hahahahahaha! this is SO DCUM!! It's supposed to be a thread about Raving about your DCPS/charter school, but instead it's just another whine and cheese event!!!

If you basically like the environment at your IB DCPS or DC Charter school for elementary or middle school, and the price tag, but doubt that your DC is being pushed or challenged in math, these days, there are various affordable on-line resources available to supplement in-school instruction.

We find that on-line programs are cheaper and easier to use than hiring tutors to help ensure that a bright, math-minded kid doesn't fall behind students in privates or suburban G/T programs. Most of these programs use diagnostic tests so you know where to start.

In the last several years, our 6th grade son has done some work on most of these on-line programs on evenings and weekends:

KUMON MATH
SAXON MATH
KHAN ACADEMY MATH
SINGAPORE MATH
TUTORVISTA (company in India): Ages 6 through college, $100/month for 3-5 hours on-line tutoring per week; great deal and company.
Aleks.com

We'll look at Wilson and SWW for high school, but don't expect to find the same quality we've found in a charter elementary and middle school (Two Rivers).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[ Thank you for your post, PP. I am not from Germany, I went through the French educational system. I agree with your observations. Why not let kids who can handle it get more advanced work? What's up with the obsession with school being "fun"? Why isn't the emphasis on getting the kids more challenged? I feel awkward when family members from Europe come to visit and they compare my kids' school work to what the nieces and nephews are doing back in Europe. Everyone wonders how the American universities can be the best in the world when elementary-middle and high schools compare so poorly, at what grade do American kids catch up with the rest of the world? What do we do if someday we go back to Europe, the kids will be so much behind compared to their peers.

The challenge deficit you European posters are talking about is much more of a DC phenomenon than one observed in the Metro area's affluent suburbs, and competitive admissions urban schools in other cities. I went to Bronx Science high school out of gifted and talented public ES and MS programs, then to MIT for a BS and advanced engineering degree. My spouse, despite being from a low-income family, was bused into public schools in an upscale LA suburb and attended Cal Tech - same story.

I'm certain that my American classmates and I were never "behind" European counterparts, at least in science and math. Top European and Israeli students who attended college with us were not "ahead." If anything, our science education was superior because we had access to nicer computers and labs in our secondary schools.

As things stand, I won't send my math-oriented children to a DC PS past elementary, but would love to see them at a top suburban program. If you don't keep such views to yourself in a DCPS or charter school, many other parents, as well as teachers & administrators will attack! The issue is simply racial politics because so few low-SES AA kids excel and so many high-SES white and Asian ones (more all the time in the system) do, or would with more challenge. Friends in the burbs don't run away after elementary, and aren't shy about demanding ability grouping and challenge (because no guilt trip or "shut up!" forthcoming if they do). You're in for a lot of headaches here if you fret aloud about what will happen if you return to the Continent...you're just supposed to enjoy the lovely school community.

I do hope our DCPS experience will prove better that mentioned above...if not, unfortunately, we'll have to either get DC in private school or move to the suburbs. Or back to Europe for a few years.

Anonymous wrote:[ Thank you for your post, PP. I am not from Germany, I went through the French educational system. I agree with your observations. Why not let kids who can handle it get more advanced work? What's up with the obsession with school being "fun"? Why isn't the emphasis on getting the kids more challenged? I feel awkward when family members from Europe come to visit and they compare my kids' school work to what the nieces and nephews are doing back in Europe. Everyone wonders how the American universities can be the best in the world when elementary-middle and high schools compare so poorly, at what grade do American kids catch up with the rest of the world? What do we do if someday we go back to Europe, the kids will be so much behind compared to their peers.

The challenge deficit you European posters are talking about is much more of a DC phenomenon than one observed in the Metro area's affluent suburbs, and competitive admissions urban schools in other cities. I went to Bronx Science high school out of gifted and talented public ES and MS programs, then to MIT for a BS and advanced engineering degree. My spouse, despite being from a low-income family, was bused into public schools in an upscale LA suburb and attended Cal Tech - same story.

