Forum Index
»
DC Public and Public Charter Schools
Please convince me: DCPS over MoCo for smart kids
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
I'm glad to hear MoCo is ditching the "gifted" label. Makes me want to send my kids there.
BTW, I just about seized after reading the most recent thread on Wilson. Armed robbery? Attempted assault? If we send DC to DCPS, they are going all the way through high school. I can't believe they have crime like that in BCC or Walter Johnson, not to mention Whitman. I'm not sure I have the stomach for sending my kids to Wilson. Are Ellington and School Without Walls any better in terms of crime? Are there charter high schools in DCPS? I've been so focused on elementary schools, I haven't thought much about high schools. FWIW, our high school has gangs and some very tough-looking kids, and the neighborhood it's in is fairly rough. But the AP track is stellar, and many of the top kids go to Ivies, etc., beating out most of the private schools in our area. |
Anonymous
In my experience (which does *not* involve reviewing crime stats so take it with a grain of salt), Ellington, Walls, and Banneker are better in terms of crime. They are complete magnet programs so all students must apply to attend (so they want to be there) and have the threat of expulsion over their heads. In fact, when we looked at Walls, the principal made a point of bragging that they did not have a metal detector at the entrance (that was before the renovation so I don't know what is going on now). My experience of Ellington is that it is a warm community of (somewhat disorganized) people who love the arts. Banneker seems extremely well-organized and button-down proper with a strong focus on intellectual accomplishment. |
Anonymous
|
17:18 again -- I should note that you may want to pay attention to an important difference between magnet schools and charter schools. The charters have to take all those who apply. If there are more students than spots, they have to take whomever they get in the lottery. The difference between charters and traditional DCPS schools is that the charters can kick kids out for bad behavior. They can even make them leave if the parents don't live up to the requirement that they be closely involved(e.g., KIPP).
This is somewhat like attending a traditional DCPS school out-of-boundary. For example, the principal has to accept a student who gets in via the out-of-boundary lottery but she/he can kick the student out for being late to school everyday if she/he wants to. However, magnet schools can choose their students based on applications which include GPAs, test scores, teacher recommendations, family interviews, whatever. They will be more successful at keeping troublemaking students out than charters will. Where Wilson runs into a problem is that it has both a magnet program and a traditional school in the same building. |
Anonymous
The crime-obsessed poster on that thread drove me to check out the stats. Here's what I found: Since the beginning of the year, there have been four thefts and two robberies at Wilson, per the police report. The thefts were from lockers and desks (pretty typical), and the robberies involved a kid getting a dollar taken out of his pocket and another kid getting cornered in the bathroom for his iPod. You'd prefer, obviously, no crime, but none of those things sound out of the realm of normal for HS. And they are far from the "weekly" incidents of violent crime that the one poster on that thread insists are occurring. |
Anonymous
|
Thanks for that research PP. That type of thing happens in our high school all the time. Makes me feel better about Wilson.
