Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was not impressed with it enough to return, but some like it.

What made you unimpressed by it?

that it didn't impress me

Thanks for the helpful details.

That wasn't actually me. I just thought it was very by the book, not a ton of creativity. And they separated the kids by gender.

Thanks for the feedback. Our goal is to get better every semester.

The robotics (FIRST LEGO League) is an interesting beast. The kit looks like a toy, but when you apply the product to specific academic goals like FLL does, it gets EXTREMELY deep very quickly. For this age group and experience level, we thought that we gave the students too much "freedom to be creative" in the beginning and they were more productive when we pulled in the reigns a little and gave them more targeted tasks. We will continue to evaluate this process.

As to gender, we happened to have a group of very quiet and shy girls, so we put them together so they could feel free speak up, express their ideas, preferences, etc. This group was by far the best at completing all of the team-building types tasks.

The older and more assertive girls were in a mixed group.

Anonymous wrote:I'm thinking of signing up my rising 4th grader for the robotics team through the NW Saturday Academy. Anyone have experience with them? Was it good?

It is interesting that I spent one day away from the computer and this topic came up!

I am the founder of this program and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have, on or offline. Feel free to PM me.

Christopher

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to be cynical, but I would prefer they use their energy on figuring out the programming than worrying about branding. Two years may be an adequate amount of time, but not if that time is not spent wisely.

I agree. I'm sure someone has a nice PR contract to do this "work."

They probably haven't had time to let the contract, that's why they're crowdsourcing it

To PP, thanks for the feedback; cynicism is well earned in these parts.

Anonymous wrote:I am confused. What are we branding for those of us who are not in dual language programs? I have yet to hear what programming exists for us. So, what is the community inclusiveness? I think this needs to be figured out first before any branding can happen. Let's not put the cart before the horse.

It is confusing. We had to ask them three different ways before I thought I understood the question.

Basically, they want to know how they should refer to the school as they are building it out. They also don't want to have to change it again in a few years.

I am fairly certain they realize they are in a tough spot competitively. Folks have LOTS of options in that neighborhood and they are accustomed to utilizing them. My guess is they want to nail this detail down to help them "tell the story" as they put things together over the next two years.

I had a peek inside the new Roosevelt HS atrium for a MacFarland Community Cabinet meeting last night. The small portion of the building that we saw last night is certainly gorgeous. Now, the hard work begins.

A few small updates:

MacFarland has met its enrollment target for the dual language program which will open in August (the full comprehensive MS will open in three years in the renovated MacFarland space).

DCPS has flipped back and forth on this, but the final decision was to co-locate the MacFarland Dual Language students in the Roosevelt building for the next two years. MS and HS students will have classes on different floors and have limited sharing of special rooms (music, art, etc.). The bell schedule is under consideration but has not been finalized.

Incoming parents will decide (soon?) if the school will be uniform or non-uniform.

One last note: the school principals Ms. James and Mr. Sanders are interested in community feedback on "branding" for MacFarland in an effort to promote inclusion among the extremely diverse community. For signage, marketing materials, etc., should the school name be shown as "MacFarland Middle School", "MacFarland Middle School / Escuela Secundaria" or something else? Note: "MacFarland" has to stay.

Have a great weekend!

Christopher

Anonymous wrote:Just received this. The phase "of color" seems to have mysteriously vanished. I'm the mother of two boys, but I gotta repeat what was said on this board when this idea was first floated...what about the girls? Why aren't they opening up a college prep school at the same time for just girls? I'll be curious to see how this all plays out. Also repeating something that's been said before...starting this at the high school level is just too darn late. By then, many of these boys are YEARS behind...not a semester or two. How can this school possibly be college prep?

DCPS Stakeholder,

In the DCPS Today newsletter distributed earlier today, Chancellor Henderson provided an update around exciting new programs coming to DCPS next year. One of these updates is that a new Empowering Males High School (EMHS) will open East of the River in Fall 2016. The EMHS, an all-male, college preparatory high school to be located at the former Ron Brown Middle School in Ward 7, will expand academic opportunities for young men in DC and ensure they graduate ready for college and career.

In the attached letter we have shared additional information about the school and the new school leadership– text from the letter can also be found below. Thank you and please pass this along to your respective networks!

Office of Family and Public Engagement
District of Columbia Public Schools
1200 First Street, NE (12th floor)
Washington, DC 20002
T: (202) 719 – 6613
C: (202) 997 – 9887

By locating the school at Ron Brown, the phrase "of Color" was redundant. Was it ever going to be any other way? It wasn't worth the PR flack they'd get from concern trolls in the media and on the Hill.

DCPS has a research team and a lot of data that shows they are doing better with girls than they are with boys. This school is an attempt to remedy that.

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain why you even want Cardozo to move? They are underenrolled and recently renovated. The space isn't the issue.

Not OP, but the logic seems to be that high school and middle school students should have their own space.

Anonymous wrote:How many middle schools does DCPS need? Are they all at current capacity? I think its so wasteful for DCPS to keep giving in to neighborhoods who think they have to have a school two blocks from their house. Dunbar, Coolidge both at what 50% capacity? Wilson is over crowded. The City never needed to rebuild Dunbar. McFarland reopening and now Brookland Middle reopening? I really doubt there is a need for a Shaw Middle School. What folks need is a middle school that actually serves the kids and what the parents want for their kids. DCPS can build it but that in no way makes parents want it (see Brookland Middle and all their big ideas that did not happen)

The push to rebuild the city's middle schools comes because DCPS created a bunch of K-8 "education campuses" about a dozen year ago that turned out to be less than satisfactory to most. Kids scattered like the wind. Now, they are trying to fix that mistake.

