Current views on J-R

[Anonymous]

Academics, social dynamic, safety, arts, clubs, teachers, sports - any and all reflections welcome.

[Anonymous]

It’s a very good school that’s a little overcrowded and the administration is not great, leading to a bit of an exodus of good teachers. That being said, they’ll never have a shortage of good teachers because comparatively (at least to other public schools in DC), it’s a great gig.

[Anonymous]

I have a ninth grader there. So far so good. It's better than most DCPS high schools, but probably middle of the road if you compare it to schools in MD or VA.

I don't find the work to be particularly rigorous or difficult, but my daughter thinks she's being worked to death. Teachers are hit or miss, but that's every high school. It's extremely diverse, so there's a good mix of just about everybody from various walks of life. My kid is not very personable and a bit standoffish, but somehow she found others just like her, and they hang out all the time.

There are a ton of clubs and opportunities. She's in the engineering academy and it seems like every week there's a speaker, a field trip, a college tour, or a workshop she can attend to learn more about career options. She's not into sports, but I did coerce her into attending a few games. She said they were just okay.

I had my doubts about her going there, but she's definitely coming out of her shell thanks to the relationships she's built so far this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a very good school that’s a little overcrowded and the administration is not great, leading to a bit of an exodus of good teachers. That being said, they’ll never have a shortage of good teachers because comparatively (at least to other public schools in DC), it’s a great gig.

Don't do this. You confuse causation with correlation. We see this all over DCUM about lots of schools. Like a Rorschach test. Think JR is overcrowded and don't like leadership? That's why teacher's are leaving! Don't like BASIS HOS and think the building stinks? That's why teachers are leaving!

Teachers are not a monolith. Even in the best of times they leave for lots of reasons - family, career, military spouse, burnout. Teacher burnout across the US is at an all time high and teachers are leaving the profession in droves. Stop with this already.

[Anonymous]

If your kid is self motivated, it will be good (not great). If your kid does the bare minimum, they will be fine and not stand out--teachers and administration will be happy to let them slide.
If your kid always aligns with the worst behaved kids and sinks to their level, they will struggle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a very good school that’s a little overcrowded and the administration is not great, leading to a bit of an exodus of good teachers. That being said, they’ll never have a shortage of good teachers because comparatively (at least to other public schools in DC), it’s a great gig.

Don't do this. You confuse causation with correlation. We see this all over DCUM about lots of schools. Like a Rorschach test. Think JR is overcrowded and don't like leadership? That's why teacher's are leaving! Don't like BASIS HOS and think the building stinks? That's why teachers are leaving!

Teachers are not a monolith. Even in the best of times they leave for lots of reasons - family, career, military spouse, burnout. Teacher burnout across the US is at an all time high and teachers are leaving the profession in droves. Stop with this already.

The admin at JR has always been pretty weak right, and got worse over the pandemic. This isn’t news, but it’s not so bad that it affects anything but teacher QOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a very good school that’s a little overcrowded and the administration is not great, leading to a bit of an exodus of good teachers. That being said, they’ll never have a shortage of good teachers because comparatively (at least to other public schools in DC), it’s a great gig.

Don't do this. You confuse causation with correlation. We see this all over DCUM about lots of schools. Like a Rorschach test. Think JR is overcrowded and don't like leadership? That's why teacher's are leaving! Don't like BASIS HOS and think the building stinks? That's why teachers are leaving!

Teachers are not a monolith. Even in the best of times they leave for lots of reasons - family, career, military spouse, burnout. Teacher burnout across the US is at an all time high and teachers are leaving the profession in droves. Stop with this already.

The admin at JR has always been pretty weak right, and got worse over the pandemic. This isn’t news, but it’s not so bad that it affects anything but teacher QOL.

But it is true. Current admin is very weak - plays the game to keep Central happy and does not back up teachers & staff. Culture of fear there. Good teachers this year are being given sub-optimal Impact scores. One AP in particular is egregious.

The school is still strong with lots of offerings but more about pandering to marketing then actually making life better for the students.

[Anonymous]

The admin at JR has always been pretty weak right, and got worse over the pandemic. This isn’t news, but it’s not so bad that it affects anything but teacher QOL.

But it is true. Current admin is very weak - plays the game to keep Central happy and does not back up teachers & staff. Culture of fear there. Good teachers this year are being given sub-optimal Impact scores. One AP in particular is egregious.

The school is still strong with lots of offerings but more about pandering to marketing then actually making life better for the students.

^^^^ this. I teach at JR and teachers are super displeased with admin (Brown and a few APs) who treat them like crap. It’s not a happy place. And it affects the culture and its impact is definitely felt by students.

[Anonymous]

Have a current 9th grader. Appears to have very little rigor and zero to little homework, but has an over 4.0. I’m hearing that workload increases in 10th.
Child likes JR a lot- very vibrant, tons of activities. Certain team sports are hard to make but he enjoys going to games.
Has made some new friends from classes and activities.
Overall no regrets, except occasionally wondering if we should have moved to MD and done BCC for more rigor.

[Anonymous]

9th grader loves the school after a rocky start at MacArthur led us to move them to JR, our home school. Academics on par for a big high school -- good students can get challenged, others can manage and still do well -- lots of clubs, easy to make friends, highly recommend.

[Anonymous]

If you like low test scores, it's great.

Based on the latest CAPE scores, 69.8% of J-R students are BELOW grade level in math and 35% are BELOW grade level in English.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:9th grader loves the school after a rocky start at MacArthur led us to move them to JR, our home school. Academics on par for a big high school -- good students can get challenged, others can manage and still do well -- lots of clubs, easy to make friends, highly recommend.

What was the issue with MacArthur if you don’t mind sharing? We lotteried for it, thinking smallwr than J-R would be better, but we’ve been waffling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you like low test scores, it's great.

Based on the latest CAPE scores, 69.8% of J-R students are BELOW grade level in math and 35% are BELOW grade level in English.

Good luck!

I like that this is your answer to people describing their kids’ actual experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have a current 9th grader. Appears to have very little rigor and zero to little homework, but has an over 4.0. I’m hearing that workload increases in 10th.
Child likes JR a lot- very vibrant, tons of activities. Certain team sports are hard to make but he enjoys going to games.
Has made some new friends from classes and activities.
Overall no regrets, except occasionally wondering if we should have moved to MD and done BCC for more rigor.

We have a 9th grade girl and exact experience and grades. Hoping for more rigor and actual homework next year. Her teachers are great - we did PTCs with them and had a good feeling about them all. Kid is really happy. The projected enrollment numbers for next year show fewer kids and she already has less kids in the grade than when they were at Deal. I just checked and she said none of her classes except maybe music has more than 22 kids. That said, as a PP noted, she’s highly motivated. Not sure what her brother’s experience will be in three years.

[Anonymous]

Wish they would ban cell phones In classes. They didn’t have them at Deal and it was fine. Sounds like the principal is the stopper to getting rid of them.