I am confused between Stuart Hobson Middle School vs. Deal Middle School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that the commute from the Hill to MacArthur is a real drag during rush hour. The future campus is nowhere near near a Metro stop or a bus route that goes from the Hill. I live near Union Station but used to work near the future campus, where free parking was available to me. Many mornings, it took me nearly an hour to get to work through traffic. Also, Walls is not the safe bet for strong Hill students it once was, now that the entrance exam and PARCC scores have both been dropped in the admissions process. Think twice about a DCPS middle school EotP. Might be better to move.

When was Walls ever a safe bet with waitlist of 100+ kids?

Pre Covid, Walls was quite a safe bet for the strongest 8th graders EotP, coming out of both public and private schools. Before Bowser began pressuring DCPS to admit more low-SES minority students from over the River, and to ditch the entrance exam and standardized test scores requirements (DC-CAS, then PARCC or PSAT or SAT score) the academically able would get in. I've lived on the Hill for 30 years and saw this phenomenon play out over and over, particularly for teens who were very good at math, regardless of race. The Walls entrance exams emphasized fairly tough algebra and geometry. No longer. Admission to Walls has essentially become a lottery in the last several years.

That's a false assumption. There may have been intent to attract more diverse students to Walls, including from EotP, but the school remains overwhelmingly white and/or higher SES and enrolls an extremely small number of students from EotP. Dropping the entrance exam had no impact on the demographics

Exactly, at the end of the day SWW is just difficult to get to from parts of the city. Maintaining a GPA requires a level of consistency and is a better indicator of the caliber of student than test scores. This is even true with all the grade inflation everywhere. None of it is perfect but the thought process seems to be that "my kid is a great test taker" so they deserve to be at Walls.

I don't agree with statement. An applicant who's a B student in 8th grade at BASIS or a top private is generally going to be much better prepared than an A student from a DCPS middle school program. The Walls tests, along with the requirement that an applicant submitted a standardized test score, really helped Walls separate the sheep from the goats academically in the admissions process.

"None of it is perfect" is a euphemism for "Hey, this isn't NYC, Chicago or Boston folks. DC no longer bothers to make a serious effort to its best public-school students to its HS academic magnet programs. We care far more about equity than serving our best and brightest. Take it or leave it, our public schools just aren't competitive. Public school parents EotP, run to BASIS or the Latins while you can."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that the commute from the Hill to MacArthur is a real drag during rush hour. The future campus is nowhere near near a Metro stop or a bus route that goes from the Hill. I live near Union Station but used to work near the future campus, where free parking was available to me. Many mornings, it took me nearly an hour to get to work through traffic. Also, Walls is not the safe bet for strong Hill students it once was, now that the entrance exam and PARCC scores have both been dropped in the admissions process. Think twice about a DCPS middle school EotP. Might be better to move.

When was Walls ever a safe bet with waitlist of 100+ kids?

Pre Covid, Walls was quite a safe bet for the strongest 8th graders EotP, coming out of both public and private schools. Before Bowser began pressuring DCPS to admit more low-SES minority students from over the River, and to ditch the entrance exam and standardized test scores requirements (DC-CAS, then PARCC or PSAT or SAT score) the academically able would get in. I've lived on the Hill for 30 years and saw this phenomenon play out over and over, particularly for teens who were very good at math, regardless of race. The Walls entrance exams emphasized fairly tough algebra and geometry. No longer. Admission to Walls has essentially become a lottery in the last several years.

That's a false assumption. There may have been intent to attract more diverse students to Walls, including from EotP, but the school remains overwhelmingly white and/or higher SES and enrolls an extremely small number of students from EotP. Dropping the entrance exam had no impact on the demographics

Dropping the entrance exam has in fact had a small impact on demographics and a larger impact on rigor. Now Walls admits plenty of white kids who are B students, along with those of other races. Sad.

^ Didn't last year but could be true this year. DCPS wants it both ways -- no way for advanced students to go higher than 4.0 and no way to distinguish by out-testing those B students either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that the commute from the Hill to MacArthur is a real drag during rush hour. The future campus is nowhere near near a Metro stop or a bus route that goes from the Hill. I live near Union Station but used to work near the future campus, where free parking was available to me. Many mornings, it took me nearly an hour to get to work through traffic. Also, Walls is not the safe bet for strong Hill students it once was, now that the entrance exam and PARCC scores have both been dropped in the admissions process. Think twice about a DCPS middle school EotP. Might be better to move.

