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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We are in Peabody / Watkins and sending our son there for prek3. Watkins is the only truly racially diverse school amongst Brent, Maury and LT. Other posters aren't saying that but so much of the Maury, Brent and LT hype is because upper middle class white parents who can't afford private school are happy that their kids aren't going to school with black kids. Just keep that in mind when you think about what kind of school experience you want for your kids. [/quote]
 :roll:  :roll:

Sure, Jan.[/quote]

I mean Peabody/Watkins has its own issues related to race but PP has a point. And while in other parts of the city people are more willing to just acknowledge that certain schools are more desirable because they are whiter and richer, on the Hill people will weirdly pretend it's not happening. But Brent and Maury are both predominantly white and that is unquestionably part of the appeal for a lot of families. L-T is interesting to me because while it's demographics don't reflect DC as a whole (it's about 40% white, 40% black, and then significant Asian and mixed race populations) it isn't white washed the way the others are. I am curious to see what happens in 10 years. If I had to place a bet, I'd assume it will eventually be heavily white the way Brent and Maury are. But I also wonder if there is something about that neighborhood that allows it to maintain greater racial diversity? Like maybe the proximity to H Street, which was an historically black business district and still has a lot of black businesses (though far fewer than it once did) might help the school retain a higher percentage of black students.

Still, it's gross that when people list the "good" schools on the Hill, they mostly just list the whitest schools.[/quote]

The only person making racist assumptions is you (and PP, assuming that isn't also you).

Objectively, the best elementary schools on the Hill are Maury and Brent.  For example, if you look at the latest PARCC scores available (2018-19), those two schools score way above L-T, Watkins, etc. 
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There is a fifty percentage point achievement gap in DC between black and white students. [b]School-wide PARCC scores are a better proxy for race than for school quality[/b] (teaching).[/quote]

That is you care about PARCC scores.  The 10-hour test is of such low quality that two dozen states have scrapped it in the last 10 or 12 years.  In fact, only DC still runs with the "pure PARCC" (vs. state-PARCC hybrids that have been developed).  Many Hill don't give a hoot about PARCC scores.

We care about strong, stable school leadership, robust PTA fundraising funding extra educator hands in classrooms, manageable class sizes (fewer than around 25 students per class in the upper grades), good teachers and low teacher turnover, strong specials and a student population that mirrors that of the surrounding neighborhood (somewhat diverse, strongly UMC).  We also value a happy environment for the kids.  We've found all that at Brent, explaining why we've stayed for many years. We're not white.

In our view, no DCPS school in DC is going to be all that wonderful academically.  We essentially home school for social studies and ELA, because the DCPS humanities curriculum is paper thin by our standards (older parents, raised in the 70s).  There are generally no graded tests or quizzes in DCPS elementary schools, even in 4th and 5th grade, only internal assessments.  But the math, science, specials and atmosphere the school provides are decent.   Good luck with your choice, OP.[/quote]

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