Say what you want about Dunbar, Roosevelt (and Coolidge). Their physical plants were disaster areas and definitely needed reinvestment.

Anonymous wrote:Why didn't they answer these questions:

If the DL program were not here, what would make the program attractive to people in this community?

Some of us have options to go to Deal what’s the in pitch to us and those families?

Well when you talk about marketing, what kind of advanced programming are you marketing to non dual language parents?

... So they may have advanced math and we should do their marketing for them? They could really work on this.

These are great questions and DCPS is definitely on the hook for answering them. In addition to posting them here, I'd suggest reaching out to both DCPS.Planning 'at' dc.gov and @DCPSPlanning. I can say with confidence that those messages are being read, and that has not always (usually?) been the case with DCPS.

The team that is working on this project has an unbelievable number of competing interests to balance, so the more they hear from families in the community, the more likely the final product will be something that most of us can be happy with.

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Initial IB certification takes several years and usually a staff member dedicated to the process.

Yes, this what they always say. But, is that their reason for not pursuing it?

Who knows? So far as I know the only DCPS IB high school programs are at Banneker and Eastern and there seems to be a strong push toward AP city-wide. Maybe they just prefer paying $ to the College Board instead of the IB folks?

Presumably, someone at DCPS knows which is why I asked Andy if he has insight into their thinking. BTW, given the fact that MacFarland is a middle school, the most relevant comparison is Deal. Since some neighborhoods are being reassigned from Deal to MacFarland, that makes Deal's example even more relevant.

If DCPS's excuse is that IB certification will take too long and require a staff person, I think a lot of people will feel let down (to put it mildly). I hope they have a much better explanation than that. They certainly don't want to start this process out by saying IB was okay for the WotP school, but will take too long for MacFarland.

IB comes up at every meeting. At the last meeting, the moderator stated that there are Pro-IB and Anti-IB camps in the Central Office. She also said that student performance in the "IB schools" hasn't been as good as they'd hoped. Perhaps we need to ask for a breakdown on that; I wasn't aware that there are enough IB schools in DCPS to make that kind of judgement. Or, come to think of it, maybe she is talking about the number of students (at Banneker?) who successfully complete the IB Diploma. I will ask.

Shepherd has PYP and I am personally in favor of it.

Christopher

This only seems random, but YouTube is streaming a new doc called, CODEGIRLS, for free Nov 1-5.

https://youtu.be/enZ82xleZfs

Join high school-aged girls from around the world as they try to better their community through technology and collaboration in this thrilling, heartfelt documentary.

And don't forget the MarFarland Dual Language meeting tonight at Powell.

Hello all,

Here is my quick-take on this week’s MacFarland Middle School Community Cabinet meeting which took place this past Tuesday.

• There will be a community meeting on Tuesday, November 3rd from 5:30 to 7:30pm in the Powell Elementary School atrium to discuss the 6th grade dual language program at MacFarland Middle School, opening next year.

• The school logo and colors are nearly finalized. These were chosen by groups of students at the feeder schools. See a low-res scan here:

• The school is likely to be named, “MacFarland” permanently. On top of the planning staff’s general reluctance to go down the path of changing the name, they do need to begin marketing the dual-language program very shortly.

Outside of those discrete items, most of the meeting was taken up by a lengthy “vision” conversation. I’ll post the notes when they are published next week, but here are the major responses and requests (from the cabinet members) that I remember:

Question: What is your vision for MacFarland MS?

A diverse school to reflect the extremely diverse community
Positive school culture (leadership)
Rigorous academics
Engage teachers
Child-centered
Cohesive culture of respect
Dynamic program for both the Dual Language program and the neighborhood school
Integration between the dual language program and the neighborhood school
Robust extracurricular activities
What are you going to do to market to non-dual language families?
Teachers who are fully bi-literate
Diverse staff and teachers who are fully bilingual and bi-literate.
Recruitment of native Spanish speaking teachers
Advanced programs without segregation

As a parting gift, several members gave the staff some pushback regarding parent burnout over having to fight downtown too often. An example given was a perceived lack of support by the central office for several beloved Spanish language teachers who were not retained because of visa issues.

Best,

Christopher

Public meeting notice from DCPS Planning:

###

MacFarland Middle School's Dual Language Program is opening in 2016!

Please join us for an informational meeting on Tuesday, November 3rd from 5:30 to 7:30pm in the Powell Elementary School atrium to discuss the 6th grade dual language program at MacFarland Middle School, opening next year.

All students from dual language programs at DCPS elementary schools (Bruce Monroe, Powell, Cleveland, Marie Reed, Bancroft and Tyler) are guaranteed a spot at MacFarland Middle School as long as they apply through the first round of the My School DC lottery.

Questions? Contact DCPS.Planning 'at' dc.gov.

######

I do believe language interpretation will be available at this meeting.

The second cabinet meeting is tonight. If you have any additional comments, please post them by noon today.

Christopher

Anonymous wrote:You could talk to the guy who runs this: https://nwsadc.wordpress.com/ He seems very in the know about middle and high school issues.

Some Seaton, Cleveland, Garrison etc. parents have gotten a Google Group together but I don't know how to get on it.

Hello all. I'm "the guy", but I'm afraid I do not have any first-hand knowledge of Cardozo. My time is pretty well consumed by running our program (www.nwsadc.com) and participating in MacFarland/Ward 4 meetings. However, I am interested in finding out more about the school as well.

Christopher