Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What could DCPS do to keep you? What would they need to change?

Not OP, but I think DCPS is just not that attractive for black middle class families. I wish it weren't so. Some may luck into ITS or some other popular charter that has close to a critical mass of black middle class families. Others may lotto into Shepherd or Eaton or a couple other schools. If they're able to--and we're no longer talking middle-class, but upper middle class--they'll buy IB for these schools (my overall impression re: many UMC AA families is that many skip DCPS altogether, and go private or parochial).

One major factor, IMO, is that this city has a lot of fairly new-to-DC, highly educated, and fairly affluent white families who are often willing to try out gentrifying schools, and then there are a lot of AA families from multi-generational poverty that make up the bulk of the public school population. In schools with few middle class AA students, AA parents have legitimate concerns about peer influences and low expectations from teachers who may lump all black kids together and consider them a lost cause, or just have lower expectations for our kids. White families in these gentrifying schools will be largely insulated from these concerns, as it doesn't really affect their children to the same extent. It's just not worth it for many middle class AA families, and they may leave for Silver Spring/Bowie/Rockville/etc. after a while, if they didn't start out there in the first place.

I think there will continue to be a growing divide in the city, with middle class families of all stripes being squeezed out, unless there is a significant investment in affordable housing and in multi-family housing in a lot of the upper NW neighborhoods with attractive school options.

Huh, very interesting, thanks. I can see how middle class white parents wouldn't have the same kind of worries.

OP here, completely agree--this was exactly my point. We have a HHI of approximately 300k. Definitely not super high for the area but solidly middle class for DC. We live in Petworth and our IB is Truesdell. MY DC is smart and I fear a mix of low expectations and peer influences. Even at IT, the achievement gap between black and white students is considerable after 4th grade. We've considered private, but would prefer public. We just don't want our kids to be an experiment. Our best bets on the WL are probably Hyde Addison (upon looking at the WL historical data), IT and EL Haynes.

Re: growing divide in the city, sadly I think it's almost too late. Ten or more years ago the city should have upzoned large swaths of wealthy areas AND invested more in affordable housing. The city does not have enough housing, and limited housing supply has caused demand to go through the roof, along with prices. DC is headed towards become a rich-only city.

Resurrecting this thread...so is ITS a good option for middle class black families?

We are an upper middle class black family and absolutely LOVE ITS!

Thank you! What's differentiation look like there?

Anonymous wrote:Any update, OP? Any progress on waitlists?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What could DCPS do to keep you? What would they need to change?

Not OP, but I think DCPS is just not that attractive for black middle class families. I wish it weren't so. Some may luck into ITS or some other popular charter that has close to a critical mass of black middle class families. Others may lotto into Shepherd or Eaton or a couple other schools. If they're able to--and we're no longer talking middle-class, but upper middle class--they'll buy IB for these schools (my overall impression re: many UMC AA families is that many skip DCPS altogether, and go private or parochial).

One major factor, IMO, is that this city has a lot of fairly new-to-DC, highly educated, and fairly affluent white families who are often willing to try out gentrifying schools, and then there are a lot of AA families from multi-generational poverty that make up the bulk of the public school population. In schools with few middle class AA students, AA parents have legitimate concerns about peer influences and low expectations from teachers who may lump all black kids together and consider them a lost cause, or just have lower expectations for our kids. White families in these gentrifying schools will be largely insulated from these concerns, as it doesn't really affect their children to the same extent. It's just not worth it for many middle class AA families, and they may leave for Silver Spring/Bowie/Rockville/etc. after a while, if they didn't start out there in the first place.

I think there will continue to be a growing divide in the city, with middle class families of all stripes being squeezed out, unless there is a significant investment in affordable housing and in multi-family housing in a lot of the upper NW neighborhoods with attractive school options.

Huh, very interesting, thanks. I can see how middle class white parents wouldn't have the same kind of worries.

OP here, completely agree--this was exactly my point. We have a HHI of approximately 300k. Definitely not super high for the area but solidly middle class for DC. We live in Petworth and our IB is Truesdell. MY DC is smart and I fear a mix of low expectations and peer influences. Even at IT, the achievement gap between black and white students is considerable after 4th grade. We've considered private, but would prefer public. We just don't want our kids to be an experiment. Our best bets on the WL are probably Hyde Addison (upon looking at the WL historical data), IT and EL Haynes.

Re: growing divide in the city, sadly I think it's almost too late. Ten or more years ago the city should have upzoned large swaths of wealthy areas AND invested more in affordable housing. The city does not have enough housing, and limited housing supply has caused demand to go through the roof, along with prices. DC is headed towards become a rich-only city.

Resurrecting this thread...so is ITS a good option for middle class black families?

