I think, figure out where you would be willing to move to. List those schools. Then, if you like the school in the first year you are there, you can carry out the move.

OP, if Amidon really is your IB, I can understand the hesitation.

I don't think you need to move though. I think you might just need to expand your criteria for what makes a viable elementary school option, maybe with an eye toward middle school, but maybe not if you're willing to move later.

When you're doing the lottery, I'd suggest the following:
1) Only consider schools within a reasonable commute ("reasonable" might vary based on the quality and MS/HS feed of the school)
2) Only include schools that have offered no-preference lottery spots for that grade level in the last few years - the Tableau dashboard linked earlier in this thread is a great resource
3) List some Deal and Hardy feeders
4) List some other well-regarded elementary schools that feed to middle schools you might find acceptable
5) List some other well-regarded elementary schools with non-acceptable middle school feeds, with the understanding that you would need to luck out in the middle school lottery or move.
6) List some acceptable elementary schools with better stats than your IB. Especially consider those with better middle school feeds

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say the kindergarten lottery tends to be your best shot at DCPS elementaries OOB. Schools can have more students per class starting in kindergarten. Schools also have more limited insight into how many IB kindergarten students will enroll by right. Both of those factors tend to result in more lottery offers in K than in other grades.

That's not to say the chances are poor in other years, but it's just a lot less predictable. Compared to middle and high school, it's a lot harder to speak in generalities about the elementary school lottery since there are so many more viable options across the city.

People here are more likely/able to help if you share specific school(s)/grade level(s) you're interested in.

OP again: as we said in the original post - we struck out for PK3 and PK4...so I guess K lottery it is! [sigh] Thanks for the shred of hope, guys...sincerely grateful to hear it's not over til it's over...

The Venn diagram of test scores, feeder patterns and work commutes means we'd take basically ANY elementary WOTP that would have us, with one or two exceptions (Shepherd or Key would unfortunately be big transportation headaches - and I guess from what I hear Key might present an aftercare problem too? But otherwise: just about ANY SCHOOL OR CHARTER in that area with somewhat decent test scores and a halfway ok feeder pattern would work. Literally any of them! They all seem fine! Better than our local Greatschools 3/10 school, anyway. We tried all of them for PK4 - and got agonizingly close. But...no luck.)

I’m not sure where you live, assuming EOTP, but I would recommend you rethink your strategy.

Commuting EOTP to WOTP could easily be 1/2 hour or more. Then if you need to go back towards downtown in rush hour traffic, that could be 45 minutes. So 1.25 hours one way.
Repeat for pick up.

And you want to do this for K to 12? Or at least k-8th? Is it really worth the ROI for this? How then are you going to fit EC outside of school after school?

No way would I do above. That time in the car is a lot. I would move to burbs in good pyramid where there are school buses AND the schools from K-12 are much better in all aspects (academics, facilities, EC, sports, etc..)

BYW, I just put in Janney in Mapquest and at 7:43 at night with no rush hour, it says 38 min. So that would be likely 1 hour an 10 min in rush hour. That’s 1 hour and 50 minutes in am

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say the kindergarten lottery tends to be your best shot at DCPS elementaries OOB. Schools can have more students per class starting in kindergarten. Schools also have more limited insight into how many IB kindergarten students will enroll by right. Both of those factors tend to result in more lottery offers in K than in other grades.

That's not to say the chances are poor in other years, but it's just a lot less predictable. Compared to middle and high school, it's a lot harder to speak in generalities about the elementary school lottery since there are so many more viable options across the city.

People here are more likely/able to help if you share specific school(s)/grade level(s) you're interested in.

OP again: as we said in the original post - we struck out for PK3 and PK4...so I guess K lottery it is! [sigh] Thanks for the shred of hope, guys...sincerely grateful to hear it's not over til it's over...

The Venn diagram of test scores, feeder patterns and work commutes means we'd take basically ANY elementary WOTP that would have us, with one or two exceptions (Shepherd or Key would unfortunately be big transportation headaches - and I guess from what I hear Key might present an aftercare problem too? But otherwise: just about ANY SCHOOL OR CHARTER in that area with somewhat decent test scores and a halfway ok feeder pattern would work. Literally any of them! They all seem fine! Better than our local Greatschools 3/10 school, anyway. We tried all of them for PK4 - and got agonizingly close. But...no luck.)

I’m not sure where you live, assuming EOTP, but I would recommend you rethink your strategy.

Commuting EOTP to WOTP could easily be 1/2 hour or more. Then if you need to go back towards downtown in rush hour traffic, that could be 45 minutes. So 1.25 hours one way.
Repeat for pick up.

And you want to do this for K to 12? Or at least k-8th? Is it really worth the ROI for this? How then are you going to fit EC outside of school after school?

No way would I do above. That time in the car is a lot. I would move to burbs in good pyramid where there are school buses AND the schools from K-12 are much better in all aspects (academics, facilities, EC, sports, etc..)