Walls vs Private- How Would You Compare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're enrolling fewer top white students. It used to be next to impossible for B students of any race to crack Walls. Now they can. The admissions process has gone haywire, not just because of an affirmative action tilt. Aside from a basic GPA baseline, the process is almost completely subjective now, which just doesn't bode well for Walls. The entrance exam and standardized test requirement were useful in vetting applicants. Getting rid of these metrics of preparedness was a feel-good measure that hasn't helped Walls.

How many Bs can you get and still have a cumulative 3.7 to 3.75 GPA? None of the current admitted students are “B students.” You sound silly…and bitter.

What happened to your position that Walls is letting in B students?!? That’s what I thought…crickets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter at Walls and wouldn't consider sending her to privates. The bullying is likely worse at the privates and the education is likely similar considering that walls has excellent teachers. Walls (like any DCPS school) also offers the opportunity to register for college classes (for a select few full time and for others on a course by course basis). I have trouble matching our personal experience to all of the walls bashing. On the side of the elite privates i will say that the resources are better and appear to some parents as feeling more like college campuses in terms of resources with multimillion dollar donations. If you are looking for more resources privates will have those. Walls and DCPS cannot match privates in terms of sports either. To us high teacher quality and advanced classes is enough, and we do not like high pressure with sports - even walls is a little higher pressure than we would like. As mentioned with the college classes there are also some advantages that you will not have at privates. For anyone interested in debate the Washington Urban Debate League is only for public school kids and their kids I believe do better than the private school kids. The peer group is also important. There is no question that the walls kids are top notch academically. In college admissions your child is at a disadvantage at private school because the kids, many of whom are legacies, compete against each other for early decision to elite privates. Walls kids often attend public universities so they can get DC TAG. Walls has many longtime teachers and retaining teachers is one of the most portant roles of a principal.

You make some good points. That said, posters are hardly "Walls bashing" to note that new head is a cipher and that watering down admissions standards at Bowser's behest was a terrible idea. All the Walls kids are hardly top notch academically. Just not the case, not anymore. I wish things were different.

The kids were initially selected based on grades, which studies show are a better predictor of academic success than tests scores. According to my child most of the kids earned straight As or nearly straight As in Middle School. They took the highest achieving kids. The only part that was subjective was the interview, which arguably led to many deserving kids being waitlisted. My experience is that my child has always been number one at school, and now my child needs to provide more effort and is not always number one. It is hard for me to imagine a school providing a more high achieving peer group. Elite privates also have many kids who get in in elementary school, and those kids are not necessarily as high achieving as the ones who enter in high school and went through a rigorous selection process. I'm just not convinced you are getting a higher achieving peer group at an elite private, though the group may be equivalent and the resources certainly greater.

I can speak to this: my kid was near/at the top of the class at Deal (if there is such a thing) ---straight As all 4 years (no A minuses and mostly percentage grades of 98/99). PARCC scores at 99%.
Algebra 2 at Deal.
Is now at an "elite" private (Sidwell/NCS/STA) and is probably at the 75% point for the grade, despite working really hard and doing what I consider "the best of his/her ability.".
This is no slam on DCPS and I have another 2 kids who have gone through DCPS through 12th, including one at Walls. But some of the privates really assemble a high performing cohort of kids. They have their pick from across the DMV and also routinely counsel-out kids for academic reasons along the way (including a bunch prior to 9th).

Doesn't Walls also assemble (or at least purport to) a high performing cohort? Maybe your kid also would have been 75% at Walls (where he would be competing against other 99% middle school kids from (other than Deal) schools in DC, including my kid, who is a 99%er at BASIS)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're enrolling fewer top white students. It used to be next to impossible for B students of any race to crack Walls. Now they can. The admissions process has gone haywire, not just because of an affirmative action tilt. Aside from a basic GPA baseline, the process is almost completely subjective now, which just doesn't bode well for Walls. The entrance exam and standardized test requirement were useful in vetting applicants. Getting rid of these metrics of preparedness was a feel-good measure that hasn't helped Walls.

How many Bs can you get and still have a cumulative 3.7 to 3.75 GPA? None of the current admitted students are “B students.” You sound silly…and bitter.

What happened to your position that Walls is letting in B students?!? That’s what I thought…crickets.

Why ask if you already have the answer?

