DC Schools

Reina,
My authority is simply that I have one child in a DC public school and one in a DC parochial school and have talked to a number of other parents. I am not exactly sure what your situation is—perhaps, inferring from your post, a slightly dyslexic child with good performance.

My daughter is in the best public school (based on test scores) —Horace Mann. Over 50% of the kids scored advanced in both math and reading on the SAT-9. You could consider an out of bounds application for this school or the runner up, Lafayette. Some other not unreasonable choices are Janney, Key, Stoddert, and Murch. I can’t quite remember their test scores but you can check them out at washingtonpost.com. If an out of bounds applicant has an IEP, these schools probably would not accept him unless SAT-9 scores are high—principals are competing to get these as high as possible.

Also, resource is very limited, although at Mann there is at least a resource teacher on site. A couple of years ago someone came to the school just once a week and she tried to put parents off from getting services by saying, in response to parent’s concerns that some scores hovered around 3rd percentile, “I’ve seen worse.”

The real lack of special ed within the DC schools has led parents to sue the school system to get tuition paid for at private spec ed schools like Kingsbury and the Lab School in DC or others in VA or MD, or none spec ed that simply have small class size. Until about three years ago, a parent could win just about any suit because the school district never met mandated deadlines. The lawyers would produce private test findings that inevitably recommended intensive something or other that could only be found in a spec ed school. The school district would have to cover legal costs, as well as bussing costs. Over time, some lawyers were virtually running mills and about three years ago the draining of resources to pay for all the spec ed private tuition and lawyers became a public scandal. They have been trying to clean up the mess, but really don’t have enough spec ed teachers available to service all the spec ed kids in the public schools. And so the suits grind on, but action on them is a bit slower than in the past. You could try this route, but these days you will not be certain to win, and, if it doesn’t work, the IEP may be an impediment to getting into a parochial or an out of bounds school.

In addition, there are no programs for gifted kids that I know of in DC (excluding Banneker High School, which purportedly is simply a more academic high school—although for a long time the library was pathetically short of books.) The good teachers at a place like Mann will try to supplement a bit within the classroom. This doesn’t bother me, although my dd fits in this category. I’m very ambivalent about slotting kids in gifted programs in third grade as they do in the suburbs—as a citizen, I’d rather they put the resources into challenging the vast middle (so long as they don’t bore or penalize the bright ones). A truly gifted child will challenge himself in other ways.

Catholic school are a reasonable choice—they do a pretty good job teaching to the middle. You will not necessarily get dyslexia addressed except indirectly—sometimes moderate dyslexia is simply a result of subpar teaching using whole language and the like. That normally doesn’t happen in the Catholic schools. Tuitions in the inner city are pretty cheap. In the more upscale neighborhoods they can run $3800 to $5000. They normally will discount for employees, but you will have to luck into a situation.

Finally, yes you can move—but research carefully before you do to get in a good school district. I have heard complaints about a number of schools in Montgomery County, otherwise known for its excellent schools. The same is true of Arlington and Fairfax. (Falls Church, which is small, does not appear to have any blots.) On the other hand, special ed and gifted resources are light years ahead of DC. More and more kids in the outlying areas are trying to get into parochial and private schools as population pressures are stressing the school system. And of course, the districts with the best schools tend to have the priciest housing.

Reina, the situation is not easy—research as much as possible and talk to a lot of parents. Finally, have you thought about homeschooling?

You ask a few questions here and some very interesting ones. I can’t answer all of them but perhaps others can. I think I’ve been told that 1 out of every 10 people to 1 out of every 12 has a learning difference. If that’s true, that would be about 10% of the general population has a learning difference.

I was also taught that true learning differences are entirely neurological. Environmental issues, though, can give kids problems that basically do the same thing as learning differences which is make it hard for them to learn in school.

Only severe learning differences can get you tuition to a private school. Most students with learning differences remain in their school and it would be hard to get an IEP for a high-performing child.

It is true that some private schools will give your children a break or even free tuition if you work there but, in my experience, private schools first want to hire people who really want to work in their school - not those of us who might be looking for help with tuition.

As to how to get your child the education you want them to have, that’s a question many people are asking these days especially on these BBs.

Good luck.

The LD Diagnosis only rarely gets tuition of private school — and in every case I’ve known of it’s been to a private school designed to deal w/ LD needs especially. THe rules are written that a private school is a “more restrictive environment” — it’s the next step “more special” than, say, an all-day special class. You have to show that the private school provides very specific services for the special need that the public school doesn’t.
So even though a smaller setting with teachers who actually care and a system that *lets* them care would work a whole lot better, the public schools aren’t going to pay for it on those terms.

LD’s are very much affected by the environment, both in how a student is taught (the brain changes when we learn, after all — and when we don’t learn) and in the psychological environment, though I”m not sure what you mean by “violent behavior as children get older.” Learning and behavior issues can be very intertwined but just as improving a kid’s self esteem won’t teach him to read, but can make it possible, if a kid has behavior problems that keep him from succeeding in a learning situation they often have to be dealt with directly.

I sure wouldn’t want to try to get an education out of the DC system — though some of those surrounding counties aren’t much better. And there are lots of options for making private schools more affordable.

I think what I mean by if LD links to violence is that DC has many problems in its schools — lots of LD (more than 20%), many kids are not raised by parents (grandparents, aunts, foster families, other relatives), there is a high rate for drop outs, much violence and drinking, even smart girls seem to get pregnant in high school in large numbers.

I am wondering if LD is part of this problem or cause or not related.

For example, if I had IEP and my son went to a special class, he might meet kids with more behavior problems and get involved with people I wouldn’t want him with. If he stays in regular school or get to a harder school, he might make friends with higher goals and not risk all social problems even if he has to work harder.

Right now, we are in a poor area but with lots of people who come here to work hard and get better lives for their children, but a block away things are bad. I don’t want all this work to be ruined because of DC schools.

I’ve seen that happen — kids learn awful behaviors when that’s what they’ve got to look at in the classrooms, you can say all you want about “home is more important.” I’ve watched kids just figure “if they put me in this class, I must be just like them, I might as well act like them.” Really, really tough for kid and parent both — better to have to work harder, even to get much worse grades than to go that way. And if that’s the school’s standards of behavior, then it’s time to look hard at other options.