DC NMSFs 2025

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

Typo dumb down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

Typo dumb down

Also since they now take a percentage from each school, lots of kids who should have gotten in are not and have to stay at their base school. So not only has the caliber of the student body in terms of academics have decreased but TJ is now also not capturing and getting all the top students.

And those weak students who do stay the course, it’s tough and confidence kill when you are working so hard to find yourself in the bottom of the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

Just to compare it to Walls and greater DC, it does seem first that Walls is at least stable in selecting kids who can get the NMSF (small sample size warning!), and second that DC is holding on to kids who can get NMSF but were leaving for whatever reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

Just to compare it to Walls and greater DC, it does seem first that Walls is at least stable in selecting kids who can get the NMSF (small sample size warning!), and second that DC is holding on to kids who can get NMSF but were leaving for whatever reason.

Those statements don’t really hold up with such a small sample size and 1 year difference.

The bigger and more important question is why does DCPS lose such great students to the private schools instead of keeping them. Look at the percentages at schools that have finalists.

We all know what the answer to that is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

Just to compare it to Walls and greater DC, it does seem first that Walls is at least stable in selecting kids who can get the NMSF (small sample size warning!), and second that DC is holding on to kids who can get NMSF but were leaving for whatever reason.

Those statements don’t really hold up with such a small sample size and 1 year difference.

The bigger and more important question is why does DCPS lose such great students to the private schools instead of keeping them. Look at the percentages at schools that have finalists.

We all know what the answer to that is.

The small privates are some of the best high schools in the world. If my kid were on the IMO track or whatever, I’d move heaven and earth to get them into St Albans (my smartest coauthor went there, easily one of the smartest people I have ever met in any capacity). So it’s not quite fair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

I am pretty sure they already lost the lawsuit. They "won", TJ appealed and it was overturned and believe that court has the final say.

It's hard to claim TJ has really declined when 20% of their class is NMSF (and I bet easily 50%+ is NMC...anyone know?). That's still an incredible result.

Also, you can't equally tax everyone throughout Fairfax county to pay for TJ, without giving something back to everyone in return. Either that's a more equal system of everyone getting to attend, or other schools receive more funding than TJ or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

Just to compare it to Walls and greater DC, it does seem first that Walls is at least stable in selecting kids who can get the NMSF (small sample size warning!), and second that DC is holding on to kids who can get NMSF but were leaving for whatever reason.

Those statements don’t really hold up with such a small sample size and 1 year difference.

The bigger and more important question is why does DCPS lose such great students to the private schools instead of keeping them. Look at the percentages at schools that have finalists.

We all know what the answer to that is.

The current class of private kids was distorted by Covid (i.e., way more than normal folks fled DCPS when it was unclear if schools would be open at all when the current seniors started 9th grade).

The vast majority of private school kids never set foot in DCPS from Day1 in K, and a large %age don't even live in DC so couldn't even if they wanted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

Just to compare it to Walls and greater DC, it does seem first that Walls is at least stable in selecting kids who can get the NMSF (small sample size warning!), and second that DC is holding on to kids who can get NMSF but were leaving for whatever reason.

Those statements don’t really hold up with such a small sample size and 1 year difference.

The bigger and more important question is why does DCPS lose such great students to the private schools instead of keeping them. Look at the percentages at schools that have finalists.

We all know what the answer to that is.

The small privates are some of the best high schools in the world. If my kid were on the IMO track or whatever, I’d move heaven and earth to get them into St Albans (my smartest coauthor went there, easily one of the smartest people I have ever met in any capacity). So it’s not quite fair.

Hmmmm. Definitely making me think. I placed in math Olympiad, and my younger son is a total math savant. Both parents NMSF. he's still in elementary in DCPS and his older brother is doing fine at BASIS (he's a very strong student but not off the charts like my younger). Right now I'm doing Beast Academy with the little one, but I wonder every day how to do the right thing for them both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

Just to compare it to Walls and greater DC, it does seem first that Walls is at least stable in selecting kids who can get the NMSF (small sample size warning!), and second that DC is holding on to kids who can get NMSF but were leaving for whatever reason.

