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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I agree that charters have hit a maturation point, that is somewhat exacerbated by some pandemic driven trends (enrollment dipped for the first time in a long time, and while the growth is back, it hasn't caught up).

One thing I noted as a PK3 parent this year, and a longtime DCUM reader (come for the fertility advice, stay for the school info) is that in previous years, particularly if you go back to like 2014-2020, there was SO much stress about the lottery and getting shut out, and how there were only so many PK3 seats, and how so many schools were terrible, and oh my god the waitlist numbers. Endless focus on waitlist numbers and what chance you had to get in and what will you do if you don't and oh my god the agita.

I literally don't know anyone IRL who was watching waitlists this year. And when your kids are starting PK3 in August, "where is Larlo going to school next year?" is like the number one conversation opener from March until now, so I talked to probably 100 parents over the course of the year, and I never once heard, "well, we're really holding out hope for a waitlist spot..." All answers have been final and definitive since the lottery results came out.

Of course, there were some waitlist threads on DCUM, and some agita, but honestly, it seemed like most of them were around middle school and even high school. Not elementary. People are happy with their IB, they mostly get in, a couple lucky families are headed to the super popular charters, but myself and lots of others didn't even bother putting any on our list and just went with our IB.

If there is more space for movement with charters, it's middle and high schools for sure. [/quote]

This. When my DD lotteried for PK3, some charter waitlists had 400 or more kids on them! It was crazy, really. People were so worried about their IB schools, often unnecessarily. I sent my DD in-boundary and people had so many questions about it. Now that school has more kids than ever, and the nobody thinks it's noteworthy when they meet someone who attends. Of course there is still lots of room for improvement, but the school has more ECE classrooms and more IB preschoolers than 5 years ago. Times really, really have changed, but if your kids are younger than 10 you might not realize the full extent of the change.

Yes the upper grades in DCPS have room for improvement, but at a lot of schools (like Brent), they're not any worse than the nearby charter options. It's not like TR and CHML are hitting it out of the park academically either, right?

Middle school is a whole different situation. I really feel that we don't need any more elementary schools than we already have-- what we need is QUALITY middle schools. Any new charters should be focused on that issue.[/quote]

Oops CHML is not a charter. I meant to say MV. Or Lee. Or SSMA. I think ITDS is pretty solid academically though.[/quote]

ITDS is not a step up from L-T academically, at least. When my kid started there with a few other L-Ters in 6th grade (struck out at BASIS and Latin and wanted something smaller than SH), all of them were in the upper third of performers in their new classes. I don't think L-T math instruction is great, but ITDS was not ahead/better and L-T's writing instruction seemed to be far more robust than ITDS' (L-T has separate writing teachers for 3rd up, which helps). My kid is happy at ITDS, but it's no better than on par academically with L-T.

I can't speak to the other Capitol Hill DCPSes and I do send my kids to Mathnasium (where my younger child's group usually includes a kid from CH Day and one from MV), but I do think the IB DCPS pastures are greener for ES than trekking to a charter that's on par at best.[/quote]

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