I'm certain that my American classmates and I were never "behind" European counterparts, at least in science and math. Top European and Israeli students who attended college with us were not "ahead." If anything, our science education was superior because we had access to nicer computers and labs in our secondary schools.

As things stand, I won't send my math-oriented children to a DC PS past elementary, but would love to see them at a top suburban program. If you don't keep such views to yourself in a DCPS or charter school, many other parents, as well as teachers & administrators will attack! The issue is simply racial politics because so few low-SES AA kids excel and so many high-SES white and Asian ones (more all the time in the system) do, or would with more challenge. Friends in the burbs don't run away after elementary, and aren't shy about demanding ability grouping and challenge (because no guilt trip or "shut up!" forthcoming if they do). You're in for a lot of headaches here if you fret aloud about what will happen if you return to the Continent...you're just supposed to enjoy the lovely school community.

Anonymous wrote:I believe it stands for Columbia Heights Educational Campus (public middle and high school at 16th and Irving)

And this is a DCPS school

I believe it stands for Columbia Heights Educational Campus (public middle and high school at 16th and Irving)

Anonymous wrote:Then wouldn't Mckinley become just another version of CHEC? Doesn't CHEC have an application process? I can't see the middle-school option for McKinley being application. Reason, is it will be the only DCPS middle-school for Ward 5 and if by chance my child doesn't get it, where does he/she attends as an alternative. Yes, the high-school portion has an application process but if he/she doesn't get in, there's Dunbar, Spingarn and Phelps.

What is CHEC. Is it charter or public?

I don't believe the proposal automatically admits a child into McKinley simply because he/she matriculated from the MS. The Ms is simply housed in McKinley's building because of the unused space. If you have not been in that school, it is huge. Only half of the building was renovated and the other half is still in shambles.

I heard that when it was renovated, DCPS decided to fill in the swimming pool. Idiots.

Anonymous wrote:Then wouldn't Mckinley become just another version of CHEC? Doesn't CHEC have an application process? I can't see the middle-school option for McKinley being application. Reason, is it will be the only DCPS middle-school for Ward 5 and if by chance my child doesn't get it, where does he/she attends as an alternative. Yes, the high-school portion has an application process but if he/she doesn't get in, there's Dunbar, Spingarn and Phelps.

Henderson has proposed three middle schools to be housed in Ward 5. The Old Brookland ES (renovated or torn down and rebuilt), Former Brwown MS, and McKinley. Brown is dedicated for IB. McKinley, for STEM, and I honestly don't remember if Brookland would have a special component, or simply a regular MS. BTW,

Then wouldn't Mckinley become just another version of CHEC? Doesn't CHEC have an application process? I can't see the middle-school option for McKinley being application. Reason, is it will be the only DCPS middle-school for Ward 5 and if by chance my child doesn't get it, where does he/she attends as an alternative. Yes, the high-school portion has an application process but if he/she doesn't get in, there's Dunbar, Spingarn and Phelps.

Love the idea of a math & science middle school. Wish it were happening in Ward 4 as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. WE're from Germany, at YY. We've posted on other thread about our good experiences there. We like the school because the Mandarin instruction is very good, but we don't understand why offering different levels for middle school subjects is hardly done in DC, and elsewhere in the USA. In Germany, and the rest of Europe, it's normal. In Germany, even if your child attends a gymnasium (most academic type of school) there will be two or three levels for most subjects, enabling the most academic children to do much more advanced work than in America. When parents ask for that here, they seem to get called names, snobs, racists etc. Voters worry about economic competitiveness while the American parents we know seem to worry most about school atmosphere, they want a caring, safe, nurturing atmosphere with involved parents more than difficult subjects for the smartest children. We don't understand this attitude.

