Looking for some feedback on Eastern HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the hate? My impression was the oldest daughter was especially high achieving. You know the type. He conceded that going to Walls from EH was the overall much better fit for her. I do not think there is any real inconsistency in believing in neighborhood schools, supporting DCPS, and sending a very high-achieving child who gets in to a DCPS application high school.

How do we know that Eastern’s IB program isn’t full of high achieving students?

Easy enough. Look at the IB averages. I hear it’s 24 or 25. 24 is the minimum that you need to get the IB diploma.

For top schools like Ivies, you need minimum 40-42. For top 20 schools high 30’s.

Definitely not high achieving. Average IB scores are bottom of the barrel.

They don't actually care for US students. Not an Ivy, but a Stanford admissions officer pointed out that the IB scores aren't released until well after any commitments are made.

You don’t seem to know too much about IB. Yes the scores are released later but you can take 2 exams in junior year and submit those scores. You can also take the equivalent AP exam and should score high with 5’s if you are doing really well in the IB program. It’s not hard to see who the high flyers are in IB and it’s not the Eastern crowd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the hate? My impression was the oldest daughter was especially high achieving. You know the type. He conceded that going to Walls from EH was the overall much better fit for her. I do not think there is any real inconsistency in believing in neighborhood schools, supporting DCPS, and sending a very high-achieving child who gets in to a DCPS application high school.

How do we know that Eastern’s IB program isn’t full of high achieving students?

Easy enough. Look at the IB averages. I hear it’s 24 or 25. 24 is the minimum that you need to get the IB diploma.

For top schools like Ivies, you need minimum 40-42. For top 20 schools high 30’s.

Definitely not high achieving. Average IB scores are bottom of the barrel.

They don't actually care for US students. Not an Ivy, but a Stanford admissions officer pointed out that the IB scores aren't released until well after any commitments are made.

You don’t seem to know too much about IB. Yes the scores are released later but you can take 2 exams in junior year and submit those scores. You can also take the equivalent AP exam and should score high with 5’s if you are doing really well in the IB program. It’s not hard to see who the high flyers are in IB and it’s not the Eastern crowd.

I responded to a claim that a 40-42 is needed which is false. And you’re actually proving my point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eastern's failure to attract a good cohort of UMC in-boundary families is a no brainer. The main problem is that there's no DCPS middle-high school bridge East of Rock Creek, with UMC Hill families overwhelmingly peeling off for vastly superior charter middle/highs schools that take them to 12th grade or for Walls or Banneker for 9th. Without a super duper test-in IBD program, e.g. Richard Montgomery in Rockville, Eastern has no allure for almost all high SES families EotP. DCPS doesn't give a hoot and political heads don't roll over the state of Eastern.

If Eliot-Hine's IB program becomes really strong, I can see families try to stick together and continue on at Eastern.

+1. The problem is really that charters start in 5th grade, so people jump because they are afraid to lose their chance. If charters were somehow mandated to start in 6th grade, you might have enough families stick together to try IB at Eliot.

Oh please. And if DCPS could actually run a middle school program, or start their own middle schools in 5th grade. Problem solved. I can't for the life of me figure out how people justify trying to mess with the charter system that educates nearly half of DC Public school children rather than pressure the grown up experts at DCPS to get it together. The 5th grade curriculum and experience at any charter in DC --not just Latin and Basis--is worlds better than what is happening at a typical DCPS elementary school. And somehow you want to force those students--from all socio-economic backgrounds-- to waste another substandard year for what? Take your mandate elsewhere.

I would have questioned this take on DCPS running a MS program until this year. We've stayed at our CH DCPS ES for 5th, after getting shut out of BASIS, both Latins, even Inspired Teaching. The percentage of poor kids at this ES is in the single digits. Friends who jumped for Latin Cooper are obviously getting much better academics in 5th this year, although the school is brand new and in a barebones facility with no grass, no multipurpose room and little natural light. We've been spending $750 month for tutoring this spring, at Mathnasium and on a private ELA tutor, because my kid doesn't seem to learn much in 5th grade. He doesn't get nearly enough math drill and hasn't been taught the basics of writing (impressive worksheets come home, but the lessons aren't taught well). Before we hired an ELA tutor, they couldn't spell, punctuate or capitalize at anywhere near a 5th grade level and hadn't been taught any grammar. The kids are supposed to "self-edit," their written work in DCPS, it isn't corrected at school. Nuts. My son has learned more grammar from playing MathLibs than from school. Yes, a waste of another substandard year if we weren't paying to supplement.

[Anonymous]

5th grade is a weak year in DCPS.
Janney is no different

[Anonymous]

Maury is the same.

[Anonymous]

Here is the issue people.

