Latin Cooper

[Anonymous]

Tell me about the academics (I don't care about the building, recess space, etc) at Latin Cooper. We're interested in possibly lotterying for 7th grade. I'm wondering if they track for English and Math with no grades above 6th right now. In other words, if your kid is ahead in Math or English, do they have honors/advance classes for these kids? Or is everyone taking the same class ("honors" for all)? I would think that kids who are ahead in certain subjects at Latin 2nd St campus could take upper grade classes, but they can't do that at Cooper since there isn't upper grades for the current 6th grade cohort. Thus, how do they keep advanced kids from being bored?

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

There's no 7th grade this year, so take any responses with a grain of salt

[Anonymous]

I think, realistically, you'd need to ask the school these questions given that there is currently no 7th grade. That said, there are very few DCPS/DCPCS MS/HS where kids are allowed to accelerate by sitting in on an upper grade class in English... except perhaps in truly exceptional circumstances, so I'd assume the Latin 2nd approach would be most instructive on that front.

[Anonymous]

OP, Latin is not really known for its rigorous academics.

[Anonymous]

OP, sounds like BASIS, a private or the burbs to get what you want.

[Anonymous]

Correct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, Latin is not really known for its rigorous academics.

+1. Latin is great for a lot of things, but if you have a truly advanced kid who is bored, this may not be the school for you. The best thing is to meet with the admin if you are serious though.

[Anonymous]

You'd be best served by shadowing for 2nd Street and following up on 7th grade curriculum because it's a consistent approach across both campuses.

[Anonymous]

Shadowing for 2nd Street is a good idea, but the curriculum is not fully consistent across the two campuses due to staffing and leadership choices. I would also guess that there will be fewer opportunities at the Cooper campus due to smaller size in general (fewer faculty and staff members) and the fact that the cohort your child would enter is the pioneer cohort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shadowing for 2nd Street is a good idea, but the curriculum is not fully consistent across the two campuses due to staffing and leadership choices. I would also guess that there will be fewer opportunities at the Cooper campus due to smaller size in general (fewer faculty and staff members) and the fact that the cohort your child would enter is the pioneer cohort.

From talking to other parents it's pretty comparable for 5th and 6th. 5/6 enrollment is about 1/2 size of 2nd St so do the math. Can't compare 7th since it doesn't exist yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, Latin is not really known for its rigorous academics.

+1. Latin is great for a lot of things, but if you have a truly advanced kid who is bored, this may not be the school for you. The best thing is to meet with the admin if you are serious though.

Just word-of-mouth, but I disagree. I know many sharp and challenged kids from there, and their parents seem very happy, including after having been at less challenging schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, Latin is not really known for its rigorous academics.

+1. Latin is great for a lot of things, but if you have a truly advanced kid who is bored, this may not be the school for you. The best thing is to meet with the admin if you are serious though.

+1 No one goes to Latin for academic rigor.

[Anonymous]

As compared to what, going to your local DCPS EotP? Give us a break, BASIS booster.

[Anonymous]

In my family's experience (at the 2nd street campus), Latin is a pretty racist and exclusionary place.

The honors classes were almost entirely White; the on-track classes were almost entirely Black. All the attention was given to the honors classes. When White affluent kids made flip anti-immigrant, sexist, anti-Black, or anti-semitic comments (yup my DD heard it all on a regular basis) they were "just being kids" and there was no consequence or deterrence for next time. Once, relatively recently, a White kid did get in trouble for saying derogatory anti-Black comments and boy did the administrators feel great about their show of equity. But it was one of the very few times I heard of any effort made at shutting down snide, casual racism by White students.

Have they starting offering Spanish yet? When my DD went there (she graduated recently) it wasn't offered. They told us it wasn't "classical" enough and wasn't in the school's original charter, which of course didn't stop them from offering Arabic, which also wasn't in the school's original charter. Not offering Spanish in today's America? Message received.

The school is what it is. Lots of (White) kids seem to enjoy it. Lots of (White) honors kids go to good colleges. But in my family's experience it's a passively toxic. We made it through the place. We only added up the issues over time and by then our DD was nearly done and had close friends there so we didn't want to uproot her. But I personally advise friends to keep their kids away from there. It's left a bad feeling in our family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my family's experience (at the 2nd street campus), Latin is a pretty racist and exclusionary place.

The honors classes were almost entirely White; the on-track classes were almost entirely Black. All the attention was given to the honors classes. When White affluent kids made flip anti-immigrant, sexist, anti-Black, or anti-semitic comments (yup my DD heard it all on a regular basis) they were "just being kids" and there was no consequence or deterrence for next time. Once, relatively recently, a White kid did get in trouble for saying derogatory anti-Black comments and boy did the administrators feel great about their show of equity. But it was one of the very few times I heard of any effort made at shutting down snide, casual racism by White students.

Have they starting offering Spanish yet? When my DD went there (she graduated recently) it wasn't offered. They told us it wasn't "classical" enough and wasn't in the school's original charter, which of course didn't stop them from offering Arabic, which also wasn't in the school's original charter. Not offering Spanish in today's America? Message received.

The school is what it is. Lots of (White) kids seem to enjoy it. Lots of (White) honors kids go to good colleges. But in my family's experience it's a passively toxic. We made it through the place. We only added up the issues over time and by then our DD was nearly done and had close friends there so we didn't want to uproot her. But I personally advise friends to keep their kids away from there. It's left a bad feeling in our family.

My kids is mixed race and we're applying, so your comment is interesting. Most of their photos have a pretty good mix of white, Black, and brown kids. You don't feel that is an accurate representation?