To go back to the original question, it's hard to play the lottery game unless you've got a back-up. so nerve-wracking, and the truth is, you may strike out on every front.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard good things about Powell too!!

http://www.greatschools.org/modperl/achievement/dc/99

I guess you only judge a school by its test scores? Also, those scores are from 2010.

compare these to average VA publics

http://www.greatschools.org/modperl/achievement/va/588

http://www.greatschools.org/modperl/achievement/va/543

http://www.greatschools.org/modperl/achievement/va/131

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never put it the way incendiary PP put it. But as with most polemic statements there IS a kernel of truth in there.

The schools that are measurably "improving" over time in DCPS and have stayed that way (ie, it wasn't ErasureGate) have "improved" because of gentrification. The former residents didn't kill each other with stolen handguns, but they did indeed move away and were replaced by younger college-educated white, black and Hispanic white residents who don't have babies at 13 (girl) or drop out at 13 (both) or join a gang at 13 (boy).

Show one single DCPS where this demographic shift wasn't behind the "school" "improving".

I can't help but notice that not a single school has been offered up here. Interesting.

Oh, please. As if DCUM posters even know the entire laundry list of schools that have "improved" in DC...

Cleveland ES has had fairly consistently high achievement with a high # of FARMs. There are any # of charters with high #s FARMs that have high achievement. Not all good schools are full of gentrifiers.

http://www.greatschools.org/modperl/achievement/dc/81

Anonymous wrote:I've heard good things about Powell too!!

http://www.greatschools.org/modperl/achievement/dc/99

I've heard good things about Powell too!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never put it the way incendiary PP put it. But as with most polemic statements there IS a kernel of truth in there.

The schools that are measurably "improving" over time in DCPS and have stayed that way (ie, it wasn't ErasureGate) have "improved" because of gentrification. The former residents didn't kill each other with stolen handguns, but they did indeed move away and were replaced by younger college-educated white, black and Hispanic white residents who don't have babies at 13 (girl) or drop out at 13 (both) or join a gang at 13 (boy).

Show one single DCPS where this demographic shift wasn't behind the "school" "improving".

I can't help but notice that not a single school has been offered up here. Interesting.

Powell looks like it has been improving without a demographic shift.

Anonymous wrote:We're "indigenous" to DC and our current income would not qualify us for a $250k mortgage. DH bought our house many years ago using a DC program that helped people buy with no money down.

I guess we should just shoot ourselves or move away....

no one has a right to live anywhere, if this was the case everyone would demand subsidies to live in beverly hills. income ratio to subsides and a high average incomes is an indicator of the quality of the public education, quality and education of the residents and safety of the neighborhood

Back to the original question, the main problems are a) you might not get a spot in a school you like through the lottery, and b) getting your child to/from the charter or OOB school will probably be a pain. It seems like this year the lottery may have been a little less painful than usual due to a new charter school or two that people were really excited about, but you don't know what the ratio of applicants to spots in schools you like will be several years in the future. Depending on how far the school is from where you live, you might spend more time commuting than if you had bought a house close to a good elementary in the suburbs even though it would be further from work. The recent thread entitled something like sick of this lottery shit has some other perspectives.

I would also recommend looking at the MPD's crime mapping online to get a more objective view of crime. Also walk around in the evening (ideally when it's warmer so more people will be out) and see what you think of the feel of a particular area, including if people seem friendly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never put it the way incendiary PP put it. But as with most polemic statements there IS a kernel of truth in there.

The schools that are measurably "improving" over time in DCPS and have stayed that way (ie, it wasn't ErasureGate) have "improved" because of gentrification. The former residents didn't kill each other with stolen handguns, but they did indeed move away and were replaced by younger college-educated white, black and Hispanic white residents who don't have babies at 13 (girl) or drop out at 13 (both) or join a gang at 13 (boy).

Show one single DCPS where this demographic shift wasn't behind the "school" "improving".

I can't help but notice that not a single school has been offered up here. Interesting.

