When will Walls interview notices come out??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m now confused — they interview 500 kids, and those kids are either accepted or waitlisted? The lottery doesn’t actually matter for Walls? I thought I understood the lottery after all these years but I guess not for high school!

Yes. (Although like in the regular lottery, if a kid is accepted but matches with a higher-ranked school, the kid will not match with Walls.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mom of ASD kid here. My point isn’t just that process seems arbitrary—it also strikes me as discriminatory.

It’s also a crappy admissions process. Part of DC’s race to the bottom.

Very simple-don't apply. Every school is not a fit for all types of kids. Top GPA and an interview is very clear. Not liking something doesn't make it arbitrary.

Having an interview be a major determinant of admissions allows SWW to shape their class, intentionally or unintentionally. It's a huge opportunity for bias. We also know that interview length and questions vary, so it's not like there's a standard set of questions and rubric. That is arbitrary.

But the problem is not that there's one school in DC that does this, it's that there are zero schools in DC where a kid with high grades and test scores is guaranteed admission and where they'll get anything approaching an appropriate education. You either live in a particular neighborhood, you win the lottery to a couple of charters, you win the interview lottery to a couple of selective admissions high schools, or all DC has for you are schools where a rounding error number of kids are going to have your academic needs.

So private schools interview so no complaining about them. We went thru that and was no different than SWW. What it sounds like is that you are pissed that you can't "prepare" for it. People have been doing that and gaming the testing system for years. Last I checked Banneker also.provides a good education for the type of kids you described. What's wrong with applying there?

Banneker is also not transparent and bases 60% of its decision on the interview. Thats HUGE.

According to the school, it's the essay, not interviews.

NP but how do they know the essay was written by that student? Both schools lack transparency.

[Anonymous]

Essay for Walls? Also any Deal parents kids not gett Straight AAAAAs your kid is s t u p i d according to private parent post. Wow. I had no clue it was do easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Essay for Walls? Also any Deal parents kids not gett Straight AAAAAs your kid is s t u p i d according to private parent post. Wow. I had no clue it was do easy.

You didn't read the prior posts. The response you are teferencing was talking anout Banneker.

[Anonymous]

So what's the consensus? Will other emails go out? Or will those who got an email Friday be the only ones with interviews?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what's the consensus? Will other emails go out? Or will those who got an email Friday be the only ones with interviews?

I think this is probably it. Releasing right at the beginning of February break doesn’t seem like an accident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what's the consensus? Will other emails go out? Or will those who got an email Friday be the only ones with interviews?

I think this is probably it. Releasing right at the beginning of February break doesn’t seem like an accident.

The interview dates are also 3/4 and 3/11, which I think is to get the interview in before 3/15, the last date you can rerank the lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How the hell can you pick from 500 kids? All with straight A’s? That’s ridiculous. We did not get the email and our kid did not get a four point now. This is frustrating. JR here we come. My child will be happy because waltz was not their first choice but I’m just gonna make the assumption now.

If your kid doesn’t like waltz, try tango.

If only they'd started in tap, jazz and ballet as kids they might have developed the discipline needed to maintain a 4.0.

[Anonymous]

No dog in this fight but such a dumb system.

1) in DCPS, you can get B+, A-, A-, and A in each quarter and still get an A. If you do this for every class, you get a 4.0 for Walls admission. A student getting the identical grades at a school using a 100-point scale could get a 90 for every class, which counts as a 3.7 for Walls admission. In other words, students getting identical grades at two different schools receive different GPAs for Walls admissions.

2) Walls doesn’t weight the grades, so an A in PE at a failing school counts more than an A- in Algebra 2 at a rigorous school. With rampant grade inflation and social promotion at all DCPS schools, any average DCPS student can be a 4.0.

3) Anyone in the Walls pool of 500 still has to interview with a current student and teacher. That interview counts for 31/36 points. Last year, some interviews were just a few minutes and non-substantive. Reportedly, many average kids were admitted, and significant number were particularly attractive. No one really knows why this short interview counts as over 86% of your overall score.

4) The remaining possible 5 points come from GPA. Most kids in the pool of 500 will be 3.8 or higher, so they get the obligatory 5 points; those at 3.79 and below only get 4 points. This just reinforces the bias noted in point one above.

Overall, this is a ridiculous way to select a magnet school class. DC should follow the lead of NYC, which reinstituted an exam for magnet schools after the pandemic and schools’ ability to prioritize top-performing students using fairer, more objective criteria.

Not surprisingly, the average SAT score at NYC’s top magnet high school is 1510; the average SAT score at Walls is 1275.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No dog in this fight but such a dumb system.

1) in DCPS, you can get B+, A-, A-, and A in each quarter and still get an A. If you do this for every class, you get a 4.0 for Walls admission. A student getting the identical grades at a school using a 100-point scale could get a 90 for every class, which counts as a 3.7 for Walls admission. In other words, students getting identical grades at two different schools receive different GPAs for Walls admissions.

2) Walls doesn’t weight the grades, so an A in PE at a failing school counts more than an A- in Algebra 2 at a rigorous school. With rampant grade inflation and social promotion at all DCPS schools, any average DCPS student can be a 4.0.

3) Anyone in the Walls pool of 500 still has to interview with a current student and teacher. That interview counts for 31/36 points. Last year, some interviews were just a few minutes and non-substantive. Reportedly, many average kids were admitted, and significant number were particularly attractive. No one really knows why this short interview counts as over 86% of your overall score.

4) The remaining possible 5 points come from GPA. Most kids in the pool of 500 will be 3.8 or higher, so they get the obligatory 5 points; those at 3.79 and below only get 4 points. This just reinforces the bias noted in point one above.

Overall, this is a ridiculous way to select a magnet school class. DC should follow the lead of NYC, which reinstituted an exam for magnet schools after the pandemic and schools’ ability to prioritize top-performing students using fairer, more objective criteria.

Not surprisingly, the average SAT score at NYC’s top magnet high school is 1510; the average SAT score at Walls is 1275.

Are your kids at Walls? DCPS?

[Anonymous]

Our schools transcripts don't give the actual number percentages. Only the grade A, A-, etc. It does show the numerical grading scale though. In this case how would Walls even figure it out and would they bother? We didn't get an invite but I feel like we should have according to their metric. DC worked her tail off and it really don't seem right that there are so many unknowns here. And of course no mistake about the release date but really crappy of them to do it that way.

[Anonymous]

*doesn't

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not surprisingly, the average SAT score at NYC’s top magnet high school is 1510; the average SAT score at Walls is 1275.

The average SAT at Walls is 1317. Why choose to be wrong about something you could easily look up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not surprisingly, the average SAT score at NYC’s top magnet high school is 1510; the average SAT score at Walls is 1275.

The average SAT at Walls is 1317. Why choose to be wrong about something you could easily look up?

where did you find this?

Of note, the first class admitted under the new Walls "no test" system will not take the SAT for another year or so as they are currently in 10th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not surprisingly, the average SAT score at NYC’s top magnet high school is 1510; the average SAT score at Walls is 1275.

The average SAT at Walls is 1317. Why choose to be wrong about something you could easily look up?

where did you find this?

Of note, the first class admitted under the new Walls "no test" system will not take the SAT for another year or so as they are currently in 10th grade.

https://dcps.dc.gov/publication/dcps-data-set-sat

I agree about the post-test classes. But especially if you are looking for the average score to fall when the Class of 2025 hits the data, you should use the higher, more recent number.