Talk to me about McKinley

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different students apply to McKinley than Walls. Students from Ward 7 and 8, which make up a big part of the McKinley student body, are not applying to Walls, or at least they weren't a couple of years ago:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-without-walls-admissions-test-diversity/2021/08/27/6959cec2-0293-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

“It could be that our families have gotten wind that certain schools are not for them, or not supportive of them,” said Carlene Reid, the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. “I would not trust to put my child in a school that has systemically shut out students from Ward 8.”

“Different” in the sense that they could not be admitted to Walls for academic reasons, but could be admitted to McKinley.

Look, I have a privileged white kid who likely would not have gotten into Walls with the prior more selective criteria, but could get into McKinley. No shame in admitting that!

Test scores haven't been used since prior to COVID. The current criteria are GPA, recommendation letter, interview, and writing sample. It is entirely unclear how SWW is implementing any of those besides GPA, and there are kids with high GPAs who are going to McKinley. You have no idea if they could get admitted and neither do they. They are not applying *because they do not want to go*.

as I wrote, he would not have gotten in under the “prior, more selective criteria.” I still think nobody is choosing McKinley over Walls (or Banneker) but feel free to show me data or anecdotes. also not sure why OP or anyone is defensive about this. It’s all part of the picture in understanding the schools.

The Washington Post article has data showing that, post-COVID, they are still not getting Ward 7 and 8 applicants, as well as an anecdote from the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. There isn't enough data in it to tell what admissions looks like for those students who do apply, but since that data isn't available to prospective students either, it's a big reach to say that they're not applying because they know they won't get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The commute was too much for us as well...if it was located where Walls is located (or anywhere in central DC) then the calculation would have been different

I'm curious where you live, given your perspective that Walls is central and McKinley is not...

lol +1...McKinley is about as close to "central DC" as you can get. 1.5 block from North Capitol that divides the city. I think PP means "central to her upper Caucasia area"

The majority here have no clue how to navigate DC or the actual directional dividing lines. Nothing is central about Walls present location.

Foggy Bottom is among the most heavily traveled Metro stations in DC.

I can only assume that PP is literally looking at the location on the map and not transit time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different students apply to McKinley than Walls. Students from Ward 7 and 8, which make up a big part of the McKinley student body, are not applying to Walls, or at least they weren't a couple of years ago:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-without-walls-admissions-test-diversity/2021/08/27/6959cec2-0293-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

“It could be that our families have gotten wind that certain schools are not for them, or not supportive of them,” said Carlene Reid, the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. “I would not trust to put my child in a school that has systemically shut out students from Ward 8.”

“Different” in the sense that they could not be admitted to Walls for academic reasons, but could be admitted to McKinley.

Look, I have a privileged white kid who likely would not have gotten into Walls with the prior more selective criteria, but could get into McKinley. No shame in admitting that!

Test scores haven't been used since prior to COVID. The current criteria are GPA, recommendation letter, interview, and writing sample. It is entirely unclear how SWW is implementing any of those besides GPA, and there are kids with high GPAs who are going to McKinley. You have no idea if they could get admitted and neither do they. They are not applying *because they do not want to go*.

as I wrote, he would not have gotten in under the “prior, more selective criteria.” I still think nobody is choosing McKinley over Walls (or Banneker) but feel free to show me data or anecdotes. also not sure why OP or anyone is defensive about this. It’s all part of the picture in understanding the schools.

The Washington Post article has data showing that, post-COVID, they are still not getting Ward 7 and 8 applicants, as well as an anecdote from the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. There isn't enough data in it to tell what admissions looks like for those students who do apply, but since that data isn't available to prospective students either, it's a big reach to say that they're not applying because they know they won't get in.

So are they applying to Banneker?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different students apply to McKinley than Walls. Students from Ward 7 and 8, which make up a big part of the McKinley student body, are not applying to Walls, or at least they weren't a couple of years ago:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-without-walls-admissions-test-diversity/2021/08/27/6959cec2-0293-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

“It could be that our families have gotten wind that certain schools are not for them, or not supportive of them,” said Carlene Reid, the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. “I would not trust to put my child in a school that has systemically shut out students from Ward 8.”

