Thoughts about Brent Upper School from parents of kids who have gone through 5th?
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Anonymous
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I've seen lots of posts from parents who seem opposed to Brent's upper school model (combined 4th/5th) but haven't seen anything from parents of kids who have actually experienced 5th grade there. We've spoken to some of the parents we know and it has seemed positive. And the school is sharing data showing that there has actually been an increase in test scores since the switch. We have a child in the younger grades and don't want to reflexively say no to the model just because it's unfamiliar.
How was your kid's 5th grade experience at Brent these last 2-3 years? Anything you'd want prospective parents to know? |
Anonymous
| brent has always had a sizable 5th grade charter school exodus so it may for some students who stay behind emotionally feel a little like some of their friends are moving on while they are repeating last year (even if that is not objectively true). |
Anonymous
| I’ve heard a lot of the arguments but very little about the actual experience of kids who have gone there. We don’t know many. |
Anonymous
| Most students don't stay for 5th grade so I'm not sure you will have many people to talk to. |
Anonymous
Not at Brent, but this is true at many schools. 5th grade charter is the issue. Horrible that it is allowed-charters should at least conform with DCPS start years. |
Anonymous
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It was horrible for my kid socially.
I would be pretty skeptical about attributing results directly to the Upper School model. They had a bump across the board this year, but that's also because they had a big dip previously. In both cases while the US model was employed. Also, the 5th grade at Brent did much worse than the 4th grade, so maybe they mean it benefits overall results? Now because those who leave for charters are self-selecting, I don't think it means the US model is responsible for 5th graders doing worse than 4th graders, but it seems a stretch to look at 4th grade outperforming 5th by 20+ points and say that shows the US is... good for 5th graders. |
Anonymous
At a different Hill elementary but this is changing. The number of applicants for charters is growing rapidly, meaning likelihood of getting a spot is just as rapidly going down. We lost out on lottery, but so did about 90% of our kid’s fourth grade class, meaning they’re almost all back for 5th grade (now on the cusp of needing another teacher and classroom). This will only continue unless more (good) charters open. I can see it being slightly different for Brent in that buy-in for Stuart Hobson and Eliot Hine is far more advanced than for Jefferson, in that Brent 4th graders who don’t win lottery might be more likely to bail at 5th…but is 5th really an entry year in any private? And if moving to suburbs or across town, wouldn’t you just wait for MS? |
Anonymous
It looks like there were 31 kids in 5th last year and 24 of them also attended Brent for 4th. |
Anonymous
That means Brent is losing 1/2 its class between 4th and 5th. That is very out of line with other CH elementary schools. Ours lost about 20%. |
Anonymous
Yes, it looks like for that same class, 19 left DCPS/charters altogether after 4th. Comparatively, that same year, Maury had 42 kids move from 4th to 5th and had 13 kids leave DCPS (Maury's class sizes are a bit bigger than Brent overall) |
Anonymous
Apparently part of what they are referring to are iready scores that show 5th graders performing better now than they did before and also having more growth each year compared to prior 5th grade years. Maybe CAPE too but this is all secondhand. |
Anonymous
| Current Brent parent here coming up quickly on the 5th grade decision. It's a non-starter for me if they aren't differentiating ELA for 4th and 5th. And my preference would be to stay because we like it and our IB MS is good. Re-reading the same books / re-doing the same assignments (which was the feedback we got from friends with kids in 4th, all US kids were treated the same) is bonkers. |
Anonymous
| We heard they alternate two curriculums for everything except math so the kids who stay for 5th don’t redo the same topics in ELA, science, and social studies. For math we heard there are two different curriculums taught at the same time and they split the kids up by grade more often. |
Anonymous
My kid read the exact same book twice, so if they fixed that issue, maybe they're starting to care at all about 5th graders. Certainly wasn't the case before. |
Anonymous
| My child attended 5th grade at Brent - Upper School model. This model was extremely isolating for them. The 5th grade students are grouped into 6 ish students in a class of 18ish 4th graders. The 4th graders already have their friends and have no interest in socializing with the "left over" 5th graders. Further, it was only by luck you are with the 1-2 friends that didn't switch schools. It felt like starting new after being at the school for many, many years. The teachers or Principal also refused to have 5th-grade only focused activities. Teachers focused heavily on 4th grade learning so my child was very bored. Bored and lonely. We supplemented at home, as did most other 5th grade peers, which more likely attributed to maintained or increased test scores. My [academically advanced] child had to listen to the same math and English lessons -- even read the identical books -- and was not held to a higher standard. They were pulled into the "advanced" group in math but that was pretty dismal in terms of learning. Brent may be showing "higher" test scores but I call BS. Their model is both academically and socially damaging without outside support and intervention. The Principal doesn't give a hoot about the 5th grade experience either. Also, this past year 3 of 4 Upper School teachers left so that says a lot as well. |