Month: December 2019

Shaw School Review: KIPP GROW/LEAD/WILL

Technically these are three separate schools…. but on one campus on the corner of P and 5th St NW.
KIPP- Will KIPP Shaw DC Campus
421 P Street NW

Type of school: Public Charter
Grades:   Grow Academy Grades PreK3-K
………………Lead Academy Grades 1-4
………………WILL Academy Grades 5-8
Before & After School care: Yes. See operator, AlphaBest’s flyer for prices.
Enrollment: 1046 (Grow 318; Lead 400; WILL 328)  (2018-19)
PCS LEA 1 Programmatic Capacity: 1050 (2018-19)
Cost Per Pupil- $19,269 2018 DC Funding per Student/$21,057 Expenses per student for all KIPP schools. Neither the DCPSCB nor OSSE has this data broken down by school.

Attracts Students From These DCPS schools (2017-18), 10 students or more

KIPP GROW-Pre-K 3& 4 and K # of Students
Hendley Elementary School 11
Walker-Jones Education Campus 22
Thomson Elementary School 14
Tubman Elementary School 10
Smothers Elementary School 16
Nalle Elementary School 10
Langley Elementary School 19
Seaton Elementary School 37
Cleveland Elementary School 10
KIPP-LEAD Grades 1-4 # of Students
Thomas Elementary School 15
Truesdell Education Campus 10
Walker-Jones Education Campus 26
Thomson Elementary School 17
Plummer Elementary School 11
Langdon Elementary School 14
Langley Elementary School 18
King Elementary School 12
Seaton Elementary School 45
Cleveland Elementary School 22
KIPP WILL Grades 5-8 # of students
School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens 17
Walker-Jones Education Campus 42
Cardozo Education Campus 34
Hart Middle School 20
Johnson Middle School 11
Columbia Heights Education Campus 6-8 (CHEC) 16
Brookland Middle School 10
Sousa Middle School 11
Kelly Miller Middle School 31
McKinley Middle School 11
Seaton Elementary School 14
LaSalle-Backus Education Campus 11
Kramer Middle School 10

Physical Activity Time: Grades K-5: 335.00 Minutes/week

PARCC Scores 2018-19, % meeting & exceeding expectations KIPP- LEAD
Black White Hispanic Asian
ELA 2018-19 39.7% n<10 n<10 n<10
Math 2018-19 68.6% n<10 n<10 n<10
Males ELA 30% n<10 n<10 n<10
Males Math 62.2% n<10 n<10 n<10
PARCC Scores 2018-19, % meeting & exceeding expectations KIPP- WILL
Black White Hispanic Asian
ELA 2018-19 36.4% n<10 53.8% n<10
Math 2018-19 32.1% n<10 53.8% n<10
Males ELA 29.3% n<10 n<10 n<10
Males Math 28.7% n<10 n<10 n<10

Mari’s 2cents– Well the enrollment numbers explain the traffic clusterfrack that sometimes occurs along P Street and the 1500 block of 5th Street in the mornings and afternoon. So many Maryland tags…..
KIPP is a large collection of schools and only some data points are broken down by individual schools. DC isn’t the only source of revenue for KIPP as they use Federal and donor funds.
The math test scores for African-American boys at KIPP-Lead are better than I’ve seen than any school in Shaw. ELA (English) is ‘eh’.
KIPP does attract a number of students away from Shaw in-boundary schools like Seaton and Cleveland Elementary. But what I found curious was the number of students from School Without Walls @ Francis-Stevens, which is a stone’s throw from the Park. What’s up with that? Also there are a bunch of schools I had not heard of that aren’t Shaw or Brookland or Eckington adjacent. For KIPP-WILL a lot of students are in the Cardozo and Walker-Jones boundaries. Because of logistics, if you are on the other side of the road of death that is New York Avenue, I understand why. And Cardozo is a PITA to get to.

Sources:
https://www.kippdc.org/schools/
https://www.alphabest.org/kippdc
https://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/osse/publication/attachments/2018-19%20UPSFF%20Payment%20Letter.pdf
EdScape_Chapter 3 Facilities_Facility Enrollment and Utilization_6
https://dcpcsb.egnyte.com/dl/CLgymS38ng/
https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/KIPP%20DC%20PCS_Financial%20Analysis%20Report_2.pdf
FY1718_Public School Enrollments per DCPS Boundary
Detailed 2018-19, 2017-18, 2016-17 PARCC And MSAA Performance

University Park, MD: You don’t need a city manager

I normally try to keep things local. Very local. I don’t like it when people from outside try to tell people inside how to run things. Such as Maryland people who visit DC for work or worship vocally complaining about bike lanes or speed cameras, which are for the people who live here. So I know it isn’t none of my business, but, University Park, MD you don’t need a city manager.

