Anonymous
06/01/2025 13:36
Subject: Columbia Heights Education Campus
A quick check of the test scores (other than that AP metric, which is so wildly different than the rest that the Spanish language theory above makes perfect sense) reveals a pretty grim picture, though fairly par for the course in DCPS. OP, did you look at those? they're at the top of the google results in the greatschools listing, if you don't want to go hunting.
It's not a "personal experience" - but if you're really "wondering if it’s a good choice" - they would seem fairly relevant.
Here's a brief selection:
"SAT college readiness rate: 5%
Algebra 1 participation rate: 1%
AP math course participation: 4%
AP science course participation: 3%...
State-required English test: 28%
State-required math test: 9%..."
etc
(still wondering?)
It's not a "personal experience" - but if you're really "wondering if it’s a good choice" - they would seem fairly relevant.
Here's a brief selection:
"SAT college readiness rate: 5%
Algebra 1 participation rate: 1%
AP math course participation: 4%
AP science course participation: 3%...
State-required English test: 28%
State-required math test: 9%..."
etc
(still wondering?)
Anonymous
05/31/2025 07:19
Subject: Columbia Heights Education Campus
You could ask the school if they would let your child do a shadow day. I know a little bit about CHEC because I used to work for DCPS and frankly I wouldn’t send my kid there. I’m not a fan of the CHEC principal. She is very good at promoting a certain image of the school but the reality is less rosy
Anonymous
05/30/2025 12:41
Subject: Columbia Heights Education Campus
The Jay Mathews thing is problematic in that it appears that students are required to take classes and tests that they are not prepared to pass and not supported to pass. If the school actually did the work (with engaged student cooperation, obviously) then this should merit kudos. Instead they just tell everybody to jump off a cliff and this very arbitrary standard is met.
Anonymous
05/30/2025 09:21
Subject: Columbia Heights Education Campus
Anonymous wrote:I doubt many (any?) parents here have direct experience with CHEC. You should ask around elsewhere.
I knew a good teacher and group of students from there 27 years ago, but that's completely irrelevant as is most of what's been written here.
+1. Far too many brown kids and poors for the women of DCUM to pay any attention to this school. The DCUM motto: If it ain’t white it ain’t right!
Anonymous
05/29/2025 15:29
Subject: Columbia Heights Education Campus
I doubt many (any?) parents here have direct experience with CHEC. You should ask around elsewhere.
I knew a good teacher and group of students from there 27 years ago, but that's completely irrelevant as is most of what's been written here.
I knew a good teacher and group of students from there 27 years ago, but that's completely irrelevant as is most of what's been written here.
Anonymous
05/29/2025 08:38
Subject: Columbia Heights Education Campus
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This ranking has it at 378 in the country. Top 2%, higher than McKinley Tech.
https://jaymathewschallengeindex.com/
“The Challenge Index is the oldest high school ranking system in the country, beginning in 1998 in both Newsweek and The Washington Post.
It is the only list that does not rely on test scores, which are more a measure of student family income than school quality. It is also the only list that compares private and public schools. It ranks high schools by a simple ratio: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests given at a school each year, divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year. Schools ranked no. 220 or above are in the top 1 percent of America’s 22,000 high schools, no. 440 or above are in the top 2 percent and so on.”
My info is a few years out of date but CHEC used to have all 11th and 12 graders take AP English lit then lang. This juiced the challenge index numbers even though almost no one passed.
I’d love to hear others comment on the current feel and workings of the school but I wouldn’t use challenge index as a guide of anything.
You just can’t win. Now the school is being criticized for having all students take difficult English classes. Lol.
It’s not being “criticized for having all students take difficult English classes.” No one is saying that kids taking lots of AP tests at CHEC is bad, they’re just pointing out that with an AP pass rate if only 15%, the particular ranking mentioned above may not be indicative of the quality of instruction or the learning taking place at a school. Anyone can take an exam and fail it. That’s not necessarily meaningful. So people are asking for more meaningful information to help them evaluate the school.
Anonymous
05/29/2025 08:24
Subject: Columbia Heights Education Campus
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This ranking has it at 378 in the country. Top 2%, higher than McKinley Tech.
https://jaymathewschallengeindex.com/
“The Challenge Index is the oldest high school ranking system in the country, beginning in 1998 in both Newsweek and The Washington Post.
It is the only list that does not rely on test scores, which are more a measure of student family income than school quality. It is also the only list that compares private and public schools. It ranks high schools by a simple ratio: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests given at a school each year, divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year. Schools ranked no. 220 or above are in the top 1 percent of America’s 22,000 high schools, no. 440 or above are in the top 2 percent and so on.”
My info is a few years out of date but CHEC used to have all 11th and 12 graders take AP English lit then lang. This juiced the challenge index numbers even though almost no one passed.
I’d love to hear others comment on the current feel and workings of the school but I wouldn’t use challenge index as a guide of anything.
You just can’t win. Now the school is being criticized for having all students take difficult English classes. Lol.
There is rigorous and then ridiculousness. We had recent immigrant students with limited English exposure testing on level 2 or 3 on the access test (the test used to see if second language learners are proficient enough in English not to require ESOL services) being forced into AP English.