In elementary you can get away with supplementing maybe Math and English. But in middle school, you can’t get away with supplementing every single subject because your day is wasted. English, math, social studies, size, history, and whatever else.

There is not enough time in the day. Forget about being involved in sports or extracurriculars, etc..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the hate? My impression was the oldest daughter was especially high achieving. You know the type. He conceded that going to Walls from EH was the overall much better fit for her. I do not think there is any real inconsistency in believing in neighborhood schools, supporting DCPS, and sending a very high-achieving child who gets in to a DCPS application high school.

How do we know that Eastern’s IB program isn’t full of high achieving students?

Easy enough. Look at the IB averages. I hear it’s 24 or 25. 24 is the minimum that you need to get the IB diploma.

For top schools like Ivies, you need minimum 40-42. For top 20 schools high 30’s.

Definitely not high achieving. Average IB scores are bottom of the barrel.

They don't actually care for US students. Not an Ivy, but a Stanford admissions officer pointed out that the IB scores aren't released until well after any commitments are made.

You don’t seem to know too much about IB. Yes the scores are released later but you can take 2 exams in junior year and submit those scores. You can also take the equivalent AP exam and should score high with 5’s if you are doing really well in the IB program. It’s not hard to see who the high flyers are in IB and it’s not the Eastern crowd.

I responded to a claim that a 40-42 is needed which is false. And you’re actually proving my point.

Guess you don’t understand about correlation. It is easy to correlate with the kids will be getting based on above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the hate? My impression was the oldest daughter was especially high achieving. You know the type. He conceded that going to Walls from EH was the overall much better fit for her. I do not think there is any real inconsistency in believing in neighborhood schools, supporting DCPS, and sending a very high-achieving child who gets in to a DCPS application high school.

How do we know that Eastern’s IB program isn’t full of high achieving students?

Easy enough. Look at the IB averages. I hear it’s 24 or 25. 24 is the minimum that you need to get the IB diploma.

For top schools like Ivies, you need minimum 40-42. For top 20 schools high 30’s.

Definitely not high achieving. Average IB scores are bottom of the barrel.

They don't actually care for US students. Not an Ivy, but a Stanford admissions officer pointed out that the IB scores aren't released until well after any commitments are made.

You don’t seem to know too much about IB. Yes the scores are released later but you can take 2 exams in junior year and submit those scores. You can also take the equivalent AP exam and should score high with 5’s if you are doing really well in the IB program. It’s not hard to see who the high flyers are in IB and it’s not the Eastern crowd.

I responded to a claim that a 40-42 is needed which is false. And you’re actually proving my point.

Guess you don’t understand about correlation. It is easy to correlate with the kids will be getting based on above.

If all you care about is correlations, universities can predict your IB score based on zip code. It’s even more income-driven than the SAT and APs. All you need to know to predict the average IB score at Eastern is that it’s a Title I school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eastern's failure to attract a good cohort of UMC in-boundary families is a no brainer. The main problem is that there's no DCPS middle-high school bridge East of Rock Creek, with UMC Hill families overwhelmingly peeling off for vastly superior charter middle/highs schools that take them to 12th grade or for Walls or Banneker for 9th. Without a super duper test-in IBD program, e.g. Richard Montgomery in Rockville, Eastern has no allure for almost all high SES families EotP. DCPS doesn't give a hoot and political heads don't roll over the state of Eastern.

If Eliot-Hine's IB program becomes really strong, I can see families try to stick together and continue on at Eastern.

+1. The problem is really that charters start in 5th grade, so people jump because they are afraid to lose their chance. If charters were somehow mandated to start in 6th grade, you might have enough families stick together to try IB at Eliot.

Oh please. And if DCPS could actually run a middle school program, or start their own middle schools in 5th grade. Problem solved. I can't for the life of me figure out how people justify trying to mess with the charter system that educates nearly half of DC Public school children rather than pressure the grown up experts at DCPS to get it together. The 5th grade curriculum and experience at any charter in DC --not just Latin and Basis--is worlds better than what is happening at a typical DCPS elementary school. And somehow you want to force those students--from all socio-economic backgrounds-- to waste another substandard year for what? Take your mandate elsewhere.

I would have questioned this take on DCPS running a MS program until this year. We've stayed at our CH DCPS ES for 5th, after getting shut out of BASIS, both Latins, even Inspired Teaching. The percentage of poor kids at this ES is in the single digits. Friends who jumped for Latin Cooper are obviously getting much better academics in 5th this year, although the school is brand new and in a barebones facility with no grass, no multipurpose room and little natural light. We've been spending $750 month for tutoring this spring, at Mathnasium and on a private ELA tutor, because my kid doesn't seem to learn much in 5th grade. He doesn't get nearly enough math drill and hasn't been taught the basics of writing (impressive worksheets come home, but the lessons aren't taught well). Before we hired an ELA tutor, they couldn't spell, punctuate or capitalize at anywhere near a 5th grade level and hadn't been taught any grammar. The kids are supposed to "self-edit," their written work in DCPS, it isn't corrected at school. Nuts. My son has learned more grammar from playing MathLibs than from school. Yes, a waste of another substandard year if we weren't paying to supplement.

