Yes we are clueless- I am not pretending I know anything about this system!! And thank you again to all those people who are responding with USEFUL comments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to those providing meaningful responses. This is very helpful. If we apply for a charter how likely is a spot?

Some charters are easy to get into. Others very difficult. Go on myschoolsdc and you will begin to understand the system. You seem exceedingly clueless.

Give her a break! It IS a confusing system, particularly if you are from overseas.

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to those providing meaningful responses. This is very helpful. If we apply for a charter how likely is a spot?

Some charters are easy to get into. Others very difficult. Go on myschoolsdc and you will begin to understand the system. You seem exceedingly clueless.

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to those providing meaningful responses. This is very helpful. If we apply for a charter how likely is a spot?

Depends on the charter and how old your kids are. At the most coveted schools -- Yu Ying, for example -- very, very low. The priority is siblings of current students first, which can sometimes leave only a handful of spots thereafter.

How old are your kids, OP? Many schools have PS3 (so they start at age 3) which means that's the main entry year. Some start at PK4 (4 year olds). Some will tell you it may be actually easier to get a spot at a non-entry year, like 1st grade, because there are fewer applicants.

Note: You will need to lottery into PS3 and PK4 at ALL schools -- even the IB schools.

Here's how you apply
http://www.myschooldc.org/

This site will give you some info on DCPS schools -- look how long the waitlists are at some schools and not at others. Can give you a chance of odds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Up to $1,000,000 and need a backyard but not huge. And no more than .5 mile from metro!

You really need to do some of your own research. The Hill is great. SW is getting better and Cleveland Park has it's own metro stop. We can only help you when you narrow it down but at the rate schools are changing things may be completely different in 2 years when your child may be ready for school.

I'd second the Hill and Brent, then on to a good charter.

Be very careful where you choose on the Hill. It's a minefield here. And just forget MS. Most of our schools are not neighborhood schools, and they aren't going to be anytime soon - if ever. Charters are turning into unrealistic pipe dreams unless you have a sibling-in. If I could do it over again, I'd have bought in N. Arlington.

I know it may freak the heck out of DCUM, but I bet you'd find good education going on at Raymond. Now, you won't see the school administration out there building a reputation for itself. You have a student population that is STRICTLY poor AND minority. And test scores reflecting student backgrounds, life experiences, maternal education, etc.

But the teaching is probably pretty good. That has been what I've seen in DCPS. I want to challenge everyone here to get willing to truly integrate DCPS and see what happens. Your kids, my kids, will be OK.

DS attends a similar school, one that people claim is "up and coming" and all of that. Truth is, it's the same high-minority, high-poverty school as most of DC with a sprinkling of kids who aren't, but somehow its reputation has broken past barriers for many educated families. It's not an "emperor without clothes"/grit your teeth/willful blindness thing - it's that for too long we have shut our eyes to educational opportunities and only looked at the children in the schools and asked whether it was acceptable to mix them with our children.

I think you really need a laser focus on the learning possibilities within each school. Maybe at some point things were just terrible, but a good education really is possible in many, many more DCPS than people are putting on their lists.

This is not the majority opinion among the educated in DC though it may get nominal lip service face to face (as opposed to anonymously).

This being 'Murica, it is almost certainly not the majority opinion in any place that includes diverse communities across race and class who do not otherwise integrate significantly.

But, as you're coming into DCPS from outside with a fresh perspective, challenge yourself. I don't mean to insult anyone here, but take a look at lots of schools. Open houses are starting. Seriously, take a chance.

Thank you to those providing meaningful responses. This is very helpful. If we apply for a charter how likely is a spot?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Up to $1,000,000 and need a backyard but not huge. And no more than .5 mile from metro!

You really need to do some of your own research. The Hill is great. SW is getting better and Cleveland Park has it's own metro stop. We can only help you when you narrow it down but at the rate schools are changing things may be completely different in 2 years when your child may be ready for school.

I'd second the Hill and Brent, then on to a good charter.

Cleveland park will be tough for 1M. Go North.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Up to $1,000,000 and need a backyard but not huge. And no more than .5 mile from metro!

You really need to do some of your own research. The Hill is great. SW is getting better and Cleveland Park has it's own metro stop. We can only help you when you narrow it down but at the rate schools are changing things may be completely different in 2 years when your child may be ready for school.

I'd second the Hill and Brent, then on to a good charter.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, no attitude here just want know how to gather info. I hate the burbs and of European decent so we really don't understand US public school systems at all.

Everyone is being rather grouchy, OP.

Here's the basic situation in DC: There are two groups of schools DCPS (traditional public schools) and Charter schools. 46% of kids in the district attend charters -- so they are not insignificant.

Your kids can attend DCPS schools if you live in the boundaries for the school (IB), or if you lottery into an out-of-bounds spot (OOB).
Your kids can attend a charter school regardless of where they live (and it's up to you to get them there daily), but you must get a spot through the lottery as well.

Because DCPS schools generally reflect the makeup of their neighborhoods, and because in general higher-income kids perform better on tests, the schools in more affluent areas tend to have better test scores. Traditionally those include areas "West of the Park" in the leafy neighborhoods like Chevy Chase DC, AU Park, some parts of Capitol Hill, etc. That said, there are lots of up-and-coming schools with more mixed populations.

Charter schools are a horse of another color- and you need to look at them all individually. Many have language immersion, etc.

Your budget is $1M - so you are well poised to live in a WOTP neighborhood. I would start there.

How old are your kids?

Anonymous wrote:Yes the original purpose of the post was tonask where to start my research, so this is helpful. My husband mentioned a house in Columbia Heights with the Raymond ES but I looked up the stats and it seems pretty bad. i guess my question is how bad is bad?

If its important to you to be with other parents in $1,000,000 homes, then you won't find that at Raymond. Go visit the school if you really want to see what the environment is like and to understand academic opportunities.

Anonymous wrote:Yes the original purpose of the post was tonask where to start my research, so this is helpful. My husband mentioned a house in Columbia Heights with the Raymond ES but I looked up the stats and it seems pretty bad. i guess my question is how bad is bad?

You would use a charter school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We love capitol hill and sw and are open to cleveland park, but uts a little far for my commute. A

So you're able to move to be in-bounds for a school you like? You'd probably be satisfied at any school west of Rock Creek Park. While there are some great EotP options out there, you'd probably experience more stress with the whole process.

She said she hates the burbs.

Yes the original purpose of the post was tonask where to start my research, so this is helpful. My husband mentioned a house in Columbia Heights with the Raymond ES but I looked up the stats and it seems pretty bad. i guess my question is how bad is bad?

Anonymous wrote:Up to $1,000,000 and need a backyard but not huge. And no more than .5 mile from metro!

You really need to do some of your own research. The Hill is great. SW is getting better and Cleveland Park has it's own metro stop. We can only help you when you narrow it down but at the rate schools are changing things may be completely different in 2 years when your child may be ready for school.