“Different” in the sense that they could not be admitted to Walls for academic reasons, but could be admitted to McKinley.

Look, I have a privileged white kid who likely would not have gotten into Walls with the prior more selective criteria, but could get into McKinley. No shame in admitting that!

Test scores haven't been used since prior to COVID. The current criteria are GPA, recommendation letter, interview, and writing sample. It is entirely unclear how SWW is implementing any of those besides GPA, and there are kids with high GPAs who are going to McKinley. You have no idea if they could get admitted and neither do they. They are not applying *because they do not want to go*.

as I wrote, he would not have gotten in under the “prior, more selective criteria.” I still think nobody is choosing McKinley over Walls (or Banneker) but feel free to show me data or anecdotes. also not sure why OP or anyone is defensive about this. It’s all part of the picture in understanding the schools.

I definitely think there are kids choosing McKinley over Walls. If you are interested in taking STEM classes in HS and are not inbounds for JR, then McKinley offers much more than Walls. Also, there are definitely many kids that live in parts of DC where McKinley is much more convenient than Walls.

Upper NW DC kids are not choosing McKinley over Walls because they are in bound for JR which offers more STEM classes, ECs and APs than McKinley. That said, if those are their interests, they are not choosing Walls either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different students apply to McKinley than Walls. Students from Ward 7 and 8, which make up a big part of the McKinley student body, are not applying to Walls, or at least they weren't a couple of years ago:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-without-walls-admissions-test-diversity/2021/08/27/6959cec2-0293-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

“It could be that our families have gotten wind that certain schools are not for them, or not supportive of them,” said Carlene Reid, the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. “I would not trust to put my child in a school that has systemically shut out students from Ward 8.”

“Different” in the sense that they could not be admitted to Walls for academic reasons, but could be admitted to McKinley.

Look, I have a privileged white kid who likely would not have gotten into Walls with the prior more selective criteria, but could get into McKinley. No shame in admitting that!

Test scores haven't been used since prior to COVID. The current criteria are GPA, recommendation letter, interview, and writing sample. It is entirely unclear how SWW is implementing any of those besides GPA, and there are kids with high GPAs who are going to McKinley. You have no idea if they could get admitted and neither do they. They are not applying *because they do not want to go*.

as I wrote, he would not have gotten in under the “prior, more selective criteria.” I still think nobody is choosing McKinley over Walls (or Banneker) but feel free to show me data or anecdotes. also not sure why OP or anyone is defensive about this. It’s all part of the picture in understanding the schools.

I definitely think there are kids choosing McKinley over Walls. If you are interested in taking STEM classes in HS and are not inbounds for JR, then McKinley offers much more than Walls. Also, there are definitely many kids that live in parts of DC where McKinley is much more convenient than Walls.

Upper NW DC kids are not choosing McKinley over Walls because they are in bound for JR which offers more STEM classes, ECs and APs than McKinley. That said, if those are their interests, they are not choosing Walls either.

+1. I have a STEM kid and after attending the Walls open house, I'm definitely not sending my kid there. McKinley is still on the table, but I have yet to visit it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different students apply to McKinley than Walls. Students from Ward 7 and 8, which make up a big part of the McKinley student body, are not applying to Walls, or at least they weren't a couple of years ago:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-without-walls-admissions-test-diversity/2021/08/27/6959cec2-0293-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

“It could be that our families have gotten wind that certain schools are not for them, or not supportive of them,” said Carlene Reid, the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. “I would not trust to put my child in a school that has systemically shut out students from Ward 8.”

“Different” in the sense that they could not be admitted to Walls for academic reasons, but could be admitted to McKinley.

Look, I have a privileged white kid who likely would not have gotten into Walls with the prior more selective criteria, but could get into McKinley. No shame in admitting that!

