Bancroft - good and bad

[Anonymous]

Our DC is at a private preschool and we are inbound for Bancroft. She has some mild special needs but no cognitive delays and has thrived with the small classes and hands-on attention at her school.
We’d love to send her to Bancroft for K, for many reasons including being part of our community school, and would love to hear opinions from current parents.
- How is the school leadership?
- If your kids entered without familiarity w/ Spanish, how did that transition go?
- How are the academics, beyond the dual language program?
- Do you plan to stick with Bancroft all the way through?
- how is the school community?
I’d love any and all reactions from parents! Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Being a new student can be challenging. The parents have already formed a clique and the students have already made friends; at least for the upper grades. I will say the academics are better than EOPT ES.

That's all I can say without outing myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Being a new student can be challenging. The parents have already formed a clique and the students have already made friends; at least for the upper grades. I will say the academics are better than EOPT ES.

That's all I can say without outing myself.

Your saying three parent cliques would be an issue for a family entering K? I find that hard to believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being a new student can be challenging. The parents have already formed a clique and the students have already made friends; at least for the upper grades. I will say the academics are better than EOPT ES.

That's all I can say without outing myself.

Your saying three parent cliques would be an issue for a family entering K? I find that hard to believe.

I agree that seems hard to believe- there were over 40 in bounds kids waitlisted for PK3 this year (including a bunch of siblings) and they don't seem to expand much for PK4. I find it hard to believe that there is such an established clique that 40 new kids coming in at K would not be able to assimilate (obviously some move away, etc but still)

[Anonymous]

OP I'm not a Bancroft parent, but do have experience with dual language schools. Keep in mind that if you think you want to send your kid to Bancroft at any point, you're better off doing it now unless you child is in a dual language program elsewhere. The transition may be rough for a couple weeks but more than half the class will be in the same boat of not really knowing Spanish yet. Much harder if you're trying to make that transition after K.

[Anonymous]

Former Bancroft parent, and I'd ask current ones if communication with parents has improved. When our DS went there, it was like a black hole. We'd get notices for events sent home the day before and crumpled up in his backpack. It took half the year to get a class list, and there was no email communication. When I asked about this I was told that the Spanish speaking parents didn't use electronic communication, which I found kind of shocking, because almost everyone has a phone. Even if some don't, it struck me as a missed opportunity to keep parents updated on goings on at the school.

Coming from a private, you should be prepared that ANY public school will have much less communication with you about your child and how she's doing. Your individual teacher may be someone who's great at it or who does next to nothing, no matter where you end up sending her.

[Anonymous]

Our DC transferred from Bancroft to another DCPS dual language school in the lower grade schools, and we were surprised to find out our kid was behind in a number of areas that hadn't been identified in the prior class. We did some intervention and she caught up. It could just be a question of variation between individual teachers, but that's our data point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DC transferred from Bancroft to another DCPS dual language school in the lower grade schools, and we were surprised to find out our kid was behind in a number of areas that hadn't been identified in the prior class. We did some intervention and she caught up. It could just be a question of variation between individual teachers, but that's our data point.

I can only imagine you transferred to OA, right? Where else would be further ahead than Bancroft in lower elementary?

[Anonymous]

OP here.
11:50 and 12:09, may I ask how recently you were at Bancroft? Thanks so much for your candid response!

[Anonymous]

We are at Bancroft now in the upper grades and are very happy. The building is beautiful and the community is warm and inviting. Our child transferred in, too, and has made a lot of friends (We didn't have an issue with cliques.) Maybe we just got lucky, but we've had some great teachers. Our child needed a bit of reading help and we found the reading intervention specialist amazing. Our child is now caught up in reading and doing well overall. We were at a dual language charter school before and I prefer Bancroft across the board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DC transferred from Bancroft to another DCPS dual language school in the lower grade schools, and we were surprised to find out our kid was behind in a number of areas that hadn't been identified in the prior class. We did some intervention and she caught up. It could just be a question of variation between individual teachers, but that's our data point.

Can you say which school? My kid is at Bruce Monroe but I always wonder how it compares (aside from just test scores) with other DCPS dual language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DC transferred from Bancroft to another DCPS dual language school in the lower grade schools, and we were surprised to find out our kid was behind in a number of areas that hadn't been identified in the prior class. We did some intervention and she caught up. It could just be a question of variation between individual teachers, but that's our data point.

Can you say which school? My kid is at Bruce Monroe but I always wonder how it compares (aside from just test scores) with other DCPS dual language.

Marie Reed, a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Do children at Bancroft change classes every year, i.e. no longer with previous classmates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DC transferred from Bancroft to another DCPS dual language school in the lower grade schools, and we were surprised to find out our kid was behind in a number of areas that hadn't been identified in the prior class. We did some intervention and she caught up. It could just be a question of variation between individual teachers, but that's our data point.

Can you say which school? My kid is at Bruce Monroe but I always wonder how it compares (aside from just test scores) with other DCPS dual language.

Not PP, but we transferred from Bruce Monroe to a JR feeder in fourth grade and my above average child wasn’t behind in any areas. I had the same concerns about the academics, but was happy to be wrong after the fact.