Another Brent question

[Anonymous]

12:32:

"If your kid is truly advanced, Latin remains mediocre compared to suburban GT programs and the better privates, nice as the parent group is, and as committed as the teachers and administrators are. The teachers are mostly young/inexperienced, poorly paid compared to DCPS teachers, and under pressure to focus on helping slow kids. It's a much better school that S-H but still mired in relativism. "

Really encapsulates the whole Latin experience. Thank you. I know the Latin boosters will swoop in now, but the above really sums it all up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:32:

"If your kid is truly advanced, Latin remains mediocre compared to suburban GT programs and the better privates, nice as the parent group is, and as committed as the teachers and administrators are. The teachers are mostly young/inexperienced, poorly paid compared to DCPS teachers, and under pressure to focus on helping slow kids. It's a much better school that S-H but still mired in relativism. "

Really encapsulates the whole Latin experience. Thank you. I know the Latin boosters will swoop in now, but the above really sums it all up.

I respectfully disagree. Perhaps, you would argue that I have a mediocre kid. Latin is not without its issues, but my kid is thriving there. I don't really consider myself a booster, just a parent who watched her kid flounder elsewhere and found her niche at Latin. Maybe there is a "better" "more challenging" whatever school elsewhere, but I haven't really found it yet.

[Anonymous]

"Maybe there is a "better" "more challenging" whatever school elsewhere, but I haven't really found it yet."

If you are like most parents at Latin, you looked at public schools in DC.

As the PP stated, Latin is still weak compared to MD/VA Publics and private schools. It's better than SH, the "third best middle school in DCPS" so it's good enough for you. Fine.

It's still pretty lame.

[Anonymous]

"Maybe there is a "better" "more challenging" whatever school elsewhere, but I haven't really found it yet."

If you are like most parents at Latin, you looked at public schools in DC.

As the PP stated, Latin is still weak compared to MD/VA Publics and private schools. It's better than SH, the "third best middle school in DCPS" so it's good enough for you. Fine.

It's still pretty lame.

there is always going to be a better school somewhere else. why don't you move to connecticut? some of the best public schools in the country! what's that? moving your family isn't really an option for you? you LIKE where you live? go, figure. ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
.... As long as both DCPS and DC charter shun competitive selective admissions, the grave middle school feeder problems on the Hill will simply generate more serious high school feeder problems. For some of us, high school isn't all that far away and privates are too expensive. SWW is small and isn't all that great, leading to lackluster college admissions results by the standards of many upper-middle-class families with young kids currently in DCPS. And Banneker, where average SAT scores are no better than the national average, doesn't seem interested in attracting non-AA or upper-middle-class families.

Where are Hill kids in DCPS supposed to go to high school in 5 or 10 years? Rockville? McClean?

Wilson -- except there probably won't be room for them. Do keep in mind, though, that the high SES kids at Wilson (many of whom are IB) do just as well as their counterparts in private schools and get into the same excellent colleges.

Obviously you don't mean the "Wilson" that just scored 60% proficient right? You mean the Academies at Wilson? How are students selected for that program? Is that a lottery?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Maybe there is a "better" "more challenging" whatever school elsewhere, but I haven't really found it yet."

If you are like most parents at Latin, you looked at public schools in DC.

As the PP stated, Latin is still weak compared to MD/VA Publics and private schools. It's better than SH, the "third best middle school in DCPS" so it's good enough for you. Fine.

It's still pretty lame.

I don't know. I have friends whose kids went to school with mine in pre-k/k who moved to Fairfax, McLean and Bethesda for "the schools" and are pretty unhappy with the schools for which they left. And, they don't have options. The grass is not always greener.

So, where do you send your kids for middle if you live on the Hill (therefore Deal is out) and private is not in your budget? I would argue that S-H and Hardy tie for 2/3 place of DCPS middles.

[Anonymous]

15:54 can you please name the specific schools in Fairfax, McLean and Bethesda that your friends are not happy with?

[Anonymous]

14:47, You do know that 59% proficiency is based on the comprehensive school that included the academies. They are not as fortunate to separate like Dunbar did with their Pre-Engineering Academy.

[Anonymous]

Gee, I know a lot of people who moved to Fairfax and Montgomery County who are thrilled with the schools. They still miss DC, but felt it was a sacrifice they needed to make for their children.

We're still in DC, but have no illusions that public middle school or high school options are excellent by any means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

"Maybe there is a "better" "more challenging" whatever school elsewhere, but I haven't really found it yet."

If you are like most parents at Latin, you looked at public schools in DC.