What’s your MS plan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the issue people.

In elementary you can get away with supplementing maybe Math and English. But in middle school, you can’t get away with supplementing every single subject because your day is wasted. English, math, social studies, size, history, and whatever else.

There is not enough time in the day. Forget about being involved in sports or extracurriculars, etc..

Yes. But for us there are benefits in sticking with the IB middle school at least to try it out. My plan is to stay on top of math and writing. My DS gets 1:1 tutoring in a heritage language, so I’ve been able to see how much he can get through quickly in minimal time with that focus. So I think just 2 hrs tutoring a week in math and writing will accomplish a lot and not be too burdensome.

Would I prefer an academically stronger school? Absolutely. But life is a series of tradeoffs ….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the hate? My impression was the oldest daughter was especially high achieving. You know the type. He conceded that going to Walls from EH was the overall much better fit for her. I do not think there is any real inconsistency in believing in neighborhood schools, supporting DCPS, and sending a very high-achieving child who gets in to a DCPS application high school.

How do we know that Eastern’s IB program isn’t full of high achieving students?

Easy enough. Look at the IB averages. I hear it’s 24 or 25. 24 is the minimum that you need to get the IB diploma.

For top schools like Ivies, you need minimum 40-42. For top 20 schools high 30’s.

Definitely not high achieving. Average IB scores are bottom of the barrel.

They don't actually care for US students. Not an Ivy, but a Stanford admissions officer pointed out that the IB scores aren't released until well after any commitments are made.

You don’t seem to know too much about IB. Yes the scores are released later but you can take 2 exams in junior year and submit those scores. You can also take the equivalent AP exam and should score high with 5’s if you are doing really well in the IB program. It’s not hard to see who the high flyers are in IB and it’s not the Eastern crowd.

I responded to a claim that a 40-42 is needed which is false. And you’re actually proving my point.

Guess you don’t understand about correlation. It is easy to correlate with the kids will be getting based on above.

If all you care about is correlations, universities can predict your IB score based on zip code. It’s even more income-driven than the SAT and APs. All you need to know to predict the average IB score at Eastern is that it’s a Title I school.

People like you are exactly why DCPS is a disaster. Make excuses instead of acknowledging the huge problems in the system and why it will never get better and continues failing so many kids in this city. Poor kids can’t do well on IB, SAT, or AP which BTW tests content knowledge you should know.

I’m here to tell you BS as someone who was a FARMS kids and did fine on the tests above. It’s not the tests. It’s DCPS not supporting the kids with potential early and not tracking them early. It’s too late when you try to sort in high school and that is why Banneker’s scores are mediocre at best.

But hey, keep making excuses for the status quo. Those with options will leave and the kids you hurt the most are the poor kids without options whose potential is not met.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the hate? My impression was the oldest daughter was especially high achieving. You know the type. He conceded that going to Walls from EH was the overall much better fit for her. I do not think there is any real inconsistency in believing in neighborhood schools, supporting DCPS, and sending a very high-achieving child who gets in to a DCPS application high school.

How do we know that Eastern’s IB program isn’t full of high achieving students?

Easy enough. Look at the IB averages. I hear it’s 24 or 25. 24 is the minimum that you need to get the IB diploma.

For top schools like Ivies, you need minimum 40-42. For top 20 schools high 30’s.

Definitely not high achieving. Average IB scores are bottom of the barrel.

They don't actually care for US students. Not an Ivy, but a Stanford admissions officer pointed out that the IB scores aren't released until well after any commitments are made.

You don’t seem to know too much about IB. Yes the scores are released later but you can take 2 exams in junior year and submit those scores. You can also take the equivalent AP exam and should score high with 5’s if you are doing really well in the IB program. It’s not hard to see who the high flyers are in IB and it’s not the Eastern crowd.

I responded to a claim that a 40-42 is needed which is false. And you’re actually proving my point.

Guess you don’t understand about correlation. It is easy to correlate with the kids will be getting based on above.

If all you care about is correlations, universities can predict your IB score based on zip code. It’s even more income-driven than the SAT and APs. All you need to know to predict the average IB score at Eastern is that it’s a Title I school.

People like you are exactly why DCPS is a disaster. Make excuses instead of acknowledging the huge problems in the system and why it will never get better and continues failing so many kids in this city. Poor kids can’t do well on IB, SAT, or AP which BTW tests content knowledge you should know.

