Middle school options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP is right. Exit your own bubble perhaps, the one mired in relativism. Look around. Our near neighbors--Arlington, MoCo, Fairfax--know how to support large, well-run high schools offering much stronger academics and ECs than anything found in DC public schools. Claiming that we can do just fine without such institutions, and that the best of our public middle and high schools are just as good, is silly.

Things were much better just 5 years ago, when an applicant to Walls needed 2 standardized test scores to apply, a general score (from the DC-CAS, later the PARCC, or PSAT 8/9) and the Walls-specific test. Since 2021, no standardized test scores needed, which is unforgiveable.

I was just looking at IB Diploma offerings in some of the suburban schools to compare them to those at Eastern, Banneker and DCI. There's no comparison. The best public suburban programs are offering at least 2x, even 3 or 4x times the IBD courses on offer here in the District. We're not talking about a quality gap; it's a chasm.

The question is what value you place on living in DC? Some folks place a good deal of value on it— enough to navigate the DC public school landscape warts and all with full knowledge of superior school options in the burbs. Of course, the suburbs aren’t exactly what they used to be 25 years ago, the trend lines don’t look good, and the high-performing zones are still $$$$.

Our family wasn’t willing to compromise on either, so we live in an EotP neighborhood we like and send our kids to private schools (that offer the full range of academics and ECs) for middle/HS. Perhaps moving would have made more sense $to$, but it didn’t for us given the balance of tradeoffs overall, including lifestyle and insufficient draw of suburban schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve lived in Ward 6 for 30 years and have 2 teenagers, so we know a whole bunch of families with kids at Latin, BASIS, Walls, DCI and various privates for HS. We also know a bunch of families who bailed on DCPS at DCPCS for the burbs along the way, seemingly without regret. The best suburban public schools are obviously much better than anything we have in DC. What’s also clear is that Latin doesn’t offer the same rigor for the highest achievers as Walls, BASIS and arguably, DCI. None of these DC public schools offer a combo of excellent ECs and academics. You can protest all you want and point to data and pathways without changing any of it. If you can swing a private or a move to the burbs, you go.

As someone who grew up in DC public schools and as a normal, functioning adult, I can’t believe how absolutely spoiled some people are, and passing that entitlement down to their kids. I can’t imagine moving just so my kid can go to a high school with “better EC’s”… or whatever. My kids have been happy in DCPS, if there are things that aren’t perfect (god forbid not enough EC’s to choose from, for example), they adapt and move on. No complaints. I am just glad that we made our kids aware from a young age what real problems actually are- an Ebola outbreak in Congo, civil wars in Sudan, horrific poverty, genocide, starvation, in places like Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen. Not to mention, the kids who live in DC and don’t have any choices with schools and don’t have meals to eat every day. As long as some of you can segregate from these kids, it’ll all be ok, right?

My main point to the people who can’t just pick up and move or pay for private, your kid will be fine in DCPS. Deep breaths. There are much bigger things to worry about- especially with the way things are going in the world right now.

Ah, yes, make sure your kids are constantly anxious about wars and pandemics they can't control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ve lived in Ward 6 for 30 years and have 2 teenagers, so we know a whole bunch of families with kids at Latin, BASIS, Walls, DCI and various privates for HS. We also know a bunch of families who bailed on DCPS at DCPCS for the burbs along the way, seemingly without regret. The best suburban public schools are obviously much better than anything we have in DC. What’s also clear is that Latin doesn’t offer the same rigor for the highest achievers as Walls, BASIS and arguably, DCI. None of these DC public schools offer a combo of excellent ECs and academics. You can protest all you want and point to data and pathways without changing any of it. If you can swing a private or a move to the burbs, you go.

Looking at Latin's college acceptances so far this year announced on Instagram, and I'm seeing Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, Michigan, Tufts... There's only 90 or so seniors at Latin so it's substantially smaller than SWW, less than half the size of DCI and is a small fraction of the size of those behemoth high schools in the burbs.

