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Francis-Stevens Open House did anyone go
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Anonymous
| Did anyone go to the Francis-Steven's open house today? What did you think? |
Anonymous
| I was there. The school has a lot of potential, especially in the younger grades. Definitely a decent option now and one to watch for the future. |
Anonymous
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I liked it too. But, given that the principal basically admitted there aren't enough kids to fill the school in-boundary, I think it is going to be hard to really "turn-around". People in the neighborhood are always going to be moving away (as their condos get too small) or turning to private.
The fact that the currrent population of kids is OOB (i.e. the parents had to make the effort to choose the school) does make is better academically. But, in the long run, I think it will be hard for your kid to build community there. |
Anonymous
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I disagree unless you think a community is only built around geography or a school that is over 90% in-boundary. If you believe that, then no private like Sidwell or public like TJ or charter like Cap City has a community. Even so, the school's new pk3 may have over 50% in-boundary, walking distance for next year.
I was very surprised to see 2009 DC-CAS test scores in reading are over 85% in reading and 93% in math for the third grade. The middle school brings the averages you see reported down. You're going to see a big change in a few years. |
Anonymous
agree. i don't have a dog in this race, but my impressions of that nabe is that its getting more popular in general and more popular with people with kids. it can draw on dupont and georgetown as well as west end and foggy bottom. |
Anonymous
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I think people should check it out. If you are currently considering Thomson, Cooke, Bancroft, Tyler, Brent or Ross, for your PS/PK kid, then this is another option. It doesn't have the beautiful new facilities of Cooke or Thomson, but it does have lots of green space, and like Cooke, Thomson, Ross and Bancroft, it seems to have an excellent, dynamic principal
And, like BBCRTT (lets start our own initials, shall we?) it seems to have a very committed group of in-boundary/Or close by OOB parents who want to make it work. In the end, I think it will suffer from the same problems the BBCRTT schools see -- departure at higher grades as people move and get into JKLMO or Charters. But, who knows when (or which) of the BBCRTT schools will get critical mass of involved middle class parents and become a new JKLMO (or something better and more diverse). So, I'd give it a look. FS is going on my lottery form. |
Anonymous
| I agree with previous poster. The upper grades (4 & up) look scrambled. There was no mention of curriculum... |
Anonymous
|
Did a little research on the DC OSSE site after hearing about elementary scores (sorry I'm a data geek) and 4th poster may be onto something with the elementary scores. 3rd and 4th grade scores were at the least consistent with if not superior to Thomson and Ross last year in reading and math and they were almost twice as proficient as Cooke and Bancroft at those early grades. Total school scores were lower, but I can see how middle grades can bring down total score for school if they outnumber early grades.
Did principal mention a plan for middle grades or is he/she just trying to build from the early grades since they are only in their 2nd or 3rd year together??? This may be the start of something over there. |
Anonymous
He said the focus is on the early grades. The school is only in its second year as a combined school so he inherited the transition. They are removing a few of the middle school classes and separating boys and girls in 6-8 for next year. Most people at the open house were interested in preschool or pre-k so he didn't get many questions about the upper grades. If that's your interest, I'm sure you can e-mail or call him with your questions. Many of the kids in K are reading at 2nd/3rd grade level already so there is a quiet little success story going on with the school.
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Anonymous
| Also, the principal said something about being the fourth top school (tied) in the entire system for DIBELS scores. |
Anonymous
Fellow data geek here, can you point to this specific data on the OSSE website... TIA. |
Anonymous
1. Select school test data link from bottom of OSSE page 2. Under school reports select 2009, Report Card, DCPS Schools, Elementary schools, and then whatever school you want to view 3. At this point you can view last years DC CAS data for every school in the district depending on which school you select in the school drop down box 4. At the top of every school report card is a link that lets you "view the report card by grades" Enjoy! GOOD TO KNOW I'M NOT THE ONLY "GEEK" |
Anonymous
| I WILL HAVE TO TAKE A LOOK. |
Anonymous
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Would you seriously want to send your child to a school where the teachers are compelled to stop teaching three times a year in order to do timed oral reading fluency tests on every single child in her classroom?
Do you actually think this is useful data for evaluating schools? |
Anonymous
If you're considering just about any DCPS, then this is an assessment they use. All of the charters do similar assessments so unless you are going to a private school, your child will be assessed. I'd bet the privates do something similar (they test you in order to get in). I don't think all teaching stops, remember there is an assistant teacher. I would hope my child would get quite reading time and isn't taught at all the time. I'd rather know what level my child is at in any case. Otherwise, I would have no idea. At least class size at Francis-Stevens is small so it wouldn't take as long as in some other schools.
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