I’m here to tell you BS as someone who was a FARMS kids and did fine on the tests above. It’s not the tests. It’s DCPS not supporting the kids with potential early and not tracking them early. It’s too late when you try to sort in high school and that is why Banneker’s scores are mediocre at best.

But hey, keep making excuses for the status quo. Those with options will leave and the kids you hurt the most are the poor kids without options whose potential is not met.

I’m not claiming that individual kids can’t do well. That’s closer to your position—you’re the one saying that what matters about a school is not whether an individual kid can do well there, but whether the average IBD score shows that all the kids do very well, whether the IB program is “full of” high achieving students.

Please, point us to a high-poverty IB school that has an average IBD score high enough to meet your standards. Anywhere on earth. I can’t find one. So when you go on about “average IBD scores,” you’re really just telling people to avoid going to school with poor kids.

(For the curious, here’s some research, by the IBO, about how IBD scores correlate with household income. https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/new-structure/research/pdfs/ib-and-low-income-students-report-sri-en.pdf)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the issue people.

In elementary you can get away with supplementing maybe Math and English. But in middle school, you can’t get away with supplementing every single subject because your day is wasted. English, math, social studies, size, history, and whatever else.

There is not enough time in the day. Forget about being involved in sports or extracurriculars, etc..

Yes. But for us there are benefits in sticking with the IB middle school at least to try it out. My plan is to stay on top of math and writing. My DS gets 1:1 tutoring in a heritage language, so I’ve been able to see how much he can get through quickly in minimal time with that focus. So I think just 2 hrs tutoring a week in math and writing will accomplish a lot and not be too burdensome.

Would I prefer an academically stronger school? Absolutely. But life is a series of tradeoffs ….

I’m sorry but you are so naive in your thinking.

You actually have convinced yourself that 2 hours of tutoring a week total in math and English is enough at Eastern? That this is equivalent to getting the same academic experience as a middle school that offers tracking in all subjects with a similarly inclined academically peer group??

What, are you going to have your kid debate the English tutor in English literature for 15 minutes, then spend 15 minutes learning grammar, then 15 minutes on how to write a persuasive paragraph? Then try to cover higher math in 1/2 an hour and spend the other 1/2 reviewing your kids mistakes? Then have him spend his free time doing what on his own? And then add that time into the 1 for his tutor to grade?

A tutor doesn’t replace a year long class. It’s to help kids for the class. And as you go higher and deeper subject matters, an hour is not enough to supplement the class.

Guess you are planning in blowing off science, social studies, history,

If you actually want an equivalent, you need to homeschool on all subjects.

But feel free to do it and see how he will either sink or swim in high school in a real academic setting of high performing kids.

[Anonymous]

Like it or not, there is a reason people move to the suburbs. Even the worst ranked high school in MCPS (Kennedy) is better than most DCPS high schools.
And perhaps the Bethesda schools don’t have much diversity but areas such as Rockville, Silver Spring, Germantown, Gaithersburg have way more diversity than DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the issue people.

In elementary you can get away with supplementing maybe Math and English. But in middle school, you can’t get away with supplementing every single subject because your day is wasted. English, math, social studies, size, history, and whatever else.

There is not enough time in the day. Forget about being involved in sports or extracurriculars, etc..

Yes. But for us there are benefits in sticking with the IB middle school at least to try it out. My plan is to stay on top of math and writing. My DS gets 1:1 tutoring in a heritage language, so I’ve been able to see how much he can get through quickly in minimal time with that focus. So I think just 2 hrs tutoring a week in math and writing will accomplish a lot and not be too burdensome.

Would I prefer an academically stronger school? Absolutely. But life is a series of tradeoffs ….

I’m sorry but you are so naive in your thinking.

You actually have convinced yourself that 2 hours of tutoring a week total in math and English is enough at Eastern? That this is equivalent to getting the same academic experience as a middle school that offers tracking in all subjects with a similarly inclined academically peer group??

What, are you going to have your kid debate the English tutor in English literature for 15 minutes, then spend 15 minutes learning grammar, then 15 minutes on how to write a persuasive paragraph? Then try to cover higher math in 1/2 an hour and spend the other 1/2 reviewing your kids mistakes? Then have him spend his free time doing what on his own? And then add that time into the 1 for his tutor to grade?

A tutor doesn’t replace a year long class. It’s to help kids for the class. And as you go higher and deeper subject matters, an hour is not enough to supplement the class.

Guess you are planning in blowing off science, social studies, history,

If you actually want an equivalent, you need to homeschool on all subjects.

But feel free to do it and see how he will either sink or swim in high school in a real academic setting of high performing kids.

reading comprehension fail