Please tell me about your A student's experience at Wilson?

[Anonymous]

Bump

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:400 Students in the senior class and about 40 were honor roll worthy. There were more students who graduated with GPA less than 2.0 than those who graduated with a rating above 3.0. The white students do well and so do the black students do well too. Don't worry your child will do well at Wilson, as for SWW your child will do well there too. C'mon Eastern had an Asian on the right track to be the Valedictorian and he dropped out in his 3rd semester of his senior year. Shocking isn't it???

Huh? You make no sense.

Here's an observation: School Without Walls has a large AA contingent and average SAT scores 400 points higher than Wilson. I suspect, but do not know, that many AA parents with high achieving students are shunning Wilson in favor of SWW because expectations for AA students at Wilson are low.

Hogwash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AA Wilson parent here with 4.0 DD. She is having an awesome experience. More than the teachers an administration, the peer group matters. Honors and AP level classes offer rigor and can be very demanding. It's a large school with many, many different types of kids. I don't agree with the previous poster about teachers not pushing advanced kids - we have had the opposite experience.

I will say though as truth that Wilson is a school where white kids definitely excel - no question. While I actually hate to put a racial lens on it because race is a social construct, it is just the truth and stats bear it out.

I would think coming from Oakland there are similar issues. Anyway good luck.

white do well not just because they are white, but because white students at Wilson are mostly high SES from families with highly educated parents and living in safe upper NW. as discussed on this board many times, it seems that AA families with a similar SES level and education tend to send their kids to private instead of Wilson so given the demographics of DC a good amount of kids on the wrong track at Wilson are AA and other minorities with low SES

Don't be embarrassed about being white and what that actually means. Facts are facts. White students do well at Wilson because white students are more likely to be in a better economic situation.
High SES AAs are not at the same level academically as high SES white folks - this has been proven over and over. That's why high SES black families try to stack the deck with private school.

Show me one study that shows that. Not non FARM AA vs non FARM white but high SES AA vs high SES white. bullshit.

From 1998: AA kids with HHI between $80-100k scored 141 points lower on average than white kids with the same HHI, and lower than white kids whose HHI was under $10k. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2999198?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents The article goes on to note that it's not right to compare them since AAs tend to have lower wealth and more variance in HHI during a child's lifetime.

2006 data: http://www.jbhe.com/features/53_SAT.html "Whites from families with incomes of less than $10,000 had a mean SAT score of 993. This is 130 points higher than the national mean for all blacks. Whites from families with incomes below $10,000 had a mean SAT test score that was 17 points higher than blacks whose families had incomes of more than $100,000."
Stereotype threat and racial disparities in which high school courses were offered were among the explanations.

I don't put these out there to make some sort of Bell Curve argument or to suggest anything about what people do or should do about Wilson v. other schools, but a racial gap in average SAT scores does exist even after controlling for household income. There are a lot of possible explanations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AA Wilson parent here with 4.0 DD. She is having an awesome experience. More than the teachers an administration, the peer group matters. Honors and AP level classes offer rigor and can be very demanding. It's a large school with many, many different types of kids. I don't agree with the previous poster about teachers not pushing advanced kids - we have had the opposite experience.

I will say though as truth that Wilson is a school where white kids definitely excel - no question. While I actually hate to put a racial lens on it because race is a social construct, it is just the truth and stats bear it out.

I would think coming from Oakland there are similar issues. Anyway good luck.

Interesting. I read a lot of threads on here that deal with the issue of middle class blacks at Wilson, and how a lot of black and latino parents wont send their kids there. Does your daughter has a majority black peer group, or are most of her classes filled with white students?

Her peer group is mostly white with some other races mixed in. Her classes usually have more white students but she is never the ONLY. I would say she is having a true integrated experience. She is totally comfortable moving across groups though. I always check-in with her about this but overall she's having a great experience.

