Congressional School Academics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid in MS at Congressional and one who recently graduated and we love it. It was sad when the Drama teacher left after last year--he'd been with the school for like 16 years, had started the MS musical program, taught baking/cooking electives pre-covid (and virtually during covid!), and had a number of leadership positions. He was fantastic and will leave a hole for a while. The new drama teacher is nice but is young and fairly inexperienced in teaching, but is slowly getting her feet under her after her first trimester. The Director of MS is amazing. The 7th-8th grade history teacher is an institution unto himself, with nearly 50 years teaching at the school. I do wonder if he will retire soon--he's had some health issues this year, and while I think he's maybe trying to get to his 50th in the next year or two, I wouldn't be surprised to hear of him leaving soon. The academics are strong, but it is not a pressure cooker. We liked the 8th grade capstone experience and our younger is already thinking about ideas for his. As far as size, the current 8th grade is a bit smaller than typical at about 25 kids, and the 7th grade has almost 40. 5th and 6th are closer to 30-35, which I think is the school's target number. In MS, the grades are divided into advisories (2-3 per grade) and are divided up based on math differentiation after 5th grade (math/science have the same students, and English/history/arts have the same students, but there's some shuffling between those two sets, rather than having two divided classes by homeroom, as in the LS).

Thanks so much for this great feedback! I definitely feel like Congressional will be the best spot for DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid in MS at Congressional and one who recently graduated and we love it. It was sad when the Drama teacher left after last year--he'd been with the school for like 16 years, had started the MS musical program, taught baking/cooking electives pre-covid (and virtually during covid!), and had a number of leadership positions. He was fantastic and will leave a hole for a while. The new drama teacher is nice but is young and fairly inexperienced in teaching, but is slowly getting her feet under her after her first trimester. The Director of MS is amazing. The 7th-8th grade history teacher is an institution unto himself, with nearly 50 years teaching at the school. I do wonder if he will retire soon--he's had some health issues this year, and while I think he's maybe trying to get to his 50th in the next year or two, I wouldn't be surprised to hear of him leaving soon. The academics are strong, but it is not a pressure cooker. We liked the 8th grade capstone experience and our younger is already thinking about ideas for his. As far as size, the current 8th grade is a bit smaller than typical at about 25 kids, and the 7th grade has almost 40. 5th and 6th are closer to 30-35, which I think is the school's target number. In MS, the grades are divided into advisories (2-3 per grade) and are divided up based on math differentiation after 5th grade (math/science have the same students, and English/history/arts have the same students, but there's some shuffling between those two sets, rather than having two divided classes by homeroom, as in the LS).

Thanks so much for this great feedback! I definitely feel like Congressional will be the best spot for DC.

You should also look at Merritt Academy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid in MS at Congressional and one who recently graduated and we love it. It was sad when the Drama teacher left after last year--he'd been with the school for like 16 years, had started the MS musical program, taught baking/cooking electives pre-covid (and virtually during covid!), and had a number of leadership positions. He was fantastic and will leave a hole for a while. The new drama teacher is nice but is young and fairly inexperienced in teaching, but is slowly getting her feet under her after her first trimester. The Director of MS is amazing. The 7th-8th grade history teacher is an institution unto himself, with nearly 50 years teaching at the school. I do wonder if he will retire soon--he's had some health issues this year, and while I think he's maybe trying to get to his 50th in the next year or two, I wouldn't be surprised to hear of him leaving soon. The academics are strong, but it is not a pressure cooker. We liked the 8th grade capstone experience and our younger is already thinking about ideas for his. As far as size, the current 8th grade is a bit smaller than typical at about 25 kids, and the 7th grade has almost 40. 5th and 6th are closer to 30-35, which I think is the school's target number. In MS, the grades are divided into advisories (2-3 per grade) and are divided up based on math differentiation after 5th grade (math/science have the same students, and English/history/arts have the same students, but there's some shuffling between those two sets, rather than having two divided classes by homeroom, as in the LS).

I also have a MS kid at Congressional and agree with this wholeheartedly. I'll add that the science program in MS is really amazing. In 6/8, there are so many fascinating hands-on projects (building roller coasters, mousetrap cars, etc.), and in 7th, they dissected animals. The math program has also been perfect for DC, as they differentiate at 3 levels.

