Walls or Wilson ?

[Anonymous]

Your kids will have to visit and decide for themselves. Two best friends can look at both and reach opposite decisions. You can get a great education at either.

[Anonymous]

I have one at Wilson and one at Walls and really, it is entirely about the personality / needs of the kid. Each of mine loves where they are and would not be happy at the other school.

Parents have to be involved and advocating on behalf of their kids at both schools though as administrations at both are. . . not great. Walls in particular has "leadership" that is just coasting on the reputation of the school and the hard work of its students. Wilson is just lazy mediocrity through and through. Some great individual teachers at both schools but some underwhelming ones too, as w/ every high school.

Wilson does not take student discipline seriously. They let slide behavior that is seriously disruptive to other students' ability to learn in class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10 th grader at Wilson. Very happy, straight As, engaged in extracurricular and a sport, tons of friends, very happy. Complaints about one oddball but harmless teacher. Teacher quality varies widely. I braced DC to see things like drug deals and fighting but no reports of any. Older kid graduated already and is thriving at a very competitive college. It’s a lot to take in and experience but it is exciting and lively for students who aren’t super anxious about lots of people and activity.

Lol. Everyone gets As at Wilson if they bother to show up.

Can you share your direct experience or your child’s that leads you to this conclusion?

My kid has had ZERO homework this year. Straight As.
Straight As last year (but that was the virtual).

Every one of her friends has straight As. They joke about it. These kids are doing next to nothing and have As.

+1

If a kid tries somewhat they will get at least an A-. I am a DCPS teacher who had kids who got no higher than a 43% on any assessment and still got an A- in the class. Grading is a joke. Straight As don’t even indicate hard work anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10 th grader at Wilson. Very happy, straight As, engaged in extracurricular and a sport, tons of friends, very happy. Complaints about one oddball but harmless teacher. Teacher quality varies widely. I braced DC to see things like drug deals and fighting but no reports of any. Older kid graduated already and is thriving at a very competitive college. It’s a lot to take in and experience but it is exciting and lively for students who aren’t super anxious about lots of people and activity.

Lol. Everyone gets As at Wilson if they bother to show up.

Can you share your direct experience or your child’s that leads you to this conclusion?

My kid has had ZERO homework this year. Straight As.
Straight As last year (but that was the virtual).

Every one of her friends has straight As. They joke about it. These kids are doing next to nothing and have As.

What classes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Walls student (11th grader)...have not been particularly happy. Lots of busy work; remote learning last year was terrible (teachers were often absent and not very engaged when they were online). School coasts on it's high "ranking" but that is purely due to the fact that it gets to screen its students (the students are, for the most part, lovely but because they come from all over the city it is hard for them to socialize outside of school.)

I can't speak to Wilson (we are OOB) but if we had a decent option we'd switch.

I have an 11th grader at Walls too. We've been basically happy. DCPS dysfunction yes, and probably alot of why Walls does well is that it is a good student body. But still my son's teachers have been good for the most part. And he has alot of work but I do not think it is busy work.

I think most of his teachers did a good job with remote learning although I agree it was not ideal. And wish they had brought the 11th graders back even if it was one day a week last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of Walls student (11th grader)...have not been particularly happy. Lots of busy work; remote learning last year was terrible (teachers were often absent and not very engaged when they were online). School coasts on it's high "ranking" but that is purely due to the fact that it gets to screen its students (the students are, for the most part, lovely but because they come from all over the city it is hard for them to socialize outside of school.)

I can't speak to Wilson (we are OOB) but if we had a decent option we'd switch.

I have an 11th grader at Walls too. We've been basically happy. DCPS dysfunction yes, and probably alot of why Walls does well is that it is a good student body. But still my son's teachers have been good for the most part. And he has alot of work but I do not think it is busy work.

I think most of his teachers did a good job with remote learning although I agree it was not ideal. And wish they had brought the 11th graders back even if it was one day a week last year.

