When (if ever) will DC neighborhood schools be the default option for high achieving students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does the Wilson PTO have hiring authority for aides as well? For us, middle school is the issue. it’s simply too crowded.

No.

it is happening school by school. Look at the in boundary wait lists for PK at schools like Marie Reed, Garrison and Walls at Francis Stevens.

Yeah, for PK3 and 4.

Those kids at MR and Garrison will be long gone by 4th grade if DCPS doesn’t do two things: tracking and better middle school options.

I just spoke to a MR K parent who is pulling their kid and moving to Takoma Park next year for first because their kid is bored this year. Teachers are great but their kid just isn’t being challenged enough.

Who wants their kid to be bored in school? No one. High SES or low SES, if you care about education you want your kid to be challenged.

If you don’t provide options for the advanced kids your school will never really shine.

Challenged? In kindergarten?? The challenges are supposed to be about learning to share, take turns, be kind to others, complete chores properly.

+1. Kindergarten should be about learning the social skills kids will need to handle academic/life challenges in the years ahead.

Right. And DCPS kindergarten is about learning the alphabet and doing worksheets rather than social skills.

Not in my experience. Also the teachers had zero problem differentiating in kindergarten.

Agree. ‘Not challenged’ in this context is code for ‘I wasn’t comfortable with the socioeconomic background of DC’s classmates.’

Not true. You can pretend that it’s about SES if you want.

But the reality is this: Parents want their kids to learn as much as they can. One can evaluate that based only on how kids are learning in their school environment. If a kid isn’t challenged or is bored, parents who can will pull that kid out and send them to another school.
That’s true for Deal and Wilson as much as it is any other school in the District.

If DC doesn’t provide some differentiated learning, they’re going to lose advanced learners from their schools. Is that what DCPS wants?

I disagree, many UMC parents focus on socioemotional development and play at K. Most of the privates in this area take this approach. If your friend claims that lack of "challenge" in K was the reason she pulled her kid out, I'd wonder what else was motivating her assessment that the school wouldn't work for her kid.

[Anonymous]

Also DCPS ECE and ES curriculum does differentiate. Lots of small group guided reading with texts chosen to suit the students’ abilities for eg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also DCPS ECE and ES curriculum does differentiate. Lots of small group guided reading with texts chosen to suit the students’ abilities for eg.

That is what happens in guided reading time, but the reality is that a lot of the day and the group is geared towards those who are not yet reading. That is fine and age-appropriate, but fir a child who already reads fluently I could see it getting old fast.

[Anonymous]

Our issue was that it was too academic and the academics were not well differentiated. And the teacher was overwhelmed with all the needs and behaviors (and the behaviors came from kids of all income levels).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also DCPS ECE and ES curriculum does differentiate. Lots of small group guided reading with texts chosen to suit the students’ abilities for eg.

That is what happens in guided reading time, but the reality is that a lot of the day and the group is geared towards those who are not yet reading. That is fine and age-appropriate, but fir a child who already reads fluently I could see it getting old fast.

My kid was reading chapter books at 4 and totally loved kindergarten. Give kids credit. They love when they know the answer, they love the fun games, and they will not be harmed by bing in a room where others are learning at a normal pace. DC is in high school now and all is well in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also DCPS ECE and ES curriculum does differentiate. Lots of small group guided reading with texts chosen to suit the students’ abilities for eg.

That is what happens in guided reading time, but the reality is that a lot of the day and the group is geared towards those who are not yet reading. That is fine and age-appropriate, but fir a child who already reads fluently I could see it getting old fast.

I guess this depends on the school. At our EOTP school, kids were often reading earlier than K. One kid was reading in PK3. My middle of the pack kid was reading a couple of months into K. We've found ECE in DCPS to be pretty academic (but not excessively) compared to early grades in current private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also DCPS ECE and ES curriculum does differentiate. Lots of small group guided reading with texts chosen to suit the students’ abilities for eg.

That is what happens in guided reading time, but the reality is that a lot of the day and the group is geared towards those who are not yet reading. That is fine and age-appropriate, but fir a child who already reads fluently I could see it getting old fast.

I guess this depends on the school. At our EOTP school, kids were often reading earlier than K. One kid was reading in PK3. My middle of the pack kid was reading a couple of months into K. We've found ECE in DCPS to be pretty academic (but not excessively) compared to early grades in current private.

DS was an earlier reader but not the most advanced. That being said, I still think he benefited from the time spent on learning fundamentals. Yes, he could already read the words, and could skip ahead to reading material several grade levels ahead. BUT learning the rules behind why that particular word was pronounced helped him understand better. Essentially, he learned the "how" before the "why", whereas other kids need to learn the "why" before the "how". I think this still has a positive net benefit on his education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When DCPS starts tracking, test in classes, starts gifted programming in 3rd grade like every jurisdiction around us, most parents are not going to choose their local school.

AA middle class poster here (because for whatever reason, people on this board think we don't exist nor want high performing schools for our children), I agree. We need gifted programming. That's the only way I would feel comfortable sending my kids to the neighborhood school. It's insane that our house is worth 900k but our schools are awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also DCPS ECE and ES curriculum does differentiate. Lots of small group guided reading with texts chosen to suit the students’ abilities for eg.

That is what happens in guided reading time, but the reality is that a lot of the day and the group is geared towards those who are not yet reading. That is fine and age-appropriate, but fir a child who already reads fluently I could see it getting old fast.

I guess this depends on the school. At our EOTP school, kids were often reading earlier than K. One kid was reading in PK3. My middle of the pack kid was reading a couple of months into K. We've found ECE in DCPS to be pretty academic (but not excessively) compared to early grades in current private.

