Middle Schools for Cap Hill

[Anonymous]

What do you mean by 120 6th grade spots? Spots budgeted for? This is an IB school that has to take as many IB and feeder students who turn up before, on, or after the first day of school, right?

Advanced placement classes in which subjects? How are students evaluated for admission to these classes then?

Sincerely asking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't Jefferson a lot more popular with UMC in-boundary families and families with children in the several feeder elementary schools? Mainly a question of poor public relations?

At a Jefferson open house I attended this spring, admins were more than a little cagey about what sort of "honors classes" were offered and how students tested into these classes. I couldn't get a straight answer out of them, couldn't make sense of how the placement system worked. By contrast, at Stuart Hobson, I was told exactly how students were evaluated for/admitted to honors English and math classes. I was also told that there weren't any honors science or social studies classes, or any planned.

Brent parents considering Jefferson Academy have complained about this issue repeatedly on DCUM in the last several years. Brent parents who send their children to JA invariably respond with assurances that appropriate rigor is ensured across the board, never mind what the test-in-to-honors-classes-system might be (if there is indeed a system). Needless to say, UMC buy-in at JA from Brent, Tyler and Van Ness remains low and has a desperate feel (as in, we're all for JA, never mind the fact that we were shut out of BASIS and Latin, lack access to Hobson, and can't handle the commute to DCI).

We're IB for Jefferson and toured/had a shadow day last Friday with our current 5th grader. The school is currently on track to have 100 out of their 120 6th grade slots go to IB kids coming from all of their feeders. We were told about the advanced placement classes in their subjects and how students are evaluated for that track. We were also told that 6th grade teachers speak with all of the IB 5th grade teachers to get a feel for each IB student who will be attending. We got into a charger that went though HS but are choosing JA over it due to these personalized factors for our student. My kid had a great experience during the shadow and is excited to go next year.

Could you remind us of JAs feeders? Brent, Van Ness, Amidon Bowen... any others?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't Jefferson a lot more popular with UMC in-boundary families and families with children in the several feeder elementary schools? Mainly a question of poor public relations?

At a Jefferson open house I attended this spring, admins were more than a little cagey about what sort of "honors classes" were offered and how students tested into these classes. I couldn't get a straight answer out of them, couldn't make sense of how the placement system worked. By contrast, at Stuart Hobson, I was told exactly how students were evaluated for/admitted to honors English and math classes. I was also told that there weren't any honors science or social studies classes, or any planned.

Brent parents considering Jefferson Academy have complained about this issue repeatedly on DCUM in the last several years. Brent parents who send their children to JA invariably respond with assurances that appropriate rigor is ensured across the board, never mind what the test-in-to-honors-classes-system might be (if there is indeed a system). Needless to say, UMC buy-in at JA from Brent, Tyler and Van Ness remains low and has a desperate feel (as in, we're all for JA, never mind the fact that we were shut out of BASIS and Latin, lack access to Hobson, and can't handle the commute to DCI).

We're IB for Jefferson and toured/had a shadow day last Friday with our current 5th grader. The school is currently on track to have 100 out of their 120 6th grade slots go to IB kids coming from all of their feeders. We were told about the advanced placement classes in their subjects and how students are evaluated for that track. We were also told that 6th grade teachers speak with all of the IB 5th grade teachers to get a feel for each IB student who will be attending. We got into a charger that went though HS but are choosing JA over it due to these personalized factors for our student. My kid had a great experience during the shadow and is excited to go next year.

Could you remind us of JAs feeders? Brent, Van Ness, Amidon Bowen... any others?

Tyler.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by 120 6th grade spots? Spots budgeted for? This is an IB school that has to take as many IB and feeder students who turn up before, on, or after the first day of school, right?

Advanced placement classes in which subjects? How are students evaluated for admission to these classes then?

Sincerely asking.

