What Will My Kid Miss by Not Going to Jackson Reed?

[Anonymous]

So, our son's a middle schooler, a very good student so far, he tests very well.

This is kind of an odd one and I am a little uncertain of the responses I'll get here.

He has gone to one of the traditional DCPS middle schools where he's one of very few white kids and is actually quite happy.

He might just want to continue on to the local high school.

My question for you all is WHAT WILL HE MISS by not going to Jackson Reed for High School? How won't he be ready for college?

Generally, this is a kid who cares about grades and reads a lot and is a quick study at math. He doesn't have to try very hard, but he also as I mentioned typically aces tests. English tests he's off the charts and on math, not quite, but way above grade level.

I'm happy to scroll through the opinions for good information. Thanks for your thoughts!

[Anonymous]

You are writing as if you have a choice. Unless you live in-bounds or your son is currently attending a feeder to JR, he can’t attend. Are either one of these conditions met?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, our son's a middle schooler, a very good student so far, he tests very well.

This is kind of an odd one and I am a little uncertain of the responses I'll get here.

He has gone to one of the traditional DCPS middle schools where he's one of very few white kids and is actually quite happy.

He might just want to continue on to the local high school.

My question for you all is WHAT WILL HE MISS by not going to Jackson Reed for High School? How won't he be ready for college?

Generally, this is a kid who cares about grades and reads a lot and is a quick study at math. He doesn't have to try very hard, but he also as I mentioned typically aces tests. English tests he's off the charts and on math, not quite, but way above grade level.

I'm happy to scroll through the opinions for good information. Thanks for your thoughts!

Is he really above grade level, or is he above what's expected at that school for that grade? I don't live in-bounds for J-R so I get the impulse to think "how bad can my DCPS be?" but my inbound middle and high schools are shockingly low-performing. I'm not worried that if I send my DD there, she'll forget how to read or perform simple math, but: what will she learn? If only 1 in 10 kids in their grade are "at level" then the teacher will have to teach to the kids who are not comprehending the material. And without a strong cohort to challenge her, she'll get used to putting in minimal effort for lavish praise. I can't imagine that will lead to the emotional resilience or study habits that help a kid excel in college and beyond.

I don't know if your school is as bad as mine, but that has been my thought process for our local schools, and I'm 100% comfortable with IB for elementary. Unless something dramatic happens in the next decade I'm resigned to the fact we'll need to test in to a good middle/high school, go private, or move. DD is black, FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are writing as if you have a choice. Unless you live in-bounds or your son is currently attending a feeder to JR, he can’t attend. Are either one of these conditions met?

Presumably she would move.

I would try for Walls in your shoes. I would not send my high achieving kid to a public DC HS other than JR or one of the magnets. The other HSes are honestly sufficiently bad that your kid is very unlikely to be prepared for a good college even if he gets in unless you are supplementing up the wazoo. Maybe I’d risk the IB program at Eastern if my kid really, really wanted to because at least the curriculum is there?

[Anonymous]

A bright, motivated high schooler can supplement and learn what they need to learn in other places besides high school. But that's a lot harder than just going to a high school where you'll have a peer group, which a kid who is years ahead academically is not going to have at another regional high school in DC. Look at AP test scores-- Wilson is listed as having 418 students with a 3+ score, and the next regional high school is CHEC with 28. Four of the regional high schools have 0 kids getting at least a 3 on an AP test. Do kids have to take and do well on AP classes to be prepared for college? Of course not, but this is not a bad proxy for the level of academic challenge and where their classmates will be. You can read about kids who excelled at those high schools and then got into selective colleges and struggled because they were not prepared for that level of work.

Banneker and Walls are both much better options than any of the other regional high schools in DC.

[Anonymous]

Walls is a complete crap shoot now. How about Banneker or McKinley?

OP, if you intend to move for JR, consider just moving over the line for Blair in MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, our son's a middle schooler, a very good student so far, he tests very well.

This is kind of an odd one and I am a little uncertain of the responses I'll get here.

He has gone to one of the traditional DCPS middle schools where he's one of very few white kids and is actually quite happy.

He might just want to continue on to the local high school.

My question for you all is WHAT WILL HE MISS by not going to Jackson Reed for High School? How won't he be ready for college?