When was Walls ever a safe bet with waitlist of 100+ kids?

Pre Covid, Walls was quite a safe bet for the strongest 8th graders EotP, coming out of both public and private schools. Before Bowser began pressuring DCPS to admit more low-SES minority students from over the River, and to ditch the entrance exam and standardized test scores requirements (DC-CAS, then PARCC or PSAT or SAT score) the academically able would get in. I've lived on the Hill for 30 years and saw this phenomenon play out over and over, particularly for teens who were very good at math, regardless of race. The Walls entrance exams emphasized fairly tough algebra and geometry. No longer. Admission to Walls has essentially become a lottery in the last several years.

That's a false assumption. There may have been intent to attract more diverse students to Walls, including from EotP, but the school remains overwhelmingly white and/or higher SES and enrolls an extremely small number of students from EotP. Dropping the entrance exam had no impact on the demographics

Dropping the entrance exam has in fact had a small impact on demographics and a larger impact on rigor. Now Walls admits plenty of white kids who are B students, along with those of other races. Sad.

So if all of this were true, wouldn't a rational EoTP parent pivot towards Benneker? Easier commute and IB too, if you care about that.

^ Didn't last year but could be true this year. DCPS wants it both ways -- no way for advanced students to go higher than 4.0 and no way to distinguish by out-testing those B students either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that the commute from the Hill to MacArthur is a real drag during rush hour. The future campus is nowhere near near a Metro stop or a bus route that goes from the Hill. I live near Union Station but used to work near the future campus, where free parking was available to me. Many mornings, it took me nearly an hour to get to work through traffic. Also, Walls is not the safe bet for strong Hill students it once was, now that the entrance exam and PARCC scores have both been dropped in the admissions process. Think twice about a DCPS middle school EotP. Might be better to move.

When was Walls ever a safe bet with waitlist of 100+ kids?

Pre Covid, Walls was quite a safe bet for the strongest 8th graders EotP, coming out of both public and private schools. Before Bowser began pressuring DCPS to admit more low-SES minority students from over the River, and to ditch the entrance exam and standardized test scores requirements (DC-CAS, then PARCC or PSAT or SAT score) the academically able would get in. I've lived on the Hill for 30 years and saw this phenomenon play out over and over, particularly for teens who were very good at math, regardless of race. The Walls entrance exams emphasized fairly tough algebra and geometry. No longer. Admission to Walls has essentially become a lottery in the last several years.

That's a false assumption. There may have been intent to attract more diverse students to Walls, including from EotP, but the school remains overwhelmingly white and/or higher SES and enrolls an extremely small number of students from EotP. Dropping the entrance exam had no impact on the demographics

Exactly, at the end of the day SWW is just difficult to get to from parts of the city. Maintaining a GPA requires a level of consistency and is a better indicator of the caliber of student than test scores. This is even true with all the grade inflation everywhere. None of it is perfect but the thought process seems to be that "my kid is a great test taker" so they deserve to be at Walls.

I don't agree with statement. An applicant who's a B student in 8th grade at BASIS or a top private is generally going to be much better prepared than an A student from a DCPS middle school program. The Walls tests, along with the requirement that an applicant submitted a standardized test score, really helped Walls separate the sheep from the goats academically in the admissions process.

"None of it is perfect" is a euphemism for "Hey, this isn't NYC, Chicago or Boston folks. DC no longer bothers to make a serious effort to its best public-school students to its HS academic magnet programs. We care far more about equity than serving our best and brightest. Take it or leave it, our public schools just aren't competitive. Public school parents EotP, run to BASIS or the Latins while you can."

Of course the kid at Basis or Latin can always remain at either. The test gave a more level playing field to account for grade inflation (pretty common in independents too fwiw). Walls is turning away very strong students from DCPS who have both grades and ability to easily pass test. I know they're also turning away students from BASIS who face much tougher coursework and grading standards. If enough students make cut on GPA and the test, that's the only appropriate place for luck to enter the equation.