Thank you for your post, PP. I am not from Germany, I went through the French educational system. I agree with your observations. Why not let kids who can handle it get more advanced work? What's up with the obsession with school being "fun"? Why isn't the emphasis on getting the kids more challenged? I feel awkward when family members from Europe come to visit and they compare my kids' school work to what the nieces and nephews are doing back in Europe. Everyone wonders how the American universities can be the best in the world when elementary-middle and high schools compare so poorly, at what grade do American kids catch up with the rest of the world? What do we do if someday we go back to Europe, the kids will be so much behind compared to their peers.

The American university system is great and it is possible (but not sustainable) to have a mediocre ES/MS/HS educational system overall because the US education system is 3-4 tiered. And the best schools at the ES/MS/HS and college/university level represent approximately 10% of the population. Keep in mind 70% of the population doesn't have a 4-yr degree. Only 10% have an advanced degree.

Anonymous wrote:+1. WE're from Germany, at YY. We've posted on other thread about our good experiences there. We like the school because the Mandarin instruction is very good, but we don't understand why offering different levels for middle school subjects is hardly done in DC, and elsewhere in the USA. In Germany, and the rest of Europe, it's normal. In Germany, even if your child attends a gymnasium (most academic type of school) there will be two or three levels for most subjects, enabling the most academic children to do much more advanced work than in America. When parents ask for that here, they seem to get called names, snobs, racists etc. Voters worry about economic competitiveness while the American parents we know seem to worry most about school atmosphere, they want a caring, safe, nurturing atmosphere with involved parents more than difficult subjects for the smartest children. We don't understand this attitude.

Thank you for your post, PP. I am not from Germany, I went through the French educational system. I agree with your observations. Why not let kids who can handle it get more advanced work? What's up with the obsession with school being "fun"? Why isn't the emphasis on getting the kids more challenged? I feel awkward when family members from Europe come to visit and they compare my kids' school work to what the nieces and nephews are doing back in Europe. Everyone wonders how the American universities can be the best in the world when elementary-middle and high schools compare so poorly, at what grade do American kids catch up with the rest of the world? What do we do if someday we go back to Europe, the kids will be so much behind compared to their peers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please tell me more about the Mckinley middle school. I am a white upper middle class parent and I would certainly be interested in sending my child there if it were to challenge him, even if he were the only white kid there. When will it open? is attendance based on a test?

thanks!

Ms Henderson has said that the school would open 2014-2015. We shall see. It is located in Eckington, Ward 5 and open to all DC students, with Ward 5 residents getting a preference. The school is to focus on high level math and science, as a bridge to the Mckinley Tech HS. Please don't ask me to define high level math and science from DCPS' point of view, for I cannot. Good question about application. I have not heard. The HS level is application, so perhaps so shall the MS.

Thanks! We are in ward 6 currently, but it may be worth it to move to ward 5 if the McKinley middle school will have a very strong math program. wish ward 6 had something similar for middle school!

I hope they pull it off. I know a lot of people are cheering for it to come to fruition. It's doubtful that you would need to move to Ward 5. As a previous poster noted, many of the families in Ward 5 send their children to charter or catholic schools, and may be too timid to try out McKinely MS in its infancy.

BTW, it is two blocks from the New York Avenue metro station.

Anonymous wrote:Here is the problem with any new middle school option in Ward 5--they won't attract a wide variety of parents in my view because There are no high performing DCPS elementary schools in Ward 5. Parents who view the elementary feeders unfavorably in Ward 5 are unlikely to suddenly trust a new DCPS middle school option in Ward 5 when all they see during the building block phase is limited proficiency. The 2nd problem is that DCPS is surrounded by charters in Ward 5 that are already more diverse that plan on going through middle.

Brookland @ Bunker Hill 37% proficiency
Burroughs 54%
Langdon 56%
Noyes 32%

You might be right in everything that you have stated. However, does that mean that DCPS should not try for a high level MS in Ward 5. My child attends one of those language immersion charters and he is absolutley brilliant in math. If Mckinley MS pulled off a high achieving math and science Deal-like MS, I would transfer my child in a heartbeat. None of the charters in Ward 5 have yet to prove that they are MS ready and capable.