Middle school options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just made the most reasonable choice from year to year, which was usually “stick with this good-enough but imperfect school,” and everything turned out fine. I think that’s actually pretty common? Anyway it worked for us.

People overemphasize the name brand of the school and underemphasize how well your child does there. If you really want your kid to go to Harvard, he or she can get there from any number of schools in our area, if you do well enough.

Yes we actually had a college strategist suggest our child should go to Eastern HS so they would be one of the only kids applying to top colleges from there. Because at the application HS, the students are competing with each other eg Harvard will only accept 1 student from each HS so if
You go to a HS where fewer students are applying to the colleges you want, you will have better chances of getting in. It's a whole racket

It is a racket, but this strategy requires that you accept your child will have very few academic peers all the way through high school, and you take the risks that requires. Will your child sustain an interest in academics and a top college when few peers do? Will your child develop the social skills to help the on succeed at a top college at a school where most students don't go on to 4 year colleges? Will your child develop the study skills or discipline to succeed at a top college or in their chosen career at a school like this?

Getting into college is only part of the picture. If you focus on gaming that at the expense of everything else, what have you really done for your child?

The PP’s strategist is being too strategic.

The alleged one-child-per-school rule is nowhere near that rigid. This year Walls has at least two kids going to Harvard and Eastern has none.

The big bonus is being in the top 10%-25% of the class (those being numbers that colleges typically report on the common data set). Being head and shoulders above all your classmates, academically, is not necessarily any better than being in the top 10% — and it is almost always a lot lonelier.

That top 10% bonus is readily achievable at schools that have a larger cohort of stronger students, such as JR, MacArthur/JT, McKinley, Duke, and Banneker. Where it gets harder is schools like Walls; where it becomes miserable is schools like TJ where 90% of the class is trying to be in the top 10%.

All that said, my kid has friends-of-friends at Eastern and I believe it can be a good match for some kids, especially if there’s some kind of draw (eg, a team they want to play on). But going there strategically just to get into Harvard is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just made the most reasonable choice from year to year, which was usually “stick with this good-enough but imperfect school,” and everything turned out fine. I think that’s actually pretty common? Anyway it worked for us.

People overemphasize the name brand of the school and underemphasize how well your child does there. If you really want your kid to go to Harvard, he or she can get there from any number of schools in our area, if you do well enough.

Yes we actually had a college strategist suggest our child should go to Eastern HS so they would be one of the only kids applying to top colleges from there. Because at the application HS, the students are competing with each other eg Harvard will only accept 1 student from each HS so if
You go to a HS where fewer students are applying to the colleges you want, you will have better chances of getting in. It's a whole racket

It is a racket, but this strategy requires that you accept your child will have very few academic peers all the way through high school, and you take the risks that requires. Will your child sustain an interest in academics and a top college when few peers do? Will your child develop the social skills to help the on succeed at a top college at a school where most students don't go on to 4 year colleges? Will your child develop the study skills or discipline to succeed at a top college or in their chosen career at a school like this?

Getting into college is only part of the picture. If you focus on gaming that at the expense of everything else, what have you really done for your child?

High risk of failing out since kid will struggle big time. There is no way kid will be prepared for college among peers with much rigorous academic backgrounds.

You are setting your kid up for disaster. You just cannot supplement all subjects for 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at a crossroads to make some relocation decisions for next year. What middle schools in the city are actually decent? like you would feel comfortable sending your kiddo there. Seems like at least BASIS, Deal, Hardy (which all seem hard to waitlist into). What else?

Everyone's will be different, but I thought BASIS, Deal, Hardy and Latin are great options. (We ended up at one of these).

DCI no because of the screens in middle school.

John Francis, ITDS, Stuart Hobson yes with math/science supplementation over the summer.

Now hang on a sec. Do these other middle schools not use screens in middle school? At all? How/when?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at a crossroads to make some relocation decisions for next year. What middle schools in the city are actually decent? like you would feel comfortable sending your kiddo there. Seems like at least BASIS, Deal, Hardy (which all seem hard to waitlist into). What else?