In the big picture, Walls has started letting in applicants who wouldn't have been in the running before test scores were dropped from the application, and before the interview became a 5-min Zoom affair. Wall is also keeping out applicants who would have been shoo-ins before admissions standards were watered down and process became more discretionary. You can split hairs over A- students vs. B+ students without that adding anything to the conversation, given the wide discrepancies in rigor across the DC public middle schools attracting sizeable UMC cohorts.

What's happening here is that with Trogisch out of the way, Team Bowser and Team Ferebee can reshape Walls as a bastion of equity vs. meritorious achievement built on DCPS support of the most advanced and industrious students lower down the chain. Trogisch's ouster is fueling more demand for BASIS and the Latins EotP, as fewer parents of excellent middle school students look to Walls as their most viable high school option. If you're staunchly pro-charter, you're cheering, if you're not, and you've had a chance to size up Walls' current head, you're concerned.

[Anonymous]

To families weighing Walls against privates, judging by this thread you'll have a real good chance at being admitted. Considering most will be staying at Basis, Latin, etc. since Walls is now a second tier(at best) school with some Black woman in charge that doesn't meet their standards.

My DD is being challenged appropriately while managing a demanding extracurricular outside of school. Teachers have been very accommodating and available whenever she has questions. We were a private school family but not in the sense "it's better." We weighed our options and focused on fit among five schools. Admitted to all but didn't think the privates were drastically better. It all kinda seemed the same. But our extracurricular is outside of schools so we only looked a clubs available for the most part.

[Anonymous]

I disagree that anyone is trying to “reshape” Walls as anything. The school is drifting. Considering where it started, that’s still pretty good. But there’s no vision. Not from Bowser, not from Ferebee, and not from the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're enrolling fewer top white students. It used to be next to impossible for B students of any race to crack Walls. Now they can. The admissions process has gone haywire, not just because of an affirmative action tilt. Aside from a basic GPA baseline, the process is almost completely subjective now, which just doesn't bode well for Walls. The entrance exam and standardized test requirement were useful in vetting applicants. Getting rid of these metrics of preparedness was a feel-good measure that hasn't helped Walls.

How many Bs can you get and still have a cumulative 3.7 to 3.75 GPA? None of the current admitted students are “B students.” You sound silly…and bitter.

What happened to your position that Walls is letting in B students?!? That’s what I thought…crickets.

Why ask if you already have the answer?

In the big picture, Walls has started letting in applicants who wouldn't have been in the running before test scores were dropped from the application, and before the interview became a 5-min Zoom affair. Wall is also keeping out applicants who would have been shoo-ins before admissions standards were watered down and process became more discretionary. You can split hairs over A- students vs. B+ students without that adding anything to the conversation, given the wide discrepancies in rigor across the DC public middle schools attracting sizeable UMC cohorts.

What's happening here is that with Trogisch out of the way, Team Bowser and Team Ferebee can reshape Walls as a bastion of equity vs. meritorious achievement built on DCPS support of the most advanced and industrious students lower down the chain. Trogisch's ouster is fueling more demand for BASIS and the Latins EotP, as fewer parents of excellent middle school students look to Walls as their most viable high school option. If you're staunchly pro-charter, you're cheering, if you're not, and you've had a chance to size up Walls' current head, you're concerned.

Over the past two years, Walls has only admitted students who have, at a minimum, a 3.7 GPA. Prior to that, some “B students” were admitted because Walls required an interview (still required), testing (that could easily be prepped and gamed), and only a 3.0 GPA. This year, Walls will conduct in person interviews again.

Despite your nonsensical statements, any school that only admits students with a minimum 3.7 GPA is a bastion of “meritorious achievement.” Unlike the charter school experiments you cite above. Latin and Basis admit students based on a random lottery. There is zero merit involved! We didn’t even consider those schools for my child. Last year my daughter, with a 4.0 GPA, scored in the 95th% on the SSAT, and she was admitted to NCS/GDS/Sidwell and other highly selective independent schools. She chose Walls over all of them and she is enjoying her experience.

Just say you can’t afford private school and your child didn’t get into Walls and go. Your concern trolling is obvious and pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree that anyone is trying to “reshape” Walls as anything. The school is drifting. Considering where it started, that’s still pretty good. But there’s no vision. Not from Bowser, not from Ferebee, and not from the school.

Vision for what? My goal is to make sure that my children receive an education that prepares them for college, and that they enjoy their high school experience along the way. We as parents have “the vision.” I just need Walls to provide the education, which it’s doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree that anyone is trying to “reshape” Walls as anything. The school is drifting. Considering where it started, that’s still pretty good. But there’s no vision. Not from Bowser, not from Ferebee, and not from the school.

