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[quote=Anonymous]Hey OP. So we were in your boat.

We had a friend who was a DCPS Elementary School teacher (though she had left to move closer to family a year before we moved, this was all in the last five years) who made us feel better. She said, "Any DCPS in-bound school will be great for early elementary. Just make sure you live in-bounds to one where you can get PK3/4, not all the schools have them."

She was absolutely right. Early childhood elementary is done well across DC schools, even the snobs (yeah, I said it) on DCUM will agree with that. The saving in having FREE, full day, PK3 and PK4 is tens of thousands of dollars (childcare is crazy expensive). So, when you're looking at schools, you can put your address in here:

https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/node/41

Then look at that elementary school here:

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2446/viz/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData_draft/MSDCPublicDisplay

And you'll be able to confirm that school has PK-3 and PK-4 and get a sense if most in-bounds students get into PK-3 for that school (if you're in for PK-3, you're good for PK-4 automatically, so don't worry about that). Most schools outside of far upper NW and some around the Hill take basically all inbounds kids for PK-3 at this point.

Then, if you find your in-bound elementary isn't great for upper elementary, you're going to be playing the lottery for upper elementary, and you'll almost definitely be playing the lottery for middle and high school, as east of the park (and you can't afford west of the park), nearly all the in-bound middle and high schools are not very good. That's okay! First of all, things change rapidly in DC, and second of all, there are a TON of lottery options that are good.

Bottom line: you'll be find almost anywhere in DC. Really. School choice means you'll have a lot of options and flexibility (though some stress about the lottery!)

Also - focus on parks nearby! You're not going to have a big yard. My kids go to the playground just about every day - you want one within like three blocks (and closer is better!) and four or five playgrounds within a 15 or 20 min walk. Close by libraries are a big plus too. [/quote]

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