We are an upper middle class black family and absolutely LOVE ITS!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What could DCPS do to keep you? What would they need to change?

Not OP, but I think DCPS is just not that attractive for black middle class families. I wish it weren't so. Some may luck into ITS or some other popular charter that has close to a critical mass of black middle class families. Others may lotto into Shepherd or Eaton or a couple other schools. If they're able to--and we're no longer talking middle-class, but upper middle class--they'll buy IB for these schools (my overall impression re: many UMC AA families is that many skip DCPS altogether, and go private or parochial).

One major factor, IMO, is that this city has a lot of fairly new-to-DC, highly educated, and fairly affluent white families who are often willing to try out gentrifying schools, and then there are a lot of AA families from multi-generational poverty that make up the bulk of the public school population. In schools with few middle class AA students, AA parents have legitimate concerns about peer influences and low expectations from teachers who may lump all black kids together and consider them a lost cause, or just have lower expectations for our kids. White families in these gentrifying schools will be largely insulated from these concerns, as it doesn't really affect their children to the same extent. It's just not worth it for many middle class AA families, and they may leave for Silver Spring/Bowie/Rockville/etc. after a while, if they didn't start out there in the first place.

I think there will continue to be a growing divide in the city, with middle class families of all stripes being squeezed out, unless there is a significant investment in affordable housing and in multi-family housing in a lot of the upper NW neighborhoods with attractive school options.

Huh, very interesting, thanks. I can see how middle class white parents wouldn't have the same kind of worries.

OP here, completely agree--this was exactly my point. We have a HHI of approximately 300k. Definitely not super high for the area but solidly middle class for DC. We live in Petworth and our IB is Truesdell. MY DC is smart and I fear a mix of low expectations and peer influences. Even at IT, the achievement gap between black and white students is considerable after 4th grade. We've considered private, but would prefer public. We just don't want our kids to be an experiment. Our best bets on the WL are probably Hyde Addison (upon looking at the WL historical data), IT and EL Haynes.

Re: growing divide in the city, sadly I think it's almost too late. Ten or more years ago the city should have upzoned large swaths of wealthy areas AND invested more in affordable housing. The city does not have enough housing, and limited housing supply has caused demand to go through the roof, along with prices. DC is headed towards become a rich-only city.

Resurrecting this thread...so is ITS a good option for middle class black families?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What could DCPS do to keep you? What would they need to change?

Not OP, but I think DCPS is just not that attractive for black middle class families. I wish it weren't so. Some may luck into ITS or some other popular charter that has close to a critical mass of black middle class families. Others may lotto into Shepherd or Eaton or a couple other schools. If they're able to--and we're no longer talking middle-class, but upper middle class--they'll buy IB for these schools (my overall impression re: many UMC AA families is that many skip DCPS altogether, and go private or parochial).

One major factor, IMO, is that this city has a lot of fairly new-to-DC, highly educated, and fairly affluent white families who are often willing to try out gentrifying schools, and then there are a lot of AA families from multi-generational poverty that make up the bulk of the public school population. In schools with few middle class AA students, AA parents have legitimate concerns about peer influences and low expectations from teachers who may lump all black kids together and consider them a lost cause, or just have lower expectations for our kids. White families in these gentrifying schools will be largely insulated from these concerns, as it doesn't really affect their children to the same extent. It's just not worth it for many middle class AA families, and they may leave for Silver Spring/Bowie/Rockville/etc. after a while, if they didn't start out there in the first place.

I think there will continue to be a growing divide in the city, with middle class families of all stripes being squeezed out, unless there is a significant investment in affordable housing and in multi-family housing in a lot of the upper NW neighborhoods with attractive school options.

Huh, very interesting, thanks. I can see how middle class white parents wouldn't have the same kind of worries.

OP here, completely agree--this was exactly my point. We have a HHI of approximately 300k. Definitely not super high for the area but solidly middle class for DC. We live in Petworth and our IB is Truesdell. MY DC is smart and I fear a mix of low expectations and peer influences. Even at IT, the achievement gap between black and white students is considerable after 4th grade. We've considered private, but would prefer public. We just don't want our kids to be an experiment. Our best bets on the WL are probably Hyde Addison (upon looking at the WL historical data), IT and EL Haynes.

Re: growing divide in the city, sadly I think it's almost too late. Ten or more years ago the city should have upzoned large swaths of wealthy areas AND invested more in affordable housing. The city does not have enough housing, and limited housing supply has caused demand to go through the roof, along with prices. DC is headed towards become a rich-only city.

