SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?

[Anonymous]

I wonder if an admissions exam (and/or PARCC component) where you select the top results by school would work. I.e., some proportion of seats reserved for the top X students at each DCPS MS. Helps account for differences between schools, and might have the effect of encouraging buy-in at undersubscribed neighborhood schools (e.g., want to move and take your chances at Deal, or stick around in the hope of being one of the top X students at Eliot Hine or whatever).

There is too much subjectiveness in the process right now. It sounds like a nightmare.

[Anonymous]

I was also told that Walls did 500 interviews last year. They are only doing 300-350 this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP: I mean, did you even bother to have your kid apply to other schools like Banneker - McKinley or lottery for Latin - Basis? Walls has been cultivating absolute mediocrity for the past four years since getting rid of the test, yet everyone on this forum continues to act as if it is the only best high school in DC. It's not. Your kid deserves better.

This is hilarious! None of the other schools are test based either. So what are they?

SWW has been the same school for a long time. Just search this Board-same complaints from a decade ago. Plenty of the kids that were admitted under the "test" have struggled at SWW. It's a lot easier to have mommy pay from test prep than to have great exec functioning and determination to excel. Testing has it's place but it's certainly not the only factor for a scuccessful student.

Empirical research disagrees with you: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/07/briefing/the-misguided-war-on-the-sat.html

You sure about that....https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/standardized-testing-still-failing-students#:~:text=Key%20Takeaways,engaging%20for%20students%20and%20teachers.

Abso-friggin-lutely I'm sure about that. The NYT article cites research from Raj Chetty and co-authors. Raj is a Harvard econ professor, future Nobel prize winner, and one of the best researchers of inequality and opportunity in history. The article you cited comes from the NEA, a labor union for public teachers, and has about as much credibility as the feasibility studies of the Potomac Yards development put out by Monumental Sports.

[Anonymous]

I am a DCPS teacher who writes recommendations and also have a child applying for Walls this year. Even with 4.0 students, there are many differences. Students who stay on top of their work and test well are going to be much more successful at a rigorous school like Walls or Banneker as opposed to a 4.0 student who has a great deal of anxiety around schoolwork or testing or a 4.0 student whose parents clearly do a lot of work for them or a 4.0 student who does all of their work in the last two weeks of the term. Teachers notice these things, so there are some nuances in terms of recommendations, even for students who all have a 4.0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if an admissions exam (and/or PARCC component) where you select the top results by school would work. I.e., some proportion of seats reserved for the top X students at each DCPS MS. Helps account for differences between schools, and might have the effect of encouraging buy-in at undersubscribed neighborhood schools (e.g., want to move and take your chances at Deal, or stick around in the hope of being one of the top X students at Eliot Hine or whatever).

There is too much subjectiveness in the process right now. It sounds like a nightmare.

I have suggested this earlier and I think it's a good idea. It meets the stated objective from DCPS of including kids from neighborhoods that typically don't send kids to SWW. It is a variation on what Chicago has been doing for years and also on the new TJ process.

But they haven't done this. And there's no indication that they want to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a DCPS teacher who writes recommendations and also have a child applying for Walls this year. Even with 4.0 students, there are many differences. Students who stay on top of their work and test well are going to be much more successful at a rigorous school like Walls or Banneker as opposed to a 4.0 student who has a great deal of anxiety around schoolwork or testing or a 4.0 student whose parents clearly do a lot of work for them or a 4.0 student who does all of their work in the last two weeks of the term. Teachers notice these things, so there are some nuances in terms of recommendations, even for students who all have a 4.0.

Could you please share some examples of what the recommendations asked and how recommenders would fill it out?

I was ready for my kid not to get in, but I was not ready for them to not even get an interview so am really trying to understand this part of the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a DCPS teacher who writes recommendations and also have a child applying for Walls this year. Even with 4.0 students, there are many differences. Students who stay on top of their work and test well are going to be much more successful at a rigorous school like Walls or Banneker as opposed to a 4.0 student who has a great deal of anxiety around schoolwork or testing or a 4.0 student whose parents clearly do a lot of work for them or a 4.0 student who does all of their work in the last two weeks of the term. Teachers notice these things, so there are some nuances in terms of recommendations, even for students who all have a 4.0.

Could you please share some examples of what the recommendations asked and how recommenders would fill it out?

I was ready for my kid not to get in, but I was not ready for them to not even get an interview so am really trying to understand this part of the process.

If the teacher’s kid was applying to Walls this year, let’s hope that she didn’t write any Walls letters of rec for other kids…. That would be a huge conflict of interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP: I mean, did you even bother to have your kid apply to other schools like Banneker - McKinley or lottery for Latin - Basis? Walls has been cultivating absolute mediocrity for the past four years since getting rid of the test, yet everyone on this forum continues to act as if it is the only best high school in DC. It's not. Your kid deserves better.

This is hilarious! None of the other schools are test based either. So what are they?

SWW has been the same school for a long time. Just search this Board-same complaints from a decade ago. Plenty of the kids that were admitted under the "test" have struggled at SWW. It's a lot easier to have mommy pay from test prep than to have great exec functioning and determination to excel. Testing has it's place but it's certainly not the only factor for a scuccessful student.

Empirical research disagrees with you: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/07/briefing/the-misguided-war-on-the-sat.html

You sure about that....https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/standardized-testing-still-failing-students#:~:text=Key%20Takeaways,engaging%20for%20students%20and%20teachers.

Abso-friggin-lutely I'm sure about that. The NYT article cites research from Raj Chetty and co-authors. Raj is a Harvard econ professor, future Nobel prize winner, and one of the best researchers of inequality and opportunity in history. The article you cited comes from the NEA, a labor union for public teachers, and has about as much credibility as the feasibility studies of the Potomac Yards development put out by Monumental Sports.

Raj is already a Clark Medal winner so yeah.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I spoke with Walls. They told me the GPA threshold to be considered this year was 3.7. So all kids with a 3.7 or higher were in the pool, and then they applied a score to each kid based on their GPA and teacher recs.

Wondering if you asked how your kid scored and if so, if they are sharing that info this year. Had heard that they would share in prior years. To be clear, not asking you to share how your kid scored, just if you got the score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe some kids are straight A kids but are jerks in the classroom?

And maybe certain teachers are biased against certain categories of kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe some kids are straight A kids but are jerks in the classroom?

And maybe certain teachers are biased against certain categories of kids.

lol.

[Anonymous]

Hardy 8th grader just got home. He said that he only knows of 1 friend who was invited to interview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The NYT had an excellent article about research on the SAT and college admissions a few weeks ago: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/07/briefing/the-misguided-war-on-the-sat.html

Guess which applicants are hurt by the move away from using objective testing towards basing admissions decisions on GPA, subjective evaluations, essays and other miscellaneous factors? Minority applicants.

The inanity of the current era is hurting educational equity and educational quality.

Has anyone raised this issue with SWW directly?
What is their response? Maybe many of us should ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The NYT had an excellent article about research on the SAT and college admissions a few weeks ago: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/07/briefing/the-misguided-war-on-the-sat.html

Guess which applicants are hurt by the move away from using objective testing towards basing admissions decisions on GPA, subjective evaluations, essays and other miscellaneous factors? Minority applicants.

The inanity of the current era is hurting educational equity and educational quality.

Has anyone raised this issue with SWW directly?
What is their response? Maybe many of us should ask.

Or ask both SWW and DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anybody from BASIS offered an interview?

My BASIS kid with a 4.0 was not offered an interview.