Tell me more about School Without Walls

[Anonymous]

The push for more kids to take AP exams is everywhere. Supposedly it stems from the belief that more kids should be exposed to those challenging classes in preparation for college - not so much about the scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PP on the push towards AP exams. Every year they push kids to take more APs so the school can have a higher ranking. All 10th graders are required to take AP World History and the school used to discourage taking any more but now they push 2-3 AP's sophomore year.

Besides World History, which APs do they push on sophomores?

[Anonymous]

11:45 here. The kids I know who have transferred out of Walls left for different reasons. One wanted a larger school experience with more sports. One struggled with the academic workload. The school is not well-equipped to handle kids who fall behind--whether it be for medical issues, organizational deficits, etc. There are kids who discover that the rigor and academics are simply too much, and if they are not able to figure out a way to catch up they really struggle. As a magnet school, Walls has an expectation that you are coming there because you want and can handle a challenging academic environment and workload. Having said that, I feel they could do a better job of supporting kids who are struggling--some are arguably bright but may not have the best set of study skills (focus, organization, task/time management, etc). They sort of expect all kids to have that, which is just not reality. They also don't do a good job providing timely communication to parents when students are falling behind--some parents had no idea their kids were in such dire circumstances until it was very late in the game.

My son does not have his sights set on an Ivy, in fact we don't really refer to colleges in those terms. He is still figuring out what kind of school will be best for him. DH and went to highly selective SLAC and I imagine that is the type of school he will seek. He's a small school kid. I know there are kids there who are interested in very high profile (Ivy) schools (or at least their parents are...).

The AP issue--our son is in two APs and yes, they are difficult, but so far according to teacher conferences he is managing well. I agree with PPs about range of teachers...some are phenomenal, some average, one or two just need to retire. I think it's been pointed out that you will find that scenario in most schools, though. I've always told my kids they won't always get the best or most popular teacher--but when they have one who is not so great it will help them appreciate the goods ones even more.

[Anonymous]

Sorry this is very late, i thought some people might want to hear it though. I'm a student at Walls and overall it's a pretty sucky school. You're right about all the students being very motivated pushing eachother along, but that's about all that the school has to offer. I've had horrible teachers, mediocre teachers, and a couple great teachers (which were for math and sciences, ironically, being a humanities school). There is a great culture here of super smart motivated students, but the academics are worse than I had at my local middle school. I've had a teacher verbally abuse my classmates and I. He would shout at us a whole lot, and not like a normal teacher shouting at some misbehaving kids. We could do something small like walk up to his desk and ask him a question, and he'd just clench his fists and yell at us and it was honestly really scary because you could tell he was literally refraining from physically hurting us.
But there is a really cool program that might make going to walls worth it, which is the gwecp-aa program where you start taking college classes full time at GWU your junior year and once you get your diploma you also get an AA degree from GW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry this is very late, i thought some people might want to hear it though. I'm a student at Walls and overall it's a pretty sucky school. You're right about all the students being very motivated pushing eachother along, but that's about all that the school has to offer. I've had horrible teachers, mediocre teachers, and a couple great teachers (which were for math and sciences, ironically, being a humanities school). There is a great culture here of super smart motivated students, but the academics are worse than I had at my local middle school. I've had a teacher verbally abuse my classmates and I. He would shout at us a whole lot, and not like a normal teacher shouting at some misbehaving kids. We could do something small like walk up to his desk and ask him a question, and he'd just clench his fists and yell at us and it was honestly really scary because you could tell he was literally refraining from physically hurting us.
But there is a really cool program that might make going to walls worth it, which is the gwecp-aa program where you start taking college classes full time at GWU your junior year and once you get your diploma you also get an AA degree from GW.

I have several friends that have kids at SWW and they tell me that while this is a great program the truth is very few kids are eligible to take advantage of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry this is very late, i thought some people might want to hear it though. I'm a student at Walls and overall it's a pretty sucky school. You're right about all the students being very motivated pushing eachother along, but that's about all that the school has to offer. I've had horrible teachers, mediocre teachers, and a couple great teachers (which were for math and sciences, ironically, being a humanities school). There is a great culture here of super smart motivated students, but the academics are worse than I had at my local middle school. I've had a teacher verbally abuse my classmates and I. He would shout at us a whole lot, and not like a normal teacher shouting at some misbehaving kids. We could do something small like walk up to his desk and ask him a question, and he'd just clench his fists and yell at us and it was honestly really scary because you could tell he was literally refraining from physically hurting us.
But there is a really cool program that might make going to walls worth it, which is the gwecp-aa program where you start taking college classes full time at GWU your junior year and once you get your diploma you also get an AA degree from GW.

