Any Walls boosters / haters these days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My younger child is more capable than my older where STEM work goes and would undoubtedly have done well on the Walls entrance exam. Younger scored in 700s on the SAT freshman year for CTY. Older never qualified for CTY. Falling standards are obvious if you have your eyes open. There aren't as many Walls students who can handle the most advanced math taught as there were pre-Covid. From what we hear, kids don't score as high on APs overall or take as many on average. There aren't as many seniors cracking Ivies and top SLACs. There are (minor) discipline issues in classes that we didn't hear about before. Humanities assignments get dumbed down a bit comparatively, because there aren't as many advanced humanities students. If you don't want to believe it, fine, but this is what's happening. Hint: Yale, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown etc. haven't brought back the SAT post Covid for no reason.

The 2023 class was the last to come in through the old way (entrance exam and interview).

Are you claiming to know the college outcomes of every kid for the class of 2024 when I would imagine a fair number have not even yet decided on their college?

I know a few 2024s at Walls (don’t have a kid there) and their college outcomes seem great. Maybe I just know the only 3 going to Top 20 colleges.

NP pointing out that Walls has slipped partly because of Covid learning loss/school closures, a general problem nationally. It's impossible to separate out the Covid issues from the no entrance exam issues at Walls. But I agree that eliminating exam scores from the admissions process was a big mistake on DCPS' part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is bizarre, including OPs post. I don't know why a question about a school someone is considering would be juxtaposed by boosters v haters, when for most schools it's a lot of in between. DCUM is a place of extremes and not one I'd go to for actual feedback on a school.

These Walls posts are so predictable. You could play a drinking game off of them. Key phrases include: admissions are a lottery/crapshoot, the school is going downhill, crew team woes, and bonus points for the amazing kid who got into every selective private school but rejected from Walls.

+1

Meanwhile all these parents are upset their kid didn’t get into Walls. If it’s going downhill and so on, why would you want your kid to go there?

The rub is that Walls is going downhill. I know this because I have a kid who graduated pre-Covid and another who attends now, making me a rare Walls parent. The students being admitted without the exam and standardized test score just aren't as sharp overall as the current crop. The principal just isn't half as effective as the old one. And so on. Pretending that Walls isn't going downhill may make you feel good, but it's not reality.

This is obviously, empirically going to be true.

What can be done?

Nothing can be done. Bowser is our education czar because DC hasn't had an elected school board for many years and isn't on track to get one back. Bowser essentially runs unelected. She doesn't give a hoot about falling standards at Walls or in any other DC public school. She installed the current weak chief admin at Walls because she was looking for an empty suit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My younger child is more capable than my older where STEM work goes and would undoubtedly have done well on the Walls entrance exam. Younger scored in 700s on the SAT freshman year for CTY. Older never qualified for CTY. Falling standards are obvious if you have your eyes open. There aren't as many Walls students who can handle the most advanced math taught as there were pre-Covid. From what we hear, kids don't score as high on APs overall or take as many on average. There aren't as many seniors cracking Ivies and top SLACs. There are (minor) discipline issues in classes that we didn't hear about before. Humanities assignments get dumbed down a bit comparatively, because there aren't as many advanced humanities students. If you don't want to believe it, fine, but this is what's happening. Hint: Yale, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown etc. haven't brought back the SAT post Covid for no reason.

Thanks for confirming that you don't have evidence. I also think it's pretty gross to call children "not as sharp" but even worse when you have nothing but a feeling and hearsay to back that up.

Why do I get the feeling that you don't have teens at Walls, never have and never will?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My younger child is more capable than my older where STEM work goes and would undoubtedly have done well on the Walls entrance exam. Younger scored in 700s on the SAT freshman year for CTY. Older never qualified for CTY. Falling standards are obvious if you have your eyes open. There aren't as many Walls students who can handle the most advanced math taught as there were pre-Covid. From what we hear, kids don't score as high on APs overall or take as many on average. There aren't as many seniors cracking Ivies and top SLACs. There are (minor) discipline issues in classes that we didn't hear about before. Humanities assignments get dumbed down a bit comparatively, because there aren't as many advanced humanities students. If you don't want to believe it, fine, but this is what's happening. Hint: Yale, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown etc. haven't brought back the SAT post Covid for no reason.

Thanks for confirming that you don't have evidence. I also think it's pretty gross to call children "not as sharp" but even worse when you have nothing but a feeling and hearsay to back that up.

Why do I get the feeling that you don't have teens at Walls, never have and never will?

Sorry to disappoint. My kid loves Walls.