Test scores haven't been used since prior to COVID. The current criteria are GPA, recommendation letter, interview, and writing sample. It is entirely unclear how SWW is implementing any of those besides GPA, and there are kids with high GPAs who are going to McKinley. You have no idea if they could get admitted and neither do they. They are not applying *because they do not want to go*.

as I wrote, he would not have gotten in under the “prior, more selective criteria.” I still think nobody is choosing McKinley over Walls (or Banneker) but feel free to show me data or anecdotes. also not sure why OP or anyone is defensive about this. It’s all part of the picture in understanding the schools.

I definitely think there are kids choosing McKinley over Walls. If you are interested in taking STEM classes in HS and are not inbounds for JR, then McKinley offers much more than Walls. Also, there are definitely many kids that live in parts of DC where McKinley is much more convenient than Walls.

Upper NW DC kids are not choosing McKinley over Walls because they are in bound for JR which offers more STEM classes, ECs and APs than McKinley. That said, if those are their interests, they are not choosing Walls either.

Do you know this or just “think” this? And where can I compare the AP classes available at McKinley v Walls?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different students apply to McKinley than Walls. Students from Ward 7 and 8, which make up a big part of the McKinley student body, are not applying to Walls, or at least they weren't a couple of years ago:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-without-walls-admissions-test-diversity/2021/08/27/6959cec2-0293-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

“It could be that our families have gotten wind that certain schools are not for them, or not supportive of them,” said Carlene Reid, the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. “I would not trust to put my child in a school that has systemically shut out students from Ward 8.”

“Different” in the sense that they could not be admitted to Walls for academic reasons, but could be admitted to McKinley.

Look, I have a privileged white kid who likely would not have gotten into Walls with the prior more selective criteria, but could get into McKinley. No shame in admitting that!

Test scores haven't been used since prior to COVID. The current criteria are GPA, recommendation letter, interview, and writing sample. It is entirely unclear how SWW is implementing any of those besides GPA, and there are kids with high GPAs who are going to McKinley. You have no idea if they could get admitted and neither do they. They are not applying *because they do not want to go*.

as I wrote, he would not have gotten in under the “prior, more selective criteria.” I still think nobody is choosing McKinley over Walls (or Banneker) but feel free to show me data or anecdotes. also not sure why OP or anyone is defensive about this. It’s all part of the picture in understanding the schools.

I definitely think there are kids choosing McKinley over Walls. If you are interested in taking STEM classes in HS and are not inbounds for JR, then McKinley offers much more than Walls. Also, there are definitely many kids that live in parts of DC where McKinley is much more convenient than Walls.

Upper NW DC kids are not choosing McKinley over Walls because they are in bound for JR which offers more STEM classes, ECs and APs than McKinley. That said, if those are their interests, they are not choosing Walls either.

+1. I have a STEM kid and after attending the Walls open house, I'm definitely not sending my kid there. McKinley is still on the table, but I have yet to visit it.

It's funny...even though Walls is very up-front that they are a humanities-focused application school, you still have lots of STEM-kid parents attending the open house and even applying. It's as though parents cannot believe it does not have great STEM offerings (they do offer strong physical sciences, but you can't take computer science or engineering classes), even though they don't say or do anything to imply otherwise.

DC is really the odd duck where the "top" application school is not a STEM school. I am not sure if an application school like Walls exists anywhere else in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different students apply to McKinley than Walls. Students from Ward 7 and 8, which make up a big part of the McKinley student body, are not applying to Walls, or at least they weren't a couple of years ago:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-without-walls-admissions-test-diversity/2021/08/27/6959cec2-0293-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

“It could be that our families have gotten wind that certain schools are not for them, or not supportive of them,” said Carlene Reid, the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. “I would not trust to put my child in a school that has systemically shut out students from Ward 8.”

“Different” in the sense that they could not be admitted to Walls for academic reasons, but could be admitted to McKinley.

Look, I have a privileged white kid who likely would not have gotten into Walls with the prior more selective criteria, but could get into McKinley. No shame in admitting that!