I have several friends that have kids at SWW and they tell me that while this is a great program the truth is very few kids are eligible to take advantage of it.

Why are so few students eligible? How does one qualify for the GW program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry this is very late, i thought some people might want to hear it though. I'm a student at Walls and overall it's a pretty sucky school. You're right about all the students being very motivated pushing eachother along, but that's about all that the school has to offer. I've had horrible teachers, mediocre teachers, and a couple great teachers (which were for math and sciences, ironically, being a humanities school). There is a great culture here of super smart motivated students, but the academics are worse than I had at my local middle school. I've had a teacher verbally abuse my classmates and I. He would shout at us a whole lot, and not like a normal teacher shouting at some misbehaving kids. We could do something small like walk up to his desk and ask him a question, and he'd just clench his fists and yell at us and it was honestly really scary because you could tell he was literally refraining from physically hurting us.
But there is a really cool program that might make going to walls worth it, which is the gwecp-aa program where you start taking college classes full time at GWU your junior year and once you get your diploma you also get an AA degree from GW.

I have several friends that have kids at SWW and they tell me that while this is a great program the truth is very few kids are eligible to take advantage of it.

Why are so few students eligible? How does one qualify for the GW program?

I didn't ask so I'm not really sure.

[Anonymous]

PP here again. I just went to the website and it looks like admission is limited to 15 students at a time.

http://www.swwhs.org/about-us/gw-partnership/gwecp-associate-of-arts-degree-program/

[Anonymous]

23.24
I am a parent of Walls' student. What specific steps do you think the school should take to make it a school deserving of the stellar reputation it currently has? Have you taken any of your concerns to Trogisch? Do you think that the merger with FS contributed to Walls' decline, and in what way?

[Anonymous]

The school needs to address poor teachers- ones with huge amounts of complaints are swept under the rug. Trogisch is not there. He is running FS- that school is a full time job, like it should be, but HS with 600 students doesn't run by itself. Bringing concerns to Trogisch is a waste of time. He is fully behind the merger and the more the SWW community pushes back against all the problems, the more he lashes out. IMO the first step would be getting the school its own leadership who will advocate and work with the school, not against it. Dcps refuses to address the problems caused by the merger. It may have increased enrollment at FS, but it has come at a high cost to the HS.

[Anonymous]

Trogisch is the first problem. The school has lost several good teachers and administrators in the last few years and retains some not great teachers and administrators because Trogisch is a bully to some and an enabler to others (could read gender into the equation). Trogisch does not like dissent or disagreement from those he believes should be grateful for their job or their spot in the school, which is basically everyone who touches the school. SWWHS deserves a principal whose priority is student achievement for the high school and not self-promotion.

Student achievement has always been high and thus no one questions the leadership of the school. Student achievement is high in large part to the level of student who attends and not a reflection on the school's leadership which is largely absent and disorganized. Also, when students are not succeeding, they are asked to leave.

SWWHS is definitely a good school, but with real leadership it could be great. I wish DCPS was interested in real achievement and not merely the path of least resistance.

[Anonymous]

+1 Very well said!

[Anonymous]

+2 Trogisch does not seem to understand how deeply the merger has hurt the school. He recently said to a group of parents that the merger was "on hold" although it was not clear what that means. He indicated that a report on the merger is expected from John Davis, Chief of Schools this month.

[Anonymous]

Is there any chance that Francis-Stevens would be allowed to retain the SWW name but have a different principal? It seems like dividing one principal between two campuses is not serving anyone.

[Anonymous]

Trogich is in the same boat of the high-school principals that handle McKinley, Cardozo and Bell and by all means you don't hear the "sky is falling" attitude at those schools. Trogich serves at the will of the Chancellor, thus if his boss says he must run a campus of that caliber then so be it. Stop trying to blame Trogich for something that came with the job, if he was not up to the challenge he could have regrettably declined to continue his employment with DCPS.