Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. You overestimate the popularity of the Basis middle school. Most CH families with 4th graders who enter the 5th grade lottery list both Latins ahead of Basis. The Basis waitlist also moves 60+ spots every summer; this means that there are 60+ families who listed Basis on their lottery bingo card and then after matching declined the space. You also underestimate the extent to which some core CH families moved into their current home in part due to the IB elementary school. They are not likely to give that up in early elementary to commute to Basis simply to lock in the middle school. Lastly, people will disagree here, SH/EH have some buy-in now where not everyone is likely to know precisely how they feel about that option until they take a harder look at it in the late elementary years. Shaw is its own different question mark with rights to Francis Stevens and Euclid.

Popularity is not really the point here. And neither is the wait list.

Unlike Latin, BASIS offers a rigorous curriculum, does tons of testing, and doesn't socially promote. It is definitely more suited to more academically motivated kids--and those kids are going to be scattered around DC. True, it does get a lot of kids from the Hill but the Hill also has a lot of academically motivated kids.

However, plenty of people list BASIS in the lottery, especially people that don't have good in-bounds options, because all they have to do is check a box. Then, if they get in, they realize that the school isn't a good fit for their kid and go elsewhere. Other parents decide on BASIS because they don't have a good in-bounds option and, if that is their sole reason for sending their kid, are often disappointed.

Saying Latin is more popular than BASIS is like saying a Billie Eilish concert is more popular than a hackathon. A concert is easy and fun; a hackathon is tough and challenging. Sure, a concert is a more popular but a hackathon is more valuable.

The fact is that there is plenty of demand for an elementary school like BASIS but BASIS will never be truly "popular" because it is hard and challenging.

Right, Latin's a walk in the park through and through, explaining why our neighbor's kid was admitted to Princeton from Latin two years ago. That same spring, zero BASIS students were admitted to Ivies.

You're painting with much too broad a brush, PP.

Our BASIS student was bored in humanities and language classes in middle school. We didn't stay for high school. Don't buy the hype about high octane BASIS academics. It's not a GT program.

NP Here. I'm a BASIS parent with two DCs in high school. I am FAR from a BASIS booster, but two things you can't really quibble with are the rigor of its curriculum and student outcomes. It's not a GT program because it's an open enrollment/lottery school. But the school asks a lot of every student, regardless of that student's strengths. Is it a bit of a sink or swim environment? Yes. But I would put high achieving BASIS students up against the best public and private school students in the area. And you're simply wrong that zero students were admitted to Ivies two years ago. In 2022 BASIS DC had Yale, Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Penn, and Cornell admits in addition to many Ivy+ and selective SLAC admits. Unlike you, I have actual receipts. If you control for the fact that BASIS is not an application school and the SES of the student student population (contrary to popular belief, the school is not comprised completely of wealthy Hill families), its outcomes are extraordinary. Is BASIS one size fits all? Of course not. Does it provide an excellent option for many DC families? Yes. The same can be said of many other local schools, public and private.

I have those 2022 receipts as well. The list you're talking about is the acceptance list. The final matriculation list that year was this:

Barnard College

Bangor University (UK)

Beloit College

Brown University (*)

Clemson University

College of William & Mary (*)

Drexel University (*)

Duke University

Fordham University

George Mason University

Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia State University

Haverford College

Howard University

Indiana University

Macalester College

Mary Baldwin University

Michigan State University (*)

Morehouse College

Northwestern University

Oberlin College

Pennsylvania State University (*)

Purdue University (*)

Radford University

Sarah Lawrence College

St. John's College

Syracuse University

Temple University (*)

University of Chicago

University of the District of Columbia

University of Maryland, College Park

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

University of North Carolina, Wilmington

University of Vermont (*)

University of Virginia

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (*)

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Xavier University of Louisiana

Yale University (*)


(*) indicates that more than one student will attend this college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. You overestimate the popularity of the Basis middle school. Most CH families with 4th graders who enter the 5th grade lottery list both Latins ahead of Basis. The Basis waitlist also moves 60+ spots every summer; this means that there are 60+ families who listed Basis on their lottery bingo card and then after matching declined the space. You also underestimate the extent to which some core CH families moved into their current home in part due to the IB elementary school. They are not likely to give that up in early elementary to commute to Basis simply to lock in the middle school. Lastly, people will disagree here, SH/EH have some buy-in now where not everyone is likely to know precisely how they feel about that option until they take a harder look at it in the late elementary years. Shaw is its own different question mark with rights to Francis Stevens and Euclid.

