APS -Jefferson Middle School IB Program

[Anonymous]

The IB program sounds perfect for our son but we are zoned for a different middle school. Does Jefferson’s IB program take kids from other neighborhood schools? Is it competitive to get in? I can’t find anything about that on its website.

[Anonymous]

Sorry about the IB program specifically but last year Jefferson accepted transfer students because it isn't overcrowded. Students from middle schools that are over capacity have first priority for school transfers, but they might have been able to accept transfer applications from other schools as well. I have never heard anything about the IB program being something you have to get accepted to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry about the IB program specifically but last year Jefferson accepted transfer students because it isn't overcrowded. Students from middle schools that are over capacity have first priority for school transfers, but they might have been able to accept transfer applications from other schools as well. I have never heard anything about the IB program being something you have to get accepted to.

Unlike W-Ls program, IB at Jefferson is not something separate, it's the whole school. Everyone at Jefferson does IB Middle Years. Jefferson will take transfers when they have room, which I believe they would announce in the winter.

[Anonymous]

Jefferson did not take any transfers this year.

[Anonymous]

It is not competitive. It is also not much of a program. Don’t worry. You are not missing much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jefferson did not take any transfers this year.

Then only because people didn't ask for them. They offered them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jefferson did not take any transfers this year.

Then only because people didn't ask for them. They offered them.

They did not. They were at capacity. I tried and I know one other person who did the same

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is not competitive. It is also not much of a program. Don’t worry. You are not missing much.

Jefferson's MYP program is comparable to any in the DC area. The real program starts in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not competitive. It is also not much of a program. Don’t worry. You are not missing much.

Jefferson's MYP program is comparable to any in the DC area. The real program starts in high school.

The main differences vs. other APS middle schools are -- world language all three years and a wider variety of languages offered, community service requirement including a project in 8th grade that they present to the school. Other than that, they get IB grades on stuff but those get translated to regular APS grades anyway. And (at least this was the case when my kids were there a few years ago), IBMYP was very big on "reflecting" on your performance. So they had to write these "reflections" after every test, paper, unit, etc. They hated those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not competitive. It is also not much of a program. Don’t worry. You are not missing much.

Jefferson's MYP program is comparable to any in the DC area. The real program starts in high school.

The main differences vs. other APS middle schools are -- world language all three years and a wider variety of languages offered, community service requirement including a project in 8th grade that they present to the school. Other than that, they get IB grades on stuff but those get translated to regular APS grades anyway. And (at least this was the case when my kids were there a few years ago), IBMYP was very big on "reflecting" on your performance. So they had to write these "reflections" after every test, paper, unit, etc. They hated those.

Parent-teacher conferences are also "student-led." That means the students complete an evaluation form and self-evaluate and "lead" the conference by taking the parent through the form.

The 8th grade project is presented to classmates, not the whole school. Not even the whole grade, as I recall.

The grading rubrics are similar to other types of rubrics used in some other classrooms like when writing a paper or something; but kind of prepares you for standards based grading better because of all the rubric pieces.

My kids hated the reflections and conferences, too. The language piece is a nice advantage, though I always liked the idea of the language wheel other schools had. If I were the reigning monarch, I'd implement a language wheel by 4th or 5th grade and have student select a language in 6th. Even though Jefferson begins world language in 6th grade, you only get high school credit for two years (7th and 8th) of your language. You still need the 3rd year in high school or a full two years of another language in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not competitive. It is also not much of a program. Don’t worry. You are not missing much.

Jefferson's MYP program is comparable to any in the DC area. The real program starts in high school.

The main differences vs. other APS middle schools are -- world language all three years and a wider variety of languages offered, community service requirement including a project in 8th grade that they present to the school. Other than that, they get IB grades on stuff but those get translated to regular APS grades anyway. And (at least this was the case when my kids were there a few years ago), IBMYP was very big on "reflecting" on your performance. So they had to write these "reflections" after every test, paper, unit, etc. They hated those.

Parent-teacher conferences are also "student-led." That means the students complete an evaluation form and self-evaluate and "lead" the conference by taking the parent through the form.

The 8th grade project is presented to classmates, not the whole school. Not even the whole grade, as I recall.

The grading rubrics are similar to other types of rubrics used in some other classrooms like when writing a paper or something; but kind of prepares you for standards based grading better because of all the rubric pieces.

My kids hated the reflections and conferences, too. The language piece is a nice advantage, though I always liked the idea of the language wheel other schools had. If I were the reigning monarch, I'd implement a language wheel by 4th or 5th grade and have student select a language in 6th. Even though Jefferson begins world language in 6th grade, you only get high school credit for two years (7th and 8th) of your language. You still need the 3rd year in high school or a full two years of another language in high school.

When DD was at Jefferson, the 8th graders went around to multiple 7th grade classrooms to present the project. I think part of it was to give the 7th graders ideas about what to do when they were 8th graders. But that was several years ago (she's a college freshman now).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jefferson did not take any transfers this year.

Then only because people didn't ask for them. They offered them.

No, incorrect, they did NOT offer neighborhood transfers to Jefferson for this year 2023/2024.

I predict that Jefferson will also NOT offer for the next year due to overcrowding. They have had a surge in students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not competitive. It is also not much of a program. Don’t worry. You are not missing much.

Jefferson's MYP program is comparable to any in the DC area. The real program starts in high school.

The main differences vs. other APS middle schools are -- world language all three years and a wider variety of languages offered, community service requirement including a project in 8th grade that they present to the school. Other than that, they get IB grades on stuff but those get translated to regular APS grades anyway. And (at least this was the case when my kids were there a few years ago), IBMYP was very big on "reflecting" on your performance. So they had to write these "reflections" after every test, paper, unit, etc. They hated those.

