APS TJ Middle School

[Anonymous]

We are coming from out of the area and might be moving to a place zoned for TJ Middle School in Arlington. I tried searching but only get hits for TJ High School in Fairfax.

I'm looking for any impressions of this school. What is the atmosphere like? Does it feel big and unruly? Are there bullies and fighting? What kinds of after school clubs are there? Sports (how selective to participate)?

In terms of academics, I heard there will be advanced middle school courses for science and humanities. Is that for this year or next? As a newcomer, could I select those for my kid or is there testing? How do they place new kids into the right math level?

[Anonymous]

Hi, OP, we were in your situation a year ago. We were a little nervous about TJ middle school--the building looks like a prison, and at least one-third of the students are poor--but were pleasantly surprised by our daughter's 6th grade experience. In short, TJ is a hidden gem. There have a been a couple threads about it in DCUM in the last year. Search "Jefferson middle school Arlington."

The biggest class my daughter had in 6th grade was around 22 kids, seriously. Her writing class had 15 students with a great teacher. In our experience, the 6th grade counselor is super, really on the ball, gets to know the kids, answers your emails and calls within 24 hours. Arlington doesn't seem to offer much in the way of middle school GT, but I wouldn't worry about that. I don't think the tracked humanities and science classes will start until SY 2023-24.

The school do a great job placing kids in appropriate math classes and the humanities and science work my kid was assigned was good. They offer after-school math help/tutoring in the library one afternoon a week, free and open to all, not just kids who are really struggling. Arlington uses sophisticated Lexia software to teach grammar in middle school, a surprisingly effective approach. TJ has decent extra-curriculars, too, half a dozen sports (4-5 times a week after school for 90 minutes, nice tennis courts and playing fields), gardening club in the school gardens on Fridays in the fall and spring, daily band, orchestra or chorus (excellent band instructor, my kid learned to play a wind instrument) and 4 foreign languages to meet International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program requirements. My daughter enjoyed taking American Sign Language as an elective.

As for discipline, I haven't heard about any fights in hallways. The opposite, this seems to be a strict school with good discipline and all sorts of targeted interventions for kids who misbehave. For example, if a kid gets caught bringing a banned substance to school, they need to carry a special backpack made of clear vinyl for at least the next quarter, so that teachers can see what's the in the bag. The principal has been around for almost a decade, seems well-liked. The librarians are very helpful, and the library facility is well-stocked. A kid can check out one book at a time. Students can do homework in the library for an hour after school if they want. The school makes great use of the indoor track (for PE class) and lovely big auditorium they share with the county.

I'm not going to tell you that TJ offers the sun, the moon and the stars academically. We hire a writing tutor weekly for our kid to add writing challenge and wish that the school assigned more homework (our kid can usually polish off hers in an hour or 90 minutes). She also does extra language classes on weekends and takes private music lessons on top of those at school. But for my tax dollars, TJ is a great deal. My kid likes school, had made some sweet friends (very diverse group, including refugees from the Middle East who are better at math than my kid) and is looking forward to 7th grade. Granted, we came out of DC public schools, so perhaps my expectations of TJ were a little lower than those of some Arlington parents. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi, OP, we were in your situation a year ago. We were a little nervous about TJ middle school--the building looks like a prison, and at least one-third of the students are poor--but were pleasantly surprised by our daughter's 6th grade experience. In short, TJ is a hidden gem. There have a been a couple threads about it in DCUM in the last year. Search "Jefferson middle school Arlington."

The biggest class my daughter had in 6th grade was around 22 kids, seriously. Her writing class had 15 students with a great teacher. In our experience, the 6th grade counselor is super, really on the ball, gets to know the kids, answers your emails and calls within 24 hours. Arlington doesn't seem to offer much in the way of middle school GT, but I wouldn't worry about that. I don't think the tracked humanities and science classes will start until SY 2023-24.

The school do a great job placing kids in appropriate math classes and the humanities and science work my kid was assigned was good. They offer after-school math help/tutoring in the library one afternoon a week, free and open to all, not just kids who are really struggling. Arlington uses sophisticated Lexia software to teach grammar in middle school, a surprisingly effective approach. TJ has decent extra-curriculars, too, half a dozen sports (4-5 times a week after school for 90 minutes, nice tennis courts and playing fields), gardening club in the school gardens on Fridays in the fall and spring, daily band, orchestra or chorus (excellent band instructor, my kid learned to play a wind instrument) and 4 foreign languages to meet International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program requirements. My daughter enjoyed taking American Sign Language as an elective.

