OP, this question is really hard to answer, there are so many factors at play. How old are your kids? What kind of neighborhood do you want to live in? Where will your jobs be? Do you want to be near a metro stop? Is walkability important to you? Do you want a local school or are you willing to drive your kids to school everyday? (DC does not bus kids) Are you a risk taker and willing to deal with the stress of the charter school lotteries? Do you like a row house vs. standalone? Are condos an option? Do you mind living in a transitional neighborhood or do you want something more established? Is diversity of the neighborhood and school important to you? How important is language immersion to you?

All of these issues are critical in determining where you should be looking.

Seems like the difference here is that Bancroft, Reed, etc. did not start out with those English speaking, high SES families in the neighborhood. (Even before it turned bilingual because of the influx of Salvadoreans, Mt. Pleasant was a working class neighborhood.) It's not fair to put all the blame on the school for not being able to overcome the enormous challenge of attracting higher income families to a school that never had them. Plus, as other PPs, have noted, Bancroft, Marie Reed, etc. still have large sections of lower income housing with their boundaries (while Oyster does not, right?)

Throw in the nearby charters (CM, MV) that siphon off potential Bancroft families, and it's a an uphill battle. Maybe it will help a bit when those schools move to their permanent locations.

That would be my guess . . but somewhere along the way Oyster managed to do a good enough job with general education to keep higher SES families invested in the school. The problem with schools like Bancroft is that parents go into the PK and K programs excited about the bilingual aspects, but the benefits of bilingual immersion start to pale when the rubber starts to meet the road on elementary school math facts, reading comprehension and writing. The higher SES parents will peel off year by year if they feel like their kids are getting short-changed in the core educational goals of elementary school.

Anonymous wrote:At the time Oyster's bi-lingual program was founded---you had demographics more similar to Bancroft & Mt. Pleasant---a lot of low income ESL in apartments and then a higher SES native English speaking demographics in more expensive townhouses. For some reason, Oyster managed to attract and keep its higher SES IB families in a way that Bancroft has not. Plus, more of the multifamily buildings in the Oyster catchment area are market-rate based and gentrified over time, while there are a lot more subsidized multi-famly buildings in the Marie-Reed, HD Cooke and Bancroft catchment areas.

But if it started out with a lot of low income ESL families, then how was it bilingual "by design"? Because it started out with a lot of English speaking, high SES families, too?

and to complete the previous thought . . .

the larger number of subsidized buildings has meant a higher constant FARMs population for Marie Reed, Bancroft and Cooke than for Oyster.

At the time Oyster's bi-lingual program was founded---you had demographics more similar to Bancroft & Mt. Pleasant---a lot of low income ESL in apartments and then a higher SES native English speaking demographics in more expensive townhouses. For some reason, Oyster managed to attract and keep its higher SES IB families in a way that Bancroft has not. Plus, more of the multifamily buildings in the Oyster catchment area are market-rate based and gentrified over time, while there are a lot more subsidized multi-famly buildings in the Marie-Reed, HD Cooke and Bancroft catchment areas.

Anonymous wrote:As well, oyster is just a much stronger school than all other dual language schools that you can attend as a matter of right (ie, not charter). Much higher test scores, engaged parent body, etc. It is bilingual by design, and not out of default due to the super high ESL population of the neighborhood

I frequently see this "bilingual by design" comment about Oyster. What does this mean about the history/founding of Oyster -- was the neighborhood dominated by English speaking families, but the founders decided to go bilingual and created a process that allowed Spanish-only families from across the city to enroll (essentially like a magnet or charter)?

Anonymous wrote:Both LAMB and Mundo Verde are part of the DCI, which will cover middle and high school.

LAMB does not accept older kids - not an option for the OP.


You may also be interested in Murch - it is not bi-lingual but it does have language focused afterschool programs. Here is a link to boundaries for DC elementary schools:
http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/Files/downloads/SCHOOLS/DCPS_ELEM_K8_ATTZONES_20122013A.pdf

The map is poor - you are going to have to overlay it on something else - but at least it is a start.

OP, how old are your kid(s) and when are you planning on enrolling them? If for the 2013-2014 school year, you are too late for Stokes, Mundo Verde, and LAMB. If for 2014-2015, you can try in the lottery. If you are definitely going to have your kids in school in 2013-2014, then your only real option is to move IB for the school you want (assuming your kids are in Kindergarten and higher). I agree with others that given that budget, your best choice is definitely Oyster. Good luck!