Colfax School -- Reputation?

[Hopes]

Scrapp, are your kids reached grades 6 thru 8 yet?

[mimideede]

Hi. These are all really helpful replies. Thank you. And yes, I am referring to Pgh's Colfax. I am not sure what the parent with kids at Colfax for the first time this year meant by "too traditional" either -- I don't know if it's about a curriculum that doesn't feel flexible for different learning styles, or too much homework in early grades, or a curriculum that doesn't address diversity -- but those might be some of the things that would come to my mind if I was using the term. It's also good to hear exactly how cuts have affected the school. I had heard class sizes might be around 30 students, but that doesn't sound like the case.

[scrapp]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Scrapp, are your kids reached grades 6 thru 8 yet?

The oldest is in 6th, but did the magnet lottery for SciTech and got in (one of three from Colfax that got in for 6th grade at SciTech)...

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by scrapp

The oldest is in 6th, but did the magnet lottery for SciTech and got in (one of three from Colfax that got in for 6th grade at SciTech)...

Then you don't really know first hand what 6 thru 8 is like at Colfax.

Only 3 got into SciTech. How many other magnets are there? I forget.

Colfax has 679 students. It has 8 grades. We can roughly assume it has 85 students per grade.

Say there are only 3 magents and 3 get into each. That's over 10% of the grade leaving Colfax in 6th grade.

[gg]

I have to say, my head spins when I read these threads. The unknown is certainly a negative. The word "lottery" is not something I would like to say when dealing with kid's education, but if you do hit the lottery I guess it is a good thing. I haven't heard much about SciTech. What sort of reputation does it have?

[scrapp]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Then you don't really know first hand what 6 thru 8 is like at Colfax.

Only 3 got into SciTech. How many other magnets are there? I forget.

Colfax has 679 students. It has 8 grades. We can roughly assume it has 85 students per grade.

Say there are only 3 magents and 3 get into each. That's over 10% of the grade leaving Colfax in 6th grade.

I'd have to be a student in middle school to know "first hand" what 6 thru 8 is like. I'm afraid I'm too old for that... but visiting the school to get more direct information than you can get here is a good idea that I recommend.

My comments are based on interactions I've had as a parent with middle-level parents, students, and staff at Colfax. I also attended the middle-level open house last spring to learn more about the program.

I wouldn't be surprised at 10% but I don't have the data to know. I can say that there were 3 rounds of 5th grade last year, and this year there are also 3 rounds of 6th grade (so the drop wasn't enough to lose a round). The main magnet options parents I know consider are CAPA, SciTech, and maybe Obama. These are all 6-12 magnets.

[scrapp]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

I have to say, my head spins when I read these threads. The unknown is certainly a negative. The word "lottery" is not something I would like to say when dealing with kid's education, but if you do hit the lottery I guess it is a good thing. I haven't heard much about SciTech. What sort of reputation does it have?

Well, the district would argue that it is a weighted lottery, but I don't take a lot of comfort out of that (with CAPA you also have to audition, for what it is worth). Since we live in the Colfax feeder pattern and could do middle level there, I wasn't that worried about the lottery since the fallback position was fine too. You'd have to weigh your options more carefully in a bad feeder pattern... e.g. cost of moving vs. cost of private school and future college student loan debt loads.

SciTech is relatively new, this is the first year they've had a 12th grade class. That may be why it isn't as well known. For us it is "so far so good" but it is still early going for us...

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by scrapp

I wouldn't be surprised at 10% but I don't have the data to know. I can say that there were 3 rounds of 5th grade last year, and this year there are also 3 rounds of 6th grade (so the drop wasn't enough to lose a round). The main magnet options parents I know consider are CAPA, SciTech, and maybe Obama. These are all 6-12 magnets.

I would guess that plays a big role in things. Those magnets are all very desirable, but a huge portion of the city now has K-8 rather than K-5 primary school, meaning there will be a dropoff in terms of neighborhood school enrollment.

Hell, I think a few of the magnets see a drop in enrollment (Arsenal, Montessori) from 5th to 6th grade, probably because parents in the magnet system see better choices available elsewhere within the magnet system.