As the PP stated, Latin is still weak compared to MD/VA Publics and private schools. It's better than SH, the "third best middle school in DCPS" so it's good enough for you. Fine.

It's still pretty lame.

there is always going to be a better school somewhere else. why don't you move to connecticut? some of the best public schools in the country! what's that? moving your family isn't really an option for you? you LIKE where you live? go, figure. ...

This argument is a red herring. There is a huge difference between "moving to Connecticut" and moving to Maryland or Virginia, where you can still work and play in DC while enjoying the benefits of superior schools.

[Anonymous]

Since I keep seeing Latin showing up, I will make a comment. I wish parents would stop seeing Latin as a feeder school for SWW, Banneker, and the private schools. IMO Latin HS can be just as good as those school if our 8th graders would stop leaving, and this is not just the white students, the high honor roll black students are leaving just as quickly. The Latin HS will never be great if we keep getting all these new 9th graders that come in needing remedial English/Math and have to be indoctrinated to the "Latin way". I think Latin HS has a good program and they offer advanced classes. My daughter who is going to 9th grade will have Honors Physics, Honors Geometry, Honor English, and Honors History. I kow this topic was originally focused on Brent, but I would really hope that Hill parents and other parents all over the city will see Latin as a viable option for their students HS years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Wilson -- except there probably won't be room for them. Do keep in mind, though, that the high SES kids at Wilson (many of whom are IB) do just as well as their counterparts in private schools and get into the same excellent colleges.

They do get into good colleges, but precious few crack top technical schools (MIT, Cal tech), military academies, Ivies, Little Ivies (Amherst, Williams). I've interviewed top Wilson students for my Ivy as an alum volunteer for nearly a decade and have never seen one admitted, or even wait listed (out of two dozen applicants). These were the sort of kids who would probably have been getting in had they been coming out of selective admissions programs like Thomas Jefferson, or the Blair math and science and communication magnets.

I was roasted for saying this on another thread ("Who cares about Ivies etc!"), but I've rarely seen a Wilson kid with the prep--8-10 AP classes, SATs all in the 700s, in contention for national science prizes, two AP languages and so forth--to be in the running. Weak middle school prep seems to be a big part of the problem. And they appear to take AP classes with too many marginal students, are in classes that are too big, and get little time from guidance counselors. Wilson is certainly improving, but slowly.

Not sure how relevant Wilson's programs are anyway, given that the days when Hill kids can get in OOB seem to be drawing to a close. Unless you live on Duddington Pl. or around the corner on D that is - zoned for Wilson since the Barry years!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gee, I know a lot of people who moved to Fairfax and Montgomery County who are thrilled with the schools. They still miss DC, but felt it was a sacrifice they needed to make for their children.

We're still in DC, but have no illusions that public middle school or high school options are excellent by any means.

This and we budgeted for private middle and HS as a cost of living in DC with minimal commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Wilson -- except there probably won't be room for them. Do keep in mind, though, that the high SES kids at Wilson (many of whom are IB) do just as well as their counterparts in private schools and get into the same excellent colleges.

They do get into good colleges, but precious few crack top technical schools (MIT, Cal tech), military academies, Ivies, Little Ivies (Amherst, Williams). I've interviewed top Wilson students for my Ivy as an alum volunteer for nearly a decade and have never seen one admitted, or even wait listed (out of two dozen applicants). These were the sort of kids who would probably have been getting in had they been coming out of selective admissions programs like Thomas Jefferson, or the Blair math and science and communication magnets.

I was roasted for saying this on another thread ("Who cares about Ivies etc!"), but I've rarely seen a Wilson kid with the prep--8-10 AP classes, SATs all in the 700s, in contention for national science prizes, two AP languages and so forth--to be in the running. Weak middle school prep seems to be a big part of the problem. And they appear to take AP classes with too many marginal students, are in classes that are too big, and get little time from guidance counselors. Wilson is certainly improving, but slowly.

Not sure how relevant Wilson's programs are anyway, given that the days when Hill kids can get in OOB seem to be drawing to a close. Unless you live on Duddington Pl. or around the corner on D that is - zoned for Wilson since the Barry years!

Duddington and D St and E st and perhaps a few other (suspiciously high income areas) were taken out of Wilson area a few years ago and all of the Capitol Hill area is zoned for Eastern. As it should be. That was some crazy assed gerrymandering going on there. However, much of SW is zoned for Wilson rather than Eastern and a few SW families go to Brent OOB.

[Anonymous]

If you consult the DCPS map, the enclave west of Fourth St, SE and south of C Street, SE appears to be part of the Wilson feeder zone.