Then again -- the test wasn't that high a bar. Most decent students could make that cut without much trouble. DCPS tried to defend this decision due to logistics during the pandemic which is total BS 2 years into returning to in person learning. In reality it's another feeble attempt to window dress equity largely absent throughout the system.

[Anonymous]

if you can get into banneker… yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that the commute from the Hill to MacArthur is a real drag during rush hour. The future campus is nowhere near near a Metro stop or a bus route that goes from the Hill. I live near Union Station but used to work near the future campus, where free parking was available to me. Many mornings, it took me nearly an hour to get to work through traffic. Also, Walls is not the safe bet for strong Hill students it once was, now that the entrance exam and PARCC scores have both been dropped in the admissions process. Think twice about a DCPS middle school EotP. Might be better to move.

When was Walls ever a safe bet with waitlist of 100+ kids?

Pre Covid, Walls was quite a safe bet for the strongest 8th graders EotP, coming out of both public and private schools. Before Bowser began pressuring DCPS to admit more low-SES minority students from over the River, and to ditch the entrance exam and standardized test scores requirements (DC-CAS, then PARCC or PSAT or SAT score) the academically able would get in. I've lived on the Hill for 30 years and saw this phenomenon play out over and over, particularly for teens who were very good at math, regardless of race. The Walls entrance exams emphasized fairly tough algebra and geometry. No longer. Admission to Walls has essentially become a lottery in the last several years.

That's a false assumption. There may have been intent to attract more diverse students to Walls, including from EotP, but the school remains overwhelmingly white and/or higher SES and enrolls an extremely small number of students from EotP. Dropping the entrance exam had no impact on the demographics

Dropping the entrance exam has in fact had a small impact on demographics and a larger impact on rigor. Now Walls admits plenty of white kids who are B students, along with those of other races. Sad.

This is anecdotally true from where I sit. I also don't think this helps with the city's goal of equity in the end. The new rules make SWW look more like one of the "HRCS" -- a school that doesn't necessarily offer a better education but will ensure your kid is mostly attending classes with more UMC kids than they would at their IB. If you assume that the key to a good education is going to school with other students from UMC families who have educated parents, you will be satisfied with that.

But what set SWW apart previously was that it was actually based on merit. Yes, as is always the case, well-resourced kids had an edge because their parents were more likely to be able to get them a higher quality elementary and MS education, supplement when needed, and provide a home environment that nurtured academics more. That is always true. But at the end of the day, if you could do well on the entrance exam and other standardized tests, you could earn a spot no matter what. That's not true anymore. Other than a fairly low floor to weed out a lot of kids who were unlikely to be interested in SWW (or any applications school) in the first place, it's just a lottery against lots of students with a wide variety of academic backgrounds.

I do think it's a shame for the truly academically exceptional kids of all backgrounds who previously would have benefitted from attending college with "the best of the best." It make SWW somewhat indistinguishable from a lottery-based program like Latin or regular DCPS like Wilson. It used to offer something unique.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that the commute from the Hill to MacArthur is a real drag during rush hour. The future campus is nowhere near near a Metro stop or a bus route that goes from the Hill. I live near Union Station but used to work near the future campus, where free parking was available to me. Many mornings, it took me nearly an hour to get to work through traffic. Also, Walls is not the safe bet for strong Hill students it once was, now that the entrance exam and PARCC scores have both been dropped in the admissions process. Think twice about a DCPS middle school EotP. Might be better to move.

When was Walls ever a safe bet with waitlist of 100+ kids?

Pre Covid, Walls was quite a safe bet for the strongest 8th graders EotP, coming out of both public and private schools. Before Bowser began pressuring DCPS to admit more low-SES minority students from over the River, and to ditch the entrance exam and standardized test scores requirements (DC-CAS, then PARCC or PSAT or SAT score) the academically able would get in. I've lived on the Hill for 30 years and saw this phenomenon play out over and over, particularly for teens who were very good at math, regardless of race. The Walls entrance exams emphasized fairly tough algebra and geometry. No longer. Admission to Walls has essentially become a lottery in the last several years.

