Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are not answering OP’s question about what happens if you strike out in the lottery for 6th grade. She is not asking about earlier.

You move OP. That is the answer.

You can get into EH, Jefferson, Wells, any of the very poorly performing middle schools in 6th. SH very good chance in 6th, definitely in 7th. You also can get into ITS.

You move so you are set for 6-12th. Don’t settle for poorly performing schools or schools with limited options to go thru this all over again for high school and lose again.

The answer was (and still is) that it's irresponsible to wait until 6th. OP appears not to know that, and also seems not to have known that the sought after charter middles start in 5th, which means if you wait until 6th you will have already "struck out." OP also didn't seem to understand that DCI is virtually unavailable to kids who aren't at feeder schools.

I say this as someone who also lives IB for Wheatley -- it's nuts to sit around waiting for MS and hope a single lottery (whether in 5th or 6th) will solve your problem. You need to be thinking about this much earlier and setting your kids up for more options.

PP above. You don’t need to think earlier if you are willing to accept poorly performing middle schools. If your kid is happy at current school, you can get into these schools 6th, 7th whatever.

IMO it is crazy to get into Deal feeders. Some may be willing to do a 40 minute commute minimum one way for 6 years but most people are not. Then what, do it again in high school? As to Hardy, you are going to McArthur and doing that horrendous commute for a school not much different than EH or Jefferson.

There are no real good options for middle school if you struck out with the charter immersion schools for ECE/K. In 5th, you have a shot at Latin, although very small. Better shot at Basis although it’s not a good fit for many kids. In 6th, small shot at DCI French That’s it for EOTP.

Move is the answer for good 6-12th pyramid just outside the city. If you want to haphazard put together something else and move your kid around in elementary to end up in suboptimal poorly performing schools to stay in the city, thats your prerogative.

Well, you could do ITDS. It requires a good lottery number but not a great one, and if you have a younger sibling lottery too, that could increase your odds. Plus the benefits of both kids in one location.

Things are nit going to get better in DCPS middle, probably worst. DCPS continues to dumb things down in the name of equity.

Exhibit A is the new ELA and Science curriculum. If you don’t know about that, just search the recent threads on this.

You shouldn't wait for the 6th grade lottery unless you are in a feeder or have an inbound that you can tolerate, you're fine with moving or going private, or you're comfortable with Two Rivers or Wells.

You've got MUCH better "safety" options in 5th grade - you can always to to Thompson and feed to John Francis or go to JO Wilson and feed to Stuart Hobson.

As long as you're fine with one of those options, it's fine to wait for the 5th grade lottery and stick with your elementary school through 4th.

Also - someone above noted that application high schools have a bit of a lottery aspect to them. That's true for Walls and Banneker and Ellington, I think (there is no level of academic achievement where I think you're truly guaranteed a spot in one of those) but I don't believe that's true of McKinley Tech. If you've got a high achieving middle schooler, they can go to McKinley Tech.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are not answering OP’s question about what happens if you strike out in the lottery for 6th grade. She is not asking about earlier.

You move OP. That is the answer.

You can get into EH, Jefferson, Wells, any of the very poorly performing middle schools in 6th. SH very good chance in 6th, definitely in 7th. You also can get into ITS.

You move so you are set for 6-12th. Don’t settle for poorly performing schools or schools with limited options to go thru this all over again for high school and lose again.

The answer was (and still is) that it's irresponsible to wait until 6th. OP appears not to know that, and also seems not to have known that the sought after charter middles start in 5th, which means if you wait until 6th you will have already "struck out." OP also didn't seem to understand that DCI is virtually unavailable to kids who aren't at feeder schools.

I say this as someone who also lives IB for Wheatley -- it's nuts to sit around waiting for MS and hope a single lottery (whether in 5th or 6th) will solve your problem. You need to be thinking about this much earlier and setting your kids up for more options.

PP above. You don’t need to think earlier if you are willing to accept poorly performing middle schools. If your kid is happy at current school, you can get into these schools 6th, 7th whatever.

