Anonymous
05/16/2026 10:20
Subject: Middle school options
Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t our plan but our child is about to to finish MS at ITDS and she has truly loved it. It’s not perfect but for a middle schooler to really love school is huge. And they do offer more acceleration in MS than ES. It’s been a good experience.
Agree. I would have chosen Latin but luck was not with me that year. Kid is happy and academics, sports, and the musical are as good as you can expect from a school this size.
Anonymous
05/16/2026 10:17
Subject: Middle school options
Charters: Basis, Latin (so lottery from anywhere in the city).
DCI is a very well regarded school, but has a few issues at the moment (screens + search DCI petition in this forum) and you’re not likely to get in if you aren’t in one of the feeder schools. I think the issues are a timing question to some extent. My kid is just entering a DCI feeder in PK3 now so I figure theses issues will be solved by the time they are ready for middle (and probably we’ll have a host of brand new ones 🤣).
DCPS: Deal and Hardy (need to live in boundary).
If I were moving for middle, I’d personally move to be in boundary for deal or hardy, or wait until I got lottery results for Latin.
DCI is a very well regarded school, but has a few issues at the moment (screens + search DCI petition in this forum) and you’re not likely to get in if you aren’t in one of the feeder schools. I think the issues are a timing question to some extent. My kid is just entering a DCI feeder in PK3 now so I figure theses issues will be solved by the time they are ready for middle (and probably we’ll have a host of brand new ones 🤣).
DCPS: Deal and Hardy (need to live in boundary).
If I were moving for middle, I’d personally move to be in boundary for deal or hardy, or wait until I got lottery results for Latin.
Anonymous
05/16/2026 10:11
Subject: Middle school options
Anonymous wrote:You’re going to get lots of different opinions on here, and not knowing your commute, your kids, etc, it’s a broad question. NW has the highest rated public schools (and it also has the highest concentration of wealth). There are families for whom DCPS will never be an option for HS (or MS) and those that are happy there. We are at a MS that hasn’t been mentioned above and we are super happy, kid is really strong academically, and we’ll figure out HS soon, which will probably be an application school. Kids can thrive lots of places.
Oh you sweet summer child just assuming your kid will get into an application school …
Anonymous
05/16/2026 10:10
Subject: Middle school options
Anonymous wrote:Honestly assumed that we would likely have to go private for HS (don’t love the $ but thinking worst case scenario).
Anonymous wrote:You have to think about HS not middle school.
Yeah you can’t assume that. Your kid may not get in or the commute may not work or the younger sib may not get in. And when it comes time you will feel bad for disrupting your kid’s life. Pick a long term plan that goes through HS without having to assume anything.
Anonymous
05/16/2026 10:09
Subject: Middle school options
You’re going to get lots of different opinions on here, and not knowing your commute, your kids, etc, it’s a broad question. NW has the highest rated public schools (and it also has the highest concentration of wealth). There are families for whom DCPS will never be an option for HS (or MS) and those that are happy there. We are at a MS that hasn’t been mentioned above and we are super happy, kid is really strong academically, and we’ll figure out HS soon, which will probably be an application school. Kids can thrive lots of places.
Anonymous
05/16/2026 10:02
Subject: Middle school options
Anonymous wrote:We are at a crossroads to make some relocation decisions for next year. What middle schools in the city are actually decent? like you would feel comfortable sending your kiddo there. Seems like at least BASIS, Deal, Hardy (which all seem hard to waitlist into). What else?
Latin is probably the consensus No. 1 pick, but it's impossible to get into. Deal and Hardy are good if you can afford to live in-boundary. BASIS is not that hard to get into but it probably only works for a certain kind of kid.
Anonymous
05/16/2026 09:45
Subject: Middle school options
Honestly assumed that we would likely have to go private for HS (don’t love the $ but thinking worst case scenario).
Anonymous wrote:You have to think about HS not middle school.
Anonymous
05/16/2026 09:42
Subject: Middle school options
Thank you, super helpful! Yeah part of it is making sure we live somewhere that makes the commute bearable for any of the potential options. Like seems like living on the Hill may work for some charters but likely we need to target NW.
Anonymous wrote:Just to make sure you understand:
Basis is a charter with no boundary -- students are only admitted via 5th grade lottery. They don't backfill so you cannot "wait-list in" after that 5th grade lottery.
