Rankiong the Catholic high schools

[Anonymous]

First, St Albsns, NCS and Holton are not Catholic schools.

Second, I can not take your assessment of these school seriously given your ranking of Visitation. We sent our DD there for one year. The curriculum is behind the times, the teaching spotty at best and the administration too self-satisfied to entertain the thought that improvements could be made --- afterall they turn away SO many applicants. The weaknesses were not apparent at the open houses but were front and center before the end of the first month.

[Anonymous]

Wow, not much love for Visi on here. I've had one kid at Visi, one at a diocesan Catholic school, and one at a Fairfax County Public school. All of the schools have their strengths, but if I had another girl, and could afford it, I'd want her to to Visi. My DD's freshman English writing was on as high a level as many colleges. I know. I teach graduate school and spend an inordinate amount of time on correcting writing. The academics at Visi are solid. The girls love, love, love the school and many of them stay there well past quitting time, even when they don't have extra-curricular activities. The girls are really tight. Others might call that "cliqueishness," but there is a very strong sense of identity there.
As for legacies, there are a few, but often the legacies are not slackers, but the strongest students. Visi also stives to admit students from the less well-off Catholic schools in the
District. If any students are not as well prepared, it might be this population. That said, the school takes care of its students and these girls emerge just fine.
Visi is very selective and this seems to be the source of much resentment. That's unfortunate.
To sum it up, I do not know much about the other girls' schools, but the women I know who have graduated from Visi walk out with an excellent education and a well-formed
character. Those putting the school down on here seem to have some dull ax to grind.

[Anonymous]

DeMatha is by far the most athletic Catholic school in the area followed by Gonzaga. Both DeMatha and Gonzaga have male enrollments close to 1,000 boys (more than most 4A public schools) These large catholic schools should be good in most sports with the large talent pool they bring in.

Prep is good in lacrosse and wrestling and thats about it.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]Wow, not much love for Visi on here. I've had one kid at Visi, one at a diocesan Catholic school, and one at a Fairfax County Public school. All of the schools have their strengths, but if I had another girl, and could afford it, I'd want her to to Visi. My DD's freshman English writing was on as high a level as many colleges. I know. I teach graduate school and spend an inordinate amount of time on correcting writing. The academics at Visi are solid. The girls love, love, love the school and many of them stay there well past quitting time, even when they don't have extra-curricular activities. The girls are really tight. Others might call that "cliqueishness," but there is a very strong sense of identity there.
As for legacies, there are a few, but often the legacies are not slackers, but the strongest students. Visi also stives to admit students from the less well-off Catholic schools in the
District. If any students are not as well prepared, it might be this population. That said, the school takes care of its students and these girls emerge just fine.
Visi is very selective and this seems to be the source of much resentment. That's unfortunate.
To sum it up, I do not know much about the other girls' schools, but the women I know who have graduated from Visi walk out with an excellent education and a well-formed
character. Those putting the school down on here seem to have some dull ax to grind. [/quote]

I don't have a dull ax. My comments had to do with our experience with the academics at Visitation. My comments were limited to 9th grade since we left after that year and I stated that fact. I didn't talk about the culture, the girls or the parents. Academically, 9th grade was weak. The strongest subject was English but the Math and Science was very weak. The administration thought Math and Science were strong. The school's definition of strong academics was not ours so we parted company before investing more time in the school.

It was the easy placement of Visitation as the leading Catholic academic school for girls that triggered my post.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]

Personally, I was raised in D.C, attended Stone Ridge since I was about three. After a couple years of high school, Stone Ridge had started to fall down in reputation, and now it has become a school that is merely advertising it's lack of applicants, as if it is something to be proud of. I transferred to a different school and continued my education at ivy league colleges (for my undergraduate and my graduate). [/quote]

Having no idea how old you are I can only assume that you have not been around Stone Ridge for years.

Over 10 years ago when it became obvious that the Sacred Heart nuns would not be in a position to run Stone Ridge the Headmistress (a nun) started looking for alumni to place in leadership positions. The thinking was, it was presumed, that the next best thing to having Sacred Heart nuns leading the school was to have women who had been educated at Stone Ridge leading it. Two young alums were placed in leadership positions (Heads of the Upper and Lower Schools). While the logic of the Headmistresses thinking was understandable the reality was that these young women were not suited to the jobs into which they had been installed. Both schools suffered but only the Lower school's enrollment nose-dived.

Fortunately, the US Head left after a few years and the US was placed in excellent hands. Prior to coming to Stone Ridge the current US Head spent 17 years in various teaching and administrative positions at Sidwell. She was anxious to take a leadership position at a Catholic school and when the opportunity to move to Stone Ridge arose the school was lucky to find her. On her watch the curriculum, administrative staff and faculty have been refined and upgraded. The arrival of the new Headmistress three years ago buttressed the US Heads continuing efforts and the US is well on its way to being one of the finest high schools in the DC-area.

