Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by "dual enrollment" DCPS? Not familiar with that term.

Thanks again, PP, really appreciate it!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks! What about schools that get built up in people's minds, but you would NOT send your kids to?

Interesting to hear Powell, any other "below the radar" DCPS options that upper elementary families seem happy at? Middle school concerns aside...

I would suggest Seaton, Bruce-Monroe, and Whittier as under the radar winners. Whittier's stats are very impressive and it is a slightly more affordable area if you want an actual yard. Langley has a long way to go still, but from my old lady perspective it has made amazing strides in the past 4-5 years. Van Ness and Amidon-Bowen as well. For up and coming middles, I think Brookland and Wells bear watching.

I would not send my child to SSMA after K. And the stores I hear from MV P St leave me astonished. CMI is underperforming its demographics.

Seaton is hardly under the radar. And all of the dual enrollment DCPS are hard to crack OOB.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks! What about schools that get built up in people's minds, but you would NOT send your kids to?

Interesting to hear Powell, any other "below the radar" DCPS options that upper elementary families seem happy at? Middle school concerns aside...

I would suggest Seaton, Bruce-Monroe, and Whittier as under the radar winners. Whittier's stats are very impressive and it is a slightly more affordable area if you want an actual yard. Langley has a long way to go still, but from my old lady perspective it has made amazing strides in the past 4-5 years. Van Ness and Amidon-Bowen as well. For up and coming middles, I think Brookland and Wells bear watching.

I would not send my child to SSMA after K. And the stores I hear from MV P St leave me astonished. CMI is underperforming its demographics.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks! What about schools that get built up in people's minds, but you would NOT send your kids to?

Interesting to hear Powell, any other "below the radar" DCPS options that upper elementary families seem happy at? Middle school concerns aside...

Anonymous wrote:I think that, as with all anonymous internet message boards, you should take what you read here with a grain of salt. Which is not to say everything is wrong, but that complaints about schools may be disproportionate to most parent/student experiences.

One issue to keep in mind, even the "best" schools have problems. Sometimes schools get so built up in people's minds, that it can be a rude awakening when they actually get to a school and realize it's not a perfect utopia.

I have kids in upper elementary, and based on the experience of people I know, I would send me kids to the following (not to say, or to suggest, these are the only schools, just ones where I know people, and would be happy to go to): ITS, Cap City, Lee, 2 Rivers, EL Haynes, DCB, and LAMB.

Anonymous wrote:OP here again, thanks all, this is reassuring. Still not sure if we'll have the patience to stick it out indefinitely, but it's heartening to read these reassurances. Though with DCI not being guaranteed anymore, the prospect of playing until first or second, then starting all over again in fifth or sixth is REALLY unappealing. One thing if you get into your DCI feeder in PK then have 6-7 years before thinking of the lottery again, another if you are playing the lottery more years than not...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is a kid who needs a crop of high achievers around to do well, and you want a guarantee of that k-12, just move now. If your kid will sink to the lowest common denominator (and even Deal or Churchill are going to have slackers/addicts/cutters/etc.) then you're probably going to need to go private eventually so you might as well save on housing.

If you have a 4 year old, you probably don't know how he will be 5-10 years from now so it may make sense to stay where you are as long as your kid is happy and learning (and if he isn't because of distance learning, it's not going to be much better in other districts in the DMV) and figure things out once you have a better sense of your kid. [/quote

OP here. Thank you so much for this. In all of the stress over the lottery, one thing I'm grateful for is that it's given us TIME to figure out what kind of student our kid will be before having to commit to a school pathway. Most people go to their neighborhood school and stick it out, regardless of whether it's the best fit. If we had won the lottery in PK3 or PK4, we'd probably be vested in making it work just like in a neighborhood school. But what do you think - do you think you can get a sense of your child by first or second? Of course things can change, but generally speaking? What age is "old enough" to know what your kid needs from a school?

Well, our daughter spoke English early and often, so we assumed she would like immersion, turns out that science is her passion.

You may know by age 7 or so if you need to select a school for its special needs offerings,. Also, a lot can just change for your family and in the school system. My work location and commute has changed. We had a third child so we really liked having a school where all 3 could be together. And schools that seemed fab to me as a naive preschool parent, when I didn't have friends with older children to give me the real scoop, I can now see are not that great for upper grades. I had assumed schools would improve in time, but some do and some don't.