As for discipline, I haven't heard about any fights in hallways. The opposite, this seems to be a strict school with good discipline and all sorts of targeted interventions for kids who misbehave. For example, if a kid gets caught bringing a banned substance to school, they need to carry a special backpack made of clear vinyl for at least the next quarter, so that teachers can see what's the in the bag. The principal has been around for almost a decade, seems well-liked. The librarians are very helpful, and the library facility is well-stocked. A kid can check out one book at a time. Students can do homework in the library for an hour after school if they want. The school makes great use of the indoor track (for PE class) and lovely big auditorium they share with the county.

I'm not going to tell you that TJ offers the sun, the moon and the stars academically. We hire a writing tutor weekly for our kid to add writing challenge and wish that the school assigned more homework (our kid can usually polish off hers in an hour or 90 minutes). She also does extra language classes on weekends and takes private music lessons on top of those at school. But for my tax dollars, TJ is a great deal. My kid likes school, had made some sweet friends (very diverse group, including refugees from the Middle East who are better at math than my kid) and is looking forward to 7th grade. Granted, we came out of DC public schools, so perhaps my expectations of TJ were a little lower than those of some Arlington parents. Good luck.

Welcome to Arlington. We had two kids go through TJ (Jefferson). Our younger was a freshman last year; so we've been away from TJ for a full year and prior to that was the unfortunate virtual year due to COVID. But our experience overall was very good.

I'd say the principal is adequate, but nothing more. Both of our kids had a number of outstanding teachers (some of whom are no longer there). 6th grade was organized very well - every grade level is divided into "teams" and that is probably typical across the district. Jefferson is the only middle school with the IB program and all students are under that program. IB was not what I was hoping for; but it does give Jefferson students more world language opportunities than the other middle schools, though other schools (at least used to) have a language wheel for 6th graders. Jefferson students choose a language to begin 6th grade. The IB aspects were more nuisance than benefit. I just say that so you have realistic expectations.

There is bullying at every middle school; but I definitely wouldn't say it's prevalent and Jefferson isn't "known for" its bad environment or anything like that. The counseling team while we were there was excellent, though I wouldn't say our son's counselor did anything; the excellent services we received were from the broader team and his teachers (he had an IEP). I would note from PP's comments that counselors rotate each year so they follow the class through their middle school years. Same with high school.

When we were there, 6th grade had a specific reading class that was really great with a fabulous teacher. It's a full year, done a bit differently than at the other schools, from what I understand.

The band instructor is OK, though some absolutely love her. It really depends on her and your kid....she tends to have less favorable impression and relationship with boys with behavioral issues or less than dedicated musicianship. But she also helps with the Wakefield HS marching band and former students (including mine) find her more favorable in that context. She attended TJ herself and is definitely dedicated. I just wouldn't consider her particularly excellent or outstanding.

I think the best things about Jefferson were the teachers (almost all of them) and the socioeconomic diversity which fosters a more pleasant, less entitled community (parents included) than you will find at a few of the other MS in Arlington.

As for homework, I'm not sure what PP's expectations are if their child takes 90 minutes to do homework. Our experience was far less than that for a whole week. One kid may have taken longer because they struggled with math and procrastinated and just didn't have the mindset to focus on it. You are likely to find very little homework and probably even less in coming years as Arlington seems to be shifting to a no-homework/very limited homework framework. Our high school experience has been remarkably homework-light even with advanced classes. Definitely do not expect a strong writing program in Arlington. That seems to be a common complaint regardless of school attended.

TJ actually had 6 languages as of 2 years ago: Chinese, Arabic, Latin, French, Spanish, and ASL.

The building was an unfortunate architectural victim of the '70s. They've since added some windows; but it is laid out so that there are internal classrooms with no windows. But it is simple to get around and does not feel like a huge school. Crowded hallways during short breaks between classes and not enough lockers; but the classes are small and grades being divided into academic teams mean you're with a lot of the same kids for your core classes and the teachers within teams work closely with each other.

[Anonymous]

The observations above jive with our experiences at Jefferson. This is a school you can appreciate if you don’t nitpick or go in with outsized expectations. Teaching is mostly first rate and discipline is good. The school is welcoming and happy. Good luck, OP.

[Anonymous]

This is OP, and I just want to say THANK YOU to the above posters who took the time to give really thorough and helpful comments on their experiences! I am feeling very good about this move and TJ now!