[Anonymous]

Which doesn't alter the fact that many if not most current Walls students would not have been admitted via the pre-Covid admissions process because they weren't adequately prepared and are insufficiently academic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My younger child is more capable than my older where STEM work goes and would undoubtedly have done well on the Walls entrance exam. Younger scored in 700s on the SAT freshman year for CTY. Older never qualified for CTY. Falling standards are obvious if you have your eyes open. There aren't as many Walls students who can handle the most advanced math taught as there were pre-Covid. From what we hear, kids don't score as high on APs overall or take as many on average. There aren't as many seniors cracking Ivies and top SLACs. There are (minor) discipline issues in classes that we didn't hear about before. Humanities assignments get dumbed down a bit comparatively, because there aren't as many advanced humanities students. If you don't want to believe it, fine, but this is what's happening. Hint: Yale, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown etc. haven't brought back the SAT post Covid for no reason.

Thanks for confirming that you don't have evidence. I also think it's pretty gross to call children "not as sharp" but even worse when you have nothing but a feeling and hearsay to back that up.

The proportion of students failing to pass the Geometry and Algebra II PARCC rose significantly from 2018-2019 to 2023-2023. The figures were 17% and 15% and now they're 33% and 26%. (Algebra I numbers weren't reported in 2018-2019.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which doesn't alter the fact that many if not most current Walls students would not have been admitted via the pre-Covid admissions process because they weren't adequately prepared and are insufficiently academic.

WTF dude - talk about lack of evidence for these emphatic statements! "Fact"?? "Many, if not most"? You have no clue if this is true or not, and no way to possibly measure it. My kid is a 9th grader there under the new admission standards and scored 99th percentile on 9th grade PSAT and is acing all classes (now, I don't think the classes at Walls have been particularly challenging in 9th grade, but that is another topic for discussion). I assume kid would have also gotten in under old admission process as well (but of course could never know that for sure).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My younger child is more capable than my older where STEM work goes and would undoubtedly have done well on the Walls entrance exam. Younger scored in 700s on the SAT freshman year for CTY. Older never qualified for CTY. Falling standards are obvious if you have your eyes open. There aren't as many Walls students who can handle the most advanced math taught as there were pre-Covid. From what we hear, kids don't score as high on APs overall or take as many on average. There aren't as many seniors cracking Ivies and top SLACs. There are (minor) discipline issues in classes that we didn't hear about before. Humanities assignments get dumbed down a bit comparatively, because there aren't as many advanced humanities students. If you don't want to believe it, fine, but this is what's happening. Hint: Yale, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown etc. haven't brought back the SAT post Covid for no reason.

What's this mean "Younger scored in 700s on the SAT freshman year for CTY"? 700+ in both math and verbal, so 1400+ overall? Seems like quite a score for a freshman anywhere

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which doesn't alter the fact that many if not most current Walls students would not have been admitted via the pre-Covid admissions process because they weren't adequately prepared and are insufficiently academic.

WTF dude - talk about lack of evidence for these emphatic statements! "Fact"?? "Many, if not most"? You have no clue if this is true or not, and no way to possibly measure it. My kid is a 9th grader there under the new admission standards and scored 99th percentile on 9th grade PSAT and is acing all classes (now, I don't think the classes at Walls have been particularly challenging in 9th grade, but that is another topic for discussion). I assume kid would have also gotten in under old admission process as well (but of course could never know that for sure).

+1. Walls obviously still has lots of kids who would have gotten in under the previous admissions process. The applicant pool is doing a lot of the work here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which doesn't alter the fact that many if not most current Walls students would not have been admitted via the pre-Covid admissions process because they weren't adequately prepared and are insufficiently academic.

WTF dude - talk about lack of evidence for these emphatic statements! "Fact"?? "Many, if not most"? You have no clue if this is true or not, and no way to possibly measure it. My kid is a 9th grader there under the new admission standards and scored 99th percentile on 9th grade PSAT and is acing all classes (now, I don't think the classes at Walls have been particularly challenging in 9th grade, but that is another topic for discussion). I assume kid would have also gotten in under old admission process as well (but of course could never know that for sure).

Fact is, for every kid like your at Walls there's a B+ student who sailed in for reasons unknown. The current admissions process doesn't separate the sheep from the goats. That's why New York City has stuck with the brutal SHSAT high school admissions exam for decades, Boston Latin and Cambridge Rindge and Latin given an equally tough homegrown exam, and many high school magnets around the country go with the PSAT 8/9 in admissions.

[Anonymous]

There are also kids with A averages from failing DCPS middle schools who lack basic skills. Only a standardized admissions test would reveal such inadequacies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which doesn't alter the fact that many if not most current Walls students would not have been admitted via the pre-Covid admissions process because they weren't adequately prepared and are insufficiently academic.