Oh, please. As if DCUM posters even know the entire laundry list of schools that have "improved" in DC...

Cleveland ES has had fairly consistently high achievement with a high # of FARMs. There are any # of charters with high #s FARMs that have high achievement. Not all good schools are full of gentrifiers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my personal calculations, if I needed to buy a house in DC that required daily use of a car to get to schools, pharmacy, coffee shops, WORK , I would not continue to ]live in the city. The largely car free lifestyle is the key thing that offsets the public school madness for me. I also look toward the future when my teenagers will be able to walk, bike, metro to wherever they need to be.

This.

I live in upper NW and can do all those things without a car. I live near a metro stop and a shopping area, as do many people around here.

Anonymous wrote:I would never put it the way incendiary PP put it. But as with most polemic statements there IS a kernel of truth in there.

The schools that are measurably "improving" over time in DCPS and have stayed that way (ie, it wasn't ErasureGate) have "improved" because of gentrification. The former residents didn't kill each other with stolen handguns, but they did indeed move away and were replaced by younger college-educated white, black and Hispanic white residents who don't have babies at 13 (girl) or drop out at 13 (both) or join a gang at 13 (boy).

Show one single DCPS where this demographic shift wasn't behind the "school" "improving".

I can't help but notice that not a single school has been offered up here. Interesting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First, your crime map link shows crimes committed west of Georgia Ave, in 16th St Heights. You might want to get a clue about geography.

And oops, you're posting data on schools west of Georgia, too.

I'm in Petworth, in bounds for Powell, and I agree that the school's scores are bad. I've also met the campus & cluster principals, both of whom are working like dogs to improve the school. I'm still not sending my kids there, largely because I got lucky in charter lotteries early on, but I would have been ok with it for PS3 & PK.

Participating in public education while living in Petworth requires patience, a lack of prejudice, perseverence or luck, sometimes all four. And yet there are many of us who do it. Please stop telling me that my friends & I don't exist.

The problen is the Indigenous population. Until they move out or kill themselves off the dcps in those poor indigenous areas will never get to a passing level of 60 to 70 percent test scores let alone the fcps or Montgomery averages of 90%+. Dc should be pushing these people out not enabling them.

BTW, no it is not. The "indigenous" population of this region has not resided in the District of Columbia for several hundred years. You need not encourage the Native Americans to kill themselves and/or each other off, that job has been done.

What you meant to say, is that you'd like to encourage the poor, brown people to kill themselves or each other off. You just realized how revolting and offensive that sounds, so you thought you'd use a euphemism, one which you apparently don't understand.

Now, we can have genuine intellectual differences on where the line is, between enabling and abandoning. What almost everyone can come together over, in great harmony, is the idea that education is absolutely a ticket out of poverty. So, you can't be faulted for not wanting to throw your child into a societal welfare project. However, you can be faulted for wanting those children to "kill each other off."

You see the difference?

We're "indigenous" to DC and our current income would not qualify us for a $250k mortgage. DH bought our house many years ago using a DC program that helped people buy with no money down.

I guess we should just shoot ourselves or move away....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC has tried to keep them in with programs like this, more subsidised housing than montgomery county, fairfax couny and arlington , yet they are all defaulting.

"The average home price for a subsidized buyer in the District as of late 2009 was about $230,000, but the program is far bigger than those in neighboring jurisdictions. Alexandria assisted 37 buyers and Montgomery 148 in 2010. Arlington has assisted 22 buyers since 2009.

The District in 2010 provided loans to 362 buyers. Records show the city ramped up its push to put low-income families into homes around 2006, as housing prices increased.
"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/in-dc-loan-program-mortgage-defaults-abound/2011/11/29/gIQAPt4Z1P_story_2.html

What is wrong with helping low income people buy homes? Poor does not equal criminal.

On the face of it, nothing. However, when you "help" people acquire mortgages that they're unprepared to handle, you crash housing sector of the U.S. market. There's a good reason that banks have traditionally required 20% down and a documented salary which covers the mortgage.