To the point about early college programs - I think the point of them is less that you *can* get an associate degree, but more that you can get college exposure and access. If people remember HI-SCIP, that's what early college reminds me of, more than dual enrollment.

I don't have an opinion on the worthiness of such programs in DC, but here in North Carolina, I'm not a fan. My county is one of the worst academic performers in the state, and the early college program is sending people to..... HVAC school?

But the funding here is also dramatically different than in DC.

Anyway, best wishes to all the families.

Coolidge is a decent school. Go there, or not, you'll be fine.

Hello!

So, I am going to address the original post then sorta ruminate on the responses.

My bias: I am a Coolidge alumnus from 1997 and I am the administrator of a 4,000 member completely unofficial Coolidge alumni group on Facebook. The group is not affiliated with the school or the alumni association, and neither am I. I am also the son and nephew of alumni.

My blind spot: I have lived in rural North Carolina for the past five years. (This plays into one of my responses below)

My ethic: I don't believe in anonymous message boards, which is why I am not anonymous today lol

To the initial question... I think Coolidge is and typically has been a decent neighborhood school. I chose Coolidge when Rabaut closed because it was too late to apply to Duke Ellington's programs. I stayed at Coolidge because it had a positive culture and was average, normal, and regular.

I think a family should choose Coolidge today for those same reasons. After years upon years of revolving Principals, Coolidge has Ms. Bright at the helm. I believe she is only the third woman principal in the school's history and one of the longest serving ones in two generations. I do not know her personally, but I know people she supervises and some of her DCPS peers. She has a positive reputation. I can tell that the students like and respect her. I believe she has created a culture of stability that the school needed overall, and particularly during and since COVID.

There was a period where I FULLY EXPECTED Coolidge not to make it. I was resigned to believe "Welp, that's a nice spot for condos, hope I can get on the waitlist." This was when enrollment was perilously low. Now it is not. That means something.

For me (former educator), I understand the interest in PARCC scores and AP scores. Funny aside - when I was at Coolidge and took the AP English course, I pissed my teacher off when I refused to sit for the exam. My rationale was "Nah.... I don't need the credits, thanks though" AND I didn't feel like what he was teaching us lined up with the exam in such a way that I'd really score a 5. And why take it if I don't get a five.

(I now know me not taking the test probably screwed up his evaluation. Oh well, should have been nicer to me.)

That said, I think the AP exams are dumb and racist and I don't care if they are part of a school or not.

Coolidge seems to me to have structures in place to guide students through college admissions in a reasonable, reflective, and realistic way. Much like my era, students are getting placed at some decent colleges, some great colleges, and some colleges I've never heard of. Others are entering professional and trade programs.

Coolidge would probably be best for families who don't need a full-service school that holds their hands. I see the most successful students as the ones who have strong family support and are not susceptible to distractions.

Coolidge will not stress you out. It hasn't stressed anyone out in like 80 years. That's why I keep harping on the beautiful averageness of the school. It's acceptable at Coolidge to be a big fish, a smarty-pants, a jock, a JROTC head, or whatever works for your child.

Plenty of other schools are out there if you need your kid to be an ivy leaguer or to stratify yourselves socially. But it's also possible to do those things at Coolidge.

Now that I'm more middle-aged than young, I know it's all a game, and the families that win are the families that play--not those families who want their schools to do everything for them.

Anonymous wrote:Is part of the purpose to actually try to lure inbound families back to Coolidge? There are enough high performing students who live inbounds for Coolidge that could apply to the early college program who could succeed in the AP classes in 9 and 10 and blow away the Trinity courses. There are options in the schedule at Trinity to take higher level college courses to (I.e. calc and higher) if a kid in the program was ready for them.

The catch is those students need to apply and go.

If they added PARCC requirements for admission, they'd be the only high school program in the city doing it. They'd get takers.