Everyone's will be different, but I thought BASIS, Deal, Hardy and Latin are great options. (We ended up at one of these).

DCI no because of the screens in middle school.

John Francis, ITDS, Stuart Hobson yes with math/science supplementation over the summer.

Now hang on a sec. Do these other middle schools not use screens in middle school? At all? How/when?

My kid is in middle school at BASIS and doesn't use screens. All homework is handwritten, all notetaking in class is handwritten, and this year even essays are handwritten. (Last year they let them type).

The teachers sometimes offer quizzes on platforms like Blooket but these are just optional, never for a grade.

I think the students get chromebooks starting in 8th grade so I don't know what happens at that point. But handwritten notetaking is a HUGE part of the school culture so I assume that continues. It's actually incredible how much the students are able to learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at a crossroads to make some relocation decisions for next year. What middle schools in the city are actually decent? like you would feel comfortable sending your kiddo there. Seems like at least BASIS, Deal, Hardy (which all seem hard to waitlist into). What else?

Everyone's will be different, but I thought BASIS, Deal, Hardy and Latin are great options. (We ended up at one of these).

DCI no because of the screens in middle school.

John Francis, ITDS, Stuart Hobson yes with math/science supplementation over the summer.

Now hang on a sec. Do these other middle schools not use screens in middle school? At all? How/when?

My kid is in middle school at BASIS and doesn't use screens. All homework is handwritten, all notetaking in class is handwritten, and this year even essays are handwritten. (Last year they let them type).

The teachers sometimes offer quizzes on platforms like Blooket but these are just optional, never for a grade.

I think the students get chromebooks starting in 8th grade so I don't know what happens at that point. But handwritten notetaking is a HUGE part of the school culture so I assume that continues. It's actually incredible how much the students are able to learn.

We have a similar experience at Latin. Chromebooks are used sparingly. Notes, assessments (other than those that require a computer), and homework are hand written.

[Anonymous]

Ok, so I'm hearing - just go to BASIS or Latin! no problem! (no lottery issues of course!)

[Anonymous]

Lots of DCPS schools have much more sparing computer use than DCI. DCI issues each kid a Chromebook they use in every class. SH certainly does not. My kid takes notes by hand in classes and some teachers (like the science teacher) never uses the laptop cart at all. Other middle schools have issues, but DCi is a huge outlier in this respect.

[Anonymous]

This DCI conversation is kind of moot because pretty soon there won't be any lottery seats for DCI, from beyond the feeder schools.

But yes, I was very unhappy with the laptops in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This DCI conversation is kind of moot because pretty soon there won't be any lottery seats for DCI, from beyond the feeder schools.

But yes, I was very unhappy with the laptops in middle school.

Hopefully things change at DCI in that regard. There was a pretty big parent revolt against screens at YY this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This DCI conversation is kind of moot because pretty soon there won't be any lottery seats for DCI, from beyond the feeder schools.

But yes, I was very unhappy with the laptops in middle school.

Hopefully things change at DCI in that regard. There was a pretty big parent revolt against screens at YY this year.

Would love to hear more about the YY revolt - did anything change? Have a kid entering pk3 there this year...

[Anonymous]

Both my kids went to Hardy. They used a screen/apps constantly.
Teachers lost any paper assignments/worksheets (which were few and far between). I actually had my kids start taking photos of the work they submitted on paper so they could prove it was done when the teachers misplaced the assignments.
Kids on tiktok and playing games on their tablets in class. They started taking kids phones during the school day, but kids just brought iPads instead and figured out a way to get access to social media and distrations on the tablets.
My kids also noticed spelling errors by teachers, as well as showing us questions on homework assignments that made no sense due to grammatical errors or phrasing inconsistencies.

They entered middle school from Eaton with scores that never increased during their tenure at Hardy.
One of my kids was convinced she was just stupid by the end of 8th grade and was scared to go to high school because it was going to be "too hard". I had to explain that you aren't stupid just because you can't focus in a classroom of 30 people eating, watching screens, and talking.

Both are now out of DCPS thank god, and doing well in a completely different environment.