[Anonymous]

I just made the most reasonable choice from year to year, which was usually “stick with this good-enough but imperfect school,” and everything turned out fine. I think that’s actually pretty common? Anyway it worked for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just made the most reasonable choice from year to year, which was usually “stick with this good-enough but imperfect school,” and everything turned out fine. I think that’s actually pretty common? Anyway it worked for us.

People overemphasize the name brand of the school and underemphasize how well your child does there. If you really want your kid to go to Harvard, he or she can get there from any number of schools in our area, if you do well enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve lived in Ward 6 for 30 years and have 2 teenagers, so we know a whole bunch of families with kids at Latin, BASIS, Walls, DCI and various privates for HS. We also know a bunch of families who bailed on DCPS at DCPCS for the burbs along the way, seemingly without regret. The best suburban public schools are obviously much better than anything we have in DC. What’s also clear is that Latin doesn’t offer the same rigor for the highest achievers as Walls, BASIS and arguably, DCI. None of these DC public schools offer a combo of excellent ECs and academics. You can protest all you want and point to data and pathways without changing any of it. If you can swing a private or a move to the burbs, you go.

Looking at Latin's college acceptances so far this year announced on Instagram, and I'm seeing Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, Michigan, Tufts... There's only 90 or so seniors at Latin so it's substantially smaller than SWW, less than half the size of DCI and is a small fraction of the size of those behemoth high schools in the burbs.

MIT very impressive coming out of Latin!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve lived in Ward 6 for 30 years and have 2 teenagers, so we know a whole bunch of families with kids at Latin, BASIS, Walls, DCI and various privates for HS. We also know a bunch of families who bailed on DCPS at DCPCS for the burbs along the way, seemingly without regret. The best suburban public schools are obviously much better than anything we have in DC. What’s also clear is that Latin doesn’t offer the same rigor for the highest achievers as Walls, BASIS and arguably, DCI. None of these DC public schools offer a combo of excellent ECs and academics. You can protest all you want and point to data and pathways without changing any of it. If you can swing a private or a move to the burbs, you go.

Looking at Latin's college acceptances so far this year announced on Instagram, and I'm seeing Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, Michigan, Tufts... There's only 90 or so seniors at Latin so it's substantially smaller than SWW, less than half the size of DCI and is a small fraction of the size of those behemoth high schools in the burbs.

Take what's announced on Instagram with a grain of salt. Often it's a handful of seniors getting into multiple top schools. What you can't look at is the crazy expensive and exhausting supplementing the UMC families have invariably done to achieve these results. We know some of these families. It's not uncommon for Latin families to fork out 10K or more a year to bump up the education ("cheaper than Sidwell!"). Easy to pretend that Latin did it all but not realistic or honest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve lived in Ward 6 for 30 years and have 2 teenagers, so we know a whole bunch of families with kids at Latin, BASIS, Walls, DCI and various privates for HS. We also know a bunch of families who bailed on DCPS at DCPCS for the burbs along the way, seemingly without regret. The best suburban public schools are obviously much better than anything we have in DC. What’s also clear is that Latin doesn’t offer the same rigor for the highest achievers as Walls, BASIS and arguably, DCI. None of these DC public schools offer a combo of excellent ECs and academics. You can protest all you want and point to data and pathways without changing any of it. If you can swing a private or a move to the burbs, you go.

Looking at Latin's college acceptances so far this year announced on Instagram, and I'm seeing Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, Michigan, Tufts... There's only 90 or so seniors at Latin so it's substantially smaller than SWW, less than half the size of DCI and is a small fraction of the size of those behemoth high schools in the burbs.

Take what's announced on Instagram with a grain of salt. Often it's a handful of seniors getting into multiple top schools. What you can't look at is the crazy expensive and exhausting supplementing the UMC families have invariably done to achieve these results. We know some of these families. It's not uncommon for Latin families to fork out 10K or more a year to bump up the education ("cheaper than Sidwell!"). Easy to pretend that Latin did it all but not realistic or honest.