Anonymous wrote:We didn’t really have much luck for PK3. Got into Sela and WL for my IB school Whittier. Any other AA families with experience in these schools? (We weren’t looking for language immersion but live behind Sela which is why it was even on our list).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, leave the district. I am black as well and I am just not playing with these odds. Go to Silver Spring, which will work for both of your commutes. Send your child to an ES like Flora Singer and then Blair HS, or by then, you may have enough equity to move to Bethesda or something.

I truly feel like it isn't worth it for me to chance these schools with my child. Let the white people figure it out and fix it for their kids. I just cannot experiment with my brown baby.

NP here, also AA. Moving IB for Blair is our back-up plan for HS. Currently, DC attends a private (non-Big 3) that would be fiscally unsustainable for HS. We live EOTR and are zoned for probably the lowest performing school cluster in DCPS. I attended an Open House for Basis this year and was appalled at the lack of diversity present. My hope is that the demographics of the MS were not adequately reflected that evening. Reading this thread, it felt oddly comforting to know that other AAs in the city are having the same internal conversations. I would hate to switch schools to save money only to encounter lowered expectations in a different setting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, leave the district. I am black as well and I am just not playing with these odds. Go to Silver Spring, which will work for both of your commutes. Send your child to an ES like Flora Singer and then Blair HS, or by then, you may have enough equity to move to Bethesda or something.

I truly feel like it isn't worth it for me to chance these schools with my child. Let the white people figure it out and fix it for their kids. I just cannot experiment with my brown baby.

NP here, also AA. Moving IB for Blair is our back-up plan for HS. Currently, DC attends a private (non-Big 3) that would be fiscally unsustainable for HS. We live EOTR and are zoned for probably the lowest performing school cluster in DCPS. I attended an Open House for Basis this year and was appalled at the lack of diversity present. My hope is that the demographics of the MS were not adequately reflected that evening. Reading this thread, it felt oddly comforting to know that other AAs in the city are having the same internal conversations. I would hate to switch schools to save money only to encounter lowered expectations in a different setting.

Just be leery of moving for schools. There are problems every where. I know a few families that moved for schools and are disappointed. They did a ton research prior but still are not satisfied. We've opted to go private for MS and maybe come back for HS. DCPS will have a hard time improving until it can attract and keep middle and upper-middle class AA families. No matter how much a city gentrifies it can't account for families constantly leaving when kids get school age.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, leave the district. I am black as well and I am just not playing with these odds. Go to Silver Spring, which will work for both of your commutes. Send your child to an ES like Flora Singer and then Blair HS, or by then, you may have enough equity to move to Bethesda or something.

I truly feel like it isn't worth it for me to chance these schools with my child. Let the white people figure it out and fix it for their kids. I just cannot experiment with my brown baby.

NP here, also AA. Moving IB for Blair is our back-up plan for HS. Currently, DC attends a private (non-Big 3) that would be fiscally unsustainable for HS. We live EOTR and are zoned for probably the lowest performing school cluster in DCPS. I attended an Open House for Basis this year and was appalled at the lack of diversity present. My hope is that the demographics of the MS were not adequately reflected that evening. Reading this thread, it felt oddly comforting to know that other AAs in the city are having the same internal conversations. I would hate to switch schools to save money only to encounter lowered expectations in a different setting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, leave the district. I am black as well and I am just not playing with these odds. Go to Silver Spring, which will work for both of your commutes. Send your child to an ES like Flora Singer and then Blair HS, or by then, you may have enough equity to move to Bethesda or something.

I truly feel like it isn't worth it for me to chance these schools with my child. Let the white people figure it out and fix it for their kids. I just cannot experiment with my brown baby.

NP here, also AA. Moving IB for Blair is our back-up plan for HS. Currently, DC attends a private (non-Big 3) that would be fiscally unsustainable for HS. We live EOTR and are zoned for probably the lowest performing school cluster in DCPS. I attended an Open House for Basis this year and was appalled at the lack of diversity present. My hope is that the demographics of the MS were not adequately reflected that evening. Reading this thread, it felt oddly comforting to know that other AAs in the city are having the same internal conversations. I would hate to switch schools to save money only to encounter lowered expectations in a different setting.

Anonymous wrote:OP, leave the district. I am black as well and I am just not playing with these odds. Go to Silver Spring, which will work for both of your commutes. Send your child to an ES like Flora Singer and then Blair HS, or by then, you may have enough equity to move to Bethesda or something.

I truly feel like it isn't worth it for me to chance these schools with my child. Let the white people figure it out and fix it for their kids. I just cannot experiment with my brown baby.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What could DCPS do to keep you? What would they need to change?