Vision for what? My goal is to make sure that my children receive an education that prepares them for college, and that they enjoy their high school experience along the way. We as parents have “the vision.” I just need Walls to provide the education, which it’s doing.

That’s fine! I think many people feel that way, and that’s why Walls will do fine for many years to come, even without a vision. But the PP was arguing that certain people had a plan for Walls, and I just don’t see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To families weighing Walls against privates, judging by this thread you'll have a real good chance at being admitted. Considering most will be staying at Basis, Latin, etc. since Walls is now a second tier(at best) school with some Black woman in charge that doesn't meet their standards.

My DD is being challenged appropriately while managing a demanding extracurricular outside of school. Teachers have been very accommodating and available whenever she has questions. We were a private school family but not in the sense "it's better." We weighed our options and focused on fit among five schools. Admitted to all but didn't think the privates were drastically better. It all kinda seemed the same. But our extracurricular is outside of schools so we only looked a clubs available for the most part.

Stop your craven race baiting. Nobody here has objected to a black woman being in charge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter at Walls and wouldn't consider sending her to privates. The bullying is likely worse at the privates and the education is likely similar considering that walls has excellent teachers. Walls (like any DCPS school) also offers the opportunity to register for college classes (for a select few full time and for others on a course by course basis). I have trouble matching our personal experience to all of the walls bashing. On the side of the elite privates i will say that the resources are better and appear to some parents as feeling more like college campuses in terms of resources with multimillion dollar donations. If you are looking for more resources privates will have those. Walls and DCPS cannot match privates in terms of sports either. To us high teacher quality and advanced classes is enough, and we do not like high pressure with sports - even walls is a little higher pressure than we would like. As mentioned with the college classes there are also some advantages that you will not have at privates. For anyone interested in debate the Washington Urban Debate League is only for public school kids and their kids I believe do better than the private school kids. The peer group is also important. There is no question that the walls kids are top notch academically. In college admissions your child is at a disadvantage at private school because the kids, many of whom are legacies, compete against each other for early decision to elite privates. Walls kids often attend public universities so they can get DC TAG. Walls has many longtime teachers and retaining teachers is one of the most portant roles of a principal.

You make some good points. That said, posters are hardly "Walls bashing" to note that new head is a cipher and that watering down admissions standards at Bowser's behest was a terrible idea. All the Walls kids are hardly top notch academically. Just not the case, not anymore. I wish things were different.

The kids were initially selected based on grades, which studies show are a better predictor of academic success than tests scores. According to my child most of the kids earned straight As or nearly straight As in Middle School. They took the highest achieving kids. The only part that was subjective was the interview, which arguably led to many deserving kids being waitlisted. My experience is that my child has always been number one at school, and now my child needs to provide more effort and is not always number one. It is hard for me to imagine a school providing a more high achieving peer group. Elite privates also have many kids who get in in elementary school, and those kids are not necessarily as high achieving as the ones who enter in high school and went through a rigorous selection process. I'm just not convinced you are getting a higher achieving peer group at an elite private, though the group may be equivalent and the resources certainly greater.

I can speak to this: my kid was near/at the top of the class at Deal (if there is such a thing) ---straight As all 4 years (no A minuses and mostly percentage grades of 98/99). PARCC scores at 99%.
Algebra 2 at Deal.
Is now at an "elite" private (Sidwell/NCS/STA) and is probably at the 75% point for the grade, despite working really hard and doing what I consider "the best of his/her ability.".
This is no slam on DCPS and I have another 2 kids who have gone through DCPS through 12th, including one at Walls. But some of the privates really assemble a high performing cohort of kids. They have their pick from across the DMV and also routinely counsel-out kids for academic reasons along the way (including a bunch prior to 9th).

Doesn't Walls also assemble (or at least purport to) a high performing cohort? Maybe your kid also would have been 75% at Walls (where he would be competing against other 99% middle school kids from (other than Deal) schools in DC, including my kid, who is a 99%er at BASIS)?

