after Green Acres

[Anonymous]

We've toured Green Acres and love what we've seen, especially at the pre-k and k levels. But we are not impressed by the list of high schools and colleges that graduates attend. Why is the list so poor? Does the school not prepare kids well, are the kids not so smart, or is it something else?

[Anonymous]

Not sure about the HS but Greeen Acres ends in 8th grade so not sure you can look at them re:colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure about the HS but Greeen Acres ends in 8th grade so not sure you can look at them re:colleges.

They publish where their graduates ultimately end up for college. Of course, high schools play a role in that also. But is the mediocrity of the list a sign that the kids aren't all that smart? I don't know -- it's a genuine question.

[Anonymous]

This is the list of high schools:

Albert Einstein High School
Bethesda?Chevy Chase High School*
The Bullis School*
Connelly School of the Holy Child
Delaware Valley Friends School (PA)
Edmund Burke School*
Episcopal High School
The Field School*
Georgetown Day School*
Georgetown Preparatory School
Landon School
The Madeira School
Maret School*
Oakland Mills High School
Our Lady of Good Counsel High School
Richard Montgomery High School
St. Andrew’s Episcopal School*
St. John’s College High School*
Sandy Spring Friends School*
Sidwell Friends School*
Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart
Thomas Wootton High School*
Walt Whitman High School*
Walter Johnson High School*
Walter Johnson High School APEX Program
Watkins Mill High School
Winston Churchill High School*

School with asterisks have more than one grad there.

I don't see what is unimpressive about this list - a mix of good public schools and private schools, with a skew to the more liberal. Am I missing something?

[Anonymous]

Not sure about the unimpressive part either. Many seem to go public but so what. They are all good public HS. Not sure what you are expecting.

[Anonymous]

http://files.greenacres.org/PDF_Files/admission/college_attendance_of_green_acres_graduates_during_20102011.pdf

Here's the college list. There is nothing wrong with this list either. If you are thinking that it is poor because there are not a lot of IVY league, not sure what you are expecting. Green Acres is progressive so I would expect more art influenced and music influenced college programs.

You are looking at pre k and k. You have a long way to go to worry about college now. Pick a school that works best for your child. You have 13 years to figure out what college they will get into.

[Anonymous]

I agree w/ OP. When we toured there, and w/ knowledge of where recent grads have gone, they get the occasional student into elite high schools, but most not so much. But this seems to me to say more about who the school draws - not that bright for the most part - and the philosophy of the school - don't push, so no geometry offered, for example - than the placement. A few smart kids go and come out OK, but it is less impressive than other K-8s such as Norwood.

[Anonymous]

PP doubt you are really in a position to say the school draws "not so bright" children.

[Anonymous]

This is a joke, right? That list of colleges is plenty impressive. The high schools look fine too. But my understanding of Green Acres is that they aren't exactly geared towards hard core, Ivy-League preparing academics.

[Anonymous]

16:32

Please tell me which HS will impress you. The only ones missing are NCS and St Albans. These are not HS I would expect a Green Acres kid to want to go to because of the fit, not because of brightness.

If you really think you can judge brightness by touring a school and looking at a list of HS, you really must be more intelligent than the rest of us.

You have no idea if the kids are bright at Norwood. For all you know they are all legacies or sibs.

[Anonymous]

I think you folks should be a little careful telling me what I know and don't know about. A

nyway, let's take Sidwell as the high school. In the year my DD left Norwood, 9 kids got into Sidwell, but 1 from GAS. One Norwood kid went to St. Andrews (eventually 2), many fewer than the number of GAS kids who went to St. Andrews (though I don't recall what that number is). Let's ask the question more generally; since you are the expert, 16:32, you tell me: How many GAS 8th graders have gone to Sidwell each year in, say, the past 5 years? How many to the county magnets? A laundry list published by the school that doesn't discuss numbers ("gee, in the past 60 years we had a kid go to Sidwell and then go to HYP") is not an impressive statistic.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like PP is a little obsessed with Sidwell. Not all of us think the school is all that.

[Anonymous]

Yes, Green Acres is a lot better. FWIW, I don't have a child at Sidwell, and never have. It was an example of a school that most could feel comfortable is a good school. (St. Albans already precluded by snotty comment, and GDS, well, you know how far raising GDS gets you.)

[Anonymous]

Maybe someone will answer the question about numbers. Anyone?

[Anonymous]

In general, families who seek a progressive style of education are less interested in having their kids focus from day one on being "the best" and getting into "the best" high school in order to attend "the best" universities. I realize I am overgeneralizing here ... but some families prefer that their kids get a broad liberal arts type of education from the start that includes lots of music, art, drama, social studies, foreign language, and outdoor playtime. They are seeking a relaxed environment where kids don't compete with each other every moment, but rather just enjoy learning and being together. Time is spent on social and emotional growth, which by definition takes time away from rigorous academics. But these families believe that time is still well spent.

Continuing to overgeneralize, many of these same families would not be as interested in having their kids do a complete 180 when it comes time for high school. It is not that their kids are less smart ... it is just that they and their families are looking for a different style of learning environment. So I imagine that fewer kids (not to say none) apply to the really hyper-competitive high schools, and later the Ivies. If fewer apply, then generally, fewer get in.

OP sounds a bit closed-minded but perhaps this explanation might help ...