120 budgeted for, since the school needs to have an idea of what to open for the lottery. These numbers are based on past school years and the size they hope their 6th grade class will be in total. We were told about advanced subjects in math, science, ela, geography as well as electives that are available like personal finance, media studies (we stopped into a class discussing how to source factual information from the internet and discern if something is reliable or not) and robotics. There is a summer program in July where kids are evaluated for class placements that this works in conjunction with communication with 5th grade teachers (for the IB kids). If a student starts in a non-accelerated class at the start of the year they can also be moved up mid-year if their work demonstrates they should be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by 120 6th grade spots? Spots budgeted for? This is an IB school that has to take as many IB and feeder students who turn up before, on, or after the first day of school, right?

Advanced placement classes in which subjects? How are students evaluated for admission to these classes then?

Sincerely asking.

120 budgeted for, since the school needs to have an idea of what to open for the lottery. These numbers are based on past school years and the size they hope their 6th grade class will be in total. We were told about advanced subjects in math, science, ela, geography as well as electives that are available like personal finance, media studies (we stopped into a class discussing how to source factual information from the internet and discern if something is reliable or not) and robotics. There is a summer program in July where kids are evaluated for class placements that this works in conjunction with communication with 5th grade teachers (for the IB kids). If a student starts in a non-accelerated class at the start of the year they can also be moved up mid-year if their work demonstrates they should be.

Sorry - also advanced Spanish. (forgot to include that)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't Jefferson a lot more popular with UMC in-boundary families and families with children in the several feeder elementary schools? Mainly a question of poor public relations?

At a Jefferson open house I attended this spring, admins were more than a little cagey about what sort of "honors classes" were offered and how students tested into these classes. I couldn't get a straight answer out of them, couldn't make sense of how the placement system worked. By contrast, at Stuart Hobson, I was told exactly how students were evaluated for/admitted to honors English and math classes. I was also told that there weren't any honors science or social studies classes, or any planned.

Brent parents considering Jefferson Academy have complained about this issue repeatedly on DCUM in the last several years. Brent parents who send their children to JA invariably respond with assurances that appropriate rigor is ensured across the board, never mind what the test-in-to-honors-classes-system might be (if there is indeed a system). Needless to say, UMC buy-in at JA from Brent, Tyler and Van Ness remains low and has a desperate feel (as in, we're all for JA, never mind the fact that we were shut out of BASIS and Latin, lack access to Hobson, and can't handle the commute to DCI).

We're IB for Jefferson and toured/had a shadow day last Friday with our current 5th grader. The school is currently on track to have 100 out of their 120 6th grade slots go to IB kids coming from all of their feeders. We were told about the advanced placement classes in their subjects and how students are evaluated for that track. We were also told that 6th grade teachers speak with all of the IB 5th grade teachers to get a feel for each IB student who will be attending. We got into a charger that went though HS but are choosing JA over it due to these personalized factors for our student. My kid had a great experience during the shadow and is excited to go next year.

I am the parent of a current student at Jefferson. And I can attest that, at least from my perspective, the school does a very good job of placing kids with similar aptitudes in the same core classes together. In addition, there is an advanced track for math (with certain sixth-graders placed in seventh-grade math and so on), as well as an advanced writing class that some kids take on top of their regular ELA class.

In light of all of this differentiation, the overall PARCC scores of the school are largely irrelevant to the experience of an individual kid. If your kid is a high performer, he or she is going to be in classes with the other high performers and not with those who need additional help. And the stats cited several posts back indicate that upper-income kids at Jefferson have outcomes that are on par with those of their peers at richer schools.

My advice is that you ignore the posts of those who have no experience with school but nonetheless feel qualified to opine on it ("Look at me -- I know how to look up PARCC scores!"). My guess is that these are folks who chose a different path -- which of course is totally fine -- but who can't seem to just move on and accept the fact there are people who chose Jefferson and are happy there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't Jefferson a lot more popular with UMC in-boundary families and families with children in the several feeder elementary schools? Mainly a question of poor public relations?