Deal and Hardy are DCPS schools with boundaries. You must either live in bound, attend a feeder school, or lottery into then.
It is not possible to lottery into Deal from OOB. You can sometimes lottery into a feeder in elementary, so there are some OOB students. But you will not lottery in during middle.
I think Hardy does take a small number if lottery students in MS, I'd have to check the historic numbers.
ITDS is a charter, so lottery only, but unlike Basis they do backfill, so you can get spots there even if you miss the entry year. But it's very small, so not many spots to begin with.
Latin is another popular charter middle and high school. Like Basis it starts in 5th and is very hard to lottery into (actually harder than basis). They do backfill, but there are virtually never spots available.
Anyway you said you were looking to relocate and it's important to understand which school admit students based on where they live and where they don't.
Anonymous
05/16/2026 09:37
Subject: Middle school options
You have to think about HS not middle school.
Anonymous
05/16/2026 09:36
Subject: Middle school options
Just to make sure you understand:
Basis is a charter with no boundary -- students are only admitted via 5th grade lottery. They don't backfill so you cannot "wait-list in" after that 5th grade lottery.
Deal and Hardy are DCPS schools with boundaries. You must either live in bound, attend a feeder school, or lottery into then.
It is not possible to lottery into Deal from OOB. You can sometimes lottery into a feeder in elementary, so there are some OOB students. But you will not lottery in during middle.
I think Hardy does take a small number if lottery students in MS, I'd have to check the historic numbers.
ITDS is a charter, so lottery only, but unlike Basis they do backfill, so you can get spots there even if you miss the entry year. But it's very small, so not many spots to begin with.
Latin is another popular charter middle and high school. Like Basis it starts in 5th and is very hard to lottery into (actually harder than basis). They do backfill, but there are virtually never spots available.
Anyway you said you were looking to relocate and it's important to understand which school admit students based on where they live and where they don't.
Basis is a charter with no boundary -- students are only admitted via 5th grade lottery. They don't backfill so you cannot "wait-list in" after that 5th grade lottery.
Deal and Hardy are DCPS schools with boundaries. You must either live in bound, attend a feeder school, or lottery into then.
It is not possible to lottery into Deal from OOB. You can sometimes lottery into a feeder in elementary, so there are some OOB students. But you will not lottery in during middle.
I think Hardy does take a small number if lottery students in MS, I'd have to check the historic numbers.
ITDS is a charter, so lottery only, but unlike Basis they do backfill, so you can get spots there even if you miss the entry year. But it's very small, so not many spots to begin with.
Latin is another popular charter middle and high school. Like Basis it starts in 5th and is very hard to lottery into (actually harder than basis). They do backfill, but there are virtually never spots available.
Anyway you said you were looking to relocate and it's important to understand which school admit students based on where they live and where they don't.
Anonymous
05/16/2026 09:19
Subject: Middle school options
It wasn’t our plan but our child is about to to finish MS at ITDS and she has truly loved it. It’s not perfect but for a middle schooler to really love school is huge. And they do offer more acceleration in MS than ES. It’s been a good experience.
Anonymous
05/16/2026 08:14
Subject: Middle school options
My DC is going to SH in the fall and we are excited. But like the other PP, we are expecting to have to keep supplementing in math to keep DC ahead of grade level. SH’s percentage of 5’s on CAPE is a bit low compared to ELA.
Anonymous
05/16/2026 07:32
Subject: Middle school options
We love Hardy - everyone we know does too.
Anonymous
05/16/2026 07:19
Subject: Middle school options
Anonymous wrote:We are at a crossroads to make some relocation decisions for next year. What middle schools in the city are actually decent? like you would feel comfortable sending your kiddo there. Seems like at least BASIS, Deal, Hardy (which all seem hard to waitlist into). What else?
Everyone's will be different, but I thought BASIS, Deal, Hardy and Latin are great options. (We ended up at one of these).
DCI no because of the screens in middle school.
John Francis, ITDS, Stuart Hobson yes with math/science supplementation over the summer.
Anonymous
05/16/2026 07:14
Subject: Middle school options
We are at a crossroads to make some relocation decisions for next year. What middle schools in the city are actually decent? like you would feel comfortable sending your kiddo there. Seems like at least BASIS, Deal, Hardy (which all seem hard to waitlist into). What else?