Anonymous wrote:This is fascinating since they ended the ACE program at Watkins a few years back. Will that be reinstated, too?

I've heard that's in the works for next year.

How is SH absorbing its budget cuts?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you visit Stuart Hobson? What were your thoughts there?

I'm the PP PP quotes. We did visit yes, several times in fact. It's a hard one to crack because it's a lot about "things to be": The building WILL be renovated. The school WILL have SEM. There WILL (or more like may) be a revitalization of the museum program as integral part of the MS experience.
That said, we're seriously considering it. Their track-record of serving advanced learners is established. I'm really impressed with the principal there. The teachers are experienced. And it's in the neighborhood, which works well for our family.

I think there are somethings already happening at SH. It is not all promise and the stuff that is coming has been well planned so I think it will happen. The extended day works well at SH. This year is the first year they tried it. By adding a ninth period it allows students who need additional help plenty of classroom time without losing all the specials like music, band and PE. Next year (sorry another "thing to be be") they will add an enrichment component to the extended day. As a pp said they will also add the honors program. They are already offering geometry to the some eighth graders. They have done this for a while which is why the SH kids do well with SWW admissions.

This is fascinating since they ended the ACE program at Watkins a few years back. Will that be reinstated, too?

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that it does not include everyone. Teachers recommend students to participate.

There are several components/levels ("tiers" I think is the term I heard used), some benefit everyone, some about 40%, and some 10%. I think 40% are reached largely by tracking. The top 10% are pulled out for school-wide project based learning opportunities. At Hardy, I believe, this includes a partnership with a nearby builder and an active participation of a group of Hardy students in that. I'd imagine that Stuart-Hobson would do well with that because the museum-magnet component already provides fertile grounds to offer advanced research opportunities. Indeed, the historic research is quite unique in breadth and depth, more like what high-school students would do.
But I'm writing this based on informed observation and conversation, not personal experience.

My understanding is that it does not include everyone. Teachers recommend students to particpate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stuart Hobson is getting a gifted and talented program. Here's an excerp from the DCPS Budget Development Guide:

Schoolwide Enrichment Model
In SY13-14, DCPS will expand the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM), or “gifted and talented” program, to Sousa, Johnson and Stuart-Hobson middle schools for a total of six SEM schools districtwide. The other SEM schools in DCPS are Hardy Middle School, Kelly Miller Middle School and West Education Campus.

Page 11 of this document:
http://dc.gov/DCPS/Files/downloads/ABOUT%20DCPS/Budget%20-%20Finance/FY14%20Budget%20Development%20Guide.pdf

I like the idea of as much enrichment as possible, but don't agree it's "gifted and talented." If it includes everyone, then by definition you have singled out the G&T for an academically advanced experience.

Or else SH and Hardy have become Lake Wobegon - where all children are above average...

Have NOT singled out.

Anonymous wrote:Stuart Hobson is getting a gifted and talented program. Here's an excerp from the DCPS Budget Development Guide:

Schoolwide Enrichment Model
In SY13-14, DCPS will expand the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM), or “gifted and talented” program, to Sousa, Johnson and Stuart-Hobson middle schools for a total of six SEM schools districtwide. The other SEM schools in DCPS are Hardy Middle School, Kelly Miller Middle School and West Education Campus.

Page 11 of this document:
http://dc.gov/DCPS/Files/downloads/ABOUT%20DCPS/Budget%20-%20Finance/FY14%20Budget%20Development%20Guide.pdf

I like the idea of as much enrichment as possible, but don't agree it's "gifted and talented." If it includes everyone, then by definition you have singled out the G&T for an academically advanced experience.

Or else SH and Hardy have become Lake Wobegon - where all children are above average...

Anonymous wrote:Did you visit Stuart Hobson? What were your thoughts there?

I'm the PP PP quotes. We did visit yes, several times in fact. It's a hard one to crack because it's a lot about "things to be": The building WILL be renovated. The school WILL have SEM. There WILL (or more like may) be a revitalization of the museum program as integral part of the MS experience.
That said, we're seriously considering it. Their track-record of serving advanced learners is established. I'm really impressed with the principal there. The teachers are experienced. And it's in the neighborhood, which works well for our family.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or what makes EH and Jefferson similar to Deal which actually has an IB program? I don't even get what it means to "follow" one. Are they somewhere in the process? Have they met goals? On track to have the program when?