At a Jefferson open house I attended this spring, admins were more than a little cagey about what sort of "honors classes" were offered and how students tested into these classes. I couldn't get a straight answer out of them, couldn't make sense of how the placement system worked. By contrast, at Stuart Hobson, I was told exactly how students were evaluated for/admitted to honors English and math classes. I was also told that there weren't any honors science or social studies classes, or any planned.

Brent parents considering Jefferson Academy have complained about this issue repeatedly on DCUM in the last several years. Brent parents who send their children to JA invariably respond with assurances that appropriate rigor is ensured across the board, never mind what the test-in-to-honors-classes-system might be (if there is indeed a system). Needless to say, UMC buy-in at JA from Brent, Tyler and Van Ness remains low and has a desperate feel (as in, we're all for JA, never mind the fact that we were shut out of BASIS and Latin, lack access to Hobson, and can't handle the commute to DCI).

We're IB for Jefferson and toured/had a shadow day last Friday with our current 5th grader. The school is currently on track to have 100 out of their 120 6th grade slots go to IB kids coming from all of their feeders. We were told about the advanced placement classes in their subjects and how students are evaluated for that track. We were also told that 6th grade teachers speak with all of the IB 5th grade teachers to get a feel for each IB student who will be attending. We got into a charger that went though HS but are choosing JA over it due to these personalized factors for our student. My kid had a great experience during the shadow and is excited to go next year.

I am the parent of a current student at Jefferson. And I can attest that, at least from my perspective, the school does a very good job of placing kids with similar aptitudes in the same core classes together. In addition, there is an advanced track for math (with certain sixth-graders placed in seventh-grade math and so on), as well as an advanced writing class that some kids take on top of their regular ELA class.

In light of all of this differentiation, the overall PARCC scores of the school are largely irrelevant to the experience of an individual kid. If your kid is a high performer, he or she is going to be in classes with the other high performers and not with those who need additional help. And the stats cited several posts back indicate that upper-income kids at Jefferson have outcomes that are on par with those of their peers at richer schools.

My advice is that you ignore the posts of those who have no experience with school but nonetheless feel qualified to opine on it ("Look at me -- I know how to look up PARCC scores!"). My guess is that these are folks who chose a different path -- which of course is totally fine -- but who can't seem to just move on and accept the fact there are people who chose Jefferson and are happy there.

What counts as a "core" class? Science and social studies? Or just math/english?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, so why isn't Jefferson a lot more popular with UMC in-boundary families and families with children in the several feeder elementary schools? Mainly a question of poor public relations?

At a Jefferson open house I attended this spring, admins were more than a little cagey about what sort of "honors classes" were offered and how students tested into these classes. I couldn't get a straight answer out of them, couldn't make sense of how the placement system worked. By contrast, at Stuart Hobson, I was told exactly how students were evaluated for/admitted to honors English and math classes. I was also told that there weren't any honors science or social studies classes, or any planned.

Brent parents considering Jefferson Academy have complained about this issue repeatedly on DCUM in the last several years. Brent parents who send their children to JA invariably respond with assurances that appropriate rigor is ensured across the board, never mind what the test-in-to-honors-classes-system might be (if there is indeed a system). Needless to say, UMC buy-in at JA from Brent, Tyler and Van Ness remains low and has a desperate feel (as in, we're all for JA, never mind the fact that we were shut out of BASIS and Latin, lack access to Hobson, and can't handle the commute to DCI).

We're IB for Jefferson and toured/had a shadow day last Friday with our current 5th grader. The school is currently on track to have 100 out of their 120 6th grade slots go to IB kids coming from all of their feeders. We were told about the advanced placement classes in their subjects and how students are evaluated for that track. We were also told that 6th grade teachers speak with all of the IB 5th grade teachers to get a feel for each IB student who will be attending. We got into a charger that went though HS but are choosing JA over it due to these personalized factors for our student. My kid had a great experience during the shadow and is excited to go next year.

I am the parent of a current student at Jefferson. And I can attest that, at least from my perspective, the school does a very good job of placing kids with similar aptitudes in the same core classes together. In addition, there is an advanced track for math (with certain sixth-graders placed in seventh-grade math and so on), as well as an advanced writing class that some kids take on top of their regular ELA class.