That's a false assumption. There may have been intent to attract more diverse students to Walls, including from EotP, but the school remains overwhelmingly white and/or higher SES and enrolls an extremely small number of students from EotP. Dropping the entrance exam had no impact on the demographics

Dropping the entrance exam has in fact had a small impact on demographics and a larger impact on rigor. Now Walls admits plenty of white kids who are B students, along with those of other races. Sad.

This is anecdotally true from where I sit. I also don't think this helps with the city's goal of equity in the end. The new rules make SWW look more like one of the "HRCS" -- a school that doesn't necessarily offer a better education but will ensure your kid is mostly attending classes with more UMC kids than they would at their IB. If you assume that the key to a good education is going to school with other students from UMC families who have educated parents, you will be satisfied with that.

But what set SWW apart previously was that it was actually based on merit. Yes, as is always the case, well-resourced kids had an edge because their parents were more likely to be able to get them a higher quality elementary and MS education, supplement when needed, and provide a home environment that nurtured academics more. That is always true. But at the end of the day, if you could do well on the entrance exam and other standardized tests, you could earn a spot no matter what. That's not true anymore. Other than a fairly low floor to weed out a lot of kids who were unlikely to be interested in SWW (or any applications school) in the first place, it's just a lottery against lots of students with a wide variety of academic backgrounds.

I do think it's a shame for the truly academically exceptional kids of all backgrounds who previously would have benefitted from attending college with "the best of the best." It make SWW somewhat indistinguishable from a lottery-based program like Latin or regular DCPS like Wilson. It used to offer something unique.

This x 1000. The “equity” goal in DCPS just means watered down standards and hence the caliber of academic performance of the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that the commute from the Hill to MacArthur is a real drag during rush hour. The future campus is nowhere near near a Metro stop or a bus route that goes from the Hill. I live near Union Station but used to work near the future campus, where free parking was available to me. Many mornings, it took me nearly an hour to get to work through traffic. Also, Walls is not the safe bet for strong Hill students it once was, now that the entrance exam and PARCC scores have both been dropped in the admissions process. Think twice about a DCPS middle school EotP. Might be better to move.

When was Walls ever a safe bet with waitlist of 100+ kids?

Pre Covid, Walls was quite a safe bet for the strongest 8th graders EotP, coming out of both public and private schools. Before Bowser began pressuring DCPS to admit more low-SES minority students from over the River, and to ditch the entrance exam and standardized test scores requirements (DC-CAS, then PARCC or PSAT or SAT score) the academically able would get in. I've lived on the Hill for 30 years and saw this phenomenon play out over and over, particularly for teens who were very good at math, regardless of race. The Walls entrance exams emphasized fairly tough algebra and geometry. No longer. Admission to Walls has essentially become a lottery in the last several years.

That's a false assumption. There may have been intent to attract more diverse students to Walls, including from EotP, but the school remains overwhelmingly white and/or higher SES and enrolls an extremely small number of students from EotP. Dropping the entrance exam had no impact on the demographics

Dropping the entrance exam has in fact had a small impact on demographics and a larger impact on rigor. Now Walls admits plenty of white kids who are B students, along with those of other races. Sad.

This is anecdotally true from where I sit. I also don't think this helps with the city's goal of equity in the end. The new rules make SWW look more like one of the "HRCS" -- a school that doesn't necessarily offer a better education but will ensure your kid is mostly attending classes with more UMC kids than they would at their IB. If you assume that the key to a good education is going to school with other students from UMC families who have educated parents, you will be satisfied with that.

But what set SWW apart previously was that it was actually based on merit. Yes, as is always the case, well-resourced kids had an edge because their parents were more likely to be able to get them a higher quality elementary and MS education, supplement when needed, and provide a home environment that nurtured academics more. That is always true. But at the end of the day, if you could do well on the entrance exam and other standardized tests, you could earn a spot no matter what. That's not true anymore. Other than a fairly low floor to weed out a lot of kids who were unlikely to be interested in SWW (or any applications school) in the first place, it's just a lottery against lots of students with a wide variety of academic backgrounds.

I do think it's a shame for the truly academically exceptional kids of all backgrounds who previously would have benefitted from attending college with "the best of the best." It make SWW somewhat indistinguishable from a lottery-based program like Latin or regular DCPS like Wilson. It used to offer something unique.