You can say that for any school. Or
Do you think parents in MCPS aren’t supplementing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve lived in Ward 6 for 30 years and have 2 teenagers, so we know a whole bunch of families with kids at Latin, BASIS, Walls, DCI and various privates for HS. We also know a bunch of families who bailed on DCPS at DCPCS for the burbs along the way, seemingly without regret. The best suburban public schools are obviously much better than anything we have in DC. What’s also clear is that Latin doesn’t offer the same rigor for the highest achievers as Walls, BASIS and arguably, DCI. None of these DC public schools offer a combo of excellent ECs and academics. You can protest all you want and point to data and pathways without changing any of it. If you can swing a private or a move to the burbs, you go.

Looking at Latin's college acceptances so far this year announced on Instagram, and I'm seeing Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, Michigan, Tufts... There's only 90 or so seniors at Latin so it's substantially smaller than SWW, less than half the size of DCI and is a small fraction of the size of those behemoth high schools in the burbs.

Take what's announced on Instagram with a grain of salt. Often it's a handful of seniors getting into multiple top schools. What you can't look at is the crazy expensive and exhausting supplementing the UMC families have invariably done to achieve these results. We know some of these families. It's not uncommon for Latin families to fork out 10K or more a year to bump up the education ("cheaper than Sidwell!"). Easy to pretend that Latin did it all but not realistic or honest.

Fair enough, but the Instas I saw were unique matriculations, not mere acceptances. So still very impressive in my book, if not exactly broadly representative.

And I say this someone currently paying private school tuition from middle school onward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve lived in Ward 6 for 30 years and have 2 teenagers, so we know a whole bunch of families with kids at Latin, BASIS, Walls, DCI and various privates for HS. We also know a bunch of families who bailed on DCPS at DCPCS for the burbs along the way, seemingly without regret. The best suburban public schools are obviously much better than anything we have in DC. What’s also clear is that Latin doesn’t offer the same rigor for the highest achievers as Walls, BASIS and arguably, DCI. None of these DC public schools offer a combo of excellent ECs and academics. You can protest all you want and point to data and pathways without changing any of it. If you can swing a private or a move to the burbs, you go.

Looking at Latin's college acceptances so far this year announced on Instagram, and I'm seeing Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, Michigan, Tufts... There's only 90 or so seniors at Latin so it's substantially smaller than SWW, less than half the size of DCI and is a small fraction of the size of those behemoth high schools in the burbs.

Take what's announced on Instagram with a grain of salt. Often it's a handful of seniors getting into multiple top schools. What you can't look at is the crazy expensive and exhausting supplementing the UMC families have invariably done to achieve these results. We know some of these families. It's not uncommon for Latin families to fork out 10K or more a year to bump up the education ("cheaper than Sidwell!"). Easy to pretend that Latin did it all but not realistic or honest.

Don't you ever get tired of posting this nonsense? Everyday is some weird (and not even plausible!) lie about Latin and some ridiculous DCI boosterism. You seem very insecure about your child being at DCI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve lived in Ward 6 for 30 years and have 2 teenagers, so we know a whole bunch of families with kids at Latin, BASIS, Walls, DCI and various privates for HS. We also know a bunch of families who bailed on DCPS at DCPCS for the burbs along the way, seemingly without regret. The best suburban public schools are obviously much better than anything we have in DC. What’s also clear is that Latin doesn’t offer the same rigor for the highest achievers as Walls, BASIS and arguably, DCI. None of these DC public schools offer a combo of excellent ECs and academics. You can protest all you want and point to data and pathways without changing any of it. If you can swing a private or a move to the burbs, you go.

Looking at Latin's college acceptances so far this year announced on Instagram, and I'm seeing Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, Michigan, Tufts... There's only 90 or so seniors at Latin so it's substantially smaller than SWW, less than half the size of DCI and is a small fraction of the size of those behemoth high schools in the burbs.

