Feedback on Washington & Liberty High School?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W-L is generally viewed as more diverse and academically focused than Yorktown. Yorktown is white, preppy, and academically rather average.

Spoken like a true WL-er. I agree WL is not just viewed as, but IS much more diverse than Yorktown. I disagree that it is "more" academically focused. Yorktown is very white and very wealthy, seems to have more kids with greater sense of "entitlement," but not sub-par to WL academically. WL just has the IB program and therefore students have access to more academic options.

IB is, on the whole, more academically rigorous than AP or DE (there are studies showing IB diplomates are more successful in college), and kids not zoned for W-L have to meet cretain standards to transfer in. So W-L is siphoning off some of the other schools' higher-achieving students

It’s good for IB but odd how APS decided a brain drain to W-L from Yorktown and Wakefield was a good idea. If they were trying to remedy economic gaps it should be Wakefield that alone gets both programs.

IB had been discussed at W-L on and off for close to 30 years and with years of planning and debate that resulted in a specialized IB program for interested students, while preserving the APS course of study that includes AP classes, electives, and core classes, for the non diploma candidates. It wasn’t the APS curriculum admin or staff that determined W-L should have IB. The school itself took the initiative and created its own bespoke program. Following that success, APS supported sending students to TJHSST, and encouraged the development of the unique programs at Wakefield and Yorktown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W-L is generally viewed as more diverse and academically focused than Yorktown. Yorktown is white, preppy, and academically rather average.

Spoken like a true WL-er. I agree WL is not just viewed as, but IS much more diverse than Yorktown. I disagree that it is "more" academically focused. Yorktown is very white and very wealthy, seems to have more kids with greater sense of "entitlement," but not sub-par to WL academically. WL just has the IB program and therefore students have access to more academic options.

IB is, on the whole, more academically rigorous than AP or DE (there are studies showing IB diplomates are more successful in college), and kids not zoned for W-L have to meet cretain standards to transfer in. So W-L is siphoning off some of the other schools' higher-achieving students

It’s good for IB but odd how APS decided a brain drain to W-L from Yorktown and Wakefield was a good idea. If they were trying to remedy economic gaps it should be Wakefield that alone gets both programs.

IB had been discussed at W-L on and off for close to 30 years and with years of planning and debate that resulted in a specialized IB program for interested students, while preserving the APS course of study that includes AP classes, electives, and core classes, for the non diploma candidates. It wasn’t the APS curriculum admin or staff that determined W-L should have IB. The school itself took the initiative and created its own bespoke program. Following that success, APS supported sending students to TJHSST, and encouraged the development of the unique programs at Wakefield and Yorktown.

The planning for IB goes back to when George Mason (now Meridian) High School in Falls Church City debated and then adopted IB in the 70s. W-L could have adopted the IB Program then, but the PTA resisted and blocked it.

In the 2000s, there was talk about moving IB to Wakefield, but Wakefield wanted to remain an exclusively AP school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W-L is generally viewed as more diverse and academically focused than Yorktown. Yorktown is white, preppy, and academically rather average.

Spoken like a true WL-er. I agree WL is not just viewed as, but IS much more diverse than Yorktown. I disagree that it is "more" academically focused. Yorktown is very white and very wealthy, seems to have more kids with greater sense of "entitlement," but not sub-par to WL academically. WL just has the IB program and therefore students have access to more academic options.

IB is, on the whole, more academically rigorous than AP or DE (there are studies showing IB diplomates are more successful in college), and kids not zoned for W-L have to meet cretain standards to transfer in. So W-L is siphoning off some of the other schools' higher-achieving students

It’s good for IB but odd how APS decided a brain drain to W-L from Yorktown and Wakefield was a good idea. If they were trying to remedy economic gaps it should be Wakefield that alone gets both programs.

IB had been discussed at W-L on and off for close to 30 years and with years of planning and debate that resulted in a specialized IB program for interested students, while preserving the APS course of study that includes AP classes, electives, and core classes, for the non diploma candidates. It wasn’t the APS curriculum admin or staff that determined W-L should have IB. The school itself took the initiative and created its own bespoke program. Following that success, APS supported sending students to TJHSST, and encouraged the development of the unique programs at Wakefield and Yorktown.