Anonymous
05/29/2025 08:10
Subject: Columbia Heights Education Campus
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:This ranking has it at 378 in the country. Top 2%, higher than McKinley Tech.
https://jaymathewschallengeindex.com/
“The Challenge Index is the oldest high school ranking system in the country, beginning in 1998 in both Newsweek and The Washington Post.
It is the only list that does not rely on test scores, which are more a measure of student family income than school quality. It is also the only list that compares private and public schools. It ranks high schools by a simple ratio: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests given at a school each year, divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year. Schools ranked no. 220 or above are in the top 1 percent of America’s 22,000 high schools, no. 440 or above are in the top 2 percent and so on.”
My info is a few years out of date but CHEC used to have all 11th and 12 graders take AP English lit then lang. This juiced the challenge index numbers even though almost no one passed.
I’d love to hear others comment on the current feel and workings of the school but I wouldn’t use challenge index as a guide of anything.
You just can’t win. Now the school is being criticized for having all students take difficult English classes. Lol.
Anonymous
05/29/2025 07:10
Subject: Columbia Heights Education Campus
Anonymous wrote:This ranking has it at 378 in the country. Top 2%, higher than McKinley Tech.
https://jaymathewschallengeindex.com/
“The Challenge Index is the oldest high school ranking system in the country, beginning in 1998 in both Newsweek and The Washington Post.
It is the only list that does not rely on test scores, which are more a measure of student family income than school quality. It is also the only list that compares private and public schools. It ranks high schools by a simple ratio: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests given at a school each year, divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year. Schools ranked no. 220 or above are in the top 1 percent of America’s 22,000 high schools, no. 440 or above are in the top 2 percent and so on.”
My info is a few years out of date but CHEC used to have all 11th and 12 graders take AP English lit then lang. This juiced the challenge index numbers even though almost no one passed.
I’d love to hear others comment on the current feel and workings of the school but I wouldn’t use challenge index as a guide of anything.
Anonymous
05/29/2025 00:57
Subject: Re:Columbia Heights Education Campus
Anonymous wrote:Who cares how many AP exams are taken? Anyone can sign for APs in DCPS, thr focus should be how many pass AP exams. I do not find CHEC that impressive, nor would I send my child there.
THIS. I don’t care if a kid takes 5 AP exams a year. The real criteria should be percentages of kids who get a 4 and a 5. Now if that is high, then you are talking.
I doubt these kids are doing well on AP if the overwhelming majority are not even on grade level.
Anonymous
05/28/2025 22:33
Subject: Re:Columbia Heights Education Campus
Who cares how many AP exams are taken? Anyone can sign for APs in DCPS, thr focus should be how many pass AP exams. I do not find CHEC that impressive, nor would I send my child there.
Anonymous
05/28/2025 21:00
Subject: Columbia Heights Education Campus
Anonymous wrote:I don’t know much about CHEC but the above ranking to me is not particularly relevant or insightful in this particular case. These is a large native Spanish speaking population at CHEC and most of those kids take the AP Spanish exam. So the fact that a large percentage of graduating seniors have taken an AP exam doesn’t actually say much about the school beyond that.
How do you know that “most” of the Spanish-speaking population at CHEC take the AP Spanish exam? And even if true, that doesn’t change the fact that the number being reported is more than three AP exams per graduating senior, meaning a lot more tests are being taken than just the AP Spanish exam by just the Spanish speakers.
Anonymous
05/28/2025 20:52
Subject: Columbia Heights Education Campus
I don’t know much about CHEC but the above ranking to me is not particularly relevant or insightful in this particular case. These is a large native Spanish speaking population at CHEC and most of those kids take the AP Spanish exam. So the fact that a large percentage of graduating seniors have taken an AP exam doesn’t actually say much about the school beyond that.
Anonymous
05/28/2025 20:41
Subject: Columbia Heights Education Campus
This ranking has it at 378 in the country. Top 2%, higher than McKinley Tech.
https://jaymathewschallengeindex.com/
“The Challenge Index is the oldest high school ranking system in the country, beginning in 1998 in both Newsweek and The Washington Post.
It is the only list that does not rely on test scores, which are more a measure of student family income than school quality. It is also the only list that compares private and public schools. It ranks high schools by a simple ratio: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests given at a school each year, divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year. Schools ranked no. 220 or above are in the top 1 percent of America’s 22,000 high schools, no. 440 or above are in the top 2 percent and so on.”
https://jaymathewschallengeindex.com/
“The Challenge Index is the oldest high school ranking system in the country, beginning in 1998 in both Newsweek and The Washington Post.
It is the only list that does not rely on test scores, which are more a measure of student family income than school quality. It is also the only list that compares private and public schools. It ranks high schools by a simple ratio: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests given at a school each year, divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year. Schools ranked no. 220 or above are in the top 1 percent of America’s 22,000 high schools, no. 440 or above are in the top 2 percent and so on.”
Anonymous
05/28/2025 20:18
Subject: Columbia Heights Education Campus
Can anyone provide any personal experiences with this school? Wondering if it’s a good choice for my soon to be 9th grader.