What's The Deal with Walls

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it stressful type A? How much homework? Website and no tours make it hard to choose.

Of course it's stressful as well as competitive. It's a block schedule so planning and time management is crucial. As a baseline, around 2-2.5 hours of homework and some weekend studying. First quarter seemed to be a weed out period but they'll never admit it😄

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A current student described it to me:
You know all the kids in middle school who do the group project by themselves because they don't trust others? or they redo others content because they do not think it is good enough?
Walls is made up of all of these kids.

They are anti-social nitpickers?

Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Although my kid who is in 9th grade there describes it as "you know the kids who do the the whole group project in middle school because the other kids in their group aren't pulling their weight? They all go to Walls. It so refreshing to actually divide the labor fairly now and have partners who collaborate and make each others ideas stronger"

I thought the new admissions processed ruined that? Is it still those kids?

Well it's only been 2 years. The current juniors and seniors and every class before them was selected in the old manner.
A person sharing an experience here could have a kid in one of these classes.

[Anonymous]

It is strange how these posts always result in some snide remarks about JR or Walls. Each school has their pluses and minuses and there are many families that have kids at both, including many sets of twins where one is at Walls and the other at JR.

JR has more AP classes (nearly double) than Walls, and has AP (e.g., Computer Science APs) and Honors STEM offerings that Walls does not. JR also definitely has more competitive sports teams with a number of kids from various teams getting D1 offers, and a crew and basketball team that are often nationally ranked. JR ED college acceptances have been strong with kids getting accepted to Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Penn, etc.

Walls definitely does not have the disruptive kids that a comprehensive school like JR has. They offer many sports, but not many kids are getting recruited for sports. The plus to that is that if your kid just wants to be able to play for their HS, they can...whereas many JR sports are competitive with lots of cuts. Like others said, if Walls does not offer a sport (such as softball or crew), you can participate on the JR team. JR crew definitely has a bunch of Walls kids. I am sure Walls ED results were strong too.

Walls offers a Multivariable Calc class which is nice for the sophs/juniors that finish BC. JR offers Dual Enrollment opportunities with GW and other colleges where kids can take advanced math...but it would be nice if the school offered it directly.

Understand that at the end of the day they are both DCPS schools. By that, I know a bunch of Walls kids had no biology teacher for a semester and JR kids had no Physics teacher for a semester. Walls is an application school, but not a charter school...they both have similar DCPS warts.

[Anonymous]

My Walls kid says that JR Crew have said they will not accept Walls students after this school year because the freshman/novice coach finds Walls parents annoying

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Walls kid says that JR Crew have said they will not accept Walls students after this school year because the freshman/novice coach finds Walls parents annoying

Had not heard that...but since Crew is not a DCPS sport (so technically, the JR Crew team is not officially a school team), there is no obligation to allow anyone to be on the team. This is unlike softball which is a DCPS sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Although my kid who is in 9th grade there describes it as "you know the kids who do the the whole group project in middle school because the other kids in their group aren't pulling their weight? They all go to Walls. It so refreshing to actually divide the labor fairly now and have partners who collaborate and make each others ideas stronger"

I thought the new admissions processed ruined that? Is it still those kids?

Well it's only been 2 years. The current juniors and seniors and every class before them was selected in the old manner.
A person sharing an experience here could have a kid in one of these classes.

My kid is a 9th grader and it all seems the same according to her and some upper class friends. The difference is there is a little more racial balance in the 9th and 10th grade classes. One thing that is surprising is the Advisory. They are not by class-9th, 10th, etc. They are all thrown in together. The upper classmen have really helped with integration and expectations from teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take 500 of the top 40 percent of kids at JR, put them in a building downtown with fewer extra curriculars, no sports, a little less diversity and a few more field trips. (Said by a parent with kids in both schools).

No sports?

Have you seen Walls’ instagram feed? They have nearly every sport you can think of, including golf, baseball, and soccer.

I also spoke with the athletic director during the virtual open house. People are just telling bold faces lies on this thread.

I think the Walls soccer teams have been good. Some else mentioned ultimate. My son’s basketball team played Walls a couple of years ago and beat them by more than 50 (I’m not sure I’d Walls won a game that year - the DMV is competitive for HS basketball), so it probably fair to say that sports are hit or miss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it stressful type A? How much homework? Website and no tours make it hard to choose.

My freshman has a few hours of homework per week. If there is a paper or special project there can be more homework. Some kids used to getting As in Middle School now get many more B's and maybe Cs, so the grading is a little harder. Though there are more sports at JR, there are indeed many sports at Walls and they may be lower pressure than at a larger school.

[Anonymous]

It has a lot of homework. Sometimes feels like quantity over quality.

[Anonymous]

How are the other extra curriculars at Walls? Newspaper, performing arts, robotics? Are internships still encouraged at Walls?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It has a lot of homework. Sometimes feels like quantity over quality.

Can we please not rehash the "too much homework" BS. We get it - Larla needs her free creative time and cannot be expected to do mundane things like homeworl.

[Anonymous]

What's the story on kids with IEPs at Walls?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the story on kids with IEPs at Walls?

Once upon a time, there was an IEP at Walls…

[Anonymous]

Are there accommodations and IEPs /504's honored at Deal?