This. Now it just offers a UMC cohort and is not any better academically than comparable JR cohort. It may never have been much better than the top 1/3 of JR students anyway. It's the same pool of students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that the commute from the Hill to MacArthur is a real drag during rush hour. The future campus is nowhere near near a Metro stop or a bus route that goes from the Hill. I live near Union Station but used to work near the future campus, where free parking was available to me. Many mornings, it took me nearly an hour to get to work through traffic. Also, Walls is not the safe bet for strong Hill students it once was, now that the entrance exam and PARCC scores have both been dropped in the admissions process. Think twice about a DCPS middle school EotP. Might be better to move.

When was Walls ever a safe bet with waitlist of 100+ kids?

Pre Covid, Walls was quite a safe bet for the strongest 8th graders EotP, coming out of both public and private schools. Before Bowser began pressuring DCPS to admit more low-SES minority students from over the River, and to ditch the entrance exam and standardized test scores requirements (DC-CAS, then PARCC or PSAT or SAT score) the academically able would get in. I've lived on the Hill for 30 years and saw this phenomenon play out over and over, particularly for teens who were very good at math, regardless of race. The Walls entrance exams emphasized fairly tough algebra and geometry. No longer. Admission to Walls has essentially become a lottery in the last several years.

That's a false assumption. There may have been intent to attract more diverse students to Walls, including from EotP, but the school remains overwhelmingly white and/or higher SES and enrolls an extremely small number of students from EotP. Dropping the entrance exam had no impact on the demographics

Dropping the entrance exam has in fact had a small impact on demographics and a larger impact on rigor. Now Walls admits plenty of white kids who are B students, along with those of other races. Sad.

This is anecdotally true from where I sit. I also don't think this helps with the city's goal of equity in the end. The new rules make SWW look more like one of the "HRCS" -- a school that doesn't necessarily offer a better education but will ensure your kid is mostly attending classes with more UMC kids than they would at their IB. If you assume that the key to a good education is going to school with other students from UMC families who have educated parents, you will be satisfied with that.

But what set SWW apart previously was that it was actually based on merit. Yes, as is always the case, well-resourced kids had an edge because their parents were more likely to be able to get them a higher quality elementary and MS education, supplement when needed, and provide a home environment that nurtured academics more. That is always true. But at the end of the day, if you could do well on the entrance exam and other standardized tests, you could earn a spot no matter what. That's not true anymore. Other than a fairly low floor to weed out a lot of kids who were unlikely to be interested in SWW (or any applications school) in the first place, it's just a lottery against lots of students with a wide variety of academic backgrounds.

I do think it's a shame for the truly academically exceptional kids of all backgrounds who previously would have benefitted from attending college with "the best of the best." It make SWW somewhat indistinguishable from a lottery-based program like Latin or regular DCPS like Wilson. It used to offer something unique.

This. Now it just offers a UMC cohort and is not any better academically than comparable JR cohort. It may never have been much better than the top 1/3 of JR students anyway. It's the same pool of students

Well I guess applications should be down going forward.

[Anonymous]

The winners here are BASIS, the Latins, JR, privates and the burbs. More UMC families will jump on their bandwagons with Walls is drifting into the realm of mediocrity.

A new mayor could get Walls back on track for the highest-performing students, like Eric Adams has done with NYC's application middle school programs this fall. Magnet middle schools ran as open admissions programs during the pandemic and would have stayed that way if the mayor hadn't changed.

Problem is there's no new mayor in sight in the District.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that the commute from the Hill to MacArthur is a real drag during rush hour. The future campus is nowhere near near a Metro stop or a bus route that goes from the Hill. I live near Union Station but used to work near the future campus, where free parking was available to me. Many mornings, it took me nearly an hour to get to work through traffic. Also, Walls is not the safe bet for strong Hill students it once was, now that the entrance exam and PARCC scores have both been dropped in the admissions process. Think twice about a DCPS middle school EotP. Might be better to move.

When was Walls ever a safe bet with waitlist of 100+ kids?