Test scores haven't been used since prior to COVID. The current criteria are GPA, recommendation letter, interview, and writing sample. It is entirely unclear how SWW is implementing any of those besides GPA, and there are kids with high GPAs who are going to McKinley. You have no idea if they could get admitted and neither do they. They are not applying *because they do not want to go*.

as I wrote, he would not have gotten in under the “prior, more selective criteria.” I still think nobody is choosing McKinley over Walls (or Banneker) but feel free to show me data or anecdotes. also not sure why OP or anyone is defensive about this. It’s all part of the picture in understanding the schools.

I definitely think there are kids choosing McKinley over Walls. If you are interested in taking STEM classes in HS and are not inbounds for JR, then McKinley offers much more than Walls. Also, there are definitely many kids that live in parts of DC where McKinley is much more convenient than Walls.

Upper NW DC kids are not choosing McKinley over Walls because they are in bound for JR which offers more STEM classes, ECs and APs than McKinley. That said, if those are their interests, they are not choosing Walls either.

Do you know this or just “think” this? And where can I compare the AP classes available at McKinley v Walls?

AP classes are not the appropriate comparison. Most STEM classes in engineering and otherwise have no AP offered by College Board. McKinley does offer AP Computer Science Principals and AP CSA which Walls does not provide. Are you seriously asking where you can compare the AP classes....go to each school's website and look at their AP offerings...it is not hard to find.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different students apply to McKinley than Walls. Students from Ward 7 and 8, which make up a big part of the McKinley student body, are not applying to Walls, or at least they weren't a couple of years ago:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-without-walls-admissions-test-diversity/2021/08/27/6959cec2-0293-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

“It could be that our families have gotten wind that certain schools are not for them, or not supportive of them,” said Carlene Reid, the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. “I would not trust to put my child in a school that has systemically shut out students from Ward 8.”

“Different” in the sense that they could not be admitted to Walls for academic reasons, but could be admitted to McKinley.

Look, I have a privileged white kid who likely would not have gotten into Walls with the prior more selective criteria, but could get into McKinley. No shame in admitting that!

Test scores haven't been used since prior to COVID. The current criteria are GPA, recommendation letter, interview, and writing sample. It is entirely unclear how SWW is implementing any of those besides GPA, and there are kids with high GPAs who are going to McKinley. You have no idea if they could get admitted and neither do they. They are not applying *because they do not want to go*.

as I wrote, he would not have gotten in under the “prior, more selective criteria.” I still think nobody is choosing McKinley over Walls (or Banneker) but feel free to show me data or anecdotes. also not sure why OP or anyone is defensive about this. It’s all part of the picture in understanding the schools.

I definitely think there are kids choosing McKinley over Walls. If you are interested in taking STEM classes in HS and are not inbounds for JR, then McKinley offers much more than Walls. Also, there are definitely many kids that live in parts of DC where McKinley is much more convenient than Walls.

Upper NW DC kids are not choosing McKinley over Walls because they are in bound for JR which offers more STEM classes, ECs and APs than McKinley. That said, if those are their interests, they are not choosing Walls either.

+1. I have a STEM kid and after attending the Walls open house, I'm definitely not sending my kid there. McKinley is still on the table, but I have yet to visit it.

It's funny...even though Walls is very up-front that they are a humanities-focused application school, you still have lots of STEM-kid parents attending the open house and even applying. It's as though parents cannot believe it does not have great STEM offerings (they do offer strong physical sciences, but you can't take computer science or engineering classes), even though they don't say or do anything to imply otherwise.

DC is really the odd duck where the "top" application school is not a STEM school. I am not sure if an application school like Walls exists anywhere else in the DMV.

Given that only 80/650 McKinley students pass any AP exam, I’m not sure why the lack of a computer science class at Walls would make a rational family pick McKinley over Walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different students apply to McKinley than Walls. Students from Ward 7 and 8, which make up a big part of the McKinley student body, are not applying to Walls, or at least they weren't a couple of years ago:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-without-walls-admissions-test-diversity/2021/08/27/6959cec2-0293-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

“It could be that our families have gotten wind that certain schools are not for them, or not supportive of them,” said Carlene Reid, the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. “I would not trust to put my child in a school that has systemically shut out students from Ward 8.”