Popularity is not really the point here. And neither is the wait list.

Unlike Latin, BASIS offers a rigorous curriculum, does tons of testing, and doesn't socially promote. It is definitely more suited to more academically motivated kids--and those kids are going to be scattered around DC. True, it does get a lot of kids from the Hill but the Hill also has a lot of academically motivated kids.

However, plenty of people list BASIS in the lottery, especially people that don't have good in-bounds options, because all they have to do is check a box. Then, if they get in, they realize that the school isn't a good fit for their kid and go elsewhere. Other parents decide on BASIS because they don't have a good in-bounds option and, if that is their sole reason for sending their kid, are often disappointed.

Saying Latin is more popular than BASIS is like saying a Billie Eilish concert is more popular than a hackathon. A concert is easy and fun; a hackathon is tough and challenging. Sure, a concert is a more popular but a hackathon is more valuable.

The fact is that there is plenty of demand for an elementary school like BASIS but BASIS will never be truly "popular" because it is hard and challenging.

Right, Latin's a walk in the park through and through, explaining why our neighbor's kid was admitted to Princeton from Latin two years ago. That same spring, zero BASIS students were admitted to Ivies.

You're painting with much too broad a brush, PP.

Our BASIS student was bored in humanities and language classes in middle school. We didn't stay for high school. Don't buy the hype about high octane BASIS academics. It's not a GT program.

NP Here. I'm a BASIS parent with two DCs in high school. I am FAR from a BASIS booster, but two things you can't really quibble with are the rigor of its curriculum and student outcomes. It's not a GT program because it's an open enrollment/lottery school. But the school asks a lot of every student, regardless of that student's strengths. Is it a bit of a sink or swim environment? Yes. But I would put high achieving BASIS students up against the best public and private school students in the area. And you're simply wrong that zero students were admitted to Ivies two years ago. In 2022 BASIS DC had Yale, Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Penn, and Cornell admits in addition to many Ivy+ and selective SLAC admits. Unlike you, I have actual receipts. If you control for the fact that BASIS is not an application school and the SES of the student student population (contrary to popular belief, the school is not comprised completely of wealthy Hill families), its outcomes are extraordinary. Is BASIS one size fits all? Of course not. Does it provide an excellent option for many DC families? Yes. The same can be said of many other local schools, public and private.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eastern has low utilization and low in-boundary numbers. They also have a very low percentage of students at grade level. If they have advanced offerings - like, real academic differentiation across the subjects beginning in the 9th grade - that's a huge potential draw.

These aren't going to be advanced offerings. They will be "advanced" in the sense that the teacher won't have to stop as often to deal with behavior issues and everyone in the class will be able to read, but I wouldn't hope for more than that. They get a few field trips and guest speakers per year and do some modules on https://www.university-startups.com/ but that's not going to teach them anything a kid from a home with two college-educated parents wouldn't already know. There's no secret TJ or even Banneker or Walls buried within Eastern.

The IB program is still growing, and I have to guess this comment is based on no firsthand information. I’ve been really encouraged to talk to friends with kids in the program that say they love it. With the enrollments increasing for HS across DCPS, and in-bound enrollment increasing at the feeder MSs, it seems like this is a program that can offer a great option for many families.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. You overestimate the popularity of the Basis middle school. Most CH families with 4th graders who enter the 5th grade lottery list both Latins ahead of Basis. The Basis waitlist also moves 60+ spots every summer; this means that there are 60+ families who listed Basis on their lottery bingo card and then after matching declined the space. You also underestimate the extent to which some core CH families moved into their current home in part due to the IB elementary school. They are not likely to give that up in early elementary to commute to Basis simply to lock in the middle school. Lastly, people will disagree here, SH/EH have some buy-in now where not everyone is likely to know precisely how they feel about that option until they take a harder look at it in the late elementary years. Shaw is its own different question mark with rights to Francis Stevens and Euclid.

