Anonymous wrote:So here is what people need to understand about doing a PK3 lottery on Capital Hill: your options are IB, charters, and a handful of less in-demand DCPS schools.
You will never, ever get into the following schools OOB/no sibling for PK3: Brent, Maury, Peabody, Ludlow-Taylor. Ever. There is not point in putting them down. I understand why people do, but you need to understand when you do that you could pull a lottery number of #1 and still not get into those schools because they have more IB kids than they can accommodate for PK. The end.
The charters are what they are. If your number is good, you stand a chance at ATLP, SWS, CHML. Due to the small class size for PK3 at ATLP, CHML is your most likely. They also often have a fast moving waitlist because their PK classes are large plus the mixed-age Montessori style means that they can sometimes offer a PK3 spot if the lose a PK4 or K kid. But still a long shot if you don't get a good lottery draw.
Payne, Tyler, and Miner: you stand a good shot of getting spots at one of these with a middling lottery draw. It can vary a lot year to year though -- you just never know how many IB kids they will have and then it depends on what their lottery draws are. For Miner, for instance, a lot of IB parents play the lottery for charters. If it's a year where a lot of IB parents get lucky at lotteries, you will almost certainly get a spot via the lottery. But if it goes the other way, you will wind up on the waitlist (with a very good spot at getting in of WL for the same reason -- Miner parents are very motivated to find spots at an alternative school because Miner still does not have good buy-in for upper grades from their IB families). But they have a great PK program. I assume Payne and Tyler are similar if a bit more challenging.
I expect your lottery assignment will be AT OK, if I had to guess. You will definitely get in there off the WL otherwise -- they always have spots in June and August because it's a lot of people's backups choice.
Capitol Hill.