[Anonymous]

Congressional did a great job of preparing my kids academically for high school and college. The hate you see in some of the posts here is snobbery.

[Anonymous]

We had two children go through middle school at Congressional. We were extremely happy about our decision to send them there. The head of school is wonderful and I feel like the academics met the needs of both of our children who needed very different types of education. One child needed an extremely challenging academic experience, which is why we considered private school in the first place. The other child, needed more guidance and help academically. Both of them got exactly what they needed. Our older child was well advanced and in high school entered math classes as a freshman with other juniors and seniors. As a Sophomore was already taking Calculus BC.

I do have a comment about the snobbery regarding comments about congressional. It’s my belief that there is a lot of competition amongst the private schools yet congressional doesn’t feel like a place where you have to keep up with the Joneses. If you’re looking for that experience, maybe choose another private school where people are more concerned about the type of cars they drive or the houses they live in. I have heard ladies from another VA private school talk like this. Congressional isn’t like that at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid in MS at Congressional and one who recently graduated and we love it. It was sad when the Drama teacher left after last year--he'd been with the school for like 16 years, had started the MS musical program, taught baking/cooking electives pre-covid (and virtually during covid!), and had a number of leadership positions. He was fantastic and will leave a hole for a while. The new drama teacher is nice but is young and fairly inexperienced in teaching, but is slowly getting her feet under her after her first trimester. The Director of MS is amazing. The 7th-8th grade history teacher is an institution unto himself, with nearly 50 years teaching at the school. I do wonder if he will retire soon--he's had some health issues this year, and while I think he's maybe trying to get to his 50th in the next year or two, I wouldn't be surprised to hear of him leaving soon. The academics are strong, but it is not a pressure cooker. We liked the 8th grade capstone experience and our younger is already thinking about ideas for his. As far as size, the current 8th grade is a bit smaller than typical at about 25 kids, and the 7th grade has almost 40. 5th and 6th are closer to 30-35, which I think is the school's target number. In MS, the grades are divided into advisories (2-3 per grade) and are divided up based on math differentiation after 5th grade (math/science have the same students, and English/history/arts have the same students, but there's some shuffling between those two sets, rather than having two divided classes by homeroom, as in the LS).

That is really small, socially, for MS. If admissions doesn’t balance well, a class of 25 or 30 could mean only 10-12 boys/girls to be friends with.

That size is great for LS but could be hard as they get older.

[Anonymous]

One of my son's friends attends and loves school--academics and activities! His parents are both very well-educated and speak highly of the school as being a great fit for their son.

[Anonymous]

Have they changed their reading amd writing curriculum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have they changed their reading amd writing curriculum?

Website for Congressional says they still using Readers Workshop & Writers Workshop in lower elementary. See the curriculum section of the web site, grade by grade, and read it. They seem to drop both RW and WW around 4th grade, according to the school’s website.

While both of those methods now are widely discredited, both methods remain common at local privates and in Maryland public schools. Virginia has mandated Science of Reading at all public schools - a bipartisan law recently was passed on that. Virginia publics are transitioning. Arlington and Fairfax put Phonics-centered instruction in all elementaries starting in Fall 2022. Arlington also is using some Core Knowledge materials which makes it the stronger reading curriculum among local VA publics (note that Core Knowledge is not related to the “common core” curriculum).

[Anonymous]

Parent of a Congressional school grad. We were very happy with our DC's overall experience and high school prep. We very intentionally looked for a place that would not be a pressure cooker and would not overload kids with homework. We wanted DC to love learning for its own sake and that's exactly what happened. Also, it was a really great community with very few snobs. DC found a great group of friends and so did we. Still friends with the parents of some of his classmates post-graduation.

[Anonymous]

On the surface Congressional is a great school. The campus is beautiful, the pool, the horses, summer camp. Unfortunately there has been a mass exodus of great teachers the last few years, in 2024 eight teachers are not returning in 2025-2026 already. There is truth the to nepotism comments about children of facility and overall regulation of their children’s behavior. There seems to be a lack of strong leadership and positive role models. Academics are very sound which is probably the only positive thing going for them right now. Middle school sports are a mess, under staffed and unorganized. I believe the AD recently resigned or isn’t returning next fall. It’s a shame because the potential is there to be great, I think nothing will change without replacing the head of the big school and the head of Congressional.

[Anonymous]

Fairfax county public schools>Congressional School. Save your money.