Popularity is not really the point here. And neither is the wait list.

Unlike Latin, BASIS offers a rigorous curriculum, does tons of testing, and doesn't socially promote. It is definitely more suited to more academically motivated kids--and those kids are going to be scattered around DC. True, it does get a lot of kids from the Hill but the Hill also has a lot of academically motivated kids.

However, plenty of people list BASIS in the lottery, especially people that don't have good in-bounds options, because all they have to do is check a box. Then, if they get in, they realize that the school isn't a good fit for their kid and go elsewhere. Other parents decide on BASIS because they don't have a good in-bounds option and, if that is their sole reason for sending their kid, are often disappointed.

Saying Latin is more popular than BASIS is like saying a Billie Eilish concert is more popular than a hackathon. A concert is easy and fun; a hackathon is tough and challenging. Sure, a concert is a more popular but a hackathon is more valuable.

The fact is that there is plenty of demand for an elementary school like BASIS but BASIS will never be truly "popular" because it is hard and challenging.

Right, Latin's a walk in the park through and through, explaining why our neighbor's kid was admitted to Princeton from Latin two years ago. That same spring, zero BASIS students were admitted to Ivies.

You're painting with much too broad a brush, PP.

Our BASIS student was bored in humanities and language classes in middle school. We didn't stay for high school. Don't buy the hype about high octane BASIS academics. It's not a GT program.

This is indicative of what basically every study on the subject says — smart kids are smart everywhere, and it doesn’t really matter whether they go to neighborhood Title I or to fancy private. (As in, fancy private doesn’t actually make them smarter — obviously they will have a more engaging experience at a school with advanced classes than one in which they are stuck in gen ed with a below grade level class.)

I know from personal experience that this is deeply untrue. I went to bad schools in a small working class town with very few peers -- I was the only kid who qualified for CTY at my school. The school tested my IQ in junior high and it was 147. I never ever once studied, and I made straight As in the hardest classes available. As a result I didn't learn how to study until we moved in late high school, and honestly it took me a very long time to develop a work ethic. I now spend way too much time on DCUM instead of contributing to society the way that I probably could have.

For my own kids, will I risk that happening to another generation by sending them to schools that aren't challenging? No. We are trying BASIS and I'm so grateful that my kid is learning how to study and is learning that hard work pays off. Is it the happiest school in town? No. But the curriculum is very very solid and challenging, and they do teach all the kids how to manage their work, make flashcards, keep a planner, organize materials, and study for very hard cumulative tests.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. You overestimate the popularity of the Basis middle school. Most CH families with 4th graders who enter the 5th grade lottery list both Latins ahead of Basis. The Basis waitlist also moves 60+ spots every summer; this means that there are 60+ families who listed Basis on their lottery bingo card and then after matching declined the space. You also underestimate the extent to which some core CH families moved into their current home in part due to the IB elementary school. They are not likely to give that up in early elementary to commute to Basis simply to lock in the middle school. Lastly, people will disagree here, SH/EH have some buy-in now where not everyone is likely to know precisely how they feel about that option until they take a harder look at it in the late elementary years. Shaw is its own different question mark with rights to Francis Stevens and Euclid.

Popularity is not really the point here. And neither is the wait list.

Unlike Latin, BASIS offers a rigorous curriculum, does tons of testing, and doesn't socially promote. It is definitely more suited to more academically motivated kids--and those kids are going to be scattered around DC. True, it does get a lot of kids from the Hill but the Hill also has a lot of academically motivated kids.

However, plenty of people list BASIS in the lottery, especially people that don't have good in-bounds options, because all they have to do is check a box. Then, if they get in, they realize that the school isn't a good fit for their kid and go elsewhere. Other parents decide on BASIS because they don't have a good in-bounds option and, if that is their sole reason for sending their kid, are often disappointed.