I probably have hinted several times that we are looking to move out of the District for career reasons. Yes, I could commute from DC but I swore never to do that commute again. So we are researching the College Park-Hyattsville-Riverdale area. Part of that was looking at University Park, which is west of College Park.

University Park has a newsletter. I don’t remember which newsletter I originally looked at, but the current one is still talking about hiring a city manager. Neighboring College Park has a city manager,  and rightly so. College Park is a town/city of over 30,000, University Park, on the other hand, is a village of about 2,600. It already has a paid mayor.

I think my high school was about that size. There are residents who are fighting back against the idea of a city manager because of the extra taxes it would cost each household, and there are less than 1,000 households in UP. I think the taxes in UP are high compared to College Park and Hyattsville (two places I have lived). On the other hand, the high taxes do kinda make the neighborhood exclusive, which could be seen as a perk, in addition to the resident only shuttle bus service. Keeps the rowdy students out.

Shaw School Review: St. Augustine Catholic School

St. Augustine school DC
1421 V Street NW

Type of school: Parochial / Private
Grades: Pre-K3 to 8
Before School care: Unsure (ADW says yes)
After School care: Yes, $1,875.00 per child
Enrollment: 183 (2018-19)
Student:Staff Ratio: 6:1

PS K 1st  2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th
15 15 12 17 20 18 24 21 18 23

Cost Per Pupil-$13,750  Tuition: $6,250.00 per child (Archdioceses of Washington-ADW provides a $7,750.00 subsidy for every student)

2017-18 PARCC Classification

St-Aug-1

St-AugMathRegion

St-Aug-Reading St-Aug-Math

Mari’s 2cents: This will be the only private school I will be reviewing because finding information about private schools is a bit more challenging. The data is stale because it looks like the Roman Catholic Archdioceses of Washington (ADW) only bothered testing everyone in the 2017-2018 school year. When I look for test data at other Catholic schools they cite 2017-2018 as well. They have a different test, Scantron.
Compared to the rest of DC, and I’m assuming it is DCPS, charter and maybe some other schools, St. Augustine tests very well. Forty-nine percent of it’s students are performing at or above expectations (using the PARC 1-5 system) in reading/ ELA and 51% in Math, compared to DC-State at 28% and 27%. I should also mention the school is about 98% African American.

Sources:
https://staug-dc.org
Q4 Attachment – Private School Enrollment SY14-15 SY15-16 SY16-17, SY17-18 to date (Excel Sheet)
https://adwcatholicschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2018-2019-Strategic-Data-Portfolio-FINAL.pdf
https://d2y1pz2y630308.cloudfront.net/17051/documents/2019/3/St.%20Augustine%202017%20-%202018%20Local%20PARCC.pdf

Shaw School Review: Cleveland Elementary School

Schools

1825 8th St. NW

Type of school: Public
Grades: Pre-K 3 to 5

PreK3: 29;  PreK4: 44; K: 42; 1st: 37; 2nd: 35; 3rd: 40; 4th: 39; 5th: 38

Before School care: No
After School care: Yes, Fee
Enrollment: 304 (2018-19)
Permanent DCPS Programmatic Capacity, 346; Unfilled Seats, 42 (2018-19)
Cost Per Pupil- $11,029 (300 students 2019-2020 General Education)

Boundaries

Percent of in-boundary participation: 29.1% (2017-18)

Schools attended by in-boundary students (2017-18)

Name of School # of Students
Seaton Elementary School 25
KIPP DC – Lead Academy PCS 22
Thomson Elementary School 17
Friendship PCS – Armstrong 13
KIPP DC – Grow Academy PCS 10

Physical Activity Time: Grades K-5: 75 Minutes/week

PARCC Scores 2018-19, % meeting & exceeding expectations
Black White Hispanic Asian
ELA 2018-19 20.3% N/A 29.7% n<10
Math 2018-19 20.3% N/A 40.5% n<10
Males ELA 10.8% N/A 21.1% N/A
Males Math 24.3% N/A 42.1% N/A

Mari’s 2cents: I’m taking the participation rate with a grain of salt because I’m not sure if they are counting Pre-K kids who have to lottery into the boundary and space is limited. I have another table for other institutions that take OSSE money for Pre-K so there is that. Also notice which schools students are going to instead of Cleveland, Seaton (DCPS), KIPP Lead and Grow, Friendship-Armstrong, and Thompson (DCPS), these are schools in Shaw or close to it. Two of them are other DCPS schools, so it isn’t that DCPS schools aren’t fitting a need, just that particular one. I’m including unfilled seats because someone tweeted about a horrible number of unfilled seats in Ward 5. Forty-two seats seem small and I suspect those are spread out to the higher grades as the peak number of kids is below 1st grade. Cleveland has a dual language program for Spanish and English which looks very interesting and appealing. But you want to know what’s even more appealing? It’s like almost across the street from the Shaw metro.

