Yes, assuming you have time to go and talk to a large selection of middle school teachers (don't want to base your assumptions on what just one or two people said) and assuming they're all not too busy teaching to talk to you, you also need to ask them their opinion on different kinds of students. Because, as research has shown, family SES has a lot to do with children's success in school so you will need to ask that large sample of willing middle school teachers how kids who have a high SES background who went to LT do at their schools.

Good luck with that.

If I were doing this all over again (kid has graduated from HS), I'd do what some of the LT posters are obviously doing -- taking it on a year by year basis. Waiting to see what happens with the school and waiting to see what their kid needs as opposed to just rejecting the school out of hand because other posters on DCUM wouldn't be caught dead there.

Recognizing that teacher awards are not a "data point" does not detract in any way from the efforts or accomplish,ends of those individuals.

I have to agree with PP, 11:03/04, you sound very defensive and angry. I think talking to middle school teachers about incoming students from ANY elementary school is a great way to go. I will remember to do that in a couple years when I am choosing an elementary school for my now preschooler.

Then you are hearing what you *want* to hear. For all I know, the middle school teachers will rave about the awesome LT students who come so ready to learn and prepared for a tough curriculum and then all the naysayers will shut the **** up.

Perhaps your tone.

I thought I was being productive. And having no stake, am not angry. Those cheating allegations are serious and I am simply suggesting a way to evaluate the school beyond one teacher and test scores that are unreliable for multiple reasons. Talk to middle school teachers. Get their opinions on LT students. Why on earth is that suggestions causing you to tell me to go away?

And since you are not considering Lt and are not doing the research...go away. Your comments are annoying, angry, and unproductive.

Of course you had to reply to something positive with something angry and negative. Geez. You can't possibly be a happy person.

Congrats to this talented and dedicated teacher and all the others receiving the award. But this is not a hard data point. It is a subjective assessment of one teacher. Unfortunately, because of doubts cast because of high numbers of erasures on DC cas tests at LT along with spiking and falling test scores along with the general un reliability of the DC cas scores evidenced by the current controversy over different scoring metrics and cut scores there are no HARD data points that prospective parents can look at.

If I was considering LT and was trying to evaluate the quality of the academic program in the upper grades there is only one place I would go after observing the teaching for myself. I would go talk to the 6th grade teachers who receive the LT graduates in their new middle schools. I would ask those teachers how well prepared, in general, they have found students from LT. Are they prepared and ready to handle tough work in 6th grade? Can they write well? Do they deeply understand math concepts? Can they read a complicated science text and make sense of it?

Of course subjective but more reliable than the hard data pointed to on this thread.

Here's a hard data point about excellence at Ludlow-Taylor. The 5th Grade Teacher was just awarded a Rubenstein for excellence in teaching. Congrats to her!

http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/About+DCPS/Who+We+Are/Honoring+our+Educators/Teaching+Awards/2013+Rubenstein+Awards+for+Highly+Effective+Teachers?utm_campaign=RSVP%20Reminder&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=Rubenstein%20Award%20Winners

I should add that Capitol Hill teachers/principals generally are well represented in the Rubenstein awards so before somebody knocks this as not a hard data point, be careful what you're then saying about the teachers at SWS, Brent, Maury, Watkins, etc that have also received such awards.

there* woops

Anonymous wrote:

Agreed! We are an in-boundary family that just started PS-3, and it gave me great hope that we might be able to stay for the long haul. There were a ton of parents forming committees to work on various projects (gardens, grant writing, sports teams, etc.) that will make the school even better. The principal doesn't give me warm fuzzies, but to be honest, I don't remember any of the principals from my childhood being sweet, preschool teacher types. Principals are administrators, and she seems to be keeping the administration train running, so I can't complain.