How did K-8s do this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We toured several K-8s a few years back. Every K-8 school said that “all” of their 8th graders were accepted to either 1st or 2nd choice HS for 9th grade.

We did not believe them. We might have believed “many” or “most”, but “all” just seemed so mathematically impossible. Also, when we looked at their lists of past matriculations, it appeared that the better HSs were taking 1–3 students from a given K-8 and were spreading their offers across several K-8s.

Maybe there is some unicorn K-8 that we did not visit sending 20 kids to Big-3 schools, not sure. YMMV.

I think both could be true. Not everyone's top choice is a big 3 school, especially by the time they are in 8th grade. Kids want high schools for different reasons. It could be a magnet school's arts program like Duke Ellington. Some families want to ensure their kids don't go to pressure cookers and actively avoid Big 3s. Some families might want their kids to go to Bullis for the track coach (who has trained two Olympians) or St. John's or Dematha for sports. So many different factors are at play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The kids who rise to the top in public are the crème de la crème for 9th grade admissions. Watch out K-8 schools!

Not sure if you are implying public school kids do better in private high school admissions (they don't) or if you are implying they do better once they get into the private high school (not necessarily).
The k-8s' ultimate goal is to get their students into private high schools and they are good at it. The relationship between the schools and individual student support makes getting admitted from a k-8 easier than from a public. The k-8's are a known entity for the private high schools--they know what to expect from them academically and get families who are used to paying tuition bills and who have reasonable expectations about what they will be getting out of a private school experience. Transitioning from public to private is totally doable but is a transition for students and families alike. Private schools expect participation and teachers provide a lot of feedback; students can't fly under the radar. Teachers expect students to meet with them outside of class. There is lots of attention to writing and presentation. It's an adjustment for those not used to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We toured several K-8s a few years back. Every K-8 school said that “all” of their 8th graders were accepted to either 1st or 2nd choice HS for 9th grade.

We did not believe them. We might have believed “many” or “most”, but “all” just seemed so mathematically impossible. Also, when we looked at their lists of past matriculations, it appeared that the better HSs were taking 1–3 students from a given K-8 and were spreading their offers across several K-8s.

Maybe there is some unicorn K-8 that we did not visit sending 20 kids to Big-3 schools, not sure. YMMV.

Or maybe there are plenty of students for whom “big 3” aren’t their first or second choice.

[Anonymous]

Lowell has had bad results this year so far. Just objectively bad. One kid got in everywhere so the school will say they got kids into Sidwell, Maret, GDS but it’s all one kid. There were maybe 2 more in at GDS, 1 more in at Sidwell, and the rest of the class on the waitlist or just rejected. Some kids got in literally nowhere. Not good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lowell has had bad results this year so far. Just objectively bad. One kid got in everywhere so the school will say they got kids into Sidwell, Maret, GDS but it’s all one kid. There were maybe 2 more in at GDS, 1 more in at Sidwell, and the rest of the class on the waitlist or just rejected. Some kids got in literally nowhere. Not good.

One kid getting shut out isn’t good, but it happens from time to time especially if the parents don’t follow school administrators’ advice, but more than one getting shut out is REALLY bad. Yikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kids who rise to the top in public are the crème de la crème for 9th grade admissions. Watch out K-8 schools!

Absolutely not the case at Sidwell for 9th. The entering 9th grade class during my kids’ years there have been largely comprised of grads from the best k-8s (but not all k-8s), then OOS kids from the Bay area or NY/NJ. THEN MoCo and far behind is DCPS.

IME the kids coming from MoCo transfer in at earlier points like fourth and sixth.

Why would kids from the Bay Area and NY/NJ consistently be a part of Sidwell’s entering 9th grade? After an election year and an administration change that would be expected, but it is not the norm every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kids who rise to the top in public are the crème de la crème for 9th grade admissions. Watch out K-8 schools!

Absolutely not the case at Sidwell for 9th. The entering 9th grade class during my kids’ years there have been largely comprised of grads from the best k-8s (but not all k-8s), then OOS kids from the Bay area or NY/NJ. THEN MoCo and far behind is DCPS.

IME the kids coming from MoCo transfer in at earlier points like fourth and sixth.

Why would kids from the Bay Area and NY/NJ consistently be a part of Sidwell’s entering 9th grade? After an election year and an administration change that would be expected, but it is not the norm every year.

How do out-of-state kids enroll at Sidwell? Are the whole families moving from the Bay Area/ NY/NJ just so that their kid can attend Sidwell? Or are these families who were moving to DC anyway for work and were looking for a school for their child? Sidwell doesn’t have a boarding option …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kids who rise to the top in public are the crème de la crème for 9th grade admissions. Watch out K-8 schools!

Absolutely not the case at Sidwell for 9th. The entering 9th grade class during my kids’ years there have been largely comprised of grads from the best k-8s (but not all k-8s), then OOS kids from the Bay area or NY/NJ. THEN MoCo and far behind is DCPS.

IME the kids coming from MoCo transfer in at earlier points like fourth and sixth.

Why would kids from the Bay Area and NY/NJ consistently be a part of Sidwell’s entering 9th grade? After an election year and an administration change that would be expected, but it is not the norm every year.

How do out-of-state kids enroll at Sidwell? Are the whole families moving from the Bay Area/ NY/NJ just so that their kid can attend Sidwell? Or are these families who were moving to DC anyway for work and were looking for a school for their child? Sidwell doesn’t have a boarding option …

Those families may be applying to NYC top privates and then to top DC privates as back ups. My guess.Mobility is easy for rich folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kids who rise to the top in public are the crème de la crème for 9th grade admissions. Watch out K-8 schools!

Absolutely not the case at Sidwell for 9th. The entering 9th grade class during my kids’ years there have been largely comprised of grads from the best k-8s (but not all k-8s), then OOS kids from the Bay area or NY/NJ. THEN MoCo and far behind is DCPS.

IME the kids coming from MoCo transfer in at earlier points like fourth and sixth.

Why would kids from the Bay Area and NY/NJ consistently be a part of Sidwell’s entering 9th grade? After an election year and an administration change that would be expected, but it is not the norm every year.

How do out-of-state kids enroll at Sidwell? Are the whole families moving from the Bay Area/ NY/NJ just so that their kid can attend Sidwell? Or are these families who were moving to DC anyway for work and were looking for a school for their child? Sidwell doesn’t have a boarding option …

No insight about any particular school, but families move in and out of metro DC all the time due to jobs. And changes of administration are not the main driver for this — ordinary non-government jobs drive this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kids who rise to the top in public are the crème de la crème for 9th grade admissions. Watch out K-8 schools!

Absolutely not the case at Sidwell for 9th. The entering 9th grade class during my kids’ years there have been largely comprised of grads from the best k-8s (but not all k-8s), then OOS kids from the Bay area or NY/NJ. THEN MoCo and far behind is DCPS.

IME the kids coming from MoCo transfer in at earlier points like fourth and sixth.

Why would kids from the Bay Area and NY/NJ consistently be a part of Sidwell’s entering 9th grade? After an election year and an administration change that would be expected, but it is not the norm every year.

How do out-of-state kids enroll at Sidwell? Are the whole families moving from the Bay Area/ NY/NJ just so that their kid can attend Sidwell? Or are these families who were moving to DC anyway for work and were looking for a school for their child? Sidwell doesn’t have a boarding option …

No insight about any particular school, but families move in and out of metro DC all the time due to jobs. And changes of administration are not the main driver for this — ordinary non-government jobs drive this.

Yes, each year there are a couple of kids coming from out of state or even out of country . All sorts of reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kids who rise to the top in public are the crème de la crème for 9th grade admissions. Watch out K-8 schools!