Saying Latin is more popular than BASIS is like saying a Billie Eilish concert is more popular than a hackathon. A concert is easy and fun; a hackathon is tough and challenging. Sure, a concert is a more popular but a hackathon is more valuable.

The fact is that there is plenty of demand for an elementary school like BASIS but BASIS will never be truly "popular" because it is hard and challenging.

Right, Latin's a walk in the park through and through, explaining why our neighbor's kid was admitted to Princeton from Latin two years ago. That same spring, zero BASIS students were admitted to Ivies.

You're painting with much too broad a brush, PP.

Our BASIS student was bored in humanities and language classes in middle school. We didn't stay for high school. Don't buy the hype about high octane BASIS academics. It's not a GT program.

This is indicative of what basically every study on the subject says — smart kids are smart everywhere, and it doesn’t really matter whether they go to neighborhood Title I or to fancy private. (As in, fancy private doesn’t actually make them smarter — obviously they will have a more engaging experience at a school with advanced classes than one in which they are stuck in gen ed with a below grade level class.)

I don't know why people here rely on studies like this when we were all students ourselves once. I was a smart kid who went to a bad school for a time, and guess what? It was difficult to do well there. The expectations were low, and it was hard to have the motivation to study for hours after school ended to keep up with what kids at better schools were learning. When I switched schools, it was a hard adjustment. I made it because I was smart, but is it something I'd want to repeat? No.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. You overestimate the popularity of the Basis middle school. Most CH families with 4th graders who enter the 5th grade lottery list both Latins ahead of Basis. The Basis waitlist also moves 60+ spots every summer; this means that there are 60+ families who listed Basis on their lottery bingo card and then after matching declined the space. You also underestimate the extent to which some core CH families moved into their current home in part due to the IB elementary school. They are not likely to give that up in early elementary to commute to Basis simply to lock in the middle school. Lastly, people will disagree here, SH/EH have some buy-in now where not everyone is likely to know precisely how they feel about that option until they take a harder look at it in the late elementary years. Shaw is its own different question mark with rights to Francis Stevens and Euclid.

Popularity is not really the point here. And neither is the wait list.

Unlike Latin, BASIS offers a rigorous curriculum, does tons of testing, and doesn't socially promote. It is definitely more suited to more academically motivated kids--and those kids are going to be scattered around DC. True, it does get a lot of kids from the Hill but the Hill also has a lot of academically motivated kids.

However, plenty of people list BASIS in the lottery, especially people that don't have good in-bounds options, because all they have to do is check a box. Then, if they get in, they realize that the school isn't a good fit for their kid and go elsewhere. Other parents decide on BASIS because they don't have a good in-bounds option and, if that is their sole reason for sending their kid, are often disappointed.

Saying Latin is more popular than BASIS is like saying a Billie Eilish concert is more popular than a hackathon. A concert is easy and fun; a hackathon is tough and challenging. Sure, a concert is a more popular but a hackathon is more valuable.

The fact is that there is plenty of demand for an elementary school like BASIS but BASIS will never be truly "popular" because it is hard and challenging.

Right, Latin's a walk in the park through and through, explaining why our neighbor's kid was admitted to Princeton from Latin two years ago. That same spring, zero BASIS students were admitted to Ivies.

You're painting with much too broad a brush, PP.

Our BASIS student was bored in humanities and language classes in middle school. We didn't stay for high school. Don't buy the hype about high octane BASIS academics. It's not a GT program.

This is indicative of what basically every study on the subject says — smart kids are smart everywhere, and it doesn’t really matter whether they go to neighborhood Title I or to fancy private. (As in, fancy private doesn’t actually make them smarter — obviously they will have a more engaging experience at a school with advanced classes than one in which they are stuck in gen ed with a below grade level class.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. You overestimate the popularity of the Basis middle school. Most CH families with 4th graders who enter the 5th grade lottery list both Latins ahead of Basis. The Basis waitlist also moves 60+ spots every summer; this means that there are 60+ families who listed Basis on their lottery bingo card and then after matching declined the space. You also underestimate the extent to which some core CH families moved into their current home in part due to the IB elementary school. They are not likely to give that up in early elementary to commute to Basis simply to lock in the middle school. Lastly, people will disagree here, SH/EH have some buy-in now where not everyone is likely to know precisely how they feel about that option until they take a harder look at it in the late elementary years. Shaw is its own different question mark with rights to Francis Stevens and Euclid.