Pre Covid, Walls was quite a safe bet for the strongest 8th graders EotP, coming out of both public and private schools. Before Bowser began pressuring DCPS to admit more low-SES minority students from over the River, and to ditch the entrance exam and standardized test scores requirements (DC-CAS, then PARCC or PSAT or SAT score) the academically able would get in. I've lived on the Hill for 30 years and saw this phenomenon play out over and over, particularly for teens who were very good at math, regardless of race. The Walls entrance exams emphasized fairly tough algebra and geometry. No longer. Admission to Walls has essentially become a lottery in the last several years.

That's a false assumption. There may have been intent to attract more diverse students to Walls, including from EotP, but the school remains overwhelmingly white and/or higher SES and enrolls an extremely small number of students from EotP. Dropping the entrance exam had no impact on the demographics

Dropping the entrance exam has in fact had a small impact on demographics and a larger impact on rigor. Now Walls admits plenty of white kids who are B students, along with those of other races. Sad.

This is anecdotally true from where I sit. I also don't think this helps with the city's goal of equity in the end. The new rules make SWW look more like one of the "HRCS" -- a school that doesn't necessarily offer a better education but will ensure your kid is mostly attending classes with more UMC kids than they would at their IB. If you assume that the key to a good education is going to school with other students from UMC families who have educated parents, you will be satisfied with that.

But what set SWW apart previously was that it was actually based on merit. Yes, as is always the case, well-resourced kids had an edge because their parents were more likely to be able to get them a higher quality elementary and MS education, supplement when needed, and provide a home environment that nurtured academics more. That is always true. But at the end of the day, if you could do well on the entrance exam and other standardized tests, you could earn a spot no matter what. That's not true anymore. Other than a fairly low floor to weed out a lot of kids who were unlikely to be interested in SWW (or any applications school) in the first place, it's just a lottery against lots of students with a wide variety of academic backgrounds.

I do think it's a shame for the truly academically exceptional kids of all backgrounds who previously would have benefitted from attending college with "the best of the best." It make SWW somewhat indistinguishable from a lottery-based program like Latin or regular DCPS like Wilson. It used to offer something unique.

This. Now it just offers a UMC cohort and is not any better academically than comparable JR cohort. It may never have been much better than the top 1/3 of JR students anyway. It's the same pool of students

Well I guess applications should be down going forward.

No they won't. Now B students EotP might have access to Walls, a big step up from their failing IB high schools. I see applications increasing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that the commute from the Hill to MacArthur is a real drag during rush hour. The future campus is nowhere near near a Metro stop or a bus route that goes from the Hill. I live near Union Station but used to work near the future campus, where free parking was available to me. Many mornings, it took me nearly an hour to get to work through traffic. Also, Walls is not the safe bet for strong Hill students it once was, now that the entrance exam and PARCC scores have both been dropped in the admissions process. Think twice about a DCPS middle school EotP. Might be better to move.

When was Walls ever a safe bet with waitlist of 100+ kids?

Pre Covid, Walls was quite a safe bet for the strongest 8th graders EotP, coming out of both public and private schools. Before Bowser began pressuring DCPS to admit more low-SES minority students from over the River, and to ditch the entrance exam and standardized test scores requirements (DC-CAS, then PARCC or PSAT or SAT score) the academically able would get in. I've lived on the Hill for 30 years and saw this phenomenon play out over and over, particularly for teens who were very good at math, regardless of race. The Walls entrance exams emphasized fairly tough algebra and geometry. No longer. Admission to Walls has essentially become a lottery in the last several years.

That's a false assumption. There may have been intent to attract more diverse students to Walls, including from EotP, but the school remains overwhelmingly white and/or higher SES and enrolls an extremely small number of students from EotP. Dropping the entrance exam had no impact on the demographics

Dropping the entrance exam has in fact had a small impact on demographics and a larger impact on rigor. Now Walls admits plenty of white kids who are B students, along with those of other races. Sad.

This is anecdotally true from where I sit. I also don't think this helps with the city's goal of equity in the end. The new rules make SWW look more like one of the "HRCS" -- a school that doesn't necessarily offer a better education but will ensure your kid is mostly attending classes with more UMC kids than they would at their IB. If you assume that the key to a good education is going to school with other students from UMC families who have educated parents, you will be satisfied with that.