Absolutely not the case at Sidwell for 9th. The entering 9th grade class during my kids’ years there have been largely comprised of grads from the best k-8s (but not all k-8s), then OOS kids from the Bay area or NY/NJ. THEN MoCo and far behind is DCPS.

IME the kids coming from MoCo transfer in at earlier points like fourth and sixth.

Why would kids from the Bay Area and NY/NJ consistently be a part of Sidwell’s entering 9th grade? After an election year and an administration change that would be expected, but it is not the norm every year.

How do out-of-state kids enroll at Sidwell? Are the whole families moving from the Bay Area/ NY/NJ just so that their kid can attend Sidwell? Or are these families who were moving to DC anyway for work and were looking for a school for their child? Sidwell doesn’t have a boarding option …

No insight about any particular school, but families move in and out of metro DC all the time due to jobs. And changes of administration are not the main driver for this — ordinary non-government jobs drive this.

Yes, each year there are a couple of kids coming from out of state or even out of country . All sorts of reasons.

That is true of all DC area schools, private and public. Nothing special to Sidwell here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kids who rise to the top in public are the crème de la crème for 9th grade admissions. Watch out K-8 schools!

Absolutely not the case at Sidwell for 9th. The entering 9th grade class during my kids’ years there have been largely comprised of grads from the best k-8s (but not all k-8s), then OOS kids from the Bay area or NY/NJ. THEN MoCo and far behind is DCPS.

IME the kids coming from MoCo transfer in at earlier points like fourth and sixth.

Why would kids from the Bay Area and NY/NJ consistently be a part of Sidwell’s entering 9th grade? After an election year and an administration change that would be expected, but it is not the norm every year.

How do out-of-state kids enroll at Sidwell? Are the whole families moving from the Bay Area/ NY/NJ just so that their kid can attend Sidwell? Or are these families who were moving to DC anyway for work and were looking for a school for their child? Sidwell doesn’t have a boarding option …

No insight about any particular school, but families move in and out of metro DC all the time due to jobs. And changes of administration are not the main driver for this — ordinary non-government jobs drive this.

Yes, each year there are a couple of kids coming from out of state or even out of country . All sorts of reasons.

That is true of all DC area schools, private and public. Nothing special to Sidwell here.

I never said sidwell was special. I explained who comes in at 9th grade at Sidwell because it’s the one school I know firsthand, over multiple years. Top (not all) k-8s send the far and away most new 9th graders. Then probably a tie — on AVERAGE — between kids moving from OOS, from MoCo and NoVa public schools. One or two DCPS kids. Rounded out with football or basketball recruits (that we don’t call athletic recruits) from really distant suburbs. Or DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lowell has had bad results this year so far. Just objectively bad. One kid got in everywhere so the school will say they got kids into Sidwell, Maret, GDS but it’s all one kid. There were maybe 2 more in at GDS, 1 more in at Sidwell, and the rest of the class on the waitlist or just rejected. Some kids got in literally nowhere. Not good.

This practice is not unique to Lowell. All schools do this.

What is your connection to the school to know this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lowell has had bad results this year so far. Just objectively bad. One kid got in everywhere so the school will say they got kids into Sidwell, Maret, GDS but it’s all one kid. There were maybe 2 more in at GDS, 1 more in at Sidwell, and the rest of the class on the waitlist or just rejected. Some kids got in literally nowhere. Not good.

This practice is not unique to Lowell. All schools do this.

What is your connection to the school to know this?

Well, then this practice should be stopped because it is misleading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lowell has had bad results this year so far. Just objectively bad. One kid got in everywhere so the school will say they got kids into Sidwell, Maret, GDS but it’s all one kid. There were maybe 2 more in at GDS, 1 more in at Sidwell, and the rest of the class on the waitlist or just rejected. Some kids got in literally nowhere. Not good.

Does Lowell have a dedicated placement director, or is it a team approach? Who was guiding the families?