Those statements don’t really hold up with such a small sample size and 1 year difference.

The bigger and more important question is why does DCPS lose such great students to the private schools instead of keeping them. Look at the percentages at schools that have finalists.

We all know what the answer to that is.

The small privates are some of the best high schools in the world. If my kid were on the IMO track or whatever, I’d move heaven and earth to get them into St Albans (my smartest coauthor went there, easily one of the smartest people I have ever met in any capacity). So it’s not quite fair.

Hmmmm. Definitely making me think. I placed in math Olympiad, and my younger son is a total math savant. Both parents NMSF. he's still in elementary in DCPS and his older brother is doing fine at BASIS (he's a very strong student but not off the charts like my younger). Right now I'm doing Beast Academy with the little one, but I wonder every day how to do the right thing for them both.

As someone who taught briefly in a private school, the main way they are better than public schools is in responsiveness to parent concerns, not necessarily in teaching. Private schools do not require the kind of continuing education and also don't require teacher certification in many cases. I'm sure in some cases the instruction is better, but I would not assume that private schools writ large are better (even in DC.)

That said, as my son has progressed through DC public school, more and more of his cohort has peeled off for private. DC parents can often afford it (even if requires sacrifice). Especially at the high school level, the percentage of his fairly diverse cohort that has gone all the way through public schools that eventually chose private for high school is about 50%. Only one non-representative data point, of course, but still my experience may be useful to someone, so I'll offer it regardless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

I am pretty sure they already lost the lawsuit. They "won", TJ appealed and it was overturned and believe that court has the final say.

It's hard to claim TJ has really declined when 20% of their class is NMSF (and I bet easily 50%+ is NMC...anyone know?). That's still an incredible result.

Also, you can't equally tax everyone throughout Fairfax county to pay for TJ, without giving something back to everyone in return. Either that's a more equal system of everyone getting to attend, or other schools receive more funding than TJ or something.

What? There are all sorts of programs that tax dollars go to that are for select populations. Should tax money not pay for special ed programming either?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

I am pretty sure they already lost the lawsuit. They "won", TJ appealed and it was overturned and believe that court has the final say.

It's hard to claim TJ has really declined when 20% of their class is NMSF (and I bet easily 50%+ is NMC...anyone know?). That's still an incredible result.

Also, you can't equally tax everyone throughout Fairfax county to pay for TJ, without giving something back to everyone in return. Either that's a more equal system of everyone getting to attend, or other schools receive more funding than TJ or something.

What? There are all sorts of programs that tax dollars go to that are for select populations. Should tax money not pay for special ed programming either?

There are special ed students at every school. I bet people would go nuts if only a couple of schools received special ed tax dollars, and other schools did not and few kids were able to attend the schools that received the extra funding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

Just to compare it to Walls and greater DC, it does seem first that Walls is at least stable in selecting kids who can get the NMSF (small sample size warning!), and second that DC is holding on to kids who can get NMSF but were leaving for whatever reason.

Those statements don’t really hold up with such a small sample size and 1 year difference.

The bigger and more important question is why does DCPS lose such great students to the private schools instead of keeping them. Look at the percentages at schools that have finalists.

We all know what the answer to that is.

The small privates are some of the best high schools in the world. If my kid were on the IMO track or whatever, I’d move heaven and earth to get them into St Albans (my smartest coauthor went there, easily one of the smartest people I have ever met in any capacity). So it’s not quite fair.

Hmmmm. Definitely making me think. I placed in math Olympiad, and my younger son is a total math savant. Both parents NMSF. he's still in elementary in DCPS and his older brother is doing fine at BASIS (he's a very strong student but not off the charts like my younger). Right now I'm doing Beast Academy with the little one, but I wonder every day how to do the right thing for them both.

