Hill Middle Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spare us your OT yikes. Have you ever set foot in SH?

My kid tested out of 6th grade math at SH, took pre-algebra in 6th, algebra in 7th this year. That's BASIS level math. SH tracks extensively for math for the small number of kids who can handle acceleration. If your kid is advanced in math at SH they wind up in math classes with a dozen kids and great teachers. Really.

So the most advanced math offered at SH is BASIS standard math classes?

Sort of. It's a little hard to compare because BASIS teaches math the European and Asian way, with mixed subject math classes ever year, vs. the American way, pre-algebra one year, algebra the next, geometry the next etc. No other DC public MS teaches math as advanced as BASIS. But as somebody pointed out a few pages back, BASIS' offerings aren't advanced in every subject. SH teaches more advanced Spanish than the BASIS MS does, along with music. BASIS 6th graders can take advanced Spanish while BASIS students can't take a language before 8th grade, and can only take beginning languages in 8th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spare us your OT yikes. Have you ever set foot in SH?

My kid tested out of 6th grade math at SH, took pre-algebra in 6th, algebra in 7th this year. That's BASIS level math. SH tracks extensively for math for the small number of kids who can handle acceleration. If your kid is advanced in math at SH they wind up in math classes with a dozen kids and great teachers. Really.

So the most advanced math offered at SH is BASIS standard math classes?

Why did more than a third of Basis students test below grade level on math on the latest PARCC?

I’m guessing a large part of that might be because of the pandemic. The 5th grade class is the largest cohort at BASIS, and they took PARCC for the very first time in 5th because they missed taking it during 3rd and 4th grades. They are also the grade that contains students that vary the most in terms of what they know.

That said, it would be better if BASIS reported MS and HS separately.

[Anonymous]

Those posting on this thread seem to think in terms of access to BASIS like it was 2 or 3 years ago, not in 2023 terms. As things stand, this year, around half the Hill 4th graders whose names went into the BASIS hat won't have been admitted by the start of SY 2023-2024. If your 6th grader winds up at SH (in-boundary) vs. distant charter, like DCI, or a not-so-great charter, like Two Rivers, staying close to home for DCPS MS may not be a bad option.

We've gone with SH for 6th and 7th and aren't sorry we have. Our commute to SH is 3 mins by bike. Our SH student does enrichment work on-line or with tutors four afternoons a week to prep for admission to a parochial HS (we couldn't afford both parochial MS and HS for 2). My kids' friends from our DCPS ES who attend DCI commute by public transportation for 2 hours a day. My kid will do algebra II and geometry in 8th grade at SH. I wish that sci and social studies were taught in honors classes at SH, but it's hardly the end of the world that they aren't. My kid has good teachers, reads a lot, does academic summer camps. We must have spent 6-7K on enrichment in the past school year for my SH student, much cheaper than private school.

We've made a commitment to stay on the Hill, where my spouse and I have lived since the 90s, so we're making SH work.

[Anonymous]

Right, don't plan on getting into BASIS.

Giving up one's happy life on Cap Hill/community mainly so your kid can attend a high powered middle school in the burbs seems nuts. Same with forking out for a pricey private you can scarcely afford or commuting to DCI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right, don't plan on getting into BASIS.

Giving up one's happy life on Cap Hill/community mainly so your kid can attend a high powered middle school in the burbs seems nuts. Same with forking out for a pricey private you can scarcely afford or commuting to DCI.

Not nuts when you have a secure path from middle school to 12th in the burbs at a much better school with high performing peer groups with better facilities, extracurriculars and sports.

What exactly is your plan for high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, don't plan on getting into BASIS.

Giving up one's happy life on Cap Hill/community mainly so your kid can attend a high powered middle school in the burbs seems nuts. Same with forking out for a pricey private you can scarcely afford or commuting to DCI.

Not nuts when you have a secure path from middle school to 12th in the burbs at a much better school with high performing peer groups with better facilities, extracurriculars and sports.

What exactly is your plan for high school?

The truth is that lots of families on the Hill can afford 4 years of private or, at least, parochial HS if they need to. That is the plan of at least 50% of the UMC 2-3 kid families I know at our Hill IB ES (my oldest is rising 4th, so this is a frequent topic of convo). Nearly everyone plans to lottery for Latin x 2 and most for BASIS (though quite a few prefer BASIS, mostly the high achievers); for those who don’t get in, I’d say 3/4ths are planning to head to SH. The rest will move, head private or head to ITS if they can (I’ve also heard CHML, 2R and ST as back ups, but ITS seems to be the preferred charter backup). Then folks without a HS option (plus quite a few who have one) are hoping for Walls or, for a few, DE or Banneker or planning to go private/parochial. Some recent UMC families got some money from Gonzaga and SJC, so those are ones I’ve heard recently. 2 grads with younger sibs are headed to GDS and NCS. I think if people stick it out for middle, they don’t move for HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, don't plan on getting into BASIS.

Giving up one's happy life on Cap Hill/community mainly so your kid can attend a high powered middle school in the burbs seems nuts. Same with forking out for a pricey private you can scarcely afford or commuting to DCI.

Not nuts when you have a secure path from middle school to 12th in the burbs at a much better school with high performing peer groups with better facilities, extracurriculars and sports.

What exactly is your plan for high school?

The truth is that lots of families on the Hill can afford 4 years of private or, at least, parochial HS if they need to. That is the plan of at least 50% of the UMC 2-3 kid families I know at our Hill IB ES (my oldest is rising 4th, so this is a frequent topic of convo). Nearly everyone plans to lottery for Latin x 2 and most for BASIS (though quite a few prefer BASIS, mostly the high achievers); for those who don’t get in, I’d say 3/4ths are planning to head to SH. The rest will move, head private or head to ITS if they can (I’ve also heard CHML, 2R and ST as back ups, but ITS seems to be the preferred charter backup). Then folks without a HS option (plus quite a few who have one) are hoping for Walls or, for a few, DE or Banneker or planning to go private/parochial. Some recent UMC families got some money from Gonzaga and SJC, so those are ones I’ve heard recently. 2 grads with younger sibs are headed to GDS and NCS. I think if people stick it out for middle, they don’t move for HS.