But what set SWW apart previously was that it was actually based on merit. Yes, as is always the case, well-resourced kids had an edge because their parents were more likely to be able to get them a higher quality elementary and MS education, supplement when needed, and provide a home environment that nurtured academics more. That is always true. But at the end of the day, if you could do well on the entrance exam and other standardized tests, you could earn a spot no matter what. That's not true anymore. Other than a fairly low floor to weed out a lot of kids who were unlikely to be interested in SWW (or any applications school) in the first place, it's just a lottery against lots of students with a wide variety of academic backgrounds.

I do think it's a shame for the truly academically exceptional kids of all backgrounds who previously would have benefitted from attending college with "the best of the best." It make SWW somewhat indistinguishable from a lottery-based program like Latin or regular DCPS like Wilson. It used to offer something unique.

This. Now it just offers a UMC cohort and is not any better academically than comparable JR cohort. It may never have been much better than the top 1/3 of JR students anyway. It's the same pool of students

Well I guess applications should be down going forward.

No they won't. Now B students EotP might have access to Walls, a big step up from their failing IB high schools. I see applications increasing.

But from a policy perspective this makes NO sense. Why should B students EotP go through a long commute to get to a school that offers them a perfectly adequate education? It made sense for very advanced students when getting into SWW meant you were very academically successful. But now it's just a better option than some truly terrible IB HS options on the East side of town.

The answer for B students on the east side of town SHOULD be decent IB HSs. You can't solve the problems of the way Eastern/Anacostia/Ballou/Dunbar/Woodson/etc. are failing their IB populations by just giving a tiny fraction of kids from these boundaries a shot at an application HS on the other side of town.

This is an example of how DC's lottery system sometimes offers the illusion of choice at the expense of strong schools. Perhaps the best example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reality is that the commute from the Hill to MacArthur is a real drag during rush hour. The future campus is nowhere near near a Metro stop or a bus route that goes from the Hill. I live near Union Station but used to work near the future campus, where free parking was available to me. Many mornings, it took me nearly an hour to get to work through traffic. Also, Walls is not the safe bet for strong Hill students it once was, now that the entrance exam and PARCC scores have both been dropped in the admissions process. Think twice about a DCPS middle school EotP. Might be better to move.

When was Walls ever a safe bet with waitlist of 100+ kids?

Pre Covid, Walls was quite a safe bet for the strongest 8th graders EotP, coming out of both public and private schools. Before Bowser began pressuring DCPS to admit more low-SES minority students from over the River, and to ditch the entrance exam and standardized test scores requirements (DC-CAS, then PARCC or PSAT or SAT score) the academically able would get in. I've lived on the Hill for 30 years and saw this phenomenon play out over and over, particularly for teens who were very good at math, regardless of race. The Walls entrance exams emphasized fairly tough algebra and geometry. No longer. Admission to Walls has essentially become a lottery in the last several years.

That's a false assumption. There may have been intent to attract more diverse students to Walls, including from EotP, but the school remains overwhelmingly white and/or higher SES and enrolls an extremely small number of students from EotP. Dropping the entrance exam had no impact on the demographics

Dropping the entrance exam has in fact had a small impact on demographics and a larger impact on rigor. Now Walls admits plenty of white kids who are B students, along with those of other races. Sad.

This is anecdotally true from where I sit. I also don't think this helps with the city's goal of equity in the end. The new rules make SWW look more like one of the "HRCS" -- a school that doesn't necessarily offer a better education but will ensure your kid is mostly attending classes with more UMC kids than they would at their IB. If you assume that the key to a good education is going to school with other students from UMC families who have educated parents, you will be satisfied with that.

But what set SWW apart previously was that it was actually based on merit. Yes, as is always the case, well-resourced kids had an edge because their parents were more likely to be able to get them a higher quality elementary and MS education, supplement when needed, and provide a home environment that nurtured academics more. That is always true. But at the end of the day, if you could do well on the entrance exam and other standardized tests, you could earn a spot no matter what. That's not true anymore. Other than a fairly low floor to weed out a lot of kids who were unlikely to be interested in SWW (or any applications school) in the first place, it's just a lottery against lots of students with a wide variety of academic backgrounds.

I do think it's a shame for the truly academically exceptional kids of all backgrounds who previously would have benefitted from attending college with "the best of the best." It make SWW somewhat indistinguishable from a lottery-based program like Latin or regular DCPS like Wilson. It used to offer something unique.

