Anonymous
01/17/2014 14:12
Subject: Is HD Cooke terrible?
HD Cooke really suffers from the charter drain, I think. There's not enough of a critical mass of IB educated, motivated high energy parents to create the HSA juggernaut that can build on good faculty and administration and create things like significant after-school enrichment opportunities, assist with field trip coordination, etc. Cooke is Title I with 50% non-English speaking parents. We live IB for Cooke and every family on our street has elected to go charter or OOB instead of Cooke. I know of only one family that tried Cooke in early years, and liked it, but left when they got the chance to go to WOTP OOB placement and when they saw that all the other families of their education and SES were opting out by K.
By charter drain I mean that 20 years ago, parents in MtP who were dissatisfied with Bancroft opted to go to Eaton OOB in large numbers---there was no charter option. The efforts of those parents created a school that is now a popular IB option (and still attracts a lot of OOB interest from EOTP). Were charters not available, I bet that all the parents who live in Columbia Heights, Shaw, and Park View who are now interested in charters would set their sights on Cooke.
By charter drain I mean that 20 years ago, parents in MtP who were dissatisfied with Bancroft opted to go to Eaton OOB in large numbers---there was no charter option. The efforts of those parents created a school that is now a popular IB option (and still attracts a lot of OOB interest from EOTP). Were charters not available, I bet that all the parents who live in Columbia Heights, Shaw, and Park View who are now interested in charters would set their sights on Cooke.
Anonymous
01/17/2014 14:02
Subject: Re:Is HD Cooke terrible?
Anonymous wrote:The problem with HD Cooke is the feeder situation. Parents of means sometimes go to HD Cooke in the early years, but will leave between K & 2nd grade to get into the Deal pyramid / a good charter school / the suburbs. Put HD Cooke into the Deal boundary ... or to the Oyster-Adams middle school ... and you would see the wait list explode at HD Cooke.
Teachers are very good. Teacher attrition did not appear more than normal. Facility is in good shape. Parent satisfaction is directly correlated to to concern over the long-term (middle school) situation. As for a lack of "diversity", well yeah, there's very few high-SES families and/or whites. Parent involvement is sub-par -- a few parents try extremely hard but the numbers aren't there to effectively help.
It's a puzzle that HD Cooke is not a Spanish dual-language school. Seems like building an dual-language system of elementary-middle-high schools (with Marie Reed / Oyster / Bancroft / Powell / CHEC as the middle and high schools) would be successful in the long-term.
I pulled my kid out last year, into what is generally considered to be a better-regarded school. She thinks the new school is "easy". My take-away is that the teachers at HD Cooke prepared her well.
Thanks for this very helpful response. As a prospective parent, I have talked to several families that sent their kids there in earlier years and then pulled them out later, citing the middle-school situation. They also mentioned that Cooke's program seemed more rigorous for the kids, especially with respect to math. The IB program is apparently very good at differentiation in a ways that many other schools--including those WOTP--cannot match. I have to say that we were expecting not to like Cooke and were really surprised by how much we liked it at the open house, especially the parents who were there and the principal. I also really liked that the completely separated the PK kids from the rest of the school, and the PK kids seemed very engaged.
Anonymous
01/17/2014 13:56
Subject: Re:Is HD Cooke terrible?
The problem with HD Cooke is the feeder situation. Parents of means sometimes go to HD Cooke in the early years, but will leave between K & 2nd grade to get into the Deal pyramid / a good charter school / the suburbs. Put HD Cooke into the Deal boundary ... or to the Oyster-Adams middle school ... and you would see the wait list explode at HD Cooke.
Teachers are very good. Teacher attrition did not appear more than normal. Facility is in good shape. Parent satisfaction is directly correlated to to concern over the long-term (middle school) situation. As for a lack of "diversity", well yeah, there's very few high-SES families and/or whites. Parent involvement is sub-par -- a few parents try extremely hard but the numbers aren't there to effectively help.
It's a puzzle that HD Cooke is not a Spanish dual-language school. Seems like building an dual-language system of elementary-middle-high schools (with Marie Reed / Oyster / Bancroft / Powell / CHEC as the middle and high schools) would be successful in the long-term.
I pulled my kid out last year, into what is generally considered to be a better-regarded school. She thinks the new school is "easy". My take-away is that the teachers at HD Cooke prepared her well.
Teachers are very good. Teacher attrition did not appear more than normal. Facility is in good shape. Parent satisfaction is directly correlated to to concern over the long-term (middle school) situation. As for a lack of "diversity", well yeah, there's very few high-SES families and/or whites. Parent involvement is sub-par -- a few parents try extremely hard but the numbers aren't there to effectively help.
It's a puzzle that HD Cooke is not a Spanish dual-language school. Seems like building an dual-language system of elementary-middle-high schools (with Marie Reed / Oyster / Bancroft / Powell / CHEC as the middle and high schools) would be successful in the long-term.
I pulled my kid out last year, into what is generally considered to be a better-regarded school. She thinks the new school is "easy". My take-away is that the teachers at HD Cooke prepared her well.
dcmom
01/17/2014 13:36
Subject: Is HD Cooke terrible?
We are IB and liked a lot of what we saw at the open house. We are definitely applying for PK3. OP, if you are seriously considering it, go to the upcoming open house or ask people in the parent listservs in the neighborhood.
Anonymous
01/17/2014 13:16
Subject: Is HD Cooke terrible?
Not OP, but when I did a comparison of EOTP DCPS schools, including Reading & Math scores (individually and over time), "soft" factors like parent satisfaction, teacher attrition, parent involvement, diversity, etc., I was surprised at how HD Cooke trailed the pack in pretty much every measure.
I cannot say whether it's terrible, but my conclusion not to put it in my list of six OOB schools to apply for was very easy.
I cannot say whether it's terrible, but my conclusion not to put it in my list of six OOB schools to apply for was very easy.
Anonymous
01/17/2014 13:12
Subject: Is HD Cooke terrible?
this is DCUM baby. Troll is how we roll.
Anonymous
01/17/2014 13:09
Subject: Is HD Cooke terrible?
Why would you frame the question this way? "Is HD Cooke terrible?" You certainly seem to have a specific answer you are looking for.
Anonymous
01/17/2014 13:02
Subject: Is HD Cooke terrible?
Does anyone have experiences from being at HD Cooke?