IMO it is crazy to get into Deal feeders. Some may be willing to do a 40 minute commute minimum one way for 6 years but most people are not. Then what, do it again in high school? As to Hardy, you are going to McArthur and doing that horrendous commute for a school not much different than EH or Jefferson.

There are no real good options for middle school if you struck out with the charter immersion schools for ECE/K. In 5th, you have a shot at Latin, although very small. Better shot at Basis although it’s not a good fit for many kids. In 6th, small shot at DCI French That’s it for EOTP.

Move is the answer for good 6-12th pyramid just outside the city. If you want to haphazard put together something else and move your kid around in elementary to end up in suboptimal poorly performing schools to stay in the city, thats your prerogative.

Apartment building in-bounds for MCPS

It seems a good move from Trinidad (if kids are still young enough to start immersion) would be to lottery into MV (either location), Stokes Brookland, or Yu Ying, which are close enough geographically to be feasible commutes, so that DCI is an option. Is there a better play if you want to not move and have young enough kids?

Anonymous wrote:People are not answering OP’s question about what happens if you strike out in the lottery for 6th grade. She is not asking about earlier.

You move OP. That is the answer.

You can get into EH, Jefferson, Wells, any of the very poorly performing middle schools in 6th. SH very good chance in 6th, definitely in 7th. You also can get into ITS.

You move so you are set for 6-12th. Don’t settle for poorly performing schools or schools with limited options to go thru this all over again for high school and lose again.

The answer was (and still is) that it's irresponsible to wait until 6th. OP appears not to know that, and also seems not to have known that the sought after charter middles start in 5th, which means if you wait until 6th you will have already "struck out." OP also didn't seem to understand that DCI is virtually unavailable to kids who aren't at feeder schools.

I say this as someone who also lives IB for Wheatley -- it's nuts to sit around waiting for MS and hope a single lottery (whether in 5th or 6th) will solve your problem. You need to be thinking about this much earlier and setting your kids up for more options.

People are not answering OP’s question about what happens if you strike out in the lottery for 6th grade. She is not asking about earlier.

You move OP. That is the answer.

You can get into EH, Jefferson, Wells, any of the very poorly performing middle schools in 6th. SH very good chance in 6th, definitely in 7th. You also can get into ITS.

You move so you are set for 6-12th. Don’t settle for poorly performing schools or schools with limited options to go thru this all over again for high school and lose again.

Anonymous wrote:How old are your kids? Do they go to Wheatley now?

If I were you, I'd be lotterying for a spot at a feeder to an acceptable MS well before 6th. You can almost definitely get a spot at JOW, L-T, or Watkins in 4th or 5th, which gets you a spot at Stuart-Hobson. Same with the Eliot-Hine feeders. Even Maury sometimes has spots for 5th.

I'd also lottery for ITDS -- the option of getting in for elementary makes this an easier get than BASIS or Latin.

Personally I'd skip Two Rivers even though it's not hard to get into in upper elementary. S-H and E-H are better options and your are just as likely to get spots in one of their feeders.

If your kid is already in 4th, I'd lottery for Latin and BASIS as well as all the feeders I just mentioned. Throw in CHML just to keep options broad.

If your kid is already in 5th, it's too late for BASIS or Latin. But you can do all the others plus I'd start looking into options for moving (even just temporarily by renting out your home and getting a rental IB fur something you like) as a back up.

+ 1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to make it 100 percent clear to everyone, if you're applying to places like Latin and BASIS, you need to do it for fifth grade, not sixth grade. If you apply for sixth grade, your chances of getting in are approximately zero.

+1

I also recommend looking at other threads on both those schools on this website. In a recent thread discussing them, someone went through and figured out what your odds were of getting a spot at BASIS or either Latin campus for 5th grade and no preference (so no sibling attending or accepted, and no Equitable Access). They are extremely low for Latin -- I can't remember the exact number but it was under 20%. I think BASIS was higher but there are some specific things about the BASIS program that you need to be aware. The reason it's slightly easier to get into (versus Latin, it's still hard to get into) is because some families self-select out of the pool of BASIS applicants because the program is not right for every family or kid.

