I actually think this ranking is very useful and insightful. I think this methodology shows what many MC parents in DC don't want to think about. That the best schools are the WOTP "schools on a hill" that benefit from more resources and easier populations, and the KIPP style schools, which have a well established, proven methodology for their target population. That's maybe the top 20 schools. Then you get to the next step down, which are the schools that are doing better than expected for the hand they're dealt, but don't perform as well as the top set of schools for various reasons. That's about the next 20 schools. It's mostly the KIPP style schools that don't perform as well as they could (but still better relatively speaking), the "hidden gem" DCPS that people fight over on DCUM and have happy parents in the neighborhood, and a few charters that are doing better but don't have a "hook" that makes them uber popular in the lottery (IT, Sela, ELH). Then you have the next 20 schools that have decent scores, but either have easy to teach populations "propping up" the scores (charters mostly), or harder populations and are not quite as good as the "hidden gem" DCPS schools.

I think the real take away is that for the vast majority of kids hovering around grade level, there are MANY schools in the roughly 20-75 range that can educate your child well, and most of these schools are more similar than different when you get down to brass tacks. If you want a "hook" or prioritize the middle school pathway, then cool have at it, but a few years or more in a school without a 200+ kid waitlist doesn't mean that your child won't get a comparable education to those kids in the hyped up school down the street.

Congrats Ross!

As a former Ross parent, it is about time Ross was recognized as the best elementary school in DC!

My main takeaway is some of these elementary schools are absurdly large. Janney and Lafayette - good lord.

Anonymous wrote:Shepherd ES is ranked too low. They had some of the top scores in DC.

It's a great school and the scores are very respectable, but they're not better than some of the higher ranked schools. But the methodology, whatever it is, is not based on just scores. HA is right above SWS, Murch, and Brent - all of which have higher scores. I think a lot of the ranking is based on whatever algorithm calculates this:

Reading Performance
A descriptive term reflecting a school's reading/language arts percentage proficiency compared with the percentage U.S. News predicted for it. The predicted value was calculated scientifically based on each school's economic and ethnic diversity and these subgroups' relationship to elementary school reading/language arts proficiency in the state.

That would also explain why some of the HRCS are lower than many would expect, since they have lower scores overall and bigger achievement gaps than many of the higher ranked DCPS (but disproportionately higher numbers of high scoring white/higher SES kids, which raises their scores compared to the non-Wilson feeder DCPS).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has all the makings of a 100-page thread

DCUM been sleeping on KIPP

I'm not trying to attack KIPP specifically, but its easy to rank high when you can kick out students with behavior problems or simply limit enrollment (unlike public schools who have to accept everyone). I also don't think many parents here would want their children in a school as rigid and scripted as a KIPP.

I say all this to say that the rankings in general seem ridiculous for elementary schools. Data is more reflective of parental support and involvement and not the schools/teachers themselves. All high ranking schools have extremely active PTOs.

Don’t most charters have the power to counsel students out? Some of the HRCSs were ranked pretty low on the list.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taken from one of the KIPPs:

RANKING FACTORS RANK
Reading Proficiency Rank
#63 (tie)
Math Proficiency Rank
#16 (tie)
RANKING FACTORS DESCRIPTION
Reading Performance
Meets Expectations
Math Performance
Well Above Expectations

Reading Proficiency Rank

Calculated from school proficiency on state reading/language arts assessments, sourced by the U.S. Department of Education's EdFacts initiative. Includes all test-takers by default, but only third through fifth grade test-takers for schools also in U.S. News' middle school listings.

Math Proficiency Rank

Calculated from school proficiency on state mathematics assessments, sourced by the U.S. Department of Education's EdFacts initiative. Includes all test-takers by default, but only third through fifth grade test-takers for schools also in U.S. News' middle school listings.

Reading Performance

A descriptive term reflecting a school's reading/language arts percentage proficiency compared with the percentage U.S. News predicted for it. The predicted value was calculated scientifically based on each school's economic and ethnic diversity and these subgroups' relationship to elementary school reading/language arts proficiency in the state.

