How things change in a decade!
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Anonymous
Because students from Banneker have, in fact, been admitted to such colleges. |
Anonymous
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As the OP of this thread pointed out, times are changing.
Here are the 9th-to-10th grade retention rates for Banneker over the past decade or so, based on OSSE data. (https://osse.dc.gov/enrollment) * Class of 2016, 88/108, 81% * Class of 2017, 114/142, 80% * Class of 2018, 128/167, 77% * Class of 2019, 133/155, 86% * Class of 2020, 115/135, 85% * Class of 2021, 125/142, 88% * Class of 2022, 135/151, 89% * Class of 2023, 157/187, 89% * Class of 2024, 139/161, 86% * Class of 2025, 135/145, 93% * Class of 2026, 162/168, 96% * Class of 2027, 232/245, 95% * Class of 2028, 179/188, 95% Note the gradual rise from the Classes of 2016-18, when only 4 out of every 5 students returned for sophomore year, to the Classes of 21-23, when nearly 9 in 10 returned, and then the final jump to the current period, when we have 19 out of 20 returning. Old timers who remember “counseling out” as a major feature at Banneker aren’t lying, but they are out of date. Current families aren’t noticing the phenomenon because it isn’t happening anymore. Some other indications of change at Banneker: GPA. My recollection is that when my student started at Banneker, there was a minimum GPA required to return. I went looking for it and couldn’t find it in the current handbook. But I did find evidence that the average GPA at Banneker is rising. The GPA cutoff for NHS used to be 3.2 (https://www.benjaminbanneker.org/m/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=261782&type=d). It’s currently 3.7. For the Class of 2029, it’s going up to 3.9 (https://www.benjaminbanneker.org/m/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=382211&type=d) (page 10). SAT scores. Banneker is reporting that the average SAT for the Class of 2025 was 1127 (https://www.benjaminbanneker.org/ourpages/auto/2025/10/21/27554456/25-26%20Banneker%20Information%20Resources.pdf?rnd=1761072180399), up 20 points from even the 23-24 number reported by DCPS (https://dcps.dc.gov/publication/dcps-data-set-sat). AP scores. Similarly, Banneker is reporting that the AP pass rate for the 24-25 school year was 70% (https://www.benjaminbanneker.org/ourpages/auto/2025/10/21/27554456/25-26%20Banneker%20Information%20Resources.pdf?rnd=1761072180399), up from the 23-24 figure of 57% (https://dcps.dc.gov/publication/ap-score-data-sets). That’s FOUR discrepancies in the data, all tied to the Class of 2025 and subsequent classes: increased retention, increased GPA, increased average SAT score, and increased AP pass rate. The Class of 2025 was also the first class admitted to high school after Walls dropped the exam. It looks to me like the most banal and predictable result possible: Walls used to use an exam to cherry pick students who are good at taking exams. Take away that exam, and more of those students wind up at Banneker (some because Walls is rejecting a lot of high-scoring students these days, and others because, knowing that Walls now rejects a lot of high-scoring students, they cast a broader net and decide they prefer Banneker). And the result is that the student body at Banneker is performing better on a variety of metrics than it was in the past. |
Anonymous
I don't know much about Hampton specifically, but if you are not black you may not understand the appeal and benefit of HBCUs for high achieving black students. There are very good reasons that many Banneker students decided to attend HBCUs. And even the very best, most well respect HBCUs have lower average SAT scores than top non-HBCU schools. Going to a school like Howard, Spelman, or Morehouse not only offers a strong academic opportunity (these schools tend to attract excellent professors because of their history and reputations, and attracting exception black students from all over the country) but there is a social and networking component it is hard to beat. The alumni networks of these schools run deep and are incredibly loyal, and the benefits start from the moment you graduate until you die. Because so many students at these schools come from similar backgrounds with similar cultural touchstones, morals, and values, the friendships people make at these schools are often lifelong and devoted in a way that is rare in this day and age. There can be elements of this experience at other schools with large black populations. I went to a state flagship with multiple black sororities and frats, for instance, and I think that experience sort of approximates an HBCU environment in a more diverse school. I would like to even say there are advantages to going to a school with more racial diversity because it better prepares you for the workplace, but I actually don't know if that's true -- my peers who are HBCU grads don't seem to have any problem acclimating to diverse workplaces, and seem to carry a level of confidence in themselves that I think can be rare for black professionals, especially early in their careers. There is something incredibly empowering about being in a place where black excellence is celebrated in every corner of the institution, where your professors are mostly black, where the expectation is that every black students has the potential to do great things in their chosen field and there are no questions of anyone being less than or a charity case simply because they are black. I think that experience changes you. Banneker seems to be offering an experience akin to that at the high school level, and it does not surprise me that many of their graduates head to HBCUs (or to schools like mine with large and active black student associations). There is power in numbers. If that means caring a bit less about a tippy top SAT score because you can get into one of these schools with a 1250 SAT, so be it. I absolutely think some of these students just remove themselves from the rat race for Ivies or top SLACs or even many of the elite public programs, which would require much more impressive scores, because they would rather have the kind of experience I just described. So why devote time and energy on getting a higher SAT, when you could spend it on refining your writing ability, pursuing a sport or other extra-curricular more seriously, doing an internship, etc. All of which will matter much more in an HBCU or similar environment, where what you do matters more than how you scored on a test that most black people believe was developed to perpetuate discrimination against black students at elite academic institutions. |
Anonymous
Thanks for sharing this. Very informative! |
Anonymous
Very informative. Thank you for this. That link also lists all the college destinations, which readers might be interested in. And for a PP who asked, Walls' AP pass rate was 91 percent for the past two years that DCPS reported. |
Anonymous
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Cool! From last year’s Banneker graduating class alone, students enrolled at MIT, Princeton, Cornell, Berkeley, UVA, Duke, Emory and Hopkins, among many others.
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Anonymous
Oof. The DCPS AP pass rate definition is very soft-bigotry-of-low-expectations. Students with at least one pass score over students who did APs. So if you took 7 APs and passed 1, you count in the numerator. Unless I completely misinterpreted it. |
Anonymous
The other factor, though, is that DC schools often require you to take AP classes and the exam as part of that class, so far more students are taking the exam than in some other states. |
Anonymous
Thank you for saying this. I tried sharing a similar sentiment earlier but had tech issues. Coincidentally, I attended Hampton and had to leave because of familial issues, not because I was underprepared or didn't have the grades. I was on the dean's list when I left in my sophomore year. I continued my education as a self-funded student at another HBCU and eventually earned a doctorate from an R1 institution, basically arriving at the same spot as a lot of folks from other undergraduate institutions. I'd also offer that state schools are not a panacea for all students either, even with funding. I had a former student who received a full-ride scholarship to a flagship state school who had to leave because they couldn't afford the expense of actually living away from home. Things like lab fees, food costs when the cafe is closed and other factors contribute to folks leaving both HBCUs and PWIs, but HBCUs tend to have larger numbers of students with certain complex needs, but don't have large endowments and such to support these students. Also, looking at four year completion is difficult. People change majors, add minors and all kinds of other things that change their matriculation time. I don't think that's a terrible thing. It does mean that there has to be better advising. I will say that is usually an institutional issue, one that I have intimate familiarity with as a current HBCU professor and parent. |
Anonymous
USNews profiles have the more rigorous stat of % of AP exams taken with a score of 3 or higher. SWW is at 86% and Banneker is 45%. Jackson-Reed is at 56%. |
Anonymous
Wow that is really low for Banneker. 3 is a low bar too. It is more informative % of 4 and 5. |
Anonymous
Former LAMB employee. The kids don't speak Spanish. Almost none of them. Teachers may speak in Spanish but everyone responds in English. Try talking to one of these students in Spanish for longer than 2 seconds and they'll look at you like you have lobsters crawling out of your ears. |
Anonymous
Pro-tip: If you're going to lie about a school, it should at least be a little bit believable. This is like claiming kids at BASIS don't know how to add or subtract. |
Anonymous
I actually don’t think this is made up. My neighbors go there and they are in upper grades and barely speak Spanish and their friends don’t either. I’m a native speaker. My kids go to another bilingual chapter and it’s the same. There are so many kids in 5th grade who barely speak Spanish. |
Anonymous
What about those with Spanish speaking parents? Don’t they have any recent arrival families at all? |