As someone who taught briefly in a private school, the main way they are better than public schools is in responsiveness to parent concerns, not necessarily in teaching. Private schools do not require the kind of continuing education and also don't require teacher certification in many cases. I'm sure in some cases the instruction is better, but I would not assume that private schools writ large are better (even in DC.)

That said, as my son has progressed through DC public school, more and more of his cohort has peeled off for private. DC parents can often afford it (even if requires sacrifice). Especially at the high school level, the percentage of his fairly diverse cohort that has gone all the way through public schools that eventually chose private for high school is about 50%. Only one non-representative data point, of course, but still my experience may be useful to someone, so I'll offer it regardless.

They always say 80% of Deal attends Jackson-Reed...the other 20% attends Walls or some other Application school or private (and a small %age moves to MD or VA). I would think the private number is 5%- 10% (which includes independent and parochial/Catholic private schools).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

Just to compare it to Walls and greater DC, it does seem first that Walls is at least stable in selecting kids who can get the NMSF (small sample size warning!), and second that DC is holding on to kids who can get NMSF but were leaving for whatever reason.

Those statements don’t really hold up with such a small sample size and 1 year difference.

The bigger and more important question is why does DCPS lose such great students to the private schools instead of keeping them. Look at the percentages at schools that have finalists.

We all know what the answer to that is.

The small privates are some of the best high schools in the world. If my kid were on the IMO track or whatever, I’d move heaven and earth to get them into St Albans (my smartest coauthor went there, easily one of the smartest people I have ever met in any capacity). So it’s not quite fair.

Hmmmm. Definitely making me think. I placed in math Olympiad, and my younger son is a total math savant. Both parents NMSF. he's still in elementary in DCPS and his older brother is doing fine at BASIS (he's a very strong student but not off the charts like my younger). Right now I'm doing Beast Academy with the little one, but I wonder every day how to do the right thing for them both.

As someone who taught briefly in a private school, the main way they are better than public schools is in responsiveness to parent concerns, not necessarily in teaching. Private schools do not require the kind of continuing education and also don't require teacher certification in many cases. I'm sure in some cases the instruction is better, but I would not assume that private schools writ large are better (even in DC.)

That said, as my son has progressed through DC public school, more and more of his cohort has peeled off for private. DC parents can often afford it (even if requires sacrifice). Especially at the high school level, the percentage of his fairly diverse cohort that has gone all the way through public schools that eventually chose private for high school is about 50%. Only one non-representative data point, of course, but still my experience may be useful to someone, so I'll offer it regardless.

They always say 80% of Deal attends Jackson-Reed...the other 20% attends Walls or some other Application school or private (and a small %age moves to MD or VA). I would think the private number is 5%- 10% (which includes independent and parochial/Catholic private schools).

No, I think the Deal percentage going to Jackson Reed is closer to 50% in recent years. I tracked the Janney-->Jackson Reed percentage from looking at the 5th grade year book a few years ago and it was 20%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

Just to compare it to Walls and greater DC, it does seem first that Walls is at least stable in selecting kids who can get the NMSF (small sample size warning!), and second that DC is holding on to kids who can get NMSF but were leaving for whatever reason.

Those statements don’t really hold up with such a small sample size and 1 year difference.

The bigger and more important question is why does DCPS lose such great students to the private schools instead of keeping them. Look at the percentages at schools that have finalists.

We all know what the answer to that is.

The current class of private kids was distorted by Covid (i.e., way more than normal folks fled DCPS when it was unclear if schools would be open at all when the current seniors started 9th grade).

The vast majority of private school kids never set foot in DCPS from Day1 in K, and a large %age don't even live in DC so couldn't even if they wanted.

Yes they do set foot in DCPS. They go to the ward 3 elementary DCPS schools. Then many go private in middle school and of course certain elementary schools lose more kids to private then others. This is for families that can afford private.