Math Performance

A descriptive term reflecting a school's mathematics percentage proficiency compared with the percentage U.S. News predicted for it. The predicted value was calculated scientifically based on each school's economic and ethnic diversity and these subgroups' relationship to elementary school mathematics proficiency in the state.

What was the point of this post?

Uh, methodology?

You post stats on one school, include no comments or context and then respond stating your post was about methodology? What??? Why not post for the top ranked school and include some context on what your point is?

Honestly I just copy pasted one of the listings at random because it demonstrates the methodology. My apologies.

Shepherd ES is ranked too low. They had some of the top scores in DC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taken from one of the KIPPs:

RANKING FACTORS RANK
Reading Proficiency Rank
#63 (tie)
Math Proficiency Rank
#16 (tie)
RANKING FACTORS DESCRIPTION
Reading Performance
Meets Expectations
Math Performance
Well Above Expectations

Reading Proficiency Rank

Calculated from school proficiency on state reading/language arts assessments, sourced by the U.S. Department of Education's EdFacts initiative. Includes all test-takers by default, but only third through fifth grade test-takers for schools also in U.S. News' middle school listings.

Math Proficiency Rank

Calculated from school proficiency on state mathematics assessments, sourced by the U.S. Department of Education's EdFacts initiative. Includes all test-takers by default, but only third through fifth grade test-takers for schools also in U.S. News' middle school listings.

Reading Performance

A descriptive term reflecting a school's reading/language arts percentage proficiency compared with the percentage U.S. News predicted for it. The predicted value was calculated scientifically based on each school's economic and ethnic diversity and these subgroups' relationship to elementary school reading/language arts proficiency in the state.

Math Performance

A descriptive term reflecting a school's mathematics percentage proficiency compared with the percentage U.S. News predicted for it. The predicted value was calculated scientifically based on each school's economic and ethnic diversity and these subgroups' relationship to elementary school mathematics proficiency in the state.

What was the point of this post?

Uh, methodology?

You post stats on one school, include no comments or context and then respond stating your post was about methodology? What??? Why not post for the top ranked school and include some context on what your point is?

Ross has a good student-teacher ratio. All elementary school should have 10-1.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has all the makings of a 100-page thread

DCUM been sleeping on KIPP

I'm not trying to attack KIPP specifically, but its easy to rank high when you can kick out students with behavior problems or simply limit enrollment (unlike public schools who have to accept everyone). I also don't think many parents here would want their children in a school as rigid and scripted as a KIPP.

I say all this to say that the rankings in general seem ridiculous for elementary schools. Data is more reflective of parental support and involvement and not the schools/teachers themselves. All high ranking schools have extremely active PTOs.

I think it's interesting that you would mention this about Kipp when each kipp school was ranked individually. The #7 kipp school really stood out and I don't see why credit can't be given when due. Maury also really stood out surpassing many of the other Hill schools and WOP schools. Kudos to them as well.

The poster who posted the results of kipp selectively chose not to post the results of the one ranked #7 which is really strange. What angle is being played with that post?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taken from one of the KIPPs:

RANKING FACTORS RANK
Reading Proficiency Rank
#63 (tie)
Math Proficiency Rank
#16 (tie)
RANKING FACTORS DESCRIPTION
Reading Performance
Meets Expectations
Math Performance
Well Above Expectations

Reading Proficiency Rank

Calculated from school proficiency on state reading/language arts assessments, sourced by the U.S. Department of Education's EdFacts initiative. Includes all test-takers by default, but only third through fifth grade test-takers for schools also in U.S. News' middle school listings.

Math Proficiency Rank

Calculated from school proficiency on state mathematics assessments, sourced by the U.S. Department of Education's EdFacts initiative. Includes all test-takers by default, but only third through fifth grade test-takers for schools also in U.S. News' middle school listings.

