Middle Schools for Cap Hill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not PP, but it could very well be that a straight-A kid from a poor ward is smarter and harder-working than a straight-A kid from a rich ward but simply doesn’t have the resources for test-prep tutoring. Also, this is just a guess, but I have a feeling that, as a general matter, parents in rich wards are far more likely to pester teachers to increase their mediocre kids’ grades than are parents in other wards.

Let me be clear. No one is test prepping for PARCC OK. PARCC is a basic test that assess what you should know at your grade level. That is the only utility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not PP, but it could very well be that a straight-A kid from a poor ward is smarter and harder-working than a straight-A kid from a rich ward but simply doesn’t have the resources for test-prep tutoring. Also, this is just a guess, but I have a feeling that, as a general matter, parents in rich wards are far more likely to pester teachers to increase their mediocre kids’ grades than are parents in other wards.

Let me be clear. No one is test prepping for PARCC OK. PARCC is a basic test that assess what you should know at your grade level. That is the only utility.

Hmmm my charter test preps for PARCC. Always has.

[Anonymous]

It’s my understanding that Walls had its own entrance exam until recently. And my guess is that more than a few Ward 3 parents hired tutors to help their kids prepare for that test.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:OK, I'm hoping this thread won't derail into the same Cap Hill middle school drama. Anyone whose kids are at Jefferson right now?

I’m a current parent of a student at Jefferson who came from Brent. My observations so far:

- There is definitely advanced math, with a small set of sixth graders in seventh grade math, and so on.

- For the rest of the core classes (ELA, science, etc.), it appears that higher performing kids are placed in the same cohort together.

Happy to try to answer any specific questions.

Can anyone say how the advanced Spanish classes are going at Jefferson (geared towards Tyler Spanish immersion students) and what percent of Tyler kids immersion and not immersion went to Jefferson this year?

The classes are not advanced in Tyler so doubtful.

So you have no idea?

Not PP but if the feeder school kids are weak, why would you think the Spanish classes at Jefferson would be rigorous, especially since it’s a poorly performing school overall where overwhelming majority of kids can’t even master English?

Ok so Tyler has a Spanish immersion program...and yes the kids in the program probably do not have extremely high levels of Spanish for an immersion program, but they have higher levels than kids who have never taken Spanish. I attended a meeting where the Jefferson principal had talked about the Spanish teacher tailoring classes for the Tyler Spanish immersion students coming to Jefferson and I was asking if anyone knew how that was going. Instead I had two people who have no idea just come on to insult actual people and students in the program/school.

Okay so your logic is that if you attended Tyler Spanish, your Spanish is better than someone without any Spanish education?

I am a Spanish tutor. Every kid at Tyler Spanish that I knew was frantically playing the lottery. My kids got in, I toured it, and it was not impressive.

If you’re serious about Spanish basically any other school is preferable. If you’re not serious about Spanish, why are you wasting your time with a program that is that weak? Wouldn’t it be better to focus on English or Math than wasting time?

Spanish teacher “tailoring classes” for Tyler Spanish kids sounds weak. Is it Spanish literature? Is it Spanish writing? Kids who went to a rigorous Spanish immersion school have no business in Spanish classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People in cities have always commuted for a good education. Buck up. Let your kid develop some grit. It will be ok. This is why we refer to Hill kids as “veal”. So tender and protected.

What is wrong with you? Kids aren’t cuts of meat.

Also DC barely has a working metro or metro bus system. New York City has dedicated buses from subways stops for charter school.

Why is DC different? Oh because they don’t care about kids. Hence the ridiculously bad middle school offerings provided by DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not PP, but it could very well be that a straight-A kid from a poor ward is smarter and harder-working than a straight-A kid from a rich ward but simply doesn’t have the resources for test-prep tutoring. Also, this is just a guess, but I have a feeling that, as a general matter, parents in rich wards are far more likely to pester teachers to increase their mediocre kids’ grades than are parents in other wards.

Let me be clear. No one is test prepping for PARCC OK. PARCC is a basic test that assess what you should know at your grade level. That is the only utility.

Hmmm my charter test preps for PARCC. Always has.

Of course the schools prep for it. Some poorly performing elementary schools do too much test prep and teach to the test.. In fact, I would bet the poorly performing schools spend a large portion of their time test prepping for it because the stakes are high to close the achievement gap while the better performing schools don’t do as much, if any test prep.

