Message
Anonymous wrote:Hey Christopher, how many OOB students has TEC taken for prek and kindergarten the past few years?
Hi. I'm not as well-versed in this as I used to be. You can check out the data for yourself at http://enrolldcps.dc.gov/node/61.
From my reading, it looks like 2 kids without preference got into K, but all younger grades were in-bound/Early Access or sibling preference. Please do check though or call the school to verify. Good luck!
Anonymous wrote:Great work Christopher!
Thanks
Hey DCUM Fam!
Check out our community preview of Takoma Education Campus, one of Uptown's most exciting school choice options. With the new "north" middle school coming online soon, big changes are in store for Ward 4 education options.
This is the first of several "insider previews" we hope to share with you over the coming weeks.
The MySchoolDC lottery date for elementary schools is March 1st.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Christopher
Check out our community preview of Takoma Education Campus, one of Uptown's most exciting school choice options. With the new "north" middle school coming online soon, big changes are in store for Ward 4 education options.
This is the first of several "insider previews" we hope to share with you over the coming weeks.
The MySchoolDC lottery date for elementary schools is March 1st.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Christopher
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Can the interviews be posted someplace other than DCUM too? I'd be very happy to share with folks but feel funny about leading them to this thread that can be full of opinion). Thanks so much for doing this!
The videos are available at this website: http://dcnorthstar.com/
Thank you so much for sharing the link.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I thought it was because the current person holding seat didn’t announce she was retiring until after the deadline. Anyhow, Rhonda Henderson has my vote!
Yes, the previous Ward 4 State Board member Lannette Woodruff resigned her post effective July 31st which was too late for new candidates to complete required paperwork to appear on the ballot for Nov. 6th. Nobody goofed, it’s just an unfortunate situation of bad timing. Agreed that it will probably lead to lower turnout. The last time there was a special election to fill a vacant seat on the State Board of Education, it was in 2014 for the Ward 8 seat. The winner of that contest had 813 votes compared to 733 for 2nd place. Especially with 4 candidates in the mix, every vote counts for this special election, so be sure to tell your Ward 4 friends and neighbors to learn about the candidates and vote!
+1
Anonymous wrote:What about a video from Frazier OLeary?
He was scheduled, but he had a family emergency on the day of the event. We hope to be able to reschedule the interview before the special election.
Hello Forum-mates!
In case you didn't know, there will be a special election for the Ward 4 seat on the DC State Board of Education on December 4th. Why this race couldn't be settled during the November election is a mystery to me; I believe the Board of Elections is trying to set the record for the lowest election turnout ever.
Anyhoo, there will be a Candidate Forum for this race next week on November 8th at 6pm at Powell Elementary School. The candidates are:
Rhonda Henderson
Elani Lawrence
Frazier O’Leary
Ryan Tauriainen
Refreshments will be provided, so please RSVP on Eventbrite.
Incidentally, my wife and I interviewed three of the candidates recently (Mr. O'Leary had a scheduling conflict and we hope to make his interview up soon). You can check them out below if you'd like to get a feel for them before the forum.
Thanks!
In case you didn't know, there will be a special election for the Ward 4 seat on the DC State Board of Education on December 4th. Why this race couldn't be settled during the November election is a mystery to me; I believe the Board of Elections is trying to set the record for the lowest election turnout ever.
Anyhoo, there will be a Candidate Forum for this race next week on November 8th at 6pm at Powell Elementary School. The candidates are:
Rhonda Henderson
Elani Lawrence
Frazier O’Leary
Ryan Tauriainen
Refreshments will be provided, so please RSVP on Eventbrite.
Incidentally, my wife and I interviewed three of the candidates recently (Mr. O'Leary had a scheduling conflict and we hope to make his interview up soon). You can check them out below if you'd like to get a feel for them before the forum.
Thanks!
Anonymous wrote:
But let me be really clear: I don't think the real problem is lack of name-brand programs like PLTW. I think the problem is that the majority of the students are below grade level. That's a problem for those students, and it will also make the school struggle to attract high-performing students. So in not proposing any plan to deal with this problem, they are starting off in a way that does not build confidence (in my opinion at least). The same goes for Coolidge-- health sciences and journalism are all well and good, but if most of the kids are below grade level, those programs are not going to be attractive to high-performing students, or effective in being the programs that they're supposed to be. I'm not asking for a plan that is being implemented right this second. But I am asking for a realistic acknowledgement that the academic performance and the behavior of the students is the real problem, and a plan for dealing with it. If it's too much for the middle school team to handle right now, how about the elementary schools? They have just been relieved of three grade levels, so improving the performance of their students should be a project they can tackle.
I don't disagree with anything that you wrote here.
Anonymous wrote:Christopher, thanks for all your great work. I appreciate being kept informed.
