If not Basis or Latin, where?

[Anonymous]

My DD is a top student at her less-than-demanding DCPS elementary. I'm attracted to a rigorous, small scale middle and high school model after my own experience moving from a large chaotic urban public school to a small private K-12 school in 9th grade. We're not fazed by reports of tons of homework or kids taking Algebra in 7th grade. I am a bit worried about what we'll do (short of moving) if we don't get into Latin or Basis in a few years.
Are any of the other middle to H.S. charters on the same level?

[Anonymous]

No way, not a par with Latin or Basis.

Latin's 12th grade is only around 5% high-SES. It all sort of falls apart eventually anyway.

[Anonymous]

Falls apart how, exactly?

Please read this list of current senior class college acceptances and scholarships and then come back and explain what you mean by "falls apart"

http://www.latinpcs.org/programs/college-counseling/college-news.html

[Anonymous]

And don't forget to click on the "new campus" link at the top of the page

[Anonymous]

Falls apart? I agree Latin has things to work on-but our HS kid is happy with it just the way it is, and so are we b/cause we support our child and can see that satisfaction daily. I would say Latin is swimming in the opposite direction of modernity "Things fall apart, the center cannot hold..."
It's holding.

[Anonymous]

How do we feel about Cap City at this point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Falls apart? I agree Latin has things to work on-but our HS kid is happy with it just the way it is, and so are we b/cause we support our child and can see that satisfaction daily. I would say Latin is swimming in the opposite direction of modernity "Things fall apart, the center cannot hold..."
It's holding.

If it's truly holding why is the middle school nearly half white/high-SES and the high school fifteen percent at most? I don't ask this as an outsider, I ask as a parent who left for DC1 after 8th, concerned that too many of the weaker students (both high and low SES) were the ones staying for HS.

We're at a parochial HS now, not sure if we'll go with Latin for DC2 in the fall. The lack of middle school honors classes has been a sore point for us, and others. Nobody wants to talk about it. Kids who can barely read lottery and teachers have to focus on enabling them to test proficient on the DC-CAS, period. That's all that's really wrong with the school, no honors classes other than algebra.

Not sure about BASIS, no direct experience but didn't like the cave-like conditions I saw at the open house.

[Anonymous]

Two Rivers is becoming a promising MS, but that won't help you with HS. What about McKinley or EL Haynes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If it's truly holding why is the middle school nearly half white/high-SES and the high school fifteen percent at most? I don't ask this as an outsider, I ask as a parent who left for DC1 after 8th, concerned that too many of the weaker students (both high and low SES) were the ones staying for HS.

We're at a parochial HS now, not sure if we'll go with Latin for DC2 in the fall. The lack of middle school honors classes has been a sore point for us, and others. Nobody wants to talk about it. Kids who can barely read lottery and teachers have to focus on enabling them to test proficient on the DC-CAS, period. That's all that's really wrong with the school, no honors classes other than algebra.

Not sure about BASIS, no direct experience but didn't like the cave-like conditions I saw at the open house.

I have to disagree with the cave-like conditions. Did you tour the school?

[Anonymous]

What exactly makes a class honors? I guess what I am asking is what are you looking for with an honors class, the label or the type of education?

My friend's DD left Latin in 8th grade and said that her daughter is one of the best writers in her class in a very competitive program; something she had taken for granted when her daughter was at Latin. Another friend's DS left after 8th grade for Walls and has been unchallenged by the academics. He wanted to go back after 9th, but alas, no entry after 9th grade. They debated pulling him from Walls early to try to re-enter Latin. Both families left for different reasons, but neither was unhappy with the education their DCs were receiving.

If the education is high quality, what difference does it make what the class is called? I worry that this dis about "honors" classes is really about being able to say you send your kid to a school with "diversity" without actually having to have class with kids who are from a lower SES. I'm speaking generally here, since I obviously don't know the PP.

Of course the weaker students were staying and of course the SES goes down in the HS when parents who can pull their kids do just because they can. If you were unsatisfied with the education or found the differentiation inadequate, then pull your DC, absolutely, but not because the SES goes down or because the school won't stroke your ego by calling you DC's class "honors".

[Anonymous]

Not a charter, but you ought to consider Hardy for middle school. Nice small environment, and great learning opportunities for high-performing children.

[Anonymous]

Tell me more about Hardy. I'm looking at it also as an alternative to Latin and BASIS, neither of which are a good fit for my DD. Not IB, but got in through the lottery so giving it a careful look in addition to examining other charters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Of course the weaker students were staying and of course the SES goes down in the HS when parents who can pull their kids do just because they can. If you were unsatisfied with the education or found the differentiation inadequate, then pull your DC, absolutely, but not because the SES goes down or because the school won't stroke your ego by calling you DC's class "honors".

The pp who left after 8th. I no longer believe in in-class middle school differentiation as the solution in the face of the enormous DC achievement gap between most of the high-SES kids and most of the low-SES kids. In my little New England town, almost everybody was middle-class, yet I was bored out of my skull at a pretty good middle school. Latin MS was better for my kid, but no amount of fine teaching, or small classes, could change the fact that the teachers simply must focus on bringing up the bottom due to NCLB strictures, and the bottom was pretty darn low, in class with my kid!

My ego doesn't need stroking, but my fairly brilliant but lazy kid does need pushing and Latin's teachers were a little too busy with the stragglers to do that. She's doing better, particularly socially, at her parochial school. DC middle schools are all the same, they don't ability group other than for math (and not much at Latin). If your kid is advanced (in whatever subject), they aren't going to have to put nose to the grindstone. This is the main reason middle-class families leave en masse, yet it's hardly discussed. We didn't want her in a HS that was at least 80% AA and mostly low-SES. Sorry if we aren't PC enough for those here. You'll all say, good riddance, but my very nice kid is probably heading to a better Ivy than mine (now that she has to buckle down).

[Anonymous]

"If your kid is advanced (in whatever subject), they aren't going to have to put nose to the grindstone. This is the main reason middle-class families leave en masse, yet it's hardly discussed."

This was our experience with Latin as well. There is a point in DC where you just have to face the facts and move or go private.

(Cue Latin/Basis boosters, now...)

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the explanation. I keep hearing the "there are no honors classes in middle school" thing and had not, as yet, understood what that meant to folks who were saying it. It's much clearer to me now. Sorry for the mini-hijack.