I’m talking about families privately test prepping for it. Tell me if you know of any families hiring tutors to test prep for PARCC. Really.

[Anonymous]

With the previous PARCC standards for Walls, all you needed was a 4 which is basically on grade level. Pretty low bar. If the kids can’t even get that and so they had to do away with PARCC then for sure the academic ability of the incoming classes are going to be lower and diluted.

What will then happen is the rigor of the classes will be lowered. It’s the same old DCPS playbook which is to lower standards instead of providing supports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not PP, but it could very well be that a straight-A kid from a poor ward is smarter and harder-working than a straight-A kid from a rich ward but simply doesn’t have the resources for test-prep tutoring. Also, this is just a guess, but I have a feeling that, as a general matter, parents in rich wards are far more likely to pester teachers to increase their mediocre kids’ grades than are parents in other wards.

Let me be clear. No one is test prepping for PARCC OK. PARCC is a basic test that assess what you should know at your grade level. That is the only utility.

Hmmm my charter test preps for PARCC. Always has.

Of course the schools prep for it. Some poorly performing elementary schools do too much test prep and teach to the test.. In fact, I would bet the poorly performing schools spend a large portion of their time test prepping for it because the stakes are high to close the achievement gap while the better performing schools don’t do as much, if any test prep.

I’m talking about families privately test prepping for it. Tell me if you know of any families hiring tutors to test prep for PARCC. Really.

I don’t know of anyone privately test prepping. Why would you do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, I'm hoping this thread won't derail into the same Cap Hill middle school drama. Anyone whose kids are at Jefferson right now?

I’m a current parent of a student at Jefferson who came from Brent. My observations so far:

- There is definitely advanced math, with a small set of sixth graders in seventh grade math, and so on.

- For the rest of the core classes (ELA, science, etc.), it appears that higher performing kids are placed in the same cohort together.

Happy to try to answer any specific questions.

Can anyone say how the advanced Spanish classes are going at Jefferson (geared towards Tyler Spanish immersion students) and what percent of Tyler kids immersion and not immersion went to Jefferson this year?

The classes are not advanced in Tyler so doubtful.

So you have no idea?

Not PP but if the feeder school kids are weak, why would you think the Spanish classes at Jefferson would be rigorous, especially since it’s a poorly performing school overall where overwhelming majority of kids can’t even master English?

Ok so Tyler has a Spanish immersion program...and yes the kids in the program probably do not have extremely high levels of Spanish for an immersion program, but they have higher levels than kids who have never taken Spanish. I attended a meeting where the Jefferson principal had talked about the Spanish teacher tailoring classes for the Tyler Spanish immersion students coming to Jefferson and I was asking if anyone knew how that was going. Instead I had two people who have no idea just come on to insult actual people and students in the program/school.

Okay so your logic is that if you attended Tyler Spanish, your Spanish is better than someone without any Spanish education?

I am a Spanish tutor. Every kid at Tyler Spanish that I knew was frantically playing the lottery. My kids got in, I toured it, and it was not impressive.

If you’re serious about Spanish basically any other school is preferable. If you’re not serious about Spanish, why are you wasting your time with a program that is that weak? Wouldn’t it be better to focus on English or Math than wasting time?

Spanish teacher “tailoring classes” for Tyler Spanish kids sounds weak. Is it Spanish literature? Is it Spanish writing? Kids who went to a rigorous Spanish immersion school have no business in Spanish classes.

So the kids that were seeking out Spanish tutoring weren't doing well in Spanish - hmmm what a surprise! Spanish immersion programs are difficult for kids that don't have any other background in Spanish - that is universal in all dual language programs. There has also been some interruption in some of the grades at Tyler with not having a spanish teacher for an amount of time I gather as well, which is definitely not great for a kids Spanish. But we are a Spanish speaking family at Tyler (and very serious about Spanish) and very happy with what we have seen so far (early elementary). Teachers speak almost 100% in spanish (which is not a given in many programs) differentiation is there for many levels. Yes many kids do not speak much spanish at this level, but that is totally normal. There are also many that do (usually the ones that have a particular talent for languages). Our kid is reading and writing in Spanish with little supplement at home besides talking and reading to him. So glad this school is available in the neighborhood rather than schlepping our child across the city (which we had the option to do). I think the Spanish classes at Jefferson are a nice progression for many of the kids coming from Tyler and maybe could lead to AP Spanish or something like that in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not PP, but it could very well be that a straight-A kid from a poor ward is smarter and harder-working than a straight-A kid from a rich ward but simply doesn’t have the resources for test-prep tutoring. Also, this is just a guess, but I have a feeling that, as a general matter, parents in rich wards are far more likely to pester teachers to increase their mediocre kids’ grades than are parents in other wards.