Anonymous wrote:
But why does DCPS try to run before it can walk? Why start early college programs when it has mostly pitiful high schools. Why not focus on at least improving middle schools so we never need the pathetic mayoral slogan “Deal for All”. Where are we getting all these accelerated middle schoolers from who are actually ready for the early college scenario.



Because the goal isn't to give kids actual skills. The goal is to give them credentials so they can get hired for jobs that require high school or associates degrees. Will they be good at those jobs? Not really a dcps concern.

So cynical and yet so true.

Anonymous wrote:Is part of the purpose to actually try to lure inbound families back to Coolidge? There are enough high performing students who live inbounds for Coolidge that could apply to the early college program who could succeed in the AP classes in 9 and 10 and blow away the Trinity courses. There are options in the schedule at Trinity to take higher level college courses to (I.e. calc and higher) if a kid in the program was ready for them.

The catch is those students need to apply and go.

NP and we are one of those families where our child could do the coursework at the Coolidge early college program and are in-boundary. The problem is I know Trinity from my work with DCPS and just don’t see the coursework as meaningful or challenging. I also don’t think it will help my kid prepare for a competitive college.

Is part of the purpose to actually try to lure inbound families back to Coolidge? There are enough high performing students who live inbounds for Coolidge that could apply to the early college program who could succeed in the AP classes in 9 and 10 and blow away the Trinity courses. There are options in the schedule at Trinity to take higher level college courses to (I.e. calc and higher) if a kid in the program was ready for them.

The catch is those students need to apply and go.

Anonymous wrote:But why does DCPS try to run before it can walk? Why start early college programs when it has mostly pitiful high schools. Why not focus on at least improving middle schools so we never need the pathetic mayoral slogan “Deal for All”. Where are we getting all these accelerated middle schoolers from who are actually ready for the early college scenario.

Because the goal isn't to give kids actual skills. The goal is to give them credentials so they can get hired for jobs that require high school or associates degrees. Will they be good at those jobs? Not really a dcps concern.

But why does DCPS try to run before it can walk? Why start early college programs when it has mostly pitiful high schools. Why not focus on at least improving middle schools so we never need the pathetic mayoral slogan “Deal for All”. Where are we getting all these accelerated middle schoolers from who are actually ready for the early college scenario.

Anonymous wrote:my guess is they did both because of geography. Nobody travels east across the Anacostia for schools and Coolidge is almost in Takoma Park MD.

+1 I live right near Coolidge and I occasionally have to go near Bard for work... that commute can easily take me almost an hour driving door-to-door and taking public transit there would take far longer than that, so having both programs is probably intended to provide access to kids in all of EOTP and Anacostia.

Anonymous wrote:Trinity is not much of a college to begin with. It is basically using its relationship with DCPS to stay afloat. It appears to be a very small cohort that is able to complete the AA degree. Where do kids go with that? Stay at Trinity?
Also, why does no one talk about the Bard Early college program? I have seen no information on how that is going. And why did DCPS start two early college programs at the exact same time and they are both tiny.

4% of the Bard Early College students last year passed the math PARCC. This is another program where they're taking kids who aren't at grade level and putting them into "early college."

On the plus side, they have to take two semesters of a lab science in 11th or 12th grade, and in general the courses look less like a carboard cutout of a college experience than they do at Trinity: https://bhsec.bard.edu/dc/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2021/03/BHSEC-DC-Course-Catalog.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:you guys are freaking out about Takoma? Am I reading this right?

Yes. There are some people on this board who are showing themselves to be scared of their own shadows at this point. Truly the only time I've experienced anything resembling "trouble" was when I was walking with my head down and walked straight into a tree branch. It's basically a suburb.

Gun violence is very localized. Last year, there were at least three separate incidents near Coolidge involving gunfire. A Safe Passage worker was murdered, a student was robbed at gunpoint (and shots were fired), and Coolidge (and Wells and Whittier) were put on lockdown because of gunfire.

Also that bicyclist that was shot and killed, but that was at night. The memorial is on third and something.

Quackenbos, I think. I drive by that corner all the time.