Reply to Looking on the Hill - curious for reviews of area elementary schools

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Class sizes are small.  I don't know the numbers off hand but I think in the upper grades it's like 15.[/quote]

It's great that the school doesn't feel financially pressured to fill the seats of those that leave (the perks of T1), but this suggests your child is not even approaching the upper grades yet... so, honestly, I don't think you're in a position to pontificate on whether in-classroom differentiation is enough to make up for a class that's 70% below grade level and 40% WAY below grade level. [/quote]

And what's your basis to pontificate? And why do you assume that everyone's DCUM Larlo is going to be above grade level.  Did it ever occur to you that some of us have kids that in fact benefit from teachers attuned to providing support? [/quote]

She was responding to my posts in which I described MY snowflake as above grade level, so this was in the context of a discussion about whether Payne was appropriate for such a child. I have no doubt that Payne might be fantastic for kids just below or below grade level, especially with the small class sizes.[/quote]

why do you assume the teachers are so poor or your kid so sensitive that they couldn’t cope with being in the top quarter of the class? it’s a really weird attitude. [/quote]

Because teachers in DCPS are under incredible pressure to teach to the middle at most. Really, the 25th %ile in many cases, because of how the testing incentives are set up for schools. A 5 v a 4 gets a teacher and a school basically nothing; a 3 v 2 and 4 v 3 are huge wins. If more than 50% of the class is below grade level, then the academic aspects of school are a waste of time for my kid. That’s just how it is. Differentiation in the classroom is better than nothing, but it’s certainly not as good as a neighborhood school pitched at grade level or above. [/quote]

Not all of us share those beliefs about parenting and schools. But yeah, if you want 80% 4+, an affordable house, urban amenities, walkability, etc, you may need to look elsewhere. [/quote]

I don't need 80% 4+, I need -- ideally -- majority 4+; I would take 40%+ as long as we're around 70% 3+s. There must be more 4s&5s than 1&2s. Luckily, there are quite a few Hill schools that get me that, so I don't need to move anywhere. (FWIW, from my experience it's more important you're at 50%+ 4s & 5s in ELA, because that trickles into other subjects more and schools are much more amenable to pullups in math.)[/quote]

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