Generally, this is a kid who cares about grades and reads a lot and is a quick study at math. He doesn't have to try very hard, but he also as I mentioned typically aces tests. English tests he's off the charts and on math, not quite, but way above grade level.

I'm happy to scroll through the opinions for good information. Thanks for your thoughts!

Is he really above grade level, or is he above what's expected at that school for that grade? I don't live in-bounds for J-R so I get the impulse to think "how bad can my DCPS be?" but my inbound middle and high schools are shockingly low-performing. I'm not worried that if I send my DD there, she'll forget how to read or perform simple math, but: what will she learn? If only 1 in 10 kids in their grade are "at level" then the teacher will have to teach to the kids who are not comprehending the material. And without a strong cohort to challenge her, she'll get used to putting in minimal effort for lavish praise. I can't imagine that will lead to the emotional resilience or study habits that help a kid excel in college and beyond.

I don't know if your school is as bad as mine, but that has been my thought process for our local schools, and I'm 100% comfortable with IB for elementary. Unless something dramatic happens in the next decade I'm resigned to the fact we'll need to test in to a good middle/high school, go private, or move. DD is black, FWIW.

Yes - as a parent of a high-performing black child you can’t take the risk! We are in same boat with our sons.

[Anonymous]

I am guessing your kid got a 4 in math and a 5 in reading.

If your kid is in-bounds for Eastern (my guess), 25% of the kids got a 4 or 5 in ELA; 7% got a 5. That doesn't strike me as too few kids to have a reasonable cohort. JR doesn't teach writing particularly well either, so if your kid isn't a strong writer you'd want to supplement that in either school.

Math is harder: only 2% of kids at Eastern got a 4 or 5. There will definitely be a bigger cohort of kids on grade level at JR, SWW, Banneker, McKinley Tech, etc. I think you would want to have someone outside the school evaluate your kid and make sure he stays on grade level not just by Eastern's standards, but able to do well on ACT, SAT, IB exams, etc. If your kid is motivated, a tutor is certainly cheaper than moving! And if your kid is not motivated, he'd probably fall through the cracks at JR too.

This info is from https://dcschoolreportcard.org/schools/1-0457/student-achievement

[Anonymous]

OP what are your goals for your child? Is it to have classes and classmates that push him? Or have him have an enriching experience? What about your expectations for college? By answering those, we can help you better achieve what you want.

[Anonymous]

Calculus.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. Not to get too technical but we sort of live in boundary. Today. I’d appreciate if you just trust me on this.

Just wondering what classes and extracurricular things my son won’t get. I get that he won’t have kids around him like him. I do wonder if the teachers anywhere really push any of the kids ever. Suspicious they really don’t anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. Not to get too technical but we sort of live in boundary. Today. I’d appreciate if you just trust me on this.

Just wondering what classes and extracurricular things my son won’t get. I get that he won’t have kids around him like him. I do wonder if the teachers anywhere really push any of the kids ever. Suspicious they really don’t anywhere.

My smart but kinda lazy kid with a 504 was pushed hard to become a better writer by at least one teacher each year at (then) Wilson. It college, he’s getting a lot of positive feedback on his writing. I expect that would not have been the case if he hadn’t been pushed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. Not to get too technical but we sort of live in boundary. Today. I’d appreciate if you just trust me on this.

Just wondering what classes and extracurricular things my son won’t get. I get that he won’t have kids around him like him. I do wonder if the teachers anywhere really push any of the kids ever. Suspicious they really don’t anywhere.

Uh yes they do, at a lot of places.

[Anonymous]

I feel like you’re missing the key thing about peer group, OP. It’s not that they’re alike. It’s that they push each other even when the teachers don’t. Some kids have an internal motivation, but not mine. She will push herself, though, to earn the respect of her peers.

[Anonymous]

OP I wouldn't say this out loud but I consider the average SAT to be a good arbiter of average academic cohort quality at a high school.

I went to a high school where the average SAT was (and still is) a mere 970. And it was genuinely bad in so many ways. I got a 1330 and felt like a fish out of water the entire time I was there. Don't do this to your kid if you have any other options at all. Your kid is extremely unlikely to pass AP exams (I failed all of mine) because the teachers cannot give the amount of homework/practice necessary to prepare for them. Why? Because the kids have to work a ton of hours after school either at jobs or helping their families and therefore do not have time to do it.

What if your kid wants to be pre-med in undergrad?