“Different” in the sense that they could not be admitted to Walls for academic reasons, but could be admitted to McKinley.

Look, I have a privileged white kid who likely would not have gotten into Walls with the prior more selective criteria, but could get into McKinley. No shame in admitting that!

Test scores haven't been used since prior to COVID. The current criteria are GPA, recommendation letter, interview, and writing sample. It is entirely unclear how SWW is implementing any of those besides GPA, and there are kids with high GPAs who are going to McKinley. You have no idea if they could get admitted and neither do they. They are not applying *because they do not want to go*.

as I wrote, he would not have gotten in under the “prior, more selective criteria.” I still think nobody is choosing McKinley over Walls (or Banneker) but feel free to show me data or anecdotes. also not sure why OP or anyone is defensive about this. It’s all part of the picture in understanding the schools.

I definitely think there are kids choosing McKinley over Walls. If you are interested in taking STEM classes in HS and are not inbounds for JR, then McKinley offers much more than Walls. Also, there are definitely many kids that live in parts of DC where McKinley is much more convenient than Walls.

Upper NW DC kids are not choosing McKinley over Walls because they are in bound for JR which offers more STEM classes, ECs and APs than McKinley. That said, if those are their interests, they are not choosing Walls either.

Do you know this or just “think” this? And where can I compare the AP classes available at McKinley v Walls?

AP classes are not the appropriate comparison. Most STEM classes in engineering and otherwise have no AP offered by College Board. McKinley does offer AP Computer Science Principals and AP CSA which Walls does not provide. Are you seriously asking where you can compare the AP classes....go to each school's website and look at their AP offerings...it is not hard to find.

What I actually did is compare the AP pass rates and the overall PARCC scores. McKinley might be a decent option for kids who cannot get into Walls or Banneker but I still have a very hard time believing that anyone would pick it over Walls or Banneker just to take a CS class (presumably with the 75% of classmates who can’t pass PARCC math).

I say this as a parent with a kid currently enrolled in a DCPS T1 school. It’s quite clear as of 6th grade that academics need to pick up the pace eventually. I’m not totally ruling out McKinley but definitely would never place it above Walls or Banneker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different students apply to McKinley than Walls. Students from Ward 7 and 8, which make up a big part of the McKinley student body, are not applying to Walls, or at least they weren't a couple of years ago:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-without-walls-admissions-test-diversity/2021/08/27/6959cec2-0293-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

“It could be that our families have gotten wind that certain schools are not for them, or not supportive of them,” said Carlene Reid, the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. “I would not trust to put my child in a school that has systemically shut out students from Ward 8.”

“Different” in the sense that they could not be admitted to Walls for academic reasons, but could be admitted to McKinley.

Look, I have a privileged white kid who likely would not have gotten into Walls with the prior more selective criteria, but could get into McKinley. No shame in admitting that!

Test scores haven't been used since prior to COVID. The current criteria are GPA, recommendation letter, interview, and writing sample. It is entirely unclear how SWW is implementing any of those besides GPA, and there are kids with high GPAs who are going to McKinley. You have no idea if they could get admitted and neither do they. They are not applying *because they do not want to go*.

as I wrote, he would not have gotten in under the “prior, more selective criteria.” I still think nobody is choosing McKinley over Walls (or Banneker) but feel free to show me data or anecdotes. also not sure why OP or anyone is defensive about this. It’s all part of the picture in understanding the schools.

I definitely think there are kids choosing McKinley over Walls. If you are interested in taking STEM classes in HS and are not inbounds for JR, then McKinley offers much more than Walls. Also, there are definitely many kids that live in parts of DC where McKinley is much more convenient than Walls.

Upper NW DC kids are not choosing McKinley over Walls because they are in bound for JR which offers more STEM classes, ECs and APs than McKinley. That said, if those are their interests, they are not choosing Walls either.