Take what's announced on Instagram with a grain of salt. Often it's a handful of seniors getting into multiple top schools. What you can't look at is the crazy expensive and exhausting supplementing the UMC families have invariably done to achieve these results. We know some of these families. It's not uncommon for Latin families to fork out 10K or more a year to bump up the education ("cheaper than Sidwell!"). Easy to pretend that Latin did it all but not realistic or honest.

You can say that for any school. Or
Do you think parents in MCPS aren’t supplementing?

No they are, but not to the same extent. I know this because I have siblings with teens in MoCo. The three of us often compare notes on what we're doing to support the kids at school. MoCo high schools, with big cohorts of kids realistically aiming high in college admissions, offer supports, sometimes organized by the kids themselves, that you just don't see in smallish DCPCS like Latin. The ECs in MoCo, which are cheap or free, are miles ahead of those found at DCP public charters. When my siblings' kids compete in state, regional and national competitions for this and that, the county sends them, even paying for the hotels and flights. They've even been sent to summer language immersion programs abroad on the county time - not goof-around travel programs, serious IB Diploma exam prep in Asia or Europe. DCPS prioritizes paying to help struggling students while MoCo invests heavily in high achievers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve lived in Ward 6 for 30 years and have 2 teenagers, so we know a whole bunch of families with kids at Latin, BASIS, Walls, DCI and various privates for HS. We also know a bunch of families who bailed on DCPS at DCPCS for the burbs along the way, seemingly without regret. The best suburban public schools are obviously much better than anything we have in DC. What’s also clear is that Latin doesn’t offer the same rigor for the highest achievers as Walls, BASIS and arguably, DCI. None of these DC public schools offer a combo of excellent ECs and academics. You can protest all you want and point to data and pathways without changing any of it. If you can swing a private or a move to the burbs, you go.

Looking at Latin's college acceptances so far this year announced on Instagram, and I'm seeing Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, Michigan, Tufts... There's only 90 or so seniors at Latin so it's substantially smaller than SWW, less than half the size of DCI and is a small fraction of the size of those behemoth high schools in the burbs.

Take what's announced on Instagram with a grain of salt. Often it's a handful of seniors getting into multiple top schools. What you can't look at is the crazy expensive and exhausting supplementing the UMC families have invariably done to achieve these results. We know some of these families. It's not uncommon for Latin families to fork out 10K or more a year to bump up the education ("cheaper than Sidwell!"). Easy to pretend that Latin did it all but not realistic or honest.

Don't you ever get tired of posting this nonsense? Everyday is some weird (and not even plausible!) lie about Latin and some ridiculous DCI boosterism. You seem very insecure about your child being at DCI.

I thought this was the basis poster. Either way, it’s insufferable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve lived in Ward 6 for 30 years and have 2 teenagers, so we know a whole bunch of families with kids at Latin, BASIS, Walls, DCI and various privates for HS. We also know a bunch of families who bailed on DCPS at DCPCS for the burbs along the way, seemingly without regret. The best suburban public schools are obviously much better than anything we have in DC. What’s also clear is that Latin doesn’t offer the same rigor for the highest achievers as Walls, BASIS and arguably, DCI. None of these DC public schools offer a combo of excellent ECs and academics. You can protest all you want and point to data and pathways without changing any of it. If you can swing a private or a move to the burbs, you go.

Looking at Latin's college acceptances so far this year announced on Instagram, and I'm seeing Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, Michigan, Tufts... There's only 90 or so seniors at Latin so it's substantially smaller than SWW, less than half the size of DCI and is a small fraction of the size of those behemoth high schools in the burbs.

Take what's announced on Instagram with a grain of salt. Often it's a handful of seniors getting into multiple top schools. What you can't look at is the crazy expensive and exhausting supplementing the UMC families have invariably done to achieve these results. We know some of these families. It's not uncommon for Latin families to fork out 10K or more a year to bump up the education ("cheaper than Sidwell!"). Easy to pretend that Latin did it all but not realistic or honest.

I don't understand the bolded. Probably because it makes no sense and is just sour grapes. Elite private schools and wealthy public high schools are all systemically built-in supplementation.