Popularity is not really the point here. And neither is the wait list.

Unlike Latin, BASIS offers a rigorous curriculum, does tons of testing, and doesn't socially promote. It is definitely more suited to more academically motivated kids--and those kids are going to be scattered around DC. True, it does get a lot of kids from the Hill but the Hill also has a lot of academically motivated kids.

However, plenty of people list BASIS in the lottery, especially people that don't have good in-bounds options, because all they have to do is check a box. Then, if they get in, they realize that the school isn't a good fit for their kid and go elsewhere. Other parents decide on BASIS because they don't have a good in-bounds option and, if that is their sole reason for sending their kid, are often disappointed.

Saying Latin is more popular than BASIS is like saying a Billie Eilish concert is more popular than a hackathon. A concert is easy and fun; a hackathon is tough and challenging. Sure, a concert is a more popular but a hackathon is more valuable.

The fact is that there is plenty of demand for an elementary school like BASIS but BASIS will never be truly "popular" because it is hard and challenging.

Right, Latin's a walk in the park through and through, explaining why our neighbor's kid was admitted to Princeton from Latin two years ago. That same spring, zero BASIS students were admitted to Ivies.

You're painting with much too broad a brush, PP.

Our BASIS student was bored in humanities and language classes in middle school. We didn't stay for high school. Don't buy the hype about high octane BASIS academics. It's not a GT program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. You overestimate the popularity of the Basis middle school. Most CH families with 4th graders who enter the 5th grade lottery list both Latins ahead of Basis. The Basis waitlist also moves 60+ spots every summer; this means that there are 60+ families who listed Basis on their lottery bingo card and then after matching declined the space. You also underestimate the extent to which some core CH families moved into their current home in part due to the IB elementary school. They are not likely to give that up in early elementary to commute to Basis simply to lock in the middle school. Lastly, people will disagree here, SH/EH have some buy-in now where not everyone is likely to know precisely how they feel about that option until they take a harder look at it in the late elementary years. Shaw is its own different question mark with rights to Francis Stevens and Euclid.

SH/EH do both have some buy in now. Enough that it angers me to no end that they didn’t combine them to do a Deal for Ward 6. It would have worked.

Yes -- this is the way!

Right! Never happening. Why dwell on it?

Certainly the city has no incentive to do anything good with the schools as long as everyone has this attitude.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. You overestimate the popularity of the Basis middle school. Most CH families with 4th graders who enter the 5th grade lottery list both Latins ahead of Basis. The Basis waitlist also moves 60+ spots every summer; this means that there are 60+ families who listed Basis on their lottery bingo card and then after matching declined the space. You also underestimate the extent to which some core CH families moved into their current home in part due to the IB elementary school. They are not likely to give that up in early elementary to commute to Basis simply to lock in the middle school. Lastly, people will disagree here, SH/EH have some buy-in now where not everyone is likely to know precisely how they feel about that option until they take a harder look at it in the late elementary years. Shaw is its own different question mark with rights to Francis Stevens and Euclid.

Popularity is not really the point here. And neither is the wait list.

Unlike Latin, BASIS offers a rigorous curriculum, does tons of testing, and doesn't socially promote. It is definitely more suited to more academically motivated kids--and those kids are going to be scattered around DC. True, it does get a lot of kids from the Hill but the Hill also has a lot of academically motivated kids.

However, plenty of people list BASIS in the lottery, especially people that don't have good in-bounds options, because all they have to do is check a box. Then, if they get in, they realize that the school isn't a good fit for their kid and go elsewhere. Other parents decide on BASIS because they don't have a good in-bounds option and, if that is their sole reason for sending their kid, are often disappointed.