My kid (now in Sidwell/NCS/STA) has Basis 9th graders in her 10th grade math class and they struggle---getting Bs and Cs on tests (the kids share grades). At least one dropped back down a grade in math (back to Algebra 2 for a second go-around). They Basis acceleration for acceleration's sake (Algebra in 6th) does not work well in the long run for all kids. Some yes! But their model of accelerating all kids or most does not work once they get to a school that favors depth over speed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're enrolling fewer top white students. It used to be next to impossible for B students of any race to crack Walls. Now they can. The admissions process has gone haywire, not just because of an affirmative action tilt. Aside from a basic GPA baseline, the process is almost completely subjective now, which just doesn't bode well for Walls. The entrance exam and standardized test requirement were useful in vetting applicants. Getting rid of these metrics of preparedness was a feel-good measure that hasn't helped Walls.

How many Bs can you get and still have a cumulative 3.7 to 3.75 GPA? None of the current admitted students are “B students.” You sound silly…and bitter.

What happened to your position that Walls is letting in B students?!? That’s what I thought…crickets.

Why ask if you already have the answer?

In the big picture, Walls has started letting in applicants who wouldn't have been in the running before test scores were dropped from the application, and before the interview became a 5-min Zoom affair. Wall is also keeping out applicants who would have been shoo-ins before admissions standards were watered down and process became more discretionary. You can split hairs over A- students vs. B+ students without that adding anything to the conversation, given the wide discrepancies in rigor across the DC public middle schools attracting sizeable UMC cohorts.

What's happening here is that with Trogisch out of the way, Team Bowser and Team Ferebee can reshape Walls as a bastion of equity vs. meritorious achievement built on DCPS support of the most advanced and industrious students lower down the chain. Trogisch's ouster is fueling more demand for BASIS and the Latins EotP, as fewer parents of excellent middle school students look to Walls as their most viable high school option. If you're staunchly pro-charter, you're cheering, if you're not, and you've had a chance to size up Walls' current head, you're concerned.

Over the past two years, Walls has only admitted students who have, at a minimum, a 3.7 GPA. Prior to that, some “B students” were admitted because Walls required an interview (still required), testing (that could easily be prepped and gamed), and only a 3.0 GPA. This year, Walls will conduct in person interviews again.

Despite your nonsensical statements, any school that only admits students with a minimum 3.7 GPA is a bastion of “meritorious achievement.” Unlike the charter school experiments you cite above. Latin and Basis admit students based on a random lottery. There is zero merit involved! We didn’t even consider those schools for my child. Last year my daughter, with a 4.0 GPA, scored in the 95th% on the SSAT, and she was admitted to NCS/GDS/Sidwell and other highly selective independent schools. She chose Walls over all of them and she is enjoying her experience.

Just say you can’t afford private school and your child didn’t get into Walls and go. Your concern trolling is obvious and pathetic.

Based on what I've observed at Walls, both of the posts above have merit. No need to call others names to make your points.

DCPS didn't do itself any favors in firing Trogisch. But the sky isn't falling over Walls, not yet anyway.

DC just doesn't offer full-fledged high school magnet program like those in MoCo, NYC etc. What this means is that Walls is pretty good vs. super duper. Ad nauseam claims to the contrary are overblown.

Nobody's a troll for pointing out that leadership matters at Walls. How much, that's your call as a family of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To families weighing Walls against privates, judging by this thread you'll have a real good chance at being admitted. Considering most will be staying at Basis, Latin, etc. since Walls is now a second tier(at best) school with some Black woman in charge that doesn't meet their standards.

My DD is being challenged appropriately while managing a demanding extracurricular outside of school. Teachers have been very accommodating and available whenever she has questions. We were a private school family but not in the sense "it's better." We weighed our options and focused on fit among five schools. Admitted to all but didn't think the privates were drastically better. It all kinda seemed the same. But our extracurricular is outside of schools so we only looked a clubs available for the most part.

Stop your craven race baiting. Nobody here has objected to a black woman being in charge.

I guess calling the lady a dingbat, empty suit, etc. with no actual facts is referred to as what? Please enlighten....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree that anyone is trying to “reshape” Walls as anything. The school is drifting. Considering where it started, that’s still pretty good. But there’s no vision. Not from Bowser, not from Ferebee, and not from the school.

This parent couldn’t agree more.

[Anonymous]

A white head could just as easily have emerged as a weak leader for Walls. She’s a nice lady, but obviously not competent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A white head could just as easily have emerged as a weak leader for Walls. She’s a nice lady, but obviously not competent.

Of course, but I've not seen the the type of vitriol aimed at awful Caucasian leadership. In addition, where are the examples for any one to say such nasty things? Pretty simple to cite things if you feel a certain way.