TC Williams

[Anonymous]

I'd love anyone's views on TC (and Minnie Howard). Who are the good teachers? How good are the AP and honors classes? Do kids get lost there? What are the great extracurricular activities? Are there opportunities to play sports if you're not, for example, the top-ranked female basketball player in the country? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Test scores are here: http://www.acps.k12.va.us/mes/tests.php

Takeaway from this seems to be: while overall scores are slightly below the state average, there is effectively a "school within a school" at TC Williams (for better or for worse). That is: SAT scores of kids in the top 10% of the TC Williams class are above VA and nat'l average for kids in top 10% of high school classes nationwide. Unsurprisingly, given how class & race continue to interconnect with opportunity & achievement in our society, the scores of non-white students are below VA and national averages, while scores of white students are above. Scores of affluent students (>$100,000 household income) are above VA and nat'l averages.

This does not answer any of your questions about community and extracurrics-- I don't know-- but it suggests that academically, TC Williams is very stratified. Good news: a affluent, bright kids with involved parents can presumably find all they need there. the bad news: a whole lot of kids probably do get lost.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I appreciate the information. I'm asking about extracurriculars also because that may be a way to protect a kid from "getting lost" at TC.

[Anonymous]

bump

[Anonymous]

TC Williams is famous for its crew team -- also another story of racial stratification. WaPo did a story on how the mostly Black football team (subject of famous Denzel Washington film Remember the Titans) struggles due to lack of funding while the mostly White crew team manages to raise enough funds to be successful. I'm not denigrating the crew team's achievements but just noting that the "school within school" theme extends to sports as well.

[Anonymous]

PP here again -- I should note that Remember the Titans was about the successful integration of the football team when a White school and Black school merged. As I recall, the WaPo was noting the irony of the contrast in support for football and crew.

[Anonymous]

How stratified are the AP classes? What about the new concept of organizing "schools within the school" whereby there would be more "mixing" between various socioeconomic groups?

[Anonymous]

17:52 here again. An English teacher at TC, Patrick Welsh, wrote occasional columns for WaPo about the school and I believe addressed this school within a school issue and AP. Haven't seen anything from him in awhile but you could go back and search for his columns and see what he had to say.