Saying Latin is more popular than BASIS is like saying a Billie Eilish concert is more popular than a hackathon. A concert is easy and fun; a hackathon is tough and challenging. Sure, a concert is a more popular but a hackathon is more valuable.

The fact is that there is plenty of demand for an elementary school like BASIS but BASIS will never be truly "popular" because it is hard and challenging.

Right, that's the only thing people dislike about BASIS. Couldn't be anything else, right? BASIS is perfect.

How I wish this was not anonymous because this is almost certainly "secondhand information" and it would be easier to disengage with this person if we all knew her name and see when she posts.

Previous poster is correct about Latin v BASIS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. You overestimate the popularity of the Basis middle school. Most CH families with 4th graders who enter the 5th grade lottery list both Latins ahead of Basis. The Basis waitlist also moves 60+ spots every summer; this means that there are 60+ families who listed Basis on their lottery bingo card and then after matching declined the space. You also underestimate the extent to which some core CH families moved into their current home in part due to the IB elementary school. They are not likely to give that up in early elementary to commute to Basis simply to lock in the middle school. Lastly, people will disagree here, SH/EH have some buy-in now where not everyone is likely to know precisely how they feel about that option until they take a harder look at it in the late elementary years. Shaw is its own different question mark with rights to Francis Stevens and Euclid.

Popularity is not really the point here. And neither is the wait list.

Unlike Latin, BASIS offers a rigorous curriculum, does tons of testing, and doesn't socially promote. It is definitely more suited to more academically motivated kids--and those kids are going to be scattered around DC. True, it does get a lot of kids from the Hill but the Hill also has a lot of academically motivated kids.

However, plenty of people list BASIS in the lottery, especially people that don't have good in-bounds options, because all they have to do is check a box. Then, if they get in, they realize that the school isn't a good fit for their kid and go elsewhere. Other parents decide on BASIS because they don't have a good in-bounds option and, if that is their sole reason for sending their kid, are often disappointed.

Saying Latin is more popular than BASIS is like saying a Billie Eilish concert is more popular than a hackathon. A concert is easy and fun; a hackathon is tough and challenging. Sure, a concert is a more popular but a hackathon is more valuable.

The fact is that there is plenty of demand for an elementary school like BASIS but BASIS will never be truly "popular" because it is hard and challenging.

Right, that's the only thing people dislike about BASIS. Couldn't be anything else, right? BASIS is perfect.

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. You overestimate the popularity of the Basis middle school. Most CH families with 4th graders who enter the 5th grade lottery list both Latins ahead of Basis. The Basis waitlist also moves 60+ spots every summer; this means that there are 60+ families who listed Basis on their lottery bingo card and then after matching declined the space. You also underestimate the extent to which some core CH families moved into their current home in part due to the IB elementary school. They are not likely to give that up in early elementary to commute to Basis simply to lock in the middle school. Lastly, people will disagree here, SH/EH have some buy-in now where not everyone is likely to know precisely how they feel about that option until they take a harder look at it in the late elementary years. Shaw is its own different question mark with rights to Francis Stevens and Euclid.

Popularity is not really the point here. And neither is the wait list.

Unlike Latin, BASIS offers a rigorous curriculum, does tons of testing, and doesn't socially promote. It is definitely more suited to more academically motivated kids--and those kids are going to be scattered around DC. True, it does get a lot of kids from the Hill but the Hill also has a lot of academically motivated kids.

However, plenty of people list BASIS in the lottery, especially people that don't have good in-bounds options, because all they have to do is check a box. Then, if they get in, they realize that the school isn't a good fit for their kid and go elsewhere. Other parents decide on BASIS because they don't have a good in-bounds option and, if that is their sole reason for sending their kid, are often disappointed.

Saying Latin is more popular than BASIS is like saying a Billie Eilish concert is more popular than a hackathon. A concert is easy and fun; a hackathon is tough and challenging. Sure, a concert is a more popular but a hackathon is more valuable.

