Reply to MSDC waitlist data posted

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "MSDC waitlist data posted"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]MV8 almost certainly offered more PK3 seats last year than they had slots available, counting on a certain amount of folks declining their match. This is the same reason they offered 10 1st grade seats this year - they don't know that's how many seats they will have, but are counting on a certain number of their K current students to not re-enroll next year.

If there is an example of a school that has 80-100 PK3 students this year and only 15-20 "available lottery seats" for that grade next year, I'd love to see it.[/quote]

That is a perfectly normal and un-surprising thing for MV to do.  The first year only had PK3, PK4, and K.  So all available classrooms were used for three grades.  Now, the same number of rooms must be used to serve PK3, PK4, K, and 1st.  So they will have to have less students in other grades, to free up space for the new 1st grade rooms.[/quote]

Thank you. I think your response comes closest to offering a plausible explanation for why these numbers have changed. But what still doesn’t make sense to me is why they should change at all when schools know exactly how many chairs are in each room and how many rooms are devoted to each grade. So, eg, 20 seats x 4 PK3 classrooms = 80 seats available each year, without fluctuation...unless the school is anticipating 10 seats getting claimed by sibling preference PK3ers. In which case, 70 seats are available. [/quote]

You still don't understand.  Siblings are part of the total spots offered.  Schools don't get to hold back spots specifically for siblings.  That just isn't a thing.

There are a lot of other reasons.  Basically, a lot can change from year to year.  Enrollment projections are based on past experience.  DCPS does this for schools based on their retention of students in past years and the number of kids who are moving up from the previous grade.  Charter schools do a similar process.  It's not just the number of seats they have, it's a lot of historical data and planning assumptions, and policy decisions about how the school operates. So if a school's history of retaining its students from one grade to another changes, that can change how many seats it decides to offer.  Things can also change from year to year, especially with new schools that are adding grades and finding their footing financially.  Sometimes schools decide to offer an extra classroom in a certain year (a "bubble class") to bring in funds, reach their enrollment cap, or make best use of their physical space.  For preschool, schools can offer separate PK3 and PK4, or combine ages.   Or some rooms can be combined and some not.  Schools tend to set up their preschools to produce the desired number of Kindergarten students.  Charters are allowed to offer additional seats ("overmatch") on the assumption that not everyone will enroll, but the down side is that they might have to scramble to hire a teacher if they come in too high.  DCPS schools with Early Action are also capable of overmatching, and that is why Early Action only happens at schools that have the physical capacity to handle an overmatch scenario.  If MV was comfortable overmatching last year, that doesn't mean they'll be comfortable doing so this year when they have 1st graders, more siblings (who are likely to enroll), and are no longer a brand new school so likely a higher percentage of their initial matches will enroll and still be there in the fall.

You can look at DCPS' method here: https://dcps.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcps/publication/attachments/FY19%20Budget%20Guide.pdf . It starts on page 7.[/quote]

Now that the enrollment data is out for SY19-20, it looks like MV8 had 76 PK3 students enrolled (vs. the 80 lottery seats it made available for that SY). So pretty close. Now, for SY20-21, MV8 is offering only 70 seats. How would you explain the lower projected available seats for the upcoming year based on last year's actual enrollment data (below)?

Mundo Verde Bilingual PCS	1088	Mundo Verde Bilingual PCS - 4401 8th Street NE Campus	268 (total) 	76 (PK3)	 104 (PK4) 	88 (K)[/quote]

Honey, you gotta let it go.  MV, for reasons know to them, chose to offer fewer seats.  70 is not a projection.  It is the number of seats they chose to offer.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics