ACPS Jefferson Houston I.B. Program Middle School vs. GW open enrollment honors?

[Anonymous]

I wondered if anyone is familiar with the Jefferson Houston's I.B. program, particularly the middle school? We are trying to see if there are options other that GW, where we hear that the open enrollment honors classes are a joke, particularly for kids who are in the TAG program. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Did they actually start that IB program? If so, I would guess it is going to be a joke also.

Do you know that on greatschools.com this schools gets a score of 1 out of 10 with 1 being the lowest. It's a terrible school right now and I wouldn't send my child there no matter what label they slap on the school.

[Anonymous]

IB or any other specialized program only works when there is a large group of committed families and students. Any school can fill out the paperwork and hire the staff to implement IB.

It's odd Alexandria is implementing IB when there is no actual IB program for high school students. I hope it works out though for Jefferson Houston.

[Anonymous]

There is a committed group (or at least there used to be, I haven't paid much attention lately) of parents at J-H who have campaigned for the IB program as a way of attempting to attract children to the school. This was before the Administration made the decision to keep middle school students at J-H. I assume they just decided to continue the IB program for those students, as well. There has been a lot speculation that the decision to keep the J-H students out of GW was an attempt to raise GW's test scores. J-H has a very high concentration of students from public housing (some say by design).

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the feedback. I had heard that some kids from MacArthur Elem are now at Jefferson Houston for the IB program and so I was wondering about it. I agree the Great Schools give JH a 1/10 but it is interesting to me how positive all the parent/student reviews are - I wonder why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the feedback. I had heard that some kids from MacArthur Elem are now at Jefferson Houston for the IB program and so I was wondering about it. I agree the Great Schools give JH a 1/10 but it is interesting to me how positive all the parent/student reviews are - I wonder why?

My guess is its the parents who didn't get into Lyles Crouch and can't afford their mortgage and private school so they are stuck at Jefferson Houston and are trying to make themselves feel better about it.

[Anonymous]

PP is probably the same poster who keeps bashing the city of Alexandria on other threads. Give it a rest!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP is probably the same poster who keeps bashing the city of Alexandria on other threads. Give it a rest!!

As one of the other posters who is bashing Alexandria schools on the other thread, I can assure you that there are multiple people doing so (both on the other thread and this one). Judging by the writing style of the posts, I think it's much more likely that there is only one Alexandria school booster posting on these threads.

[Anonymous]

Think again, Miss Queen of the Cul-de-Sac! Look, you're boring. You like boring places. And you're scared of anyone who doesn't have a life just like yours. You can't "protect" your kids forever!

[Anonymous]

Other poster here, who can also assure you that there are multiple posters supporting the city of Alexandria and its schools also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Other poster here, who can also assure you that there are multiple posters supporting the city of Alexandria and its schools also.

It's true. We're here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the feedback. I had heard that some kids from MacArthur Elem are now at Jefferson Houston for the IB program and so I was wondering about it. I agree the Great Schools give JH a 1/10 but it is interesting to me how positive all the parent/student reviews are - I wonder why?

My guess is its the parents who didn't get into Lyles Crouch and can't afford their mortgage and private school so they are stuck at Jefferson Houston and are trying to make themselves feel better about it.

Your comment doesn't make any sense. These parents can opt out of Jefferson Houston to attend other Alexandria City Schools. I have met some of these parents and they recognized the schools problems and believe in the school. I am not sure that it would be the correct school for my family but they are very enthusiastic about the school.

If you want to know more about the school, call it and ask for a tour, they are very accommodating.




(Also, if you can afford some of the exclusive private schools in this area, why not chip in a little more in taxes so the plebes can have slightly better schools)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the feedback. I had heard that some kids from MacArthur Elem are now at Jefferson Houston for the IB program and so I was wondering about it. I agree the Great Schools give JH a 1/10 but it is interesting to me how positive all the parent/student reviews are - I wonder why?

My guess is its the parents who didn't get into Lyles Crouch and can't afford their mortgage and private school so they are stuck at Jefferson Houston and are trying to make themselves feel better about it.

Your comment doesn't make any sense. These parents can opt out of Jefferson Houston to attend other Alexandria City Schools. I have met some of these parents and they recognized the schools problems and believe in the school. I am not sure that it would be the correct school for my family but they are very enthusiastic about the school.

If you want to know more about the school, call it and ask for a tour, they are very accommodating.




(Also, if you can afford some of the exclusive private schools in this area, why not chip in a little more in taxes so the plebes can have slightly better schools)

If you live in the City, then you already know the extra tax dollars would not go to education but more likely to supporting public housing...

And yes, parents can Opt out- but its not as if they have lots of great choices. The better schools may be over capacity and then they do not take anymore students.

And yes, I am one of the frequent "bashers" of the school system and I do believe its well deserved. The City has done a terrible job with the schools. I recognize that indvidual elementary schools are able to make gains here and there and that's great but then all the kids get dumped into middle school together and that's just a mess.

[Anonymous]

I congratulate you for being fully self-absorbed with you upper-middle class white person problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Think again, Miss Queen of the Cul-de-Sac! Look, you're boring. You like boring places. And you're scared of anyone who doesn't have a life just like yours. You can't "protect" your kids forever!

I like living near people who value education, steady employment, and avoiding drug addition.

Maybe it makes you feel superior, the big fish in the small pond, to be living and schooling your kids in a high FARMS area.