every day.
2) Organization. Is the school humming with life, or a disorganized mess?
3) Parent satisfaction. Reach out to the PTA. Ask them what they love or hate about their school.
4) Gut instinct. I do think you need to go with this as well. Can you see your kid going there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again - I am IB for Maury but we are considering moving. I am very interested in LAMB among others so if we got in we would move closer.

You're IB with a guaranteed seat at a five star school with great test scores - why are you even looking elsewhere?