I am wondering if there is any plan for dealing with academic performance which is the root of the issue here, is it not? Many 6th graders enter the school scoring a 1 or 2 on the PARCC. What specifically is the plan for addressing that? Your blog says "interestinf and rigorous curricula" but what exactly does that mean, and how will students be brought up to grade level?
16:48,
There's no point in pretending that they've solved that problem; they haven't. Many of us on the community committee pounded the planning folks on this, so they've heard it. But I can't say that they've ever articulated a complete A to Z vision. The Early College Academy at Coolidge is still in the works, but it is not clear to anyone how we get to there from where we are now. At least it is not clear to me.
I feel that they viewed the challenge of integrating the Dual Language program with the neighborhood program, as well as reprogramming the EC's back to PK-5, as more than enough to bite off at once.
I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of the PLTW lab, which will be a class the kids take during the day, not just an after-school program. I had limited interactions with some of the Dual Language students when they were sixth graders; they are bright, curious and pleasant to be around. The rubber kinda meets the road this year though.
I have a high regard for Principal Sanders and the staff that I did meet. If it can be done, this is the team to do it. As they say, time will tell.
Hello and Happy Friday!
I attended the MacFarland MS ribbon cutting on Monday and I wrote a blog post about it here: Activates Ward 4 Middle School Plan With MacFarland Re-Opening.
I know this school is not really on the radar here at DCUM, but there have been lengthy discussions about this project here a few years back.
We (taxpayers) are making a big investment, so it might be worthwhile to follow.
Have a great weekend!
Christopher Alexander
I attended the MacFarland MS ribbon cutting on Monday and I wrote a blog post about it here: Activates Ward 4 Middle School Plan With MacFarland Re-Opening.
I know this school is not really on the radar here at DCUM, but there have been lengthy discussions about this project here a few years back.
We (taxpayers) are making a big investment, so it might be worthwhile to follow.
Have a great weekend!
Christopher Alexander
We're back!
I hope everyone is having a happy summer. We are busy preparing for our third (!) year of this program. If you have a child that might be interested, read on below.
Enjoy your weekend!
####
NW Saturday Academy, a DC-based non-profit organization, has a limited number of spaces available for new, rising third, fourth or fifth students who live in DC and wish to join one of our LEGO Robotics teams.
Come join us in this unique global competition, meet new friends and learn about science and technology in an exciting way.
Team meetings will start on August 27, 2016 and continue through Thanksgiving.
Register Your Child Online Now!
To register:
Go to: http://www.nwsadc.com/enroll-now/
Cost: $210.00 for nine team meetings (Saturdays), pre-tournament workshop time and an end-of-season regional tournament classes
Location: MacFarland Middle School, 4400 Iowa Ave NW
Dates: 8/27, 9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, tournament date TBD
Times: Saturdays, from 9:00 am to 11:30 am
Please contact Christopher Alexander if you need additional information. Email: ideas 'at" nwsadc.com
Learn more: NW Saturday Academy
I hope everyone is having a happy summer. We are busy preparing for our third (!) year of this program. If you have a child that might be interested, read on below.
Enjoy your weekend!
####
NW Saturday Academy, a DC-based non-profit organization, has a limited number of spaces available for new, rising third, fourth or fifth students who live in DC and wish to join one of our LEGO Robotics teams.
Come join us in this unique global competition, meet new friends and learn about science and technology in an exciting way.
Team meetings will start on August 27, 2016 and continue through Thanksgiving.
Register Your Child Online Now!
To register:
Go to: http://www.nwsadc.com/enroll-now/
Cost: $210.00 for nine team meetings (Saturdays), pre-tournament workshop time and an end-of-season regional tournament classes
Location: MacFarland Middle School, 4400 Iowa Ave NW
Dates: 8/27, 9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, tournament date TBD
Times: Saturdays, from 9:00 am to 11:30 am
Please contact Christopher Alexander if you need additional information. Email: ideas 'at" nwsadc.com
Learn more: NW Saturday Academy
Anonymous wrote:What is the point of this? Is it for kids that are accelerated? What happens when they end up back in their mediocre DCPS without gifted programming? Or is the point to just get kids to grade level?
The point is to introduce STEM topics to young children so that it will spark an interest that they might explore later in their academic careers.
The FLL missions serve a wide range of ability levels. Some missions can be done by the typical fourth grader while there are others that the typical eighth grader would have no chance in hell of successfully completing. There were 361 teams registered in the state of Maryland this past year and not a single one of them completed the "hard" mission at the state tournament at UMBC.
The important note is that this is a global competition that serves kids up to age 14; if you think your elementary kid is really accelerated, this would be a good opportunity for her to show it. Most of the teams that actually advance from the state tournament to the nationals are composed of late middle school students who have experienced FLL for multiple years.
Here is a link to learn more about the curriculum for FLL for the upcoming year.