Is Jackson Reed really that bad?

[Anonymous]

I think we have a new JR tagline:

Jackson-Reed: Your Superhighway to the Top 20!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So our of curiosity -- For current Deal/JR parents (my kids are in a feeder in upper elementary) --

1. Have you seen the schools improve since you have been there? aka does it seem to be trending for the better or worse?
2. I know JR is "overcrowded" but how many kids does it have now vs is capacity? Is the guess that JR will just go down 200 kids next year once McArthur opens or will they just have a increase in OOB kids they accept to fill the seats?

Current JR parent here...the pandemic was handled very well by JR (then Wilson) in terms of kids having real, synchronous classes from 9:30-4pm 4 days per week (much, much more than Deal) and the teachers were amazing. Things took a dive the first year back in person---there was an interim principal, a stupid 4x4 schedule, and a lot of behavior problems stemming from the pandemic. Things are much better this year--back to the old alternating block schedule and the new principal is very good. Overcrowding and teacher vacancies remain a problem but both are areas that are receiving attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think we have a new JR tagline:

Jackson-Reed: Your Superhighway to the Top 20!

I like this. Go Tigers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster here.
Since someone above has already insulted those of use who track JR college admissions I will add that the Brown admit is double legacy, Columbia is URM and football, Northwestern and Princeton are URM and most of Cornell are crew recruits.
Harvard is the only unhooked but one parent is a VIP so not sure if this factors.

Not a surprise because it's the same everywhere in the DMV.

I post this because parents on here act like JR is some sort of superhighway to top 20 colleges. Maybe it was to some degree 5 years ago. Not anymore and hasn't been for quite a few admissions cycles.
Sure, you'll be in to decent enough college but it's no longer the road to the Ivies for your AU Park kid.
Pretending that it is is just stupid.

You are clearly obsessed. Why don't you track all the Big-3 top-10 college admits? Funny, I know of only one kid from there going to a top-10. The others are going to other good schools, just like the JR kids. While the Bib-3 admits to top-10 are clearly higher based on savvy counselors, insanely wealthy parents, and that the schools self-select students based on a standardized test, the vast majority are not going to top-10 schools. Get over it.

You sound completely unhinged and angry. I'm not tracking the private school admits because my kids don't attend those schools. What I do track is JR and I think it serves no one to not be transparent about who is actually getting into top schools from JR. But go ahead and rant about the privates.

NP, this is a weird response. I think the PP calling someone obsessed who admitted to stalking youtube and IG of college admissions is a pretty apt descriptor.

DP. Disagree. PP above is presenting facts which some of the JR crowd clearly can’t accept and are in denial about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think JR kids might have an easier time getting into top 10 colleges. But I think private school kids are better prepared -- at least initially -- when they get there due to years of intensive writing preparation. You have to write those 10-15 page research papers in college, and JR does not offer any practice with that.

I see the complaint about writing instruction in public’s as a reason to go private. And all I can think is, surely it would be a lot cheaper and probably even more effective to get your child a writing tutor who gives extra writing assignments or raises the bar on existing assignments as a method for overcoming that gap. Way easier than trying to replicate chem lab experiences at home. What am I missing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So our of curiosity -- For current Deal/JR parents (my kids are in a feeder in upper elementary) --

1. Have you seen the schools improve since you have been there? aka does it seem to be trending for the better or worse?
2. I know JR is "overcrowded" but how many kids does it have now vs is capacity? Is the guess that JR will just go down 200 kids next year once McArthur opens or will they just have a increase in OOB kids they accept to fill the seats?

The building capacity is 1875 and there are 2192 students this year. Six new portable classrooms opened last month. Many people don’t expect the enrollment of McCarthur to help a lot, at least until it becomes a mandatory path for Hardy three years out, but that remains to be seen. It’s a good bet that enrollment will continue to increase for the next couple years. This suggests that despite the heavy criticism on DCUM, many people find it a desirable option. It is working out for my kids. Considering the overcrowding I would be just as happy if those that are on the fence went with other options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think JR kids might have an easier time getting into top 10 colleges. But I think private school kids are better prepared -- at least initially -- when they get there due to years of intensive writing preparation. You have to write those 10-15 page research papers in college, and JR does not offer any practice with that.

I see the complaint about writing instruction in public’s as a reason to go private. And all I can think is, surely it would be a lot cheaper and probably even more effective to get your child a writing tutor who gives extra writing assignments or raises the bar on existing assignments as a method for overcoming that gap. Way easier than trying to replicate chem lab experiences at home. What am I missing?

Plenty of parents supplement at JR. It was essential last year when there was no physics teacher and a government teacher who was AWOL 95% of the time. This year is much better, though writing continues to be an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - I recommend you spend some time in Tenlytown both before and after school. Talk with the folks who work in the businesses around the school. Or just sit on the bench by the library and observe. It will give you a good feel for the school.

This person is using coded language to warn other white people that black kids attend this school. Beware!

Code for misbehaving kids. Fixed that for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1) Princeton is not URM (unless there is more than one).

2) This obsession with "top X" schools is gross and also misses the mark on the sociodemographic makeup of the school...a LOT of kids--including high achieving kids--at J-R do not come from families that can spend $80K/year on college. Many fall in the financial aid donut hole so may not qualify for financial aid. As a result, they are looking for merit and do not apply ED.

I agree with this 100% and would add that a lot of the high achieving students apply to engineering schools, many of which are not at the most "prestigious" colleges that parents on DCUM obsess about but that are, nonetheless, very hard to get into.

[Anonymous]

I’ve never been threatened but I’ve had to walk out of a few stores after school because of the crowds and the rudeness When I was with my elementary age Circle K. I don’t care if they’re getting out of school they could be a little more polite..

[Anonymous]

This has been a bad college admissions year for JR.
Although I think it has been bad across the board. Many disappointed kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has been a bad college admissions year for JR.
Although I think it has been bad across the board. Many disappointed kids

Colleges are not falling for the whole "your parents are both lawyers and you live in a $1.2 million bungalow in AU Park but you attend JR high school so we'll give you an urban kid admissions bump" line of thinking anymore.
They want first generation and URMs (preferably both) as their urban representation. Admissions have been great for URMs from JR this year.