DS was an earlier reader but not the most advanced. That being said, I still think he benefited from the time spent on learning fundamentals. Yes, he could already read the words, and could skip ahead to reading material several grade levels ahead. BUT learning the rules behind why that particular word was pronounced helped him understand better. Essentially, he learned the "how" before the "why", whereas other kids need to learn the "why" before the "how". I think this still has a positive net benefit on his education.

I agree our private was a lot less academic in earlier grades and our DC were advanced in comparison to their private peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does the Wilson PTO have hiring authority for aides as well? For us, middle school is the issue. it’s simply too crowded.

No.

it is happening school by school. Look at the in boundary wait lists for PK at schools like Marie Reed, Garrison and Walls at Francis Stevens.

Yeah, for PK3 and 4.

Those kids at MR and Garrison will be long gone by 4th grade if DCPS doesn’t do two things: tracking and better middle school options.

I just spoke to a MR K parent who is pulling their kid and moving to Takoma Park next year for first because their kid is bored this year. Teachers are great but their kid just isn’t being challenged enough.

Who wants their kid to be bored in school? No one. High SES or low SES, if you care about education you want your kid to be challenged.

If you don’t provide options for the advanced kids your school will never really shine.

Challenged? In kindergarten?? The challenges are supposed to be about learning to share, take turns, be kind to others, complete chores properly.

+1. Kindergarten should be about learning the social skills kids will need to handle academic/life challenges in the years ahead.

Right. And DCPS kindergarten is about learning the alphabet and doing worksheets rather than social skills.

Not in my experience. Also the teachers had zero problem differentiating in kindergarten.

Agree. ‘Not challenged’ in this context is code for ‘I wasn’t comfortable with the socioeconomic background of DC’s classmates.’

Not true. You can pretend that it’s about SES if you want.

But the reality is this: Parents want their kids to learn as much as they can. One can evaluate that based only on how kids are learning in their school environment. If a kid isn’t challenged or is bored, parents who can will pull that kid out and send them to another school.
That’s true for Deal and Wilson as much as it is any other school in the District.

If DC doesn’t provide some differentiated learning, they’re going to lose advanced learners from their schools. Is that what DCPS wants?

If you tell me this about fourth grade, where some kids are doing second grade math and some are doing sixth, I'll listen. But if you are raising differentiation about kindergarten, where it pretty much doesn't matter if kids are academically advanced or not, I'm going to be skeptical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When DCPS starts tracking, test in classes, starts gifted programming in 3rd grade like every jurisdiction around us, most parents are not going to choose their local school.

AA middle class poster here (because for whatever reason, people on this board think we don't exist nor want high performing schools for our children), I agree. We need gifted programming. That's the only way I would feel comfortable sending my kids to the neighborhood school. It's insane that our house is worth 900k but our schools are awful.

Please advocate for this with the DC Council. White people can’t do this because they will just get accused of being racist by David Grosso.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When DCPS starts tracking, test in classes, starts gifted programming in 3rd grade like every jurisdiction around us, most parents are not going to choose their local school.

AA middle class poster here (because for whatever reason, people on this board think we don't exist nor want high performing schools for our children), I agree. We need gifted programming. That's the only way I would feel comfortable sending my kids to the neighborhood school. It's insane that our house is worth 900k but our schools are awful.

Please advocate for this with the DC Council. White people can’t do this because they will just get accused of being racist by David Grosso.

Gifted classes is not the same as tracking.

In MoCo, fewer than 5% of students qualify for CES. The number for MS magnets is also very small.

Just be careful what you wish for, as few children are truly gifted, defined by an FSIQ of 130+. The average is 100.

[Anonymous]

Isn't this the whole reason for (or at least a big benefit of) the lottery? So that where you live doesn't determine where your kid goes to school? So that we stop (or at least not so much) auctioning off spots in the best schools in the form of housing prices?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When DCPS starts tracking, test in classes, starts gifted programming in 3rd grade like every jurisdiction around us, most parents are not going to choose their local school.

AA middle class poster here (because for whatever reason, people on this board think we don't exist nor want high performing schools for our children), I agree. We need gifted programming. That's the only way I would feel comfortable sending my kids to the neighborhood school. It's insane that our house is worth 900k but our schools are awful.

Please advocate for this with the DC Council. White people can’t do this because they will just get accused of being racist by David Grosso.

I definitely will. I think its absurd that you would be considered racist. You want solid options for your children. What parent doesn't want that? Frankly, I think its inherently racist to believe that all races are not capable of being GT. I agree that there are studies that show that teachers often demonstrate implicit bias in determining who to place in the GT program. But, as long as teachers are given implicit bias training, there are programs in place to educate all parents about the process, and the program is sufficiently transparent, I believe GT programs are a great way to address differentiation needs in DC schools. I'm from a majority-minority city and I went to GT programs from 3rd through 12th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When DCPS starts tracking, test in classes, starts gifted programming in 3rd grade like every jurisdiction around us, most parents are not going to choose their local school.

AA middle class poster here (because for whatever reason, people on this board think we don't exist nor want high performing schools for our children), I agree. We need gifted programming. That's the only way I would feel comfortable sending my kids to the neighborhood school. It's insane that our house is worth 900k but our schools are awful.

Please advocate for this with the DC Council. White people can’t do this because they will just get accused of being racist by David Grosso.

I definitely will. I think its absurd that you would be considered racist. You want solid options for your children. What parent doesn't want that? Frankly, I think its inherently racist to believe that all races are not capable of being GT. I agree that there are studies that show that teachers often demonstrate implicit bias in determining who to place in the GT program. But, as long as teachers are given implicit bias training, there are programs in place to educate all parents about the process, and the program is sufficiently transparent, I believe GT programs are a great way to address differentiation needs in DC schools. I'm from a majority-minority city and I went to GT programs from 3rd through 12th.

Studies show the failure of implicit bias training.