19:15 Could you explain what problems occur at Wilson because of having a magnet and traditional school housed in one building? Why the friction (I'm assuming that's it) between the two groups? Why isn't it managed better? And if there is friction, why can't they separate the schools? Or the students? |
Anonymous
19:15 here. I don't know enough about Wilson to give you proper feedback on that. I was just responding to the concerns about violence at the school, which is most likely not coming from the magnet programs. (although I certainly wouldn't make the same assumption about any drug arrests) You might go check the tail end of the Wilson High thread, if you haven't already. There is a recent post from a person who attended Wilson in the 90s who points out that most white middle class kids at Wilson take classes in a different track and are less likely to be involved in the kinds of conflicts discussed here. Actually, this was my concern about Wilson when dd was accepted into one of the magnet programs. It is too much of a separate majority white school within a larger majority black school. I didn't want dd, who is white, to look around and see black students as people who primarily take a slower track. I was glad that she got into one of the all magnet schools (all majority black) where black students were her peers (and in her case just as likely to be better students than her!). This is not to say that the magnet programs at Wilson aren't great programs and that white students can't successfully keep their perceptions of race from being skewed by the unequal nature of the school programs. It just made me uncomfortable and I'm glad she went elsewhere. |
Anonymous
I agree with this. The DC elementary curriculum does not develop or accommodate gifted children. At the Prekindergarten level that means a child who can already read - because he has been taught to do this by his parents and his daycares - doesn't really fit in. They don't start reading until later. My son is four. He has been reading aloud for two years and reads above his grade level (most other four-year olders cannot read, period). He has other behavior and emotional issues to overcome. So reading has been the one thing he has going for him. To have his teacher at his "good" DC public school be upset (at him or us?) because other parents ask her "why he can read" is infuriating. I could care less that she has "been doing it this way for 30 years." Obviously, because I was a teacher, I understand that the curriculum establishes certain limitations on what she can do - so why take it out on me and him? She has recently begun making snide suggestions that his apparently "unnatural" reading ability has been produced by us forcing or otherwise being abusive. So we will be placing him in private school next year, despite the fact that she said she "will not give him a good recommendation," because of his behavior. I don't really see another option. |
Anonymous
|
For the previous poster, so sorry this is happening to your child. It is inexcusable.
At our DCPS (not "good" in that it's on the wrong side of the park, mostly low-income) the principal believes in GT and does her best to accommodate those children academically and also introduces a lot of music (guitar, keyboard, choir), which has helped keep my children (one reads 7 grades above level, etc...) engaged and even challenged. (Though this is all her and her staff, no support from DCPS in general.) I feel for your little boy and I'm sorry his teacher is threatened by his intelligence. I do hope you find a place where his intelligence is viewed as the gift that it is. |
Anonymous
Do you mind saying which school DC attends now? Many thanks in advance. |
Anonymous
Do you mind sharing the school name? Many thanks in advance. |
Anonymous
|
I think the whole issue of whether or not DCPS schools can handle gifted kids really has to be looked at on a school by school basis. We have had a very different experience with DCPS than what poster 12:05 describes.
My daughter was reading chapter books before she entered kindergarten and was pulled out of class for more advanced work. She is now in 3rd grade and continues to perform well above grade level in reading and math. As parents we also push the teachers hard to challenge her as much as possible. I think what sucks about DCPS is the inconsistency of teaching between schools (and within individual schools too). All of the schools use the same curriculum but implementation can vary. What poster 12:19 says about her principal accomodating GT students without support from the system, that's exactly how the higher performing DCPS schools operate. |
Anonymous
|
I agree that it varies by school-- which is unfortunate for parents who don't have the resources to live in-boundaries for a good school. In researching schools, I spoke with quite a few parents and some principals too. Several schools in DC accommodate early readers by providing different materials and additional instruction (Mann, for instance). Others have offerings that can challenge children other ways. Ultimately, we decided on a bilingual public school so that our child, who taught herself to read at 3, will have the academic challenge of a second language-- as well as the gift of exploring another culture, which will draw upon a different sort of intelligence.
This isn't an option for every child in DCPS, but it's a great educational opportunity. |
Anonymous
| Yep, a good principal is very important when choosing a school. |
Anonymous
Honestly? You sound misinformed and excusing your son's behavior because he is just so "brilliant". DC uses the most rigorous curriculum in the country. More rigorous than Mont Co or in NoVa. I too was "advanced" and you know what? I had to learn to sit through some muck on the subjects in which I was advanced, but it was also an opportunity for me to learn self control and understanding. You're doing your son a disservice by acting like this |
Anonymous
|
For the earlier poster, this is the school we've had luck with:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/09/AR2008110901937.html Again, it's the principal and her expectations that make this school work for my child. (She expects a great deal from her staff as well.) It takes a certain amount of effort to keep a child who operates 5-7 grades above level challenged, but it's not a fight at this school. We do work at it though. I'm happy because this principal works with me and my child to make sure he's getting an appropriate education. FWIW, she works hard for every child in the building, regardless of their level. |