Sources:

2018-19 School Year Annual Enrollment Audit Report Supplemental Tables
EdScape_Chapter 3 Facilities_Facility Enrollment and Utilization_6
http://dcpsbudget.ourdcschools.org/
https://www.dcschoolreportcard.org/schools/1-0224
https://www.myschooldc.org/schools/profile/23/
Detailed 2018-19, 2017-18, 2016-17 PARCC And MSAA Performance
FY1718_Public School Enrollments per DCPS Boundary

Buy This House: 1616 4th St NW

So our longtime neighbors have moved and are selling their house. Since they bought the house they moved into (for more space w/ legit parking), they need to get their old one sold, pronto! So if you’re thinking about buying a house in the TC let me tell you about 1616 4th St NW by pointing out a few things. Also, there will be an artshow/ open house on Friday 12/6 at 5:30pm , where the current owner will be showcasing some of his art work.

Greenery in the city– The owners love growing things. They had plants inside and out. In the rear are several pine trees, that was so the owner could wake up and see green. In the front they grew tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, basil, and other edibles. They also have planted a Japanese maple, right now it isn’t looking too hot, but in the spring and fall it is lovely. Their small porch they had several small potted plants. There are exterior spigots in the front and back for easy watering.

Kids on the Block– There are kids on the block including my own. A lot of the daycare and pre-school set, mainly boys. When they are seen (they aren’t out hanging about) they are with their mommies and daddies in a stroller. We are in the boundary of Seaton Elementary School (Pre-K 3- 5th grade) which scores highly on Great Schools. There are several Seaton families on 4th St.  The Google group for parents is Bloomingdale Kids.

Awesome Commute?– Yes, depending on where you are going. On the other side of the block you can catch the G2 (LeDroit to Georgetown), and the 96 (Tenleytown).  A block or two away are the 90, G8 and G9 bus stops. A 10 minute walk for me is the Shaw-Howard metro station. It is between the Q and R street bike lanes and there are two Capital Bikeshare stations within a block (or two). I haven’t had to wait more than 6-8 minutes for an Uber. If you must drive, the entrance to I-395 is a few blocks down New Jersey Avenue. So plenty of options.

Walkable neighborhood– The Walkscore is 95. We walk almost everywhere. The Giant is about a 10-15 minute walk if you don’t want to catch the G2. ANXO, is so close you could walk home drunk, but please drink responsibly. Truxton Inn is close too but that requires crossing Florida Ave, so you still need your wits about you.

Great block– The 1600 block of 4th St is the best. Our unofficial block captain Brian keeps the sidewalks clean, along with help from other neighbors. If you move here introduce yourself to the blond giant from Chicago and get on the no drama block email list. It is a quiet street, except when a firetruck is roaring down New Jersey, but eventually you kind of ignore that.

1616 4th Street NW– Built circa 1872-1875 housing black laborers, it is modern and renovated. It has a few flourishes from the previous occupants, notably the interior windows in the front bedroom that allow for light to go down into stairwell. It is listed by Keller Williams Capital.

Who can buy this– Okay, let’s just address an elephant in the room. Yes, $750K is a lot of money. But a shell, a cursed shell mind you, several doors down sold for $625K in November. Most likely buyers would be a DINK, double income, no kids (yet) with professional jobs who sold their condo. Other possible buyers could be single adults who are getting assistance from family (grandma’s will, parent’s co-buying, divorce settlement, etc). A developer could buy it since we aren’t in a historic district and try something, but FAR and a near neighbor’s solar panels might limit that. Families on public assistance aren’t potential buyers. Even with a 20% down payment a 30 year mortgage with great credit is over $3,000 a month (including taxes & insurance). That is above what the voucher program allows in this neighborhood even if it were to be rented.

If you think you are going to be around DC for a while, I would encourage you to buy a condo (although I, myself, despise condos) because maybe you can upgrade later in life when you’ve become more established in your career. You can use the sale of that condo, plus savings, and you have to have savings, to buy something like 1616 4th St NW in the future.