Then you have lots of families who cannot afford it and actually leave DCPS and move out of the city in middle or high school. Those numbers are not tracked but they are not insignificant. This applies not just to ward 3 but all over the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I am the PP who didn’t have the stats.
I guess my gut feeling and cursory review of some data was right. That’s a huge increase in students applying to application schools over time.

It is obviously an increase but it’s hard to say if it is a huge one. We can’t know if those are all discrete students or overlap.

Obviously a lot of overlap between the schools, but by following a single school’s numbers over time you can see an obvious increase in absolute application numbers. That doesn’t tell you whether the number of “good” applicants is increasing, but PP pointed to some other data (eg the NMSF).

So there are more applicants, plus more and more of the applicants are highly qualified students.

You don’t know that more and more of the applicants are highly qualified.

Out of curiosity, why would you make the assumption that with more applicants fewer are in fact highly qualified? It just seems like a weird hill to die on. And an illogical assumption.

DP.

Because the admissions requirements change every year and have altered dramatically over the past 5 years or so, because the admissions standards don’t weed out less qualified applicants, because there is more grade inflation, etc. As a result, it is easier for less qualified applicants to get in. Hence, more applicants but relatively fewer higher-quality admits.

I think the effect of dropping the exam is counteracted by the rising number of qualified students in DC.

Think about it: both TJ and Walls dropped their exam the same year. This year is the first senior class admitted without exams. The number of NMSFs at TJ went down, from like 150 to 80. But the number of NMSFs at Walls actually went up, from 5 to 6. Of course the number of NMSFs in DC went up by even more, from 28 to 47. This means that without the exam Walls isn’t capturing as high a portion of the high-scoring kids in DC, but the quality of the student body is not declining.

The TJ stats are shocking though, a 50% decline compared to like a 12% decline in VA.

Yes and not only that but the caliber of the kids who got in is definitely lower. They needed to support kids with remedial math, teachers complaining that kids are not prepared to take freshmen classes, teachers leaving, etc…

They have also dropped significantly in rankings and are no longer #1 school in the country.

It’s sad to see, because TJ is probably the only school in the DMV who could support gifted kids, challenge them, and offered courses base schools did not. Sure, smart above average kids were there but they had to work their ass off.

I hope the families win the lawsuit against FCPS.

Ironically, these equity moves does nothing to help the kids they want. Many kids can’t handle it and end up dropping out of TJ and go back to their base school. At least the courses have not been summed down yet.

Just to compare it to Walls and greater DC, it does seem first that Walls is at least stable in selecting kids who can get the NMSF (small sample size warning!), and second that DC is holding on to kids who can get NMSF but were leaving for whatever reason.

Those statements don’t really hold up with such a small sample size and 1 year difference.

The bigger and more important question is why does DCPS lose such great students to the private schools instead of keeping them. Look at the percentages at schools that have finalists.

We all know what the answer to that is.

The current class of private kids was distorted by Covid (i.e., way more than normal folks fled DCPS when it was unclear if schools would be open at all when the current seniors started 9th grade).

The vast majority of private school kids never set foot in DCPS from Day1 in K, and a large %age don't even live in DC so couldn't even if they wanted.

Yes they do set foot in DCPS. They go to the ward 3 elementary DCPS schools. Then many go private in middle school and of course certain elementary schools lose more kids to private then others. This is for families that can afford private.

Then you have lots of families who cannot afford it and actually leave DCPS and move out of the city in middle or high school. Those numbers are not tracked but they are not insignificant. This applies not just to ward 3 but all over the city.

Sorry, you are wrong. Some kids move from DCPS into private at middle and high school…but most private school kids never set foot in DCPS.

They start in a k-12 or they go to Beauvoir or NPS or Sheridan or Lowell then move to another private at the various cutoff points.

You do realize that easily 50%+ of private school kids don’t live in Dc, yes?