+1. I have a STEM kid and after attending the Walls open house, I'm definitely not sending my kid there. McKinley is still on the table, but I have yet to visit it.

It's funny...even though Walls is very up-front that they are a humanities-focused application school, you still have lots of STEM-kid parents attending the open house and even applying. It's as though parents cannot believe it does not have great STEM offerings (they do offer strong physical sciences, but you can't take computer science or engineering classes), even though they don't say or do anything to imply otherwise.

DC is really the odd duck where the "top" application school is not a STEM school. I am not sure if an application school like Walls exists anywhere else in the DMV.

Very simple, they think Walls is a de facto "private school." Walls is definitely a humanities first school. Of course, a few kids do well with engineering admissions. That's more about the cohort and the upper-level teachers.

I did a career day a few years ago at McKinley. Kids were motivated and curious. Teachers were also all in on the programming. But it seemed it was more about exposure vs preparation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different students apply to McKinley than Walls. Students from Ward 7 and 8, which make up a big part of the McKinley student body, are not applying to Walls, or at least they weren't a couple of years ago:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-without-walls-admissions-test-diversity/2021/08/27/6959cec2-0293-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

“It could be that our families have gotten wind that certain schools are not for them, or not supportive of them,” said Carlene Reid, the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. “I would not trust to put my child in a school that has systemically shut out students from Ward 8.”

“Different” in the sense that they could not be admitted to Walls for academic reasons, but could be admitted to McKinley.

Look, I have a privileged white kid who likely would not have gotten into Walls with the prior more selective criteria, but could get into McKinley. No shame in admitting that!

Test scores haven't been used since prior to COVID. The current criteria are GPA, recommendation letter, interview, and writing sample. It is entirely unclear how SWW is implementing any of those besides GPA, and there are kids with high GPAs who are going to McKinley. You have no idea if they could get admitted and neither do they. They are not applying *because they do not want to go*.

as I wrote, he would not have gotten in under the “prior, more selective criteria.” I still think nobody is choosing McKinley over Walls (or Banneker) but feel free to show me data or anecdotes. also not sure why OP or anyone is defensive about this. It’s all part of the picture in understanding the schools.

I definitely think there are kids choosing McKinley over Walls. If you are interested in taking STEM classes in HS and are not inbounds for JR, then McKinley offers much more than Walls. Also, there are definitely many kids that live in parts of DC where McKinley is much more convenient than Walls.

Upper NW DC kids are not choosing McKinley over Walls because they are in bound for JR which offers more STEM classes, ECs and APs than McKinley. That said, if those are their interests, they are not choosing Walls either.

+1. I have a STEM kid and after attending the Walls open house, I'm definitely not sending my kid there. McKinley is still on the table, but I have yet to visit it.

It's funny...even though Walls is very up-front that they are a humanities-focused application school, you still have lots of STEM-kid parents attending the open house and even applying. It's as though parents cannot believe it does not have great STEM offerings (they do offer strong physical sciences, but you can't take computer science or engineering classes), even though they don't say or do anything to imply otherwise.

DC is really the odd duck where the "top" application school is not a STEM school. I am not sure if an application school like Walls exists anywhere else in the DMV.

Given that only 80/650 McKinley students pass any AP exam, I’m not sure why the lack of a computer science class at Walls would make a rational family pick McKinley over Walls.

This exactly. Walls kids do go on to do Engineering and CS in college. I know kids who got into Carnegie Mellon, Cornell Engineering, Michigan Engineering, etc., so the lack of Engineering classes or CS did not impact them negatively

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different students apply to McKinley than Walls. Students from Ward 7 and 8, which make up a big part of the McKinley student body, are not applying to Walls, or at least they weren't a couple of years ago:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-without-walls-admissions-test-diversity/2021/08/27/6959cec2-0293-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

“It could be that our families have gotten wind that certain schools are not for them, or not supportive of them,” said Carlene Reid, the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. “I would not trust to put my child in a school that has systemically shut out students from Ward 8.”

“Different” in the sense that they could not be admitted to Walls for academic reasons, but could be admitted to McKinley.