If i had to do MS over in DC I would seriously just homeschool or go private. I realize this is not a possibility for most people. I have friends who are teachers, who say middle school is just about survival and that academically they are generally lost years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of DCPS schools have much more sparing computer use than DCI. DCI issues each kid a Chromebook they use in every class. SH certainly does not. My kid takes notes by hand in classes and some teachers (like the science teacher) never uses the laptop cart at all. Other middle schools have issues, but DCi is a huge outlier in this respect.

Ok, I absolutely hate my kid's Chromebook which becomes yet another screen to have to monitor the use of at home. I did not know other MS don't use laptops. It is to the point where we have to stand behind our kid to watch them while they do homework because otherwise they are probably not doing any homework on that screen. I don't even know what they're doing but it is not homework.

I know parents have pushed back on this and the principal says that for next year a certain percentage of class time has to be off laptop. However, I do not know if this will be followed at all. I do know that my kid started to copy down by hand certain things to study, so perhaps they were telling kids to do this. In English, they were given a book to read and then no one read it so they actually listened to the audio book and followed along during class time.

It is really a lot coming directly from low-screen use schools like LAMB. It's like a drug being handed out.

Lunchtimes at DCI are now screen-free but only certain days of the week, and kids can always go to "office hours" and use the laptops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both my kids went to Hardy. They used a screen/apps constantly.
Teachers lost any paper assignments/worksheets (which were few and far between). I actually had my kids start taking photos of the work they submitted on paper so they could prove it was done when the teachers misplaced the assignments.
Kids on tiktok and playing games on their tablets in class. They started taking kids phones during the school day, but kids just brought iPads instead and figured out a way to get access to social media and distrations on the tablets.
My kids also noticed spelling errors by teachers, as well as showing us questions on homework assignments that made no sense due to grammatical errors or phrasing inconsistencies.

They entered middle school from Eaton with scores that never increased during their tenure at Hardy.
One of my kids was convinced she was just stupid by the end of 8th grade and was scared to go to high school because it was going to be "too hard". I had to explain that you aren't stupid just because you can't focus in a classroom of 30 people eating, watching screens, and talking.

Both are now out of DCPS thank god, and doing well in a completely different environment.

If i had to do MS over in DC I would seriously just homeschool or go private. I realize this is not a possibility for most people. I have friends who are teachers, who say middle school is just about survival and that academically they are generally lost years.

Sounds like you were there years ago because this sounds NOTHING like the experience of my current 8th grader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of DCPS schools have much more sparing computer use than DCI. DCI issues each kid a Chromebook they use in every class. SH certainly does not. My kid takes notes by hand in classes and some teachers (like the science teacher) never uses the laptop cart at all. Other middle schools have issues, but DCi is a huge outlier in this respect.

Ok, I absolutely hate my kid's Chromebook which becomes yet another screen to have to monitor the use of at home. I did not know other MS don't use laptops. It is to the point where we have to stand behind our kid to watch them while they do homework because otherwise they are probably not doing any homework on that screen. I don't even know what they're doing but it is not homework.

I know parents have pushed back on this and the principal says that for next year a certain percentage of class time has to be off laptop. However, I do not know if this will be followed at all. I do know that my kid started to copy down by hand certain things to study, so perhaps they were telling kids to do this. In English, they were given a book to read and then no one read it so they actually listened to the audio book and followed along during class time.

It is really a lot coming directly from low-screen use schools like LAMB. It's like a drug being handed out.

Lunchtimes at DCI are now screen-free but only certain days of the week, and kids can always go to "office hours" and use the laptops.

It sounds from the thread like low-tech middle schools are Latin, BASIS and privates, and some DCPS schools (like SH?) if the principals are really thoughtful about it. But I have heard from other frustrated parents at DCPS middle schools who hate that all the assignments go through online platforms.

Maybe parents can really push back on this. it is a drug!

[Anonymous]

For those worried about screens, there is a huge movement to scale back or eliminate screens up until high school. Not sure if/when that will happen or what it will look like. My guess is they'll be wildly successful for lower elementary, but until all us parents get off our smartphones, it's unlikely to happen for teens/tweens.