Let me be clear. No one is test prepping for PARCC OK. PARCC is a basic test that assess what you should know at your grade level. That is the only utility.

Hmmm my charter test preps for PARCC. Always has.

Of course the schools prep for it. Some poorly performing elementary schools do too much test prep and teach to the test.. In fact, I would bet the poorly performing schools spend a large portion of their time test prepping for it because the stakes are high to close the achievement gap while the better performing schools don’t do as much, if any test prep.

I’m talking about families privately test prepping for it. Tell me if you know of any families hiring tutors to test prep for PARCC. Really.

I don’t know of anyone privately test prepping. Why would you do that?

That’s my point. No one is privately test prepping for PARCC which is the test Walls used as one of the requirements in the past. Poster above that families were test prepping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

In the USNR rankings, Jefferson is the top-ranked public or charter middle school in Ward 6.

CORRECTION to the statement above (which as from me): On the USNWR rankings, Jefferson is the top-ranked public middle school in Ward 6, but there is one charter middle school in Ward 6 that is ranked higher (KIPP DC - Will Academy PCS). Sorry for the mix-up on my part!

On a related note, I realize that USNR rankings are not gospel, but it's worth pointing out the Deal and Hardy are the only public standalone middle schools in DC that are ranked higher than Jefferson.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In the USNR rankings, Jefferson is the top-ranked public or charter middle school in Ward 6.

CORRECTION to the statement above (which as from me): On the USNWR rankings, Jefferson is the top-ranked public middle school in Ward 6, but there is one charter middle school in Ward 6 that is ranked higher (KIPP DC - Will Academy PCS). Sorry for the mix-up on my part!

On a related note, I realize that USNR rankings are not gospel, but it's worth pointing out the Deal and Hardy are the only public standalone middle schools in DC that are ranked higher than Jefferson.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/middle-schools/district-of-columbia

Wow that is a really low bar then. Says a lot about how low performing the majority of schools in DC are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i think jefferson is really improving with 4 solid feeder schools and more and more in-bound kids attending but people (especially at brent where jefferson has long been regarded as a no) dont see it (or the full potential there) yet

I think for a long time parents at Brent have had decent alternatives that weren't that hard to make happen. But MS charters are getting harder and harder to get into as more parents stay in DC past elementary. Tuition at privates gets more onerous every year. Even moving to the suburbs starts to look less appealing because close-in suburbs around DC are getting pricier and if you own a row house on the Hill, moving to Fairfax or Bethesda for the schools is not the obvious option for some that it might have been 10 years ago.

So as these options close, I do think you'll see more families giving Jefferson a try. It's the same thing you've seen with public elementaries on the Hill.

The one thing that does not seem to sway people to send their white kids to these overwhelmingly black schools? The Rosa Parks and MLK quotes on their yard signs

Don't forget the BLM signs in their windows!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i think jefferson is really improving with 4 solid feeder schools and more and more in-bound kids attending but people (especially at brent where jefferson has long been regarded as a no) dont see it (or the full potential there) yet

I think for a long time parents at Brent have had decent alternatives that weren't that hard to make happen. But MS charters are getting harder and harder to get into as more parents stay in DC past elementary. Tuition at privates gets more onerous every year. Even moving to the suburbs starts to look less appealing because close-in suburbs around DC are getting pricier and if you own a row house on the Hill, moving to Fairfax or Bethesda for the schools is not the obvious option for some that it might have been 10 years ago.

So as these options close, I do think you'll see more families giving Jefferson a try. It's the same thing you've seen with public elementaries on the Hill.

The one thing that does not seem to sway people to send their white kids to these overwhelmingly black schools? The Rosa Parks and MLK quotes on their yard signs

I'm not seeing a good parallel between a few more UMC families giving Jefferson a try and parents trying public elementaries on the Hill. At the rate we're going, Jefferson's demographics won't look like Maury or Brent's for at least half a century. No definite honors classes, or a transparent system for high-performing students to access them, and further change can only come at a snail's pace.

[Anonymous]

Yes.