Look, I have a privileged white kid who likely would not have gotten into Walls with the prior more selective criteria, but could get into McKinley. No shame in admitting that!

Test scores haven't been used since prior to COVID. The current criteria are GPA, recommendation letter, interview, and writing sample. It is entirely unclear how SWW is implementing any of those besides GPA, and there are kids with high GPAs who are going to McKinley. You have no idea if they could get admitted and neither do they. They are not applying *because they do not want to go*.

as I wrote, he would not have gotten in under the “prior, more selective criteria.” I still think nobody is choosing McKinley over Walls (or Banneker) but feel free to show me data or anecdotes. also not sure why OP or anyone is defensive about this. It’s all part of the picture in understanding the schools.

I definitely think there are kids choosing McKinley over Walls. If you are interested in taking STEM classes in HS and are not inbounds for JR, then McKinley offers much more than Walls. Also, there are definitely many kids that live in parts of DC where McKinley is much more convenient than Walls.

Upper NW DC kids are not choosing McKinley over Walls because they are in bound for JR which offers more STEM classes, ECs and APs than McKinley. That said, if those are their interests, they are not choosing Walls either.

+1. I have a STEM kid and after attending the Walls open house, I'm definitely not sending my kid there. McKinley is still on the table, but I have yet to visit it.

I’m a DCPS HS teacher and no way would I send my kid to McKinley over Walls. Walls has a much higher performing student cohort

[Anonymous]

My kid did the Engineering pathway at JR and frankly it was a mixed bag. Two of the classes were taught poorly and my kid along with other students had to rely on YouTube videos to try and figure out how to do the projects. The teacher did not know anything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different students apply to McKinley than Walls. Students from Ward 7 and 8, which make up a big part of the McKinley student body, are not applying to Walls, or at least they weren't a couple of years ago:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/school-without-walls-admissions-test-diversity/2021/08/27/6959cec2-0293-11ec-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html

“It could be that our families have gotten wind that certain schools are not for them, or not supportive of them,” said Carlene Reid, the Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education. “I would not trust to put my child in a school that has systemically shut out students from Ward 8.”

“Different” in the sense that they could not be admitted to Walls for academic reasons, but could be admitted to McKinley.

Look, I have a privileged white kid who likely would not have gotten into Walls with the prior more selective criteria, but could get into McKinley. No shame in admitting that!

Test scores haven't been used since prior to COVID. The current criteria are GPA, recommendation letter, interview, and writing sample. It is entirely unclear how SWW is implementing any of those besides GPA, and there are kids with high GPAs who are going to McKinley. You have no idea if they could get admitted and neither do they. They are not applying *because they do not want to go*.

as I wrote, he would not have gotten in under the “prior, more selective criteria.” I still think nobody is choosing McKinley over Walls (or Banneker) but feel free to show me data or anecdotes. also not sure why OP or anyone is defensive about this. It’s all part of the picture in understanding the schools.

I definitely think there are kids choosing McKinley over Walls. If you are interested in taking STEM classes in HS and are not inbounds for JR, then McKinley offers much more than Walls. Also, there are definitely many kids that live in parts of DC where McKinley is much more convenient than Walls.

Upper NW DC kids are not choosing McKinley over Walls because they are in bound for JR which offers more STEM classes, ECs and APs than McKinley. That said, if those are their interests, they are not choosing Walls either.

+1. I have a STEM kid and after attending the Walls open house, I'm definitely not sending my kid there. McKinley is still on the table, but I have yet to visit it.

I’m a DCPS HS teacher and no way would I send my kid to McKinley over Walls. Walls has a much higher performing student cohort

Which is great if you are part of that higher-performing student cohort. But what if you're not? If you come to Walls, take Algebra 1 as freshman, and don't score proficient, that puts you in like the bottom 10%. Does the school know what to do with you? Are you getting the opportunities that Walls is helpful for? At McKinley, that's three-quarters of the freshman class. No one is going to write you off, they will work with you, and you will have a peer group and classes being taught at an appropriate level.