I have a 10th grader at Walls and your experience matches mine. To add a bit more detail, the students are well behaved, the classrooms are conducive to learning, and the material is targeted to highly prepared students. We are inbound for Wilson but fit was better at Walls. Our 8th grader at Deal will likely go to Wilson but that is not a reflection on the experience at Walls; again just a fit issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10 th grader at Wilson. Very happy, straight As, engaged in extracurricular and a sport, tons of friends, very happy. Complaints about one oddball but harmless teacher. Teacher quality varies widely. I braced DC to see things like drug deals and fighting but no reports of any. Older kid graduated already and is thriving at a very competitive college. It’s a lot to take in and experience but it is exciting and lively for students who aren’t super anxious about lots of people and activity.

Lol. Everyone gets As at Wilson if they bother to show up.

Can you share your direct experience or your child’s that leads you to this conclusion?

My kid has had ZERO homework this year. Straight As.
Straight As last year (but that was the virtual).

Every one of her friends has straight As. They joke about it. These kids are doing next to nothing and have As.

Maybe it's sexist? My son does not have straight A's and neither do any of his friends. When he wasn't doing his homework, he had an F. Brought it up to a B.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10 th grader at Wilson. Very happy, straight As, engaged in extracurricular and a sport, tons of friends, very happy. Complaints about one oddball but harmless teacher. Teacher quality varies widely. I braced DC to see things like drug deals and fighting but no reports of any. Older kid graduated already and is thriving at a very competitive college. It’s a lot to take in and experience but it is exciting and lively for students who aren’t super anxious about lots of people and activity.

Lol. Everyone gets As at Wilson if they bother to show up.

Can you share your direct experience or your child’s that leads you to this conclusion?

My kid has had ZERO homework this year. Straight As.
Straight As last year (but that was the virtual).

Every one of her friends has straight As. They joke about it. These kids are doing next to nothing and have As.

+1

If a kid tries somewhat they will get at least an A-. I am a DCPS teacher who had kids who got no higher than a 43% on any assessment and still got an A- in the class. Grading is a joke. Straight As don’t even indicate hard work anymore.

I am PP and find this VERY hard to believe. One of my DS friend's only got a PASS in a class last year, which means he failed it. I know these kids do not have straight A's because I am friends with the parents. My DS is sophomore and has yet to have a straight-A semester. He got all A's at Deal, FWIW.

[Anonymous]

And, his tests are always higher than a 43%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10 th grader at Wilson. Very happy, straight As, engaged in extracurricular and a sport, tons of friends, very happy. Complaints about one oddball but harmless teacher. Teacher quality varies widely. I braced DC to see things like drug deals and fighting but no reports of any. Older kid graduated already and is thriving at a very competitive college. It’s a lot to take in and experience but it is exciting and lively for students who aren’t super anxious about lots of people and activity.

Lol. Everyone gets As at Wilson if they bother to show up.

Can you share your direct experience or your child’s that leads you to this conclusion?

My kid has had ZERO homework this year. Straight As.
Straight As last year (but that was the virtual).

Every one of her friends has straight As. They joke about it. These kids are doing next to nothing and have As.

Maybe it's sexist? My son does not have straight A's and neither do any of his friends. When he wasn't doing his homework, he had an F. Brought it up to a B.

Maybe it is sexist to assume that her daughter doesn’t have male friends?

[Anonymous]

I was being snarky since she made a blanket statement. What could explain the two disparities?! 😱 Besides, they sound cruel because that is not true at all. Many kids not killing it at Wilson with zero effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10 th grader at Wilson. Very happy, straight As, engaged in extracurricular and a sport, tons of friends, very happy. Complaints about one oddball but harmless teacher. Teacher quality varies widely. I braced DC to see things like drug deals and fighting but no reports of any. Older kid graduated already and is thriving at a very competitive college. It’s a lot to take in and experience but it is exciting and lively for students who aren’t super anxious about lots of people and activity.

Lol. Everyone gets As at Wilson if they bother to show up.