Not OP, but I think DCPS is just not that attractive for black middle class families. I wish it weren't so. Some may luck into ITS or some other popular charter that has close to a critical mass of black middle class families. Others may lotto into Shepherd or Eaton or a couple other schools. If they're able to--and we're no longer talking middle-class, but upper middle class--they'll buy IB for these schools (my overall impression re: many UMC AA families is that many skip DCPS altogether, and go private or parochial).

One major factor, IMO, is that this city has a lot of fairly new-to-DC, highly educated, and fairly affluent white families who are often willing to try out gentrifying schools, and then there are a lot of AA families from multi-generational poverty that make up the bulk of the public school population. In schools with few middle class AA students, AA parents have legitimate concerns about peer influences and low expectations from teachers who may lump all black kids together and consider them a lost cause, or just have lower expectations for our kids. White families in these gentrifying schools will be largely insulated from these concerns, as it doesn't really affect their children to the same extent. It's just not worth it for many middle class AA families, and they may leave for Silver Spring/Bowie/Rockville/etc. after a while, if they didn't start out there in the first place.

I think there will continue to be a growing divide in the city, with middle class families of all stripes being squeezed out, unless there is a significant investment in affordable housing and in multi-family housing in a lot of the upper NW neighborhoods with attractive school options.

Huh, very interesting, thanks. I can see how middle class white parents wouldn't have the same kind of worries.

Sorry posted the last post wrong.

OP here, completely agree--this was exactly my point. We have a HHI of approximately 300k. Definitely not super high for the area but solidly middle class for DC. We live in Petworth and our IB is Truesdell. MY DC is smart and I fear a mix of low expectations and peer influences. Even at IT, the achievement gap between black and white students is considerable after 4th grade. We've considered private, but would prefer public. We just don't want our kids to be an experiment. Our best bets on the WL are probably Hyde Addison (upon looking at the WL historical data), IT and EL Haynes.


OP here, completely agree--this was exactly my point. We have a HHI of approximately 300k. Definitely not super high for the area but solidly middle class for DC. We live in Petworth and our IB is Truesdell. MY DC is smart and I fear a mix of low expectations and peer influences. Even at IT, the achievement gap between black and white students is considerable after 4th grade. We've considered private, but would prefer public. We just don't want our kids to be an experiment. Our best bets on the WL are probably Hyde Addison (upon looking at the WL historical data), IT and EL Haynes.

Re: growing divide in the city, sadly I think it's almost too late. Ten or more years ago the city should have upzoned large swaths of wealthy areas AND invested more in affordable housing. The city does not have enough housing, and limited housing supply has caused demand to go through the roof, along with prices. DC is headed towards become a rich-only city.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What could DCPS do to keep you? What would they need to change?

Not OP, but I think DCPS is just not that attractive for black middle class families. I wish it weren't so. Some may luck into ITS or some other popular charter that has close to a critical mass of black middle class families. Others may lotto into Shepherd or Eaton or a couple other schools. If they're able to--and we're no longer talking middle-class, but upper middle class--they'll buy IB for these schools (my overall impression re: many UMC AA families is that many skip DCPS altogether, and go private or parochial).

One major factor, IMO, is that this city has a lot of fairly new-to-DC, highly educated, and fairly affluent white families who are often willing to try out gentrifying schools, and then there are a lot of AA families from multi-generational poverty that make up the bulk of the public school population. In schools with few middle class AA students, AA parents have legitimate concerns about peer influences and low expectations from teachers who may lump all black kids together and consider them a lost cause, or just have lower expectations for our kids. White families in these gentrifying schools will be largely insulated from these concerns, as it doesn't really affect their children to the same extent. It's just not worth it for many middle class AA families, and they may leave for Silver Spring/Bowie/Rockville/etc. after a while, if they didn't start out there in the first place.

I think there will continue to be a growing divide in the city, with middle class families of all stripes being squeezed out, unless there is a significant investment in affordable housing and in multi-family housing in a lot of the upper NW neighborhoods with attractive school options.

Huh, very interesting, thanks. I can see how middle class white parents wouldn't have the same kind of worries.

OP here, completely agree--this was exactly my point. We have a HHI of approximately 300k. Definitely not super high for the area but solidly middle class for DC. We live in Petworth and our IB is Truesdell. MY DC is smart and I fear a mix of low expectations and peer influences. Even at IT, the achievement gap between black and white students is considerable after 4th grade. We've considered private, but would prefer public. We just don't want our kids to be an experiment. Our best bets on the WL are probably Hyde Addison (upon looking at the WL historical data), IT and EL Haynes.

Re: growing divide in the city, sadly I think it's almost too late. Ten or more years ago the city should have upzoned large swaths of wealthy areas AND invested more in affordable housing. The city does not have enough housing, and limited housing supply has caused demand to go through the roof, along with prices. DC is headed towards become a rich-only city.