Shaw School Review: Dunbar High School

Dunbar High School DC (new building).jpg
By DC Public Schools – http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/school_images/full_size/dunbar.jpg, Public Domain

101 N Street NW, Washington, DC 20001

Type of school: Public
Grades: 9-12
Enrollment: 667 (2018-19)
Permanent DCPS Programmatic Capacity, 1135; Unfilled Seats, 468 (2018-19)
Boundaries

Dunbar HS boundaries

Percent of in-boundary participation: 52%

Schools attended by in-boundary students (2017-18)

NAME OF SCHOOL # of Students
McKinley Technology High School 128
Woodrow Wilson High School 109
Washington Mathematics Science Technology PCHS 90
Columbia Heights Education Campus 9-12 (CHEC) 88
Duke Ellington School of the Arts 87
Paul PCS – International High School 83
KIPP DC – College Preparatory Academy PCS 82
Benjamin Banneker High School 75
Cardozo Education Campus 70
Washington Leadership Academy PCS 69
Friendship PCS – Collegiate Academy 65
School Without Walls High School 65
Washington Latin PCS – Upper School 59
Goodwill Excel Center PCS 53
Capital City PCS – High School 53
Luke C. Moore High School 52
Eastern High School 48
District of Columbia International School 46
Roosevelt High School 42
E.L. Haynes PCS – High School 39
Ron Brown College Preparatory High School 37
Cesar Chavez PCS for Public Policy – Capitol Hill 35
Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School 35
Coolidge High School 34
Kingsman Academy PCS 32
IDEA PCS 30
Thurgood Marshall Academy PCS 29
Cesar Chavez PCS for Public Policy – Parkside High School 28
Washington Metropolitan High School 28
Richard Wright PCS for Journalism and Media Arts 27
H.D. Woodson High School 14
BASIS DC PCS 14
Ballou High School 13
Maya Angelou PCS – High School 12
SEED PCS of Washington DC 10

Physical Activity Time: 160 minutes a week

Before Care/ After Care: None

PARCC by Race

PARCC Scores 2018-19, % meeting & exceeding expectations
Black White Hispanic Asian
ELA 2018-19 16.5% N/A n<10 N/A
Math 2018-19 .5% N/A n<10 n<10
Males ELA 13.4% N/A n<10 N/A
Males Math .9% N/A n<10 n<10

 

Mari’s 2 cents: I’m playing around with the format of this so bear with me.  The boundaries of Dunbar cover a huge swath of Ward 5, but cuts out portions of the Truxton Circle/ Shaw neighborhood where it resides. I can understand why so many students would prefer to go to McKinley Technology High School, an application DCPS high school, as it is far closer to the red line that serves the ward. That and McKinely has better test scores. The next largest number of kids go to Wilson, which is on the other side of the red line, and it too has better scores. But, Dunbar has a great football team and a beautiful building. The school is 96% black and so there are so few of the other racial categories, there is no test data when there are fewer than 10 or 25 students.

Sources:
https://edscape.dc.gov/page/facilities-unfilled-seats
https://www.dcschoolreportcard.org/schools/1-0467
http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Dunbar+High+School
https://www.myschooldc.org
https://dcps.dc.gov/node/1018342
https://www.tablesgenerator.com/html_tables#

No such thing as a bad school in DC

Dunbar2
Old Dunbar High School being demolished in 2013


Are there any bad public schools in DC?

I think there are but I don’t know if I really want to bother with petty fights with people who feel the need to defend failure. No one is free to say that since a school fails to have a decent bell curve of failing and excelling students and is skewed towards failure, that maybe it could be a bad school. Nor can you point to low in-boundary participation, the mismatch of demographics between the school and the neighborhood, and empty seats and say that people/parents are saying something in their actions.

Personally, I know that acknowledging problems is the first step to recovery and towards success. Doesn’t guarantee success, but it helps to stop the self-deception.

There are some great public schools in the District of Columbia, not all of them charters.  Shepherd Elementary School in upper northwest, does an awesome job of educating black boys. Over 70% of Shepard’s African American boys, between 2016-2019, approached, met and exceeded expectations on PARCC scores in math and ELA. Sadly, this is rare.

The number of schools where black boys fail to meet or even partially meet expectations are many. So many. Both charters and DCPS. But I’m not going to name them for they have their defenders.

I get it. Education is hard. There is a mix of building issues, the kinds of families (students and parents) a school attracts, the staff who come and stay, and the leadership. These need to be in balance. But you can’t fix the problem and try to figure out what is out of wack if you won’t even identify what is a bad school.

I’ll be exploring Shaw schools, and I will name names.