Can you share your direct experience or your child’s that leads you to this conclusion?

My kid has had ZERO homework this year. Straight As.
Straight As last year (but that was the virtual).

Every one of her friends has straight As. They joke about it. These kids are doing next to nothing and have As.

Maybe it's sexist? My son does not have straight A's and neither do any of his friends. When he wasn't doing his homework, he had an F. Brought it up to a B.

Ok, but the fact that one can bring an F up to a B is pretty wild.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10 th grader at Wilson. Very happy, straight As, engaged in extracurricular and a sport, tons of friends, very happy. Complaints about one oddball but harmless teacher. Teacher quality varies widely. I braced DC to see things like drug deals and fighting but no reports of any. Older kid graduated already and is thriving at a very competitive college. It’s a lot to take in and experience but it is exciting and lively for students who aren’t super anxious about lots of people and activity.

Lol. Everyone gets As at Wilson if they bother to show up.

Can you share your direct experience or your child’s that leads you to this conclusion?

My kid has had ZERO homework this year. Straight As.
Straight As last year (but that was the virtual).

Every one of her friends has straight As. They joke about it. These kids are doing next to nothing and have As.

Maybe it's sexist? My son does not have straight A's and neither do any of his friends. When he wasn't doing his homework, he had an F. Brought it up to a B.

Ok, but the fact that one can bring an F up to a B is pretty wild.

You think that's more wild than the PP who claims her DD does no homework and barely lifts a finger, okay? Let's not forget the teacher who can miraculously award an A for 45% test scores? This was after months of working every week and discussions with the teacher. But, whatevs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10 th grader at Wilson. Very happy, straight As, engaged in extracurricular and a sport, tons of friends, very happy. Complaints about one oddball but harmless teacher. Teacher quality varies widely. I braced DC to see things like drug deals and fighting but no reports of any. Older kid graduated already and is thriving at a very competitive college. It’s a lot to take in and experience but it is exciting and lively for students who aren’t super anxious about lots of people and activity.

Lol. Everyone gets As at Wilson if they bother to show up.

Can you share your direct experience or your child’s that leads you to this conclusion?

My kid has had ZERO homework this year. Straight As.
Straight As last year (but that was the virtual).

Every one of her friends has straight As. They joke about it. These kids are doing next to nothing and have As.

Maybe it's sexist? My son does not have straight A's and neither do any of his friends. When he wasn't doing his homework, he had an F. Brought it up to a B.

Ok, but the fact that one can bring an F up to a B is pretty wild.

Is it better that he be allowed to fail? Would a D or a C be a more acceptable outcome? Why is it anything but good that a student who was failing was able to turn it around?

Remember, cynicism is not a personality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10 th grader at Wilson. Very happy, straight As, engaged in extracurricular and a sport, tons of friends, very happy. Complaints about one oddball but harmless teacher. Teacher quality varies widely. I braced DC to see things like drug deals and fighting but no reports of any. Older kid graduated already and is thriving at a very competitive college. It’s a lot to take in and experience but it is exciting and lively for students who aren’t super anxious about lots of people and activity.

Lol. Everyone gets As at Wilson if they bother to show up.

Can you share your direct experience or your child’s that leads you to this conclusion?

My kid has had ZERO homework this year. Straight As.
Straight As last year (but that was the virtual).

Every one of her friends has straight As. They joke about it. These kids are doing next to nothing and have As.

Maybe it's sexist? My son does not have straight A's and neither do any of his friends. When he wasn't doing his homework, he had an F. Brought it up to a B.

Ok, but the fact that one can bring an F up to a B is pretty wild.

You think that's more wild than the PP who claims her DD does no homework and barely lifts a finger, okay? Let's not forget the teacher who can miraculously award an A for 45% test scores? This was after months of working every week and discussions with the teacher. But, whatevs.

The thing about DCPS now is that you can’t get below a 63% on anything you turn in. So do HW, participate, do class work and fail every test? That’s an A-. It’s not that mathematically hard to do.