Definitely ITS is the charter of choice for middle, especially since DCI is harder and harder to get into and pretty far away. Or ST if you want the high school path there, but Montessori is not everyone's cup of tea and it's a relatively new school. ITS can definitely bridge you over to 9th and buy a few years to sort out your plans for the 9th grade lottery/moving/going private. It's not the best school ever but it's definitely good enough and there are many families from the Senate side and Lincoln Park and Kingman Park area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, don't plan on getting into BASIS.

Giving up one's happy life on Cap Hill/community mainly so your kid can attend a high powered middle school in the burbs seems nuts. Same with forking out for a pricey private you can scarcely afford or commuting to DCI.

Not nuts when you have a secure path from middle school to 12th in the burbs at a much better school with high performing peer groups with better facilities, extracurriculars and sports.

What exactly is your plan for high school?

The truth is that lots of families on the Hill can afford 4 years of private or, at least, parochial HS if they need to. That is the plan of at least 50% of the UMC 2-3 kid families I know at our Hill IB ES (my oldest is rising 4th, so this is a frequent topic of convo). Nearly everyone plans to lottery for Latin x 2 and most for BASIS (though quite a few prefer BASIS, mostly the high achievers); for those who don’t get in, I’d say 3/4ths are planning to head to SH. The rest will move, head private or head to ITS if they can (I’ve also heard CHML, 2R and ST as back ups, but ITS seems to be the preferred charter backup). Then folks without a HS option (plus quite a few who have one) are hoping for Walls or, for a few, DE or Banneker or planning to go private/parochial. Some recent UMC families got some money from Gonzaga and SJC, so those are ones I’ve heard recently. 2 grads with younger sibs are headed to GDS and NCS. I think if people stick it out for middle, they don’t move for HS.

THIS. We'd have gone for one of the Latins or BASIS if we'd been admitted from 4th grade, or Inspired if were were admitted from 5th. We're making due with SH and planning for parochial HS, like most of our CH friends who also struck out in the charter lotteries. We supplement extensively for humanities at SH, not the end of the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, don't plan on getting into BASIS.

Giving up one's happy life on Cap Hill/community mainly so your kid can attend a high powered middle school in the burbs seems nuts. Same with forking out for a pricey private you can scarcely afford or commuting to DCI.

Not nuts when you have a secure path from middle school to 12th in the burbs at a much better school with high performing peer groups with better facilities, extracurriculars and sports.

What exactly is your plan for high school?

The truth is that lots of families on the Hill can afford 4 years of private or, at least, parochial HS if they need to. That is the plan of at least 50% of the UMC 2-3 kid families I know at our Hill IB ES (my oldest is rising 4th, so this is a frequent topic of convo). Nearly everyone plans to lottery for Latin x 2 and most for BASIS (though quite a few prefer BASIS, mostly the high achievers); for those who don’t get in, I’d say 3/4ths are planning to head to SH. The rest will move, head private or head to ITS if they can (I’ve also heard CHML, 2R and ST as back ups, but ITS seems to be the preferred charter backup). Then folks without a HS option (plus quite a few who have one) are hoping for Walls or, for a few, DE or Banneker or planning to go private/parochial. Some recent UMC families got some money from Gonzaga and SJC, so those are ones I’ve heard recently. 2 grads with younger sibs are headed to GDS and NCS. I think if people stick it out for middle, they don’t move for HS.

THIS. We'd have gone for one of the Latins or BASIS if we'd been admitted from 4th grade, or Inspired if were were admitted from 5th. We're making due with SH and planning for parochial HS, like most of our CH friends who also struck out in the charter lotteries. We supplement extensively for humanities at SH, not the end of the world.

I'm sorry you didn't get in. It used to be pretty easy to get into ITS for middle school, but I guess it's not a lock anymore.

[Anonymous]

Parents of girls on the Hill, what parochials do you go to? It's odd how there are several options nearby for boys but where is the girls' school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents of girls on the Hill, what parochials do you go to? It's odd how there are several options nearby for boys but where is the girls' school?

I suspect this is part of the reason Banneker is like 75% girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents of girls on the Hill, what parochials do you go to? It's odd how there are several options nearby for boys but where is the girls' school?

CH parents of girls who aren't OK with their DC public middle school options and don't want to move but are OK with parochial school tend to commute to NW or Arlington for co-ed parochial middle schools. They go to St. Patricks, Our Lady of Victory or Sacred Heart in NW, St. Thomas. St. Ann or St. Agnes in VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of girls on the Hill, what parochials do you go to? It's odd how there are several options nearby for boys but where is the girls' school?

CH parents of girls who aren't OK with their DC public middle school options and don't want to move but are OK with parochial school tend to commute to NW or Arlington for co-ed parochial middle schools. They go to St. Patricks, Our Lady of Victory or Sacred Heart in NW, St. Thomas. St. Ann or St. Agnes in VA.

What about Seton?

[Anonymous]

Seton is a high school, no middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of girls on the Hill, what parochials do you go to? It's odd how there are several options nearby for boys but where is the girls' school?

I suspect this is part of the reason Banneker is like 75% girls.

Wow I never realized the dearth of parochial schools for girls and Bannekers gender ratio. And I didn't realize so many hill families use parochial middle schools that I've never heard of. How do those schools compare to Hardy, Deal, and Latin?