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New Sidwell LS parent seeking advice, suggestions, or just plain "I wish I had known X" info
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Anonymous
| any guidance would be much appreciated. |
Anonymous
| Just know that while Sidwell's lower school is a very warm, happy, and interesting place to go to school, it is not especially rigorous from an academic perspective. Traditionally, the kids who start in lower school are overtaken by the kids who enter in middle school and high school, and it is the new kids who populate the top classes in the upper school. If you want your child to be at the top of the heap coming out of Sidwell (in 12-13 years) you should pay attention and make sure he/she is going beyond the Sidwell curriculum. Being a top student in lower school is not terribly difficult. |
Anonymous
| How much of that do you think is due to the curriculum, as opposed to differences in the selectin processes at different ages? |
Anonymous
|
Selection process - how can you really predict what a four-year-old will do?
I have a Sidwell kid in Upper School who entered in Middle. If you look at the kids who are the highest achievers, there are quite a few lifers. But if you look at the distribution among lifers and later entries, the later entries tend to clump near the top, while the lifers are more spread out. |
Anonymous
| The later entries trump the lifers in math and science, but the lifers are very strong in the humanities. |
Anonymous
|
Anything else people could add?
I have found all the meet-and-greets to be really thoughtful and full of interesting nice families. |
Anonymous
This is utterly ridiculous and doesn't even respond to OP's question. Moreover, it's decidedly not Quakerly to throw around unfounded stereotypes, rather than seeing people as individuals. |
Anonymous
Just speaking from personal experience. It is something my DC has noted in her math classes. I'm not stereotyping anyone; just stating a fact. |
Anonymous
| In my DC's grade, the three strongest math students all started in Lower School. |
Anonymous
| Any other thoughts about OP's opening question? |
Anonymous
It's a fact that your daughter observes this; it's not a fact that this is generally true. |
Anonymous
| Sidwell is actually very rigorous in lower school. Extremely so. The kids who come in later don't come from more rigorous programs. They have already succeeded elsewhere and proven themselves. There is only so much you can tell from testing four year olds. The kids who come in later are the top one percent of the top one percent. |
Anonymous
That's not accurate. Wish i could provide examples. But i know a group of kids in two grades who lead in math and they are lifers or at least started in third grade or earlier. Now they are in high school |
Anonymous
Demonstrating the unreliability of inductive logic. |
Anonymous
| Learn the car pool/pick-up drop off routine, respect the neighbors, participate in classroom and school activities so you can get to know the other families. |