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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]All things considered, the question is it more OK to move to Fairfax, MoCo or elsewhere in search of more elementary and MS challenge, or pay for a private school.  Not by us.

We're more OK with supplementing to stay in our home of 20 years, near longtime friends and neighbors.  We're more OK with living across the street from one of the local libraries and down the road from the Smithsonian museums.  We wish that our by-right DCPS schools provided more challenge for our kids, but they don't.  Pretty clearly, we can't begin to change that in the years they have left in DCPS.

What are you suggesting we do?[/quote]

Trying to better understand the issue leading to the lack of challenge in these schools more than anything. Particularly since the schools serve neighborhoods with relatively high SES families. Is it the teachers (e.g. high turnover, not a lot of years teaching, poor classroom management)? Is it the DCPS curriculum (not going deep enough, trying to cover too much, not focusing on foundational academics)? Is it lack of homework to confirm mastery of subject, or too much homework?

In your opinion what are the issues contributing to the lack of challenge?[/quote]

This one is not difficult. It's that more than 3/4 of the students in DC public schools are low SES and minority. Many school system leaders still equate academic tracking and GT programs with discrimination against low-income minority children, all the way from K to 12th.

Had Michelle Rhee/Fentee lasted a decade ago, things would probably be quite different in DCPS by now. Rhee gave speeches pledging much more support for "advanced learners" system wide.  In a nutshell, if your kid works more than a year ahead of grade level in math or reading in a DCPS ES and your classroom teacher isn't interested in challenging them, they won't be pushed.  You take up the matter up with admins, but they're free to ignore you, since their higher-ups don't expect them to serve students who work ahead of grade level. For some students, the arrangement means that school is too easy across the board, generally in 4th and 5th grades as well as middle school.

I'm not convinced that things are all that much better in the DC burbs, super duper test-in GT programs in Fairfax and MoCo serving less than 10% of students countywide.  I hear similar complaints from DC friends who moved to VA and MD.  So parents supplement.[/quote]

Agree with this but it can become circular.  A lot of smart kids are performing only at grade level in math for example, when they are capable of more, but since they haven’t been taught the material they are performing only at grade level on assessments.  And then the teacher has “evidence” that grade level material is the right level for them.  Once we finally figured this out we started supplementing heavily and the kids’ test scores skyrocketed.  The more advanced material was not particularly challenging.  They just needed to be taught the material.

Like with everything in DCPS you’re better off figuring out the system and working within it than try to change it. [/quote]

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