Someone in APS presumably signed off on letting YHS and WHS kids transfer to W-L. With W-L offering both AP and IB, it results in W-L having a more robust curriculum and a brain drain from other schools. YHS in particular is weak now for a school with its demographics, while W-L seems perpetually overcrowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W-L is generally viewed as more diverse and academically focused than Yorktown. Yorktown is white, preppy, and academically rather average.

Spoken like a true WL-er. I agree WL is not just viewed as, but IS much more diverse than Yorktown. I disagree that it is "more" academically focused. Yorktown is very white and very wealthy, seems to have more kids with greater sense of "entitlement," but not sub-par to WL academically. WL just has the IB program and therefore students have access to more academic options.

IB is, on the whole, more academically rigorous than AP or DE (there are studies showing IB diplomates are more successful in college), and kids not zoned for W-L have to meet cretain standards to transfer in. So W-L is siphoning off some of the other schools' higher-achieving students

It’s good for IB but odd how APS decided a brain drain to W-L from Yorktown and Wakefield was a good idea. If they were trying to remedy economic gaps it should be Wakefield that alone gets both programs.

IB had been discussed at W-L on and off for close to 30 years and with years of planning and debate that resulted in a specialized IB program for interested students, while preserving the APS course of study that includes AP classes, electives, and core classes, for the non diploma candidates. It wasn’t the APS curriculum admin or staff that determined W-L should have IB. The school itself took the initiative and created its own bespoke program. Following that success, APS supported sending students to TJHSST, and encouraged the development of the unique programs at Wakefield and Yorktown.

Someone in APS presumably signed off on letting YHS and WHS kids transfer to W-L. With W-L offering both AP and IB, it results in W-L having a more robust curriculum and a brain drain from other schools. YHS in particular is weak now for a school with its demographics, while W-L seems perpetually overcrowded.

There aren't that many transfers into IB overall. If it only takes a few dozen or a hundred students to "brain drain" Yorktown, then Yorktown wasn't very brainy to begin with.

2019-20 transfer report shows:
YHS transfers to WL = 45; to WHS = 23
WHS transfers to WL = 113; to YHS = 75

So which school is getting "drained" more?

[Anonymous]

Admissions into IB as a transfer has a low bar. There is no brain drain. Of the 10 or 2 people we know who took the IB transfer, only 3 were on the advanced path.

[Anonymous]

OP asked for feedback, so here's mine. My son is a junior at W-L, and while he is bright, he has never been identified as gifted, yet he is taking a mix of only IB, AP, and DE classes this year. The range of classes offered are impressive and unlike any other schools I know, public or private. He can choose the most rigorous courses or step back a little where he needs to. It has been a great overall experience so far.

[Anonymous]

IB isn't gifted. It's just another pathway. The same goes for Arlington Tech.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W-L is generally viewed as more diverse and academically focused than Yorktown. Yorktown is white, preppy, and academically rather average.

Spoken like a true WL-er. I agree WL is not just viewed as, but IS much more diverse than Yorktown. I disagree that it is "more" academically focused. Yorktown is very white and very wealthy, seems to have more kids with greater sense of "entitlement," but not sub-par to WL academically. WL just has the IB program and therefore students have access to more academic options.

IB is, on the whole, more academically rigorous than AP or DE (there are studies showing IB diplomates are more successful in college), and kids not zoned for W-L have to meet cretain standards to transfer in. So W-L is siphoning off some of the other schools' higher-achieving students

It’s good for IB but odd how APS decided a brain drain to W-L from Yorktown and Wakefield was a good idea. If they were trying to remedy economic gaps it should be Wakefield that alone gets both programs.

IB had been discussed at W-L on and off for close to 30 years and with years of planning and debate that resulted in a specialized IB program for interested students, while preserving the APS course of study that includes AP classes, electives, and core classes, for the non diploma candidates. It wasn’t the APS curriculum admin or staff that determined W-L should have IB. The school itself took the initiative and created its own bespoke program. Following that success, APS supported sending students to TJHSST, and encouraged the development of the unique programs at Wakefield and Yorktown.

Someone in APS presumably signed off on letting YHS and WHS kids transfer to W-L. With W-L offering both AP and IB, it results in W-L having a more robust curriculum and a brain drain from other schools. YHS in particular is weak now for a school with its demographics, while W-L seems perpetually overcrowded.