There have been several well advertised presentations on these IB programs in and around Capitol Hill. Maybe you should try to make the next one to get these questions answered and to get a better overview of what IB is and how it serves differentiation. Yes, the two schools you mention are well on track towards accreditation, which is a multi-year process, and, to tell from observers as well as answers I've gotten at such meetings, they take IB very seriously. You also see it at work already in classrooms and around the schools, which I hope you have some time to check out. And this is a good place to check out the basics from the comfort of your home: http://www.ibo.org/

O
I actually have attended and checked out all three schools (4th grader at Brent) to prep on what we are doing. My hope was that EH/Jefferson could be an option. Sadly, after visiting Deal they aren't. Have you been to Deal? In my opinion EH and Jefferson are completely unprepared to implement a MYP anytime soon. I felt that they didn't take the IB program seriously. The EH IB coordinator was unable to answer simple questions posed by another parent which worried me. I won't even get into Jefferson and their issues. I don't know how long the process takes to become IB but it was clear that they are probably 5 years away with very little support from teachers which is my biggest concern. While we will never get into Deal it at least made me realize that EH and Jefferson aren't options either.

Did you visit Stuart Hobson? What were your thoughts there?

Anonymous wrote:
I actually have attended and checked out all three schools (4th grader at Brent) to prep on what we are doing. My hope was that EH/Jefferson could be an option. Sadly, after visiting Deal they aren't. Have you been to Deal? In my opinion EH and Jefferson are completely unprepared to implement a MYP anytime soon. I felt that they didn't take the IB program seriously. The EH IB coordinator was unable to answer simple questions posed by another parent which worried me. I won't even get into Jefferson and their issues. I don't know how long the process takes to become IB but it was clear that they are probably 5 years away with very little support from teachers which is my biggest concern. While we will never get into Deal it at least made me realize that EH and Jefferson aren't options either.

Honestly, IMO you should look at BASIS DC for next year. They still have openings for 5th grade next year. You can tour the school and have your child shadow for a day. I would at least check it out now since it is much harder to get into BASIS for 6th grade. If you end up liking it, then your child would be set till 12th grade as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy parent. What a joke. There is no GT program at Hardy. What these DCPS middle schools need are honors classes across the board, not a touch of extra enrichment for anybody who turns up, which is what we have now.

Interesting, a Hardy parent that I know pesonally described the STEM program to me and it sounded great!

Same here and, in checking it out myself/speaking to the coordinator there, it's a really convincing model.
BTW, watch your acronyms! We're talking about SEM (School-wide Enrichment Model, aka G&T), not STEM (which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).

Yes, sorry. I meant SEM, not STEM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy parent. What a joke. There is no GT program at Hardy. What these DCPS middle schools need are honors classes across the board, not a touch of extra enrichment for anybody who turns up, which is what we have now.

Interesting, a Hardy parent that I know pesonally described the STEM program to me and it sounded great!

Same here and, in checking it out myself/speaking to the coordinator there, it's a really convincing model.
BTW, watch your acronyms! We're talking about SEM (School-wide Enrichment Model, aka G&T), not STEM (which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).

Anonymous wrote:Hardy parent. What a joke. There is no GT program at Hardy. What these DCPS middle schools need are honors classes across the board, not a touch of extra enrichment for anybody who turns up, which is what we have now.

Interesting, a Hardy parent that I know pesonally described the STEM program to me and it sounded great!

Anonymous wrote:Differentiation is just good, sound teaching in order to reach all students and learning styles in the same classroom IB MYP encourages that in its teacher training which is great. But if the teachers aren't good at it, it won't happen.

It is not a part of International Baccalaureate to require honors classes or divide students by ability levels.

But it doesn't preclude it. Deal is IB and tracks. I'm PP who lumped SEM and IB together to claim that they foster differentiation. The reason I did is that both have a student-centered and project/theme/case-based take on learning. That model naturally offers better opportunities to challenge classrooms characterized by different ability levels and "different smarts". And because classrooms and school-wide projects are set up to work in teams a lot of the time, there are opportunities to let advanced students move on to higher challenges. If you know what to look and ask for, notwithstanding the currently still too often struggling student body, there is a lot of that going on at Eliot-Hine, in fact more than I saw on my visit to Deal.
I find it encouraging to see Stuart-Hobson take on the challenge of catering to different ability levels and different "smarts", which - I understand - SEM solves in a somewhat different way, namely by offering multiple tiers of advanced student-centered learning opportunities, lower tiers catering to all (hence the ire expressed by another PP) and upper tiers catering to as few as 10%. Tracking is a somewhat more explicit part of SEM I think. IB is stronger at differentiation by inherent design, or so my understanding.

Both of these models are quite different from a more lecture-based teaching format, which places a stronger emphasis on cramming and root-memorization (classrooms set up with chairs/tables all facing the front, where presumably the teacher stands most of the time, are but one indicator). The schools I went to operated mostly like that but I retained so much more from the few classes in which the teachers deviated from this model. That said, I think it's largely a matter of fit. I have two kids who are very different, one for whom exploration is a natural first step to learning, the other who'd much rather listen to a lecture first and then go do it.