It's like 10-12% for each campus of Latin now.

Anonymous wrote:Just to make it 100 percent clear to everyone, if you're applying to places like Latin and BASIS, you need to do it for fifth grade, not sixth grade. If you apply for sixth grade, your chances of getting in are approximately zero.

+1

I also recommend looking at other threads on both those schools on this website. In a recent thread discussing them, someone went through and figured out what your odds were of getting a spot at BASIS or either Latin campus for 5th grade and no preference (so no sibling attending or accepted, and no Equitable Access). They are extremely low for Latin -- I can't remember the exact number but it was under 20%. I think BASIS was higher but there are some specific things about the BASIS program that you need to be aware. The reason it's slightly easier to get into (versus Latin, it's still hard to get into) is because some families self-select out of the pool of BASIS applicants because the program is not right for every family or kid.

It's a bit depressing but if you live on the East side of town, you have to start thinking about your MS and HS plan in early elementary, if not before PK. You cannot wait until 4th or 5th and then think "huh, I don't love our IB middle, what are my options?" Or you can, but it puts you in uncomfortable situations and it's better to plan ahead. No idea if OP is in this situation or not because they didn't say how old their kids are, but just as a general PSA.

And, OP and others, you need to be thinking about HS too. If Wheatley is your IB PK-8, your IB HS is Dunbar. Which, in addition to other things, is not very convenient to the Wheatley boundary (Trinidad gets screwed in a variety of ways in the school boundary map). I'd send my kid to Eastern from Trinidad before I sent them to Dunbar, both for proximity and also because I think it's a more promising school (though my preference would be neither).

Latin and BASIS get you a HS feed but are long shots. DCI gets you a HS feed but is very hard to get into if you aren't already at a feeder. S-H and E-H feed to Eastern, a lot of families at those schools assume they will do application schools for high school with private or moving as a back up (the "kick the can" approach). ITDS has no high school feed at all, so those kids are also on the application/private/move track, unless they happen to live IB for a school they find acceptable.

Look at the application options in DC. Also understand that even though they are called application schools, it's really a lottery to get into them. There are way more kids above their threshold for admission to those schools (thinking of Walls, Banneker, and McKinley here) so even if your kid is qualified they might not get in. There is also Duke Ellington if your kid wants an arts-focused school. The other application schools (Bard Early College and Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering) are less competitive but as a result also don't offer the same high level peer group. So you cannot just assume "oh my kid will go to Walls." If that's your plan, you need a Plan B (most kids apply to multiple application HSs) and Plan C (private, moving, or your IB if that's palatable).

I would not just limit your thinking here to MS because MS goes by in a flash and you will be right back in this exact situation sooner than you realize if you don't start thinking about HS now.

Just to make it 100 percent clear to everyone, if you're applying to places like Latin and BASIS, you need to do it for fifth grade, not sixth grade. If you apply for sixth grade, your chances of getting in are approximately zero.

Start earlier. Basically everyone I know ended up getting a spot at a Hardy or Deal feeder if they kept playing every year through elementary. Even better odds for other middle schools. They didn't all take the spot.

If you really want Latin or Basis, it gets a little trickier if you lose those lotteries. But there is still some opportunity for ITDS and some spots at the middle-good DCPS middle schools

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI? How hard is that to lottery into? I’ve heard good things.

There are multiple feeders you can get into in 2nd-4th grades.

If you do this, please supplement the language, especially the summer before school starts. The kids I know who did well switching late had extra tutoring before and during the school year.

Responses like this always intrigue me. Like, how many of these kids do you actually know, how do you know who’s doing well and who isn’t, and how do you know which of those had tutoring and who didn’t and when?

Are you a stalker or something?

Lol