Hill Middle Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Families of high-performing 8th graders who stuck with DCPS for middle school have always done very well in admission to Walls, Banneker and Ellington. The trend is readily apparent to anybody who's been paying attention to who gets in where for high school for many years, like we have.

Except that is nonsense. There is an inherent oxymoron in your statement. High performing kids don’t go to failing schools.

I know it’s just unpleasant to hear, but AT BEST a kid that’s doing really well at a failing school will be on grade level. Maybe higher if you really really tiger mom it with tutors and extracurriculars. But if you settled for the lowest common denominator for middle school, it’s doubtful you’ll find tutors etc at this point. This is true especially with the current shortage. But feel free to lie to yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Families of high-performing 8th graders who stuck with DCPS for middle school have always done very well in admission to Walls, Banneker and Ellington. The trend is readily apparent to anybody who's been paying attention to who gets in where for high school for many years, like we have.

Except that is nonsense. There is an inherent oxymoron in your statement. High performing kids don’t go to failing schools.

SH is not a failing school by any reasonable definition. It definitely has high performing kids. It got a bunch of kids into Walls this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Families of high-performing 8th graders who stuck with DCPS for middle school have always done very well in admission to Walls, Banneker and Ellington. The trend is readily apparent to anybody who's been paying attention to who gets in where for high school for many years, like we have.

Except that is nonsense. There is an inherent oxymoron in your statement. High performing kids don’t go to failing schools.

SH is not a failing school by any reasonable definition. It definitely has high performing kids. It got a bunch of kids into Walls this year.

Tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night.

[Anonymous]

Why do you think it is a failing school? Looking for reasons that go beyond just the demographics and PARCC test scores.

There is a little bit of a scarcity mindset on the Hill with the 5-12 charter schools. But not everyone wants the lengthy commute to Latin. Not everyone wants the level of homework, limited recess, and/or the stress/anxiety that might accompany comprehensive testing starting in 6th grade at Basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Families of high-performing 8th graders who stuck with DCPS for middle school have always done very well in admission to Walls, Banneker and Ellington. The trend is readily apparent to anybody who's been paying attention to who gets in where for high school for many years, like we have.

Except that is nonsense. There is an inherent oxymoron in your statement. High performing kids don’t go to failing schools.

SH is not a failing school by any reasonable definition. It definitely has high performing kids. It got a bunch of kids into Walls this year.

Tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night.

If is correct that that high performing kids don’t go to failing schools, then SH obviously isn’t failing with 60+ kids getting at least 1 5 on PARRC; basically one full class per grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Families of high-performing 8th graders who stuck with DCPS for middle school have always done very well in admission to Walls, Banneker and Ellington. The trend is readily apparent to anybody who's been paying attention to who gets in where for high school for many years, like we have.

Except that is nonsense. There is an inherent oxymoron in your statement. High performing kids don’t go to failing schools.

SH is not a failing school by any reasonable definition. It definitely has high performing kids. It got a bunch of kids into Walls this year.

Tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night.

Upper-income kids in Ward 6 DCPS middle schools perform comparably to their counterparts in Ward 3.

Want proof? Compare the PARCC scores of white kids (generally a good proxy for upper-income in DC) at Deal and Hardy with those at SH, EH and JA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Families of high-performing 8th graders who stuck with DCPS for middle school have always done very well in admission to Walls, Banneker and Ellington. The trend is readily apparent to anybody who's been paying attention to who gets in where for high school for many years, like we have.

Except that is nonsense. There is an inherent oxymoron in your statement. High performing kids don’t go to failing schools.

SH is not a failing school by any reasonable definition. It definitely has high performing kids. It got a bunch of kids into Walls this year.

Tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night.

Upper-income kids in Ward 6 DCPS middle schools perform comparably to their counterparts in Ward 3.

Want proof? Compare the PARCC scores of white kids (generally a good proxy for upper-income in DC) at Deal and Hardy with those at SH, EH and JA.

Exactly. It’s true in ESes as well, even those with smaller cohorts of UMC kids. As a general rule of thumb, if a school can report white test scores, the scores for that demographic aren’t that different than UNW ones. Sometimes a bit worse, but other times a bit better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Families of high-performing 8th graders who stuck with DCPS for middle school have always done very well in admission to Walls, Banneker and Ellington. The trend is readily apparent to anybody who's been paying attention to who gets in where for high school for many years, like we have.

Except that is nonsense. There is an inherent oxymoron in your statement. High performing kids don’t go to failing schools.

SH is not a failing school by any reasonable definition. It definitely has high performing kids. It got a bunch of kids into Walls this year.

Getting into Walls tells you nothing about the rigor of a middle school. Walls admissions is a certain GPA (arguably much easier to achieve at a lower performing school if you’re even an average student) plus an interview. There is no test, which would be a real measure of how well prepared students are coming out of certain middle schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Families of high-performing 8th graders who stuck with DCPS for middle school have always done very well in admission to Walls, Banneker and Ellington. The trend is readily apparent to anybody who's been paying attention to who gets in where for high school for many years, like we have.

Except that is nonsense. There is an inherent oxymoron in your statement. High performing kids don’t go to failing schools.

SH is not a failing school by any reasonable definition. It definitely has high performing kids. It got a bunch of kids into Walls this year.

Tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night.

If is correct that that high performing kids don’t go to failing schools, then SH obviously isn’t failing with 60+ kids getting at least 1 5 on PARRC; basically one full class per grade.

You’re reading the data incorrectly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Families of high-performing 8th graders who stuck with DCPS for middle school have always done very well in admission to Walls, Banneker and Ellington. The trend is readily apparent to anybody who's been paying attention to who gets in where for high school for many years, like we have.

Except that is nonsense. There is an inherent oxymoron in your statement. High performing kids don’t go to failing schools.

SH is not a failing school by any reasonable definition. It definitely has high performing kids. It got a bunch of kids into Walls this year.

Tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night.

If is correct that that high performing kids don’t go to failing schools, then SH obviously isn’t failing with 60+ kids getting at least 1 5 on PARRC; basically one full class per grade.

You’re reading the data incorrectly.

No… I’m not. There are 13% ELA 5s at a 500+ person school. That means there are more than 60 kids getting 5s even if all the math 5s are repeats. Try again.

[Anonymous]

Right. It is maybe easier for a top student to get top grades and secure admission to Walls from SH than Basis/Latin. I think someone made that point above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you think it is a failing school? Looking for reasons that go beyond just the demographics and PARCC test scores.

There is a little bit of a scarcity mindset on the Hill with the 5-12 charter schools. But not everyone wants the lengthy commute to Latin. Not everyone wants the level of homework, limited recess, and/or the stress/anxiety that might accompany comprehensive testing starting in 6th grade at Basis.

So settle for mediocrity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right. It is maybe easier for a top student to get top grades and secure admission to Walls from SH than Basis/Latin. I think someone made that point above.

And when your kid shows up to Walls, you’re going to be fine watching them flounder since they’re not used to grade level work? High school grades really matter for college, or have you ruled that out as “too stressful” already?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you think it is a failing school? Looking for reasons that go beyond just the demographics and PARCC test scores.

There is a little bit of a scarcity mindset on the Hill with the 5-12 charter schools. But not everyone wants the lengthy commute to Latin. Not everyone wants the level of homework, limited recess, and/or the stress/anxiety that might accompany comprehensive testing starting in 6th grade at Basis.

So settle for mediocrity?

SH, EH and JA don't exactly have a monopoly on mediocrity where DC public middle schools popular with Hill families go. BASIS won't permit students to study a language until 8th grade, and then only at the beginning level (mandatory). SH's admins told us that we didn't have to take a language, freeing us up to continue to homeschool our middle schooler in our native language at a v. advanced level without the burden of studying another language at the beginning level at school. You see mediocrity where other families may be aiming high in their own ways. If a kid excels in the performing arts, SH is much better bet than BASIS or Latin if you want arts instruction at school, no comparison. SH also has many older, experienced great teachers. BASIS pays and treats teachers poorly by comparison, leading to much higher teacher turnover than at SH along with far more inexperienced teachers with weak classroom management skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you think it is a failing school? Looking for reasons that go beyond just the demographics and PARCC test scores.

There is a little bit of a scarcity mindset on the Hill with the 5-12 charter schools. But not everyone wants the lengthy commute to Latin. Not everyone wants the level of homework, limited recess, and/or the stress/anxiety that might accompany comprehensive testing starting in 6th grade at Basis.

So settle for mediocrity?

SH, EH and JA don't exactly have a monopoly on mediocrity where DC public middle schools popular with Hill families go. BASIS won't permit students to study a language until 8th grade, and then only at the beginning level (mandatory). SH's admins told us that we didn't have to take a language, freeing us up to continue to homeschool our middle schooler in our native language at a v. advanced level without the burden of studying another language at the beginning level at school. You see mediocrity where other families may be aiming high in their own ways. If a kid excels in the performing arts, SH is much better bet than BASIS or Latin if you want arts instruction at school, no comparison. SH also has many older, experienced great teachers. BASIS pays and treats teachers poorly by comparison, leading to much higher teacher turnover than at SH along with far more inexperienced teachers with weak classroom management skills.

BASIS doesn't have kids setting couches on fire like SH does!