Reading Performance

A descriptive term reflecting a school's reading/language arts percentage proficiency compared with the percentage U.S. News predicted for it. The predicted value was calculated scientifically based on each school's economic and ethnic diversity and these subgroups' relationship to elementary school reading/language arts proficiency in the state.

Math Performance

A descriptive term reflecting a school's mathematics percentage proficiency compared with the percentage U.S. News predicted for it. The predicted value was calculated scientifically based on each school's economic and ethnic diversity and these subgroups' relationship to elementary school mathematics proficiency in the state.

What was the point of this post?

Uh, methodology?

Anonymous wrote:This has all the makings of a 100-page thread

DCUM been sleeping on KIPP

I'm not trying to attack KIPP specifically, but its easy to rank high when you can kick out students with behavior problems or simply limit enrollment (unlike public schools who have to accept everyone). I also don't think many parents here would want their children in a school as rigid and scripted as a KIPP.

I say all this to say that the rankings in general seem ridiculous for elementary schools. Data is more reflective of parental support and involvement and not the schools/teachers themselves. All high ranking schools have extremely active PTOs.

Anonymous wrote:So no one actually clicked on any of the top performers and admitted being pleasantly surprised with some of the results shown?

Results how? They are data points already available. They also reflect scores from tests taken more than 3 years earlier. None of it is fresh data.

Anonymous wrote:Taken from one of the KIPPs:

RANKING FACTORS RANK
Reading Proficiency Rank
#63 (tie)
Math Proficiency Rank
#16 (tie)
RANKING FACTORS DESCRIPTION
Reading Performance
Meets Expectations
Math Performance
Well Above Expectations

Reading Proficiency Rank

Calculated from school proficiency on state reading/language arts assessments, sourced by the U.S. Department of Education's EdFacts initiative. Includes all test-takers by default, but only third through fifth grade test-takers for schools also in U.S. News' middle school listings.

Math Proficiency Rank

Calculated from school proficiency on state mathematics assessments, sourced by the U.S. Department of Education's EdFacts initiative. Includes all test-takers by default, but only third through fifth grade test-takers for schools also in U.S. News' middle school listings.

Reading Performance

A descriptive term reflecting a school's reading/language arts percentage proficiency compared with the percentage U.S. News predicted for it. The predicted value was calculated scientifically based on each school's economic and ethnic diversity and these subgroups' relationship to elementary school reading/language arts proficiency in the state.

Math Performance

A descriptive term reflecting a school's mathematics percentage proficiency compared with the percentage U.S. News predicted for it. The predicted value was calculated scientifically based on each school's economic and ethnic diversity and these subgroups' relationship to elementary school mathematics proficiency in the state.

What was the point of this post?

Taken from one of the KIPPs:

RANKING FACTORS RANK
Reading Proficiency Rank
#63 (tie)
Math Proficiency Rank
#16 (tie)
RANKING FACTORS DESCRIPTION
Reading Performance
Meets Expectations
Math Performance
Well Above Expectations

Reading Proficiency Rank

Calculated from school proficiency on state reading/language arts assessments, sourced by the U.S. Department of Education's EdFacts initiative. Includes all test-takers by default, but only third through fifth grade test-takers for schools also in U.S. News' middle school listings.

Math Proficiency Rank

Calculated from school proficiency on state mathematics assessments, sourced by the U.S. Department of Education's EdFacts initiative. Includes all test-takers by default, but only third through fifth grade test-takers for schools also in U.S. News' middle school listings.

Reading Performance

A descriptive term reflecting a school's reading/language arts percentage proficiency compared with the percentage U.S. News predicted for it. The predicted value was calculated scientifically based on each school's economic and ethnic diversity and these subgroups' relationship to elementary school reading/language arts proficiency in the state.

Math Performance

A descriptive term reflecting a school's mathematics percentage proficiency compared with the percentage U.S. News predicted for it. The predicted value was calculated scientifically based on each school's economic and ethnic diversity and these subgroups' relationship to elementary school mathematics proficiency in the state.