One could also argue that it’s unfair that the Yorktown’s schools boundaries ensure that Yorktown wins the most state, regional, and district athletic championships. Wakefield by comparison has far fewer championships, and when they do win, it is usually as underdogs. The Post wrote a story last year on the Wakefield state championship crew team, a team few expected would come out on top.

My point is there are multiple inequities among the high schools. That is the downside of neighborhood schools. Also there isn’t much brain drain out of any of the APS high schools except maybe the very small number to TJHSST. IB at W-L is not an elite test-in program like at Richard Montgomery HS in Rockville. It is simply a program (that has its merits) which is plopped on top of the standard APS high school curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W-L is generally viewed as more diverse and academically focused than Yorktown. Yorktown is white, preppy, and academically rather average.

Spoken like a true WL-er. I agree WL is not just viewed as, but IS much more diverse than Yorktown. I disagree that it is "more" academically focused. Yorktown is very white and very wealthy, seems to have more kids with greater sense of "entitlement," but not sub-par to WL academically. WL just has the IB program and therefore students have access to more academic options.

IB is, on the whole, more academically rigorous than AP or DE (there are studies showing IB diplomates are more successful in college), and kids not zoned for W-L have to meet cretain standards to transfer in. So W-L is siphoning off some of the other schools' higher-achieving students

It’s good for IB but odd how APS decided a brain drain to W-L from Yorktown and Wakefield was a good idea. If they were trying to remedy economic gaps it should be Wakefield that alone gets both programs.

IB had been discussed at W-L on and off for close to 30 years and with years of planning and debate that resulted in a specialized IB program for interested students, while preserving the APS course of study that includes AP classes, electives, and core classes, for the non diploma candidates. It wasn’t the APS curriculum admin or staff that determined W-L should have IB. The school itself took the initiative and created its own bespoke program. Following that success, APS supported sending students to TJHSST, and encouraged the development of the unique programs at Wakefield and Yorktown.

Someone in APS presumably signed off on letting YHS and WHS kids transfer to W-L. With W-L offering both AP and IB, it results in W-L having a more robust curriculum and a brain drain from other schools. YHS in particular is weak now for a school with its demographics, while W-L seems perpetually overcrowded.

One could also argue that it’s unfair that the Yorktown’s schools boundaries ensure that Yorktown wins the most state, regional, and district athletic championships. Wakefield by comparison has far fewer championships, and when they do win, it is usually as underdogs. The Post wrote a story last year on the Wakefield state championship crew team, a team few expected would come out on top.

My point is there are multiple inequities among the high schools. That is the downside of neighborhood schools. Also there isn’t much brain drain out of any of the APS high schools except maybe the very small number to TJHSST. IB at W-L is not an elite test-in program like at Richard Montgomery HS in Rockville. It is simply a program (that has its merits) which is plopped on top of the standard APS high school curriculum.

DP. I don't think anyone would argue what you're suggesting in your first point. It's not really possible to draw boundaries according to athletic ability. The real factor is the wealth, and therefore the investment parents make and then the school in the coaching staff, etc that generate the results parents expect and the results then draw the parents, etc. etc. etc.

Anyway, of course schools are going to have differences. However, some differences are contrived - whether by boundaries or by the programs the administration places in them. The problem I have with the IB program at WL is that it is open to all WL students with no restrictions and any student districted to WL can choose to participate fully or just a few classes or even just one class; meanwhile any students transferring into the IB program have to meet a baseline academic achievement requirement (unless APS has dropped that in recent years, a student could not earn anything less than a B in any class throughout all three of their middle school years - so just one C, even as a sixth grader, eliminated you from being able to transfer into the IB program.) All transfers must also complete the full IB program; they do not have the option of dropping to just a pick-and-choose selection of IB classes. THAT is inequity by design. If all the students at all three comprehensive high schools had those same opportunities, that would be equitable. If the IB program were truly a separate program located within WL and students were enrolled with equal opportunity (ie, same baseline eligibility and lottery draw equally from the three schools' boundaries), that would be fine too.

There may always be inequities of some kind; but APS has complete control over some of them.