In light of all of this differentiation, the overall PARCC scores of the school are largely irrelevant to the experience of an individual kid. If your kid is a high performer, he or she is going to be in classes with the other high performers and not with those who need additional help. And the stats cited several posts back indicate that upper-income kids at Jefferson have outcomes that are on par with those of their peers at richer schools.

My advice is that you ignore the posts of those who have no experience with school but nonetheless feel qualified to opine on it ("Look at me -- I know how to look up PARCC scores!"). My guess is that these are folks who chose a different path -- which of course is totally fine -- but who can't seem to just move on and accept the fact there are people who chose Jefferson and are happy there.

What counts as a "core" class? Science and social studies? Or just math/english?

There is no tracking for anything other than math or English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by 120 6th grade spots? Spots budgeted for? This is an IB school that has to take as many IB and feeder students who turn up before, on, or after the first day of school, right?

Advanced placement classes in which subjects? How are students evaluated for admission to these classes then?

Sincerely asking.

120 budgeted for, since the school needs to have an idea of what to open for the lottery. These numbers are based on past school years and the size they hope their 6th grade class will be in total. We were told about advanced subjects in math, science, ela, geography as well as electives that are available like personal finance, media studies (we stopped into a class discussing how to source factual information from the internet and discern if something is reliable or not) and robotics. There is a summer program in July where kids are evaluated for class placements that this works in conjunction with communication with 5th grade teachers (for the IB kids). If a student starts in a non-accelerated class at the start of the year they can also be moved up mid-year if their work demonstrates they should be.

Sorry - also advanced Spanish. (forgot to include that)

Thank you so much for this current information! Good LUck to your kid!

[Anonymous]

No matter what good things are happening in classrooms at Jefferson the school doesn’t appeal to most of us in boundary. It’s not very diverse and leads nowhere for high school. Now that Walls admissions has become a crap shoot for decent students, it seems much safer to head for a Latin, Basis, DCI if you can get a spot. If you can pay for private HS or don’t mind moving for HS, Ok maybe Jefferson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No matter what good things are happening in classrooms at Jefferson the school doesn’t appeal to most of us in boundary. It’s not very diverse and leads nowhere for high school. Now that Walls admissions has become a crap shoot for decent students, it seems much safer to head for a Latin, Basis, DCI if you can get a spot. If you can pay for private HS or don’t mind moving for HS, Ok maybe Jefferson.

Yes - this opinion has been stated again and again and again. Not sure what you feel it adds to the convo. I for one want to hear from pp without it immediately being cut down to being a crazy choice.

[Anonymous]

If you don’t like a post, feel free to ignore it. Not for you to tell others what to post. Why do you care if other in boundary families consider Jefferson is a crazy choice? It’s a free country, more or less, do your own thing.

[Anonymous]

i'm an in-boundary parent of a child who is still a few years away from middle school and i'm actually very interested in learning more about jefferson and really appreciated the couple of comments from parents of kids who are or will soon be going there

[Anonymous]

1. "not very diverse" - that the classic "nice white parents" attitude (https://www.southwestjournal.com/voices/letters-to-the-editor/2020/09/nice-white-parents/#:~:text=In%20the%20podcast%2C%20they%20call,white%20students%20in%20a%20school)
2. "leads nowhere for high school" - its not clear to me that Latin or Basis are all that exceptional of high schools; there are quite a few (public and private) high school options in DC that are not just Eastern (or even Walls)

[Anonymous]

When you talk to IB UMC families who send their children to Jefferson, and anybody who works there, you hear a litany of positives. I don't doubt that there's plenty going right with the program but have trouble believing that things are as rosy as claimed (same with other DCPS middle schools). We have neighbors who pulled their kid out during 6th grade and went private. The child didn't feel safe in the building and wasn't pushed academically. Sounds like the program has improved since the building was fully renovated. Who knows how much.