The fact is that there is plenty of demand for an elementary school like BASIS but BASIS will never be truly "popular" because it is hard and challenging.

Anonymous wrote:Eastern has low utilization and low in-boundary numbers. They also have a very low percentage of students at grade level. If they have advanced offerings - like, real academic differentiation across the subjects beginning in the 9th grade - that's a huge potential draw.

These aren't going to be advanced offerings. They will be "advanced" in the sense that the teacher won't have to stop as often to deal with behavior issues and everyone in the class will be able to read, but I wouldn't hope for more than that. They get a few field trips and guest speakers per year and do some modules on https://www.university-startups.com/ but that's not going to teach them anything a kid from a home with two college-educated parents wouldn't already know. There's no secret TJ or even Banneker or Walls buried within Eastern.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eastern is already running some super-non-transparent application program for kids who apply. Typical DCPS fashion of being really secretive and subjective about admissions.

https://www.easternhighschooldcps.org/pdf/2023_EPIC_edition1_newsletter.pdf

yes but that's for kids who already got in (by living in-bounds, going to a feeder, or getting a space through the lottery). There's a lot DCPS could do at the middle school level to increase the number of in-boundary kids who want to go to Eastern and getting kids more prepared for high school by the time they enroll in Eastern.

I don't think the issue is intentional secrecy, if you go to an open house or reach out to the school they are happy to explain it. I think it is a newer program and it has some overlap with criteria to other selective programs. They talked about it when I went to an open house last year. This could be a separate thread in itself, but as someone with a child in one of the feeder middle schools, I am curious to hear how that program is for the kids who are enrolled.

If they said publicly "we give an admissions test, this is for students who are working above grade level, and you will be in tracked classes for all of your core academic subjects", the response would be intense both from opponents of that approach as as well as from parents who wanted to send their kids. (Which would be a problem if this became the destination for UMC kids on the hill, attracting more of that first kind of attention.) Being vague about what they're doing reduces that attention. I don't think that's nefarious, but it sure makes it a lot less helpful in terms of letting parents plan high school options.

I think it is-- it's DCPS trying to look out for their own insiders by making the process as opaque and accountability-free as possible.

Like one of the prior poster says - email the people on the flier, visit the school, talk to parents currently in the program, lots of ways to get these questions answered. From my understanding there is a component that is based on GPA and other assessment data, and an application (since my child is still in middle school I have not personally clicked through it to see what it consists of). Then students meet with a counselor to determine if they are a good fit for the program. I assume things can change as enrollment grows, or from lessons learned.

But why does it have to be requested? Why isn't it on MySchoolDC, which exists for the purpose of providing this kind of information?

"We might tell you eventually if you ask" is not transparency. Just put it online like the other selective schools do. Not that complicated.

Because the program is for kids already at the school. You don't lottery into it. If you want a chance at it, you enroll at Eastern. Just like the health sciences academy there, or the J-R academies, or the Dunbar football team--none of which are applied to through MySchoolDC.

It's weird because it could attract more good students to Eastern (regardless of IB or not) so why keep it a secret?

DCPS doesn't have a desire to attract more "good" students to Eastern. That's where your thinking is misguided. There are people who work at the school who don't see that at all as their mission either. Honestly if your kid is reasonably close to grade level and shows up to school most days and isn't a major discipline problem, they are going to be above average at Eastern and extremely likely to get into this program, so I wouldn't sweat a situation where they enroll and are then rejected from the program. More likely is that the program just goes away, because like most things in DCPS they're the pet project of a couple of people and folks with initiative tend to move on after a while, or get burned out.

Anonymous wrote:Eastern has low utilization and low in-boundary numbers. They also have a very low percentage of students at grade level. If they have advanced offerings - like, real academic differentiation across the subjects beginning in the 9th grade - that's a huge potential draw.

Indeed! If only information about it were readily available... Sounds crazy I know.

Eastern has low utilization and low in-boundary numbers. They also have a very low percentage of students at grade level. If they have advanced offerings - like, real academic differentiation across the subjects beginning in the 9th grade - that's a huge potential draw.