Mom of Black DS here. Thank you for your responses, PP. Would your responses be the same, if your DC were a boy instead? I am wondering what kind of experience my son would have at Wilson. He is easily influenced by peers, and an average student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AA Wilson parent here with 4.0 DD. She is having an awesome experience. More than the teachers an administration, the peer group matters. Honors and AP level classes offer rigor and can be very demanding. It's a large school with many, many different types of kids. I don't agree with the previous poster about teachers not pushing advanced kids - we have had the opposite experience.

I will say though as truth that Wilson is a school where white kids definitely excel - no question. While I actually hate to put a racial lens on it because race is a social construct, it is just the truth and stats bear it out.

I would think coming from Oakland there are similar issues. Anyway good luck.

Interesting. I read a lot of threads on here that deal with the issue of middle class blacks at Wilson, and how a lot of black and latino parents wont send their kids there. Does your daughter has a majority black peer group, or are most of her classes filled with white students?

Her peer group is mostly white with some other races mixed in. Her classes usually have more white students but she is never the ONLY. I would say she is having a true integrated experience. She is totally comfortable moving across groups though. I always check-in with her about this but overall she's having a great experience.

Mom of Black DS here. Thank you for your responses, PP. Would your responses be the same, if your DC were a boy instead? I am wondering what kind of experience my son would have at Wilson. He is easily influenced by peers, and an average student.

You know I'm not sure. Since I have girls it's hard to say. I think it COULD be a different ballgame with boys - most of my AA friends with boys have them in private school or charter. I feel overall black boys get pegged with negative stuff so I completely understand the need to find the right environment. I ask myself if I had boys, where would I have sent them to school? I'm not 100% sure it would be Wilson but that's just my heart/gut talking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AA Wilson parent here with 4.0 DD. She is having an awesome experience. More than the teachers an administration, the peer group matters. Honors and AP level classes offer rigor and can be very demanding. It's a large school with many, many different types of kids. I don't agree with the previous poster about teachers not pushing advanced kids - we have had the opposite experience.

I will say though as truth that Wilson is a school where white kids definitely excel - no question. While I actually hate to put a racial lens on it because race is a social construct, it is just the truth and stats bear it out.

I would think coming from Oakland there are similar issues. Anyway good luck.

white do well not just because they are white, but because white students at Wilson are mostly high SES from families with highly educated parents and living in safe upper NW. as discussed on this board many times, it seems that AA families with a similar SES level and education tend to send their kids to private instead of Wilson so given the demographics of DC a good amount of kids on the wrong track at Wilson are AA and other minorities with low SES

Don't be embarrassed about being white and what that actually means. Facts are facts. White students do well at Wilson because white students are more likely to be in a better economic situation.
High SES AAs are not at the same level academically as high SES white folks - this has been proven over and over. That's why high SES black families try to stack the deck with private school.

Show me one study that shows that. Not non FARM AA vs non FARM white but high SES AA vs high SES white. bullshit.

From 1998: AA kids with HHI between $80-100k scored 141 points lower on average than white kids with the same HHI, and lower than white kids whose HHI was under $10k. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2999198?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents The article goes on to note that it's not right to compare them since AAs tend to have lower wealth and more variance in HHI during a child's lifetime.

2006 data: http://www.jbhe.com/features/53_SAT.html "Whites from families with incomes of less than $10,000 had a mean SAT score of 993. This is 130 points higher than the national mean for all blacks. Whites from families with incomes below $10,000 had a mean SAT test score that was 17 points higher than blacks whose families had incomes of more than $100,000."
Stereotype threat and racial disparities in which high school courses were offered were among the explanations.

I don't put these out there to make some sort of Bell Curve argument or to suggest anything about what people do or should do about Wilson v. other schools, but a racial gap in average SAT scores does exist even after controlling for household income. There are a lot of possible explanations.

Economist here. COntrolling for income in these studies is probably inadequate, as wealth may be more important than income in determining where a family can buy a house, what opportunities they have etc. An AA and a white family with similar incomes may have very different wealth levels. If you control for family wealth, the test score gap tends to go away. (See Conley, "Being Black, Living in the Red"; Thomas and Shapiro, "Black Welath, White Wealth")

[Anonymous]

Wilson is a great school for top students, but as stated above by other posters., it is very much divided.
Students get into the top schools in the nation (HYPMSC), and it has plenty of great teachers. It is true, however, that if you are looking for a community that pushes your student to excel, you won't find it at Wilson. They simply have too many students, motivation has to come from within.

One thing to keep in mind is that (at least in the past couple of years), Wilson has had quite frankly a dismal freshman year experience, but the opportunities that you get later on in the form of extra-curriculars, AP classes, and the like make it worth it.

[Anonymous]

After Deal, I would have sent my AA D to Wilson but she was admitted to a Big 3 and accepted the spot. I did not even consider Wilson for my son. He was challenged to excel academically at a Big 5. Boys are not detained after school are locked out of the advance track for boyish behavior. I believe Wilson (and Deal) punish AA boys unnecessarily.

Time will tell what will happen with the last child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wilson is a great school for top students, but as stated above by other posters., it is very much divided.
Students get into the top schools in the nation (HYPMSC), and it has plenty of great teachers. It is true, however, that if you are looking for a community that pushes your student to excel, you won't find it at Wilson. They simply have too many students, motivation has to come from within.

One thing to keep in mind is that (at least in the past couple of years), Wilson has had quite frankly a dismal freshman year experience, but the opportunities that you get later on in the form of extra-curriculars, AP classes, and the like make it worth it.

My child and his friends had great freshman experiences last year!

[Anonymous]

^^ sorry Big 5 was a typo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After Deal, I would have sent my AA D to Wilson but she was admitted to a Big 3 and accepted the spot. I did not even consider Wilson for my son. He was challenged to excel academically at a Big 5. Boys are not detained after school are locked out of the advance track for boyish behavior. I believe Wilson (and Deal) punish AA boys unnecessarily.

Time will tell what will happen with the last child.

Did you mean he was also detained after school and locked out of advanced track?
So worried for my DS...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are moving from Oakland to DC and have a 15 year old daughter who does quite well academically. Wilson looks like a bit of a mixed bag. Can anyone share their experiences with the school? Especially interested in the experiences of college-bound students seeking AP and honors course work.

Do/did your kids like Wilson? Good education? Good environment? Good college prep? Drawbacks?

How does it compare to School without Walls?

Appreciate the insights!

You'll probably read much in this thread about multiple problems at Wilson...but net net it is several leagues ahead of Oakland High School (Bay Area transplant here), in case that's your frame of comparison.

[Anonymous]

I am AA and in-bounds for Deal and Wilson and didn't even consider them for my boys. Not a single one of my AA friends sent their sons to Wilson, for many of the reasons identified in this thread. All went to private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Economist here. COntrolling for income in these studies is probably inadequate, as wealth may be more important than income in determining where a family can buy a house, what opportunities they have etc. An AA and a white family with similar incomes may have very different wealth levels. If you control for family wealth, the test score gap tends to go away. (See Conley, "Being Black, Living in the Red"; Thomas and Shapiro, "Black Welath, White Wealth")

NP. I just skimmed the Conley piece, and while it has interesting discussions of the wealth gap, I did not see anything about correlations between income, wealth, and academic test scores.

To be clear, my working assumption too is that skin color and racial heritage are just meaningless cosmetic elements, and so have no causal relationship with academics and intelligence, and that any seeming correlation must result from some other independent variable or other such indirect factor. But your cited sources don't seem to rebut PP's articles and statistics that suggest race is correlated to poor academic results.

[Anonymous]

Physician here...family psychosocial risk factors and the child's social and emotional development are more predictive of school success than academic milestones. This is from an article in the journal Pediatrics, 2008. Racism, family turmoil, and generational poverty are probable causes for psychosocial damage in many poor AA families in the District and may even effect families who have gone up the economic ladder over the course of generations. Most AA do not have generational wealth. Therefore, AA families who are now middle and upper middle class may still see academic differences from their white counterparts. It is not as simple as SAT scores.