What if I told you there was a charter school in DC with 69 graduates, all of whom are going to college and these were some of the schools they were attending. Would 20%+ attending elite schools convince you that the school and its curriculum and reputation were doing at least some of the work?

University of Chicago (2)
Cornell University
Harvard University
Princeton University
University of Pennsylvania
Yale University
Duke University
Johns Hopkins University
Carnegie Mellon University
University of California, Berkeley
University of Michigan
University of Virginia (2)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve lived in Ward 6 for 30 years and have 2 teenagers, so we know a whole bunch of families with kids at Latin, BASIS, Walls, DCI and various privates for HS. We also know a bunch of families who bailed on DCPS at DCPCS for the burbs along the way, seemingly without regret. The best suburban public schools are obviously much better than anything we have in DC. What’s also clear is that Latin doesn’t offer the same rigor for the highest achievers as Walls, BASIS and arguably, DCI. None of these DC public schools offer a combo of excellent ECs and academics. You can protest all you want and point to data and pathways without changing any of it. If you can swing a private or a move to the burbs, you go.

Looking at Latin's college acceptances so far this year announced on Instagram, and I'm seeing Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, Michigan, Tufts... There's only 90 or so seniors at Latin so it's substantially smaller than SWW, less than half the size of DCI and is a small fraction of the size of those behemoth high schools in the burbs.

Take what's announced on Instagram with a grain of salt. Often it's a handful of seniors getting into multiple top schools. What you can't look at is the crazy expensive and exhausting supplementing the UMC families have invariably done to achieve these results. We know some of these families. It's not uncommon for Latin families to fork out 10K or more a year to bump up the education ("cheaper than Sidwell!"). Easy to pretend that Latin did it all but not realistic or honest.

I don't understand the bolded. Probably because it makes no sense and is just sour grapes. Elite private schools and wealthy public high schools are all systemically built-in supplementation.

What if I told you there was a charter school in DC with 69 graduates, all of whom are going to college and these were some of the schools they were attending. Would 20%+ attending elite schools convince you that the school and its curriculum and reputation were doing at least some of the work?

University of Chicago (2)
Cornell University
Harvard University
Princeton University
University of Pennsylvania
Yale University
Duke University
Johns Hopkins University
Carnegie Mellon University
University of California, Berkeley
University of Michigan
University of Virginia (2)

This looks like BASIS DC this year.

Over 26% of the senior class matriculating to T25 schools…quite impressive!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve lived in Ward 6 for 30 years and have 2 teenagers, so we know a whole bunch of families with kids at Latin, BASIS, Walls, DCI and various privates for HS. We also know a bunch of families who bailed on DCPS at DCPCS for the burbs along the way, seemingly without regret. The best suburban public schools are obviously much better than anything we have in DC. What’s also clear is that Latin doesn’t offer the same rigor for the highest achievers as Walls, BASIS and arguably, DCI. None of these DC public schools offer a combo of excellent ECs and academics. You can protest all you want and point to data and pathways without changing any of it. If you can swing a private or a move to the burbs, you go.

Looking at Latin's college acceptances so far this year announced on Instagram, and I'm seeing Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Cornell, Michigan, Tufts... There's only 90 or so seniors at Latin so it's substantially smaller than SWW, less than half the size of DCI and is a small fraction of the size of those behemoth high schools in the burbs.

Take what's announced on Instagram with a grain of salt. Often it's a handful of seniors getting into multiple top schools. What you can't look at is the crazy expensive and exhausting supplementing the UMC families have invariably done to achieve these results. We know some of these families. It's not uncommon for Latin families to fork out 10K or more a year to bump up the education ("cheaper than Sidwell!"). Easy to pretend that Latin did it all but not realistic or honest.

Don't you ever get tired of posting this nonsense? Everyday is some weird (and not even plausible!) lie about Latin and some ridiculous DCI boosterism. You seem very insecure about your child being at DCI.

I thought this was the basis poster. Either way, it’s insufferable.

Both are very insecure.