US News 2024 rankings

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Walls #1 in DC, #68 Nationally
Banneker #2 in DC #96 Nationally
Basis #3 in DC, #400 Nationally
DCI #4 in DC, #788 Nationally
McKinley #5 in DC, #1032 Nationally

The DC Rankings may be close but the spread Nationally is very telling. Don't be angry with Walls. Its a special place.

Say what you want about great schools in MD and VA, but the only school that beat out Walls in the DC "Metro Area" Ranking was Thomas Jefferson in Alexaxndria #1 in DC Area Metro Ratings (Walls #2) and #14 Nationally. Every other school in the area can "please step to the side", DC is coming through.

Do VA and MD have pure application only high schools like Walls and Banneker other than TJ?

Yes they have magnet schools which also self selects like above.

There are no other magnet highschools in Fairfax county public schools other than TJ. I can't speak for Arlington county.

MD has magnets. VA has another whole separate program called AAP which self selects and tracks and starts early in elementary and goes to 8th grade. Then many but not all kids then apply to TJ if interested.

So VA really has the mose self selection of the students the earliest. It’s important to know that.

Sure.

Q: Are the VA AAP programs ranked separately or are the scores folded into the overall schools for US News and Report?

A: The scores are folded into the overall school so not an apples to apples comparison with other self-selected or lottery highschools.

AAP is only in Fairfax county.

Sure, but you can't compare application highschools schools like Walls to FFX county schools with AAP because the AAP programs are not reported separately from the larger school that accepts all in boundary students, nor ranked separately for US News.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would just like to say…

Walls is ranked #68 nationally and DCI is ranked #778

That’s a big difference.

The 2 are not comparable. Walls self selects and DCI doesn’t.

I would agree that DCI does a really good job with all the students, not just the higher performing ones.

It’s a good school with a very diverse student body. Throw in a college like campus with great facilities, lots of extracurriculars and sports and it’s not hard to see why it has become so popular. It’s the closest middle and high school EOTP similar to what you can get in the burbs.

The academics at DCI are awful, especially compared to suburban schools. It’s not even close!

And DCI is ranked fourth in DC which means only that’s it’s better than some really terrible DC schools.

I hate to bring up another school that is endlessly debated on DCUM, but I'd like to take issue with this--by some standards, JR might be the best school in DC (e.g. it offers the most AP courses), but USN&WR ranks it well below DCI. I don't have an opinion as to whether USN&WR's rankings make sense, but DCI's rank does mean more than "better than some really terrible DC schools."

[Anonymous]

I appreciate these rankings for grounding me. I had a good high school experience: challenging coursework, many AP offerings, a large cohort of high-achieving peers, lots of ECs available. And my high school ranks well below all of the schools discussed in this thread. Helped me realize my kid doesn't need the BEST school. Just a good one.

[Anonymous]

Great work by these schools!

[Anonymous]

Walls shot up nationally too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate these rankings for grounding me. I had a good high school experience: challenging coursework, many AP offerings, a large cohort of high-achieving peers, lots of ECs available. And my high school ranks well below all of the schools discussed in this thread. Helped me realize my kid doesn't need the BEST school. Just a good one.[/quote]


Absolutely. Figuring out which schools pass the "good enough" threshold is so much better than trying to figure out "the best." Optimizing will make you crazy. But thinking about "good enough" reveals many options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate these rankings for grounding me. I had a good high school experience: challenging coursework, many AP offerings, a large cohort of high-achieving peers, lots of ECs available. And my high school ranks well below all of the schools discussed in this thread. Helped me realize my kid doesn't need the BEST school. Just a good one.

Absolutely. Figuring out which schools pass the "good enough" threshold is so much better than trying to figure out "the best." Optimizing will make you crazy. But thinking about "good enough" reveals many options.

[Anonymous]

Everyone here keeps bringing up that schools offer a lot of AP courses. Doesn’t it matter more how students score on those APs to determine the efficacy of a school? AP classes in name don’t automatically mean rigor. You could teach Algebra in ap calculus and no one would know by the course name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone here keeps bringing up that schools offer a lot of AP courses. Doesn’t it matter more how students score on those APs to determine the efficacy of a school? AP classes in name don’t automatically mean rigor. You could teach Algebra in ap calculus and no one would know by the course name.

Yes, and the rankings reflect the AP test scores received.

[Anonymous]

My takeaway from this list is that the only reason the DCUM crowd likes Latin is because it has a lot of white kids. Not because it’s actually a better school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My takeaway from this list is that the only reason the DCUM crowd likes Latin is because it has a lot of white kids. Not because it’s actually a better school.

Are you the same poster that keeps poking this bear and are feeling sad no one will take the bait?

If you don't like Latin, don't go. Some families have kids that need a smaller class size and less chrome book time than their alternatives. But, you can keep looking down your nose while they get what they need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My takeaway from this list is that the only reason the DCUM crowd likes Latin is because it has a lot of white kids. Not because it’s actually a better school.

Most families who go to Latin aren't actually on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My takeaway from this list is that the only reason the DCUM crowd likes Latin is because it has a lot of white kids. Not because it’s actually a better school.

Most families who go to Latin aren't actually on DCUM.

+1. Families go to Latin to avoid the "DCUM crowd."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My takeaway from this list is that the only reason the DCUM crowd likes Latin is because it has a lot of white kids. Not because it’s actually a better school.

I think there is a lot of truth there. My "cohort" at my title 1 DCPS is all gaga about Latin and sort of just assume that it's a good school, because all the other white families also try to get in. I think there might be some very good branding (because people think about Boston Latin, which is a truly impressive school.) so many middle schools -- like the ones ranked higher -- simply have better academics, but the reputational power and demographics sway people.

[Anonymous]

People go to Latin because they are zoned for schools where 70-80% of kids test below grade level and they can't afford your $2M home or $5k rent in upper NW where you look down your nose on them for going to Latin.