The new Headmistress has made many obvious, as well as a multitude of subtle, changes to the school in her 3 years at the helm. The LS is getting a new Head this fall in the form of a highly qualified and experienced administrator from CT. The fact that the new LS Head is a man highlights the new philosophy: in the absence of Sacred Heart nuns, the best qualified professionals committed to the Sacred Heart Goals should run the school.

Go to an Open House and investigate the school for yourself. I think you'll be impressed with what you find.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, PP. That explains a lot.

[Anonymous]

The funny thing is that the newish Headmistress is an alum! She had never been recruited by the nuns because she had moved to CA and started a school for under privekeged kids in the SF area. A concerted campaign by alums and the Board eventually convinced her to return to Stone Ridge. So the nuns ended up with a woman they had educated leading the school. And I don't know this for a fact but I suspect that the dire straits the school found itself in after the ill-considered appointments weighed heavily on the new Headmistress as she considered the arguments of those who wanted her to take the reins of the school.

[Anonymous]

Ironic may be a better adjective.

It's hard to envision a woman who started her own school in CA leaving it for a thriving school on the opposite coast. It seems it may have taken a crisis at Stone Ridge to attract her. If she's all that she advertised to be, the crisis may, in the end, have been worth it. Time will tell.

[Anonymous]

The original post sought a ranking of the best Catholic schools strictly by academics. That's the inherent problem with this thread. Catholic schools are not academic hothouses and even at the most selective, whether Visi or Stone Ridge or Prep or Gonzaga, you're going to find kids who aren't prepared to take AP courses their freshman year. Likewise, you will find top-notch students at a Bishop O'Connell or DeMatha. A lot of us Catholic school parents (I am a Visi mother) are looking for an ethos, not a curriculum. My measure of success is that my daughters love going to school.

[Anonymous]

Hmm, so if Catholic schools are not academic hothouses which schools are?

[Anonymous]

[b][quote]...Catholic schools are not academic hothouses and even at the most selective, whether Visi or Stone Ridge or Prep or Gonzaga,... [/quote][/b]


I thought Prep, because of its reputation as a selective school, is strong academically. If not, what are they selective about?

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]Ironic may be a better adjective.

It's hard to envision a woman who started her own school in CA leaving it for a thriving school on the opposite coast. It seems it may have taken a crisis at Stone Ridge to attract her. If she's all that she advertised to be, the crisis may, in the end, have been worth it. Time will tell.[/quote]

Well, regardless of what Stone Ridge's problems are within those walls, they are still searching for applicants. A banner is hanging outside, and it does until the first day of school. It is sad because the original head of US (Sr. Anne Dyer) left the lower school in the hands of someone who has only helped applicants choose other schools. She was originally a kindergarten teacher, and not only did I experience first hand (one of my children was in her teaching section) her "methods," but after leaving, I saw that she received her new position, and was flooded with calls from friends who were more than surprised to receive the news.

[Anonymous]

This thread started by asking about high schools. Because Stone Ridge is a K-12 it is easy to mix apples and oranges when discussing it. The banner indicating that there are openings is not talking about the Upper School --- no enrollment issues there. And the US has been in excellent hands for years now.

That said, the PP is correct in every respect but one regarding the former LS Head: she was a JK teacher, not a K teacher, when they elevated her. Everyone on these threads tdlking about the SR LS has been very generous in discussing her and not naming her. But it doesn't change the fact that she was simply horrid. She had neither the apptitude, nor the tempermrnt nor the integrity to run a school much less a Catholic elementary school. Trying to have an intelligent conversation with her was pointless. The loyal core teaching staff suffered through 9 years under her but hung on for the families and a school they loved. They should be rewarded in heaven. Since the school announced she was leaving the LS enrollment has increased by over 50 students --- maybe more have signed up over the summer.

Please don't confuse the LS with the rest of the school. And if you can find your way to reconsidering the LS now that it has been cleansed I think you'll find it a completely different place. If you can't I couldn't blame you because, as I said, you are right about the damage this woman did.

[Anonymous]

My two children were at SR summer camp for several weeks this summer. I never once saw I sign about any openings at the school. The only signs I saw were about summer camp. I think that the PP is mistaken.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]My two children were at SR summer camp for several weeks this summer. I never once saw I sign about any openings at the school. The only signs I saw were about summer camp. I think that the PP is mistaken. [/quote]

I haven't been up to the school since classesl ended in early June. Those signs (on Cedar and Rockville Pike) had been up for a few years and I hope they don't put them back up. They have been a source of discomfort for a lot of people asking, Why advertise problems?

It would be great news if they've hit their enrollment goals.