This. Now it just offers a UMC cohort and is not any better academically than comparable JR cohort. It may never have been much better than the top 1/3 of JR students anyway. It's the same pool of students

Well I guess applications should be down going forward.

No they won't. Now B students EotP might have access to Walls, a big step up from their failing IB high schools. I see applications increasing.

How will that happen when it's the top GPAs, period.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The reality is that the commute from the Hill to MacArthur is a real drag during rush hour. The future campus is nowhere near near a Metro stop or a bus route that goes from the Hill. I live near Union Station but used to work near the future campus, where free parking was available to me. Many mornings, it took me nearly an hour to get to work through traffic. Also, Walls is not the safe bet for strong Hill students it once was, now that the entrance exam and PARCC scores have both been dropped in the admissions process. Think twice about a DCPS middle school EotP. Might be better to move.

When was Walls ever a safe bet with waitlist of 100+ kids?

Pre Covid, Walls was quite a safe bet for the strongest 8th graders EotP, coming out of both public and private schools. Before Bowser began pressuring DCPS to admit more low-SES minority students from over the River, and to ditch the entrance exam and standardized test scores requirements (DC-CAS, then PARCC or PSAT or SAT score) the academically able would get in. I've lived on the Hill for 30 years and saw this phenomenon play out over and over, particularly for teens who were very good at math, regardless of race. The Walls entrance exams emphasized fairly tough algebra and geometry. No longer. Admission to Walls has essentially become a lottery in the last several years.

That's a false assumption. There may have been intent to attract more diverse students to Walls, including from EotP, but the school remains overwhelmingly white and/or higher SES and enrolls an extremely small number of students from EotP. Dropping the entrance exam had no impact on the demographics

Dropping the entrance exam has in fact had a small impact on demographics and a larger impact on rigor. Now Walls admits plenty of white kids who are B students, along with those of other races. Sad.

This is anecdotally true from where I sit. I also don't think this helps with the city's goal of equity in the end. The new rules make SWW look more like one of the "HRCS" -- a school that doesn't necessarily offer a better education but will ensure your kid is mostly attending classes with more UMC kids than they would at their IB. If you assume that the key to a good education is going to school with other students from UMC families who have educated parents, you will be satisfied with that.

But what set SWW apart previously was that it was actually based on merit. Yes, as is always the case, well-resourced kids had an edge because their parents were more likely to be able to get them a higher quality elementary and MS education, supplement when needed, and provide a home environment that nurtured academics more. That is always true. But at the end of the day, if you could do well on the entrance exam and other standardized tests, you could earn a spot no matter what. That's not true anymore. Other than a fairly low floor to weed out a lot of kids who were unlikely to be interested in SWW (or any applications school) in the first place, it's just a lottery against lots of students with a wide variety of academic backgrounds.

I do think it's a shame for the truly academically exceptional kids of all backgrounds who previously would have benefitted from attending college with "the best of the best." It make SWW somewhat indistinguishable from a lottery-based program like Latin or regular DCPS like Wilson. It used to offer something unique.

This. Now it just offers a UMC cohort and is not any better academically than comparable JR cohort. It may never have been much better than the top 1/3 of JR students anyway. It's the same pool of students

Well I guess applications should be down going forward.

No they won't. Now B students EotP might have access to Walls, a big step up from their failing IB high schools. I see applications increasing.

How will that happen when it's the top GPAs, period.

You realize that the rigor of curriculums at different schools is vastly different right? The top GPA of a school where more than 75% of the kids are performing below grade level vs where more than 75% of the kids performing at or above grade level does not mean both students have the same knowledge base or depth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The winners here are BASIS, the Latins, JR, privates and the burbs. More UMC families will jump on their bandwagons with Walls is drifting into the realm of mediocrity.

A new mayor could get Walls back on track for the highest-performing students, like Eric Adams has done with NYC's application middle school programs this fall. Magnet middle schools ran as open admissions programs during the pandemic and would have stayed that way if the mayor hadn't changed.

Problem is there's no new mayor in sight in the District.

I would add DCI into the above list. More and more families EOTP are considering middle school pathways when making decisions about elementary schools. Plus for a kid where things come too easy, learning another language adds some challenge.