Parent-teacher conferences are also "student-led." That means the students complete an evaluation form and self-evaluate and "lead" the conference by taking the parent through the form.

The 8th grade project is presented to classmates, not the whole school. Not even the whole grade, as I recall.

The grading rubrics are similar to other types of rubrics used in some other classrooms like when writing a paper or something; but kind of prepares you for standards based grading better because of all the rubric pieces.

My kids hated the reflections and conferences, too. The language piece is a nice advantage, though I always liked the idea of the language wheel other schools had. If I were the reigning monarch, I'd implement a language wheel by 4th or 5th grade and have student select a language in 6th. Even though Jefferson begins world language in 6th grade, you only get high school credit for two years (7th and 8th) of your language. You still need the 3rd year in high school or a full two years of another language in high school.

When DD was at Jefferson, the 8th graders went around to multiple 7th grade classrooms to present the project. I think part of it was to give the 7th graders ideas about what to do when they were 8th graders. But that was several years ago (she's a college freshman now).

I had a child in 8th that same year, then. I'll have to ask them. Maybe it was a 7th grade class they presented to. But they only presented one time and it was definitely not to the whole school. Of course, my kid's project was quite minimal. Maybe they just had the better projects presented to the 7th graders - ha!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not competitive. It is also not much of a program. Don’t worry. You are not missing much.

Jefferson's MYP program is comparable to any in the DC area. The real program starts in high school.

The main differences vs. other APS middle schools are -- world language all three years and a wider variety of languages offered, community service requirement including a project in 8th grade that they present to the school. Other than that, they get IB grades on stuff but those get translated to regular APS grades anyway. And (at least this was the case when my kids were there a few years ago), IBMYP was very big on "reflecting" on your performance. So they had to write these "reflections" after every test, paper, unit, etc. They hated those.

Parent-teacher conferences are also "student-led." That means the students complete an evaluation form and self-evaluate and "lead" the conference by taking the parent through the form.

The 8th grade project is presented to classmates, not the whole school. Not even the whole grade, as I recall.

The grading rubrics are similar to other types of rubrics used in some other classrooms like when writing a paper or something; but kind of prepares you for standards based grading better because of all the rubric pieces.

My kids hated the reflections and conferences, too. The language piece is a nice advantage, though I always liked the idea of the language wheel other schools had. If I were the reigning monarch, I'd implement a language wheel by 4th or 5th grade and have student select a language in 6th. Even though Jefferson begins world language in 6th grade, you only get high school credit for two years (7th and 8th) of your language. You still need the 3rd year in high school or a full two years of another language in high school.

When DD was at Jefferson, the 8th graders went around to multiple 7th grade classrooms to present the project. I think part of it was to give the 7th graders ideas about what to do when they were 8th graders. But that was several years ago (she's a college freshman now).

I had a child in 8th that same year, then. I'll have to ask them. Maybe it was a 7th grade class they presented to. But they only presented one time and it was definitely not to the whole school. Of course, my kid's project was quite minimal. Maybe they just had the better projects presented to the 7th graders - ha!

Imagine the lost instruction time for 6th and 7th graders if every 8th grader presented their presentation to the entire school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not competitive. It is also not much of a program. Don’t worry. You are not missing much.

Jefferson's MYP program is comparable to any in the DC area. The real program starts in high school.

The main differences vs. other APS middle schools are -- world language all three years and a wider variety of languages offered, community service requirement including a project in 8th grade that they present to the school. Other than that, they get IB grades on stuff but those get translated to regular APS grades anyway. And (at least this was the case when my kids were there a few years ago), IBMYP was very big on "reflecting" on your performance. So they had to write these "reflections" after every test, paper, unit, etc. They hated those.

Parent-teacher conferences are also "student-led." That means the students complete an evaluation form and self-evaluate and "lead" the conference by taking the parent through the form.

The 8th grade project is presented to classmates, not the whole school. Not even the whole grade, as I recall.

The grading rubrics are similar to other types of rubrics used in some other classrooms like when writing a paper or something; but kind of prepares you for standards based grading better because of all the rubric pieces.

My kids hated the reflections and conferences, too. The language piece is a nice advantage, though I always liked the idea of the language wheel other schools had. If I were the reigning monarch, I'd implement a language wheel by 4th or 5th grade and have student select a language in 6th. Even though Jefferson begins world language in 6th grade, you only get high school credit for two years (7th and 8th) of your language. You still need the 3rd year in high school or a full two years of another language in high school.

When DD was at Jefferson, the 8th graders went around to multiple 7th grade classrooms to present the project. I think part of it was to give the 7th graders ideas about what to do when they were 8th graders. But that was several years ago (she's a college freshman now).

I had a child in 8th that same year, then. I'll have to ask them. Maybe it was a 7th grade class they presented to. But they only presented one time and it was definitely not to the whole school. Of course, my kid's project was quite minimal. Maybe they just had the better projects presented to the 7th graders - ha!

Imagine the lost instruction time for 6th and 7th graders if every 8th grader presented their presentation to the entire school.

Or, imagine all the "other" information they learn about a wide variety of other topics; and the examples they see of ways to contribute to the greater community; and seeing what they will need to do when they are in 8th grade and being able to see what makes a good presentation versus a bad one. You can do your project with other people - they aren't all individual projects and presentations. It could probably be done in one day or part of two days with all the 6th and 7th graders in the auditorium.