WTF dude - talk about lack of evidence for these emphatic statements! "Fact"?? "Many, if not most"? You have no clue if this is true or not, and no way to possibly measure it. My kid is a 9th grader there under the new admission standards and scored 99th percentile on 9th grade PSAT and is acing all classes (now, I don't think the classes at Walls have been particularly challenging in 9th grade, but that is another topic for discussion). I assume kid would have also gotten in under old admission process as well (but of course could never know that for sure).

+1. Walls obviously still has lots of kids who would have gotten in under the previous admissions process. The applicant pool is doing a lot of the work here.

Right, so why would a standardized test be problem for the highfliers? Bring the test back without harming them. Those who defend ditching the tests are missing a simple truth. Getting rid of the tests has alleviated pressure on District ed leaders to ensure that the brightest and hardest-working poor kids can crack Walls and Banneker on their merits with the academic skills they need to thrive learning alongside better prepared UMC classmates. In Boston and NYC, an investment in admissions test prep centers for poor kids (open to all, free) helps keep poor kids in the magnet school admissions game. Bowser with rather go for low-cost shortcuts to increasing diversity, thereby short-changing the most capable low ses URMS. Voters have let her get away with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which doesn't alter the fact that many if not most current Walls students would not have been admitted via the pre-Covid admissions process because they weren't adequately prepared and are insufficiently academic.

WTF dude - talk about lack of evidence for these emphatic statements! "Fact"?? "Many, if not most"? You have no clue if this is true or not, and no way to possibly measure it. My kid is a 9th grader there under the new admission standards and scored 99th percentile on 9th grade PSAT and is acing all classes (now, I don't think the classes at Walls have been particularly challenging in 9th grade, but that is another topic for discussion). I assume kid would have also gotten in under old admission process as well (but of course could never know that for sure).

Fact is, for every kid like your at Walls there's a B+ student who sailed in for reasons unknown. The current admissions process doesn't separate the sheep from the goats. That's why New York City has stuck with the brutal SHSAT high school admissions exam for decades, Boston Latin and Cambridge Rindge and Latin given an equally tough homegrown exam, and many high school magnets around the country go with the PSAT 8/9 in admissions.

What? I'm pretty off topic here, but: Cambridge Rindge and Latin is just a public school that anyone can go to so long as you live in Cambridge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My younger child is more capable than my older where STEM work goes and would undoubtedly have done well on the Walls entrance exam. Younger scored in 700s on the SAT freshman year for CTY. Older never qualified for CTY. Falling standards are obvious if you have your eyes open. There aren't as many Walls students who can handle the most advanced math taught as there were pre-Covid. From what we hear, kids don't score as high on APs overall or take as many on average. There aren't as many seniors cracking Ivies and top SLACs. There are (minor) discipline issues in classes that we didn't hear about before. Humanities assignments get dumbed down a bit comparatively, because there aren't as many advanced humanities students. If you don't want to believe it, fine, but this is what's happening. Hint: Yale, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown etc. haven't brought back the SAT post Covid for no reason.

Thanks for confirming that you don't have evidence. I also think it's pretty gross to call children "not as sharp" but even worse when you have nothing but a feeling and hearsay to back that up.

The proportion of students failing to pass the Geometry and Algebra II PARCC rose significantly from 2018-2019 to 2023-2023. The figures were 17% and 15% and now they're 33% and 26%. (Algebra I numbers weren't reported in 2018-2019.)

It's called The Pandemic! These kids will wear that label. It has been devastating for them. This is a nation wide issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which doesn't alter the fact that many if not most current Walls students would not have been admitted via the pre-Covid admissions process because they weren't adequately prepared and are insufficiently academic.

WTF dude - talk about lack of evidence for these emphatic statements! "Fact"?? "Many, if not most"? You have no clue if this is true or not, and no way to possibly measure it. My kid is a 9th grader there under the new admission standards and scored 99th percentile on 9th grade PSAT and is acing all classes (now, I don't think the classes at Walls have been particularly challenging in 9th grade, but that is another topic for discussion). I assume kid would have also gotten in under old admission process as well (but of course could never know that for sure).

Fact is, for every kid like your at Walls there's a B+ student who sailed in for reasons unknown. The current admissions process doesn't separate the sheep from the goats. That's why New York City has stuck with the brutal SHSAT high school admissions exam for decades, Boston Latin and Cambridge Rindge and Latin given an equally tough homegrown exam, and many high school magnets around the country go with the PSAT 8/9 in admissions.

Another "fact" that is NOT a fact - the admission cut off last year was approx 3.9. So the "fact is" there were no B+ students admitted! I wish posters would be a little more careful with their assertions. (Also - my understanding is that cut off this year was 3.7 - so still no B+ students admitted)