Middle schools and the lottery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's true. Hobson has become much more attractive under the new head.

Our WL number for Latin is hopeless and BASIS is not a good fit for kid. We're IB for the Cluster and now plan to enroll at SH next year.

Might hire a tutor or two to supplement in 6th grade and will stick with CTY camps in the summers for enrichment but like the 3-minute commute and honors classes.

Ten years ago, when we bought IB, I never dreamed that SH's 6th grade would become 100% IB.

We are also across the street from SH. What CTY camps have you found commutable? Have not figured out how to make those work yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does the Basis list move so much? Where do those kids go after declining a Basis spot?

If everyone is telling me that Basis is more math and Latin is more humanities, how do the two schools maintain those specializations if the prospective students don't really get a chance to pick between them?

Why is Hardy nowhere on the thread if up until a year ago it was mostly OOB? I get that this year 6th great was almost all IB, but why doesn't anyone try to get in? With all the fear about McFarland, is noone on this forum trying to get into Hardy?

Hardy - more IB families are attending, especially from Eaton now that the grandfathering at Deal is a thing of the past. Hardy offers fewer seats in the initial lottery than in the past (~20 vs. ~60 just a couple years ago). They will fill from their waitlist. ANd yes the wait list is pretty long.

BASIS - it's an accelerated curriculum. Students start doing high-school level work in 6th grade (5th is a more standard curriculum). The facilities are not great, and extracurriculars have been limited in the past. That said, there are now inter-scholastic soccer, basketball, flag football, baseball teams, strong dance clubs, debate and a really strong Certamen team. The middle school students produce a musical each year. The homework load is pretty high - at least 60-90 minutes a night/weekend and the high stakes end of the year comprehensive exams can be daunting. It is just not what a lot of families are looking for, or at least not their first choice.

MacFarland is growing, but perhaps not as much with the "gentrifier" crowd.

DCI has taken a couple dozen students (from non-feeders) at 6th each year so some go there.

Slowly Stuart Hobson and Jefferson are becoming more popular with families IB for those schools.

Actually Stuart Hobson has taken off in the last two years under a new head who has added honors classes, and established a good system for entry to them. There were no OOB 6th grade spots auctioned off this year. Five years ago, most of the Cluster MS spots were auctioned off. Hobson and Jefferson just aren't in the same category.

Hobson definitely has more rich and white families, but the test scores are quite similar and JA also differentiates--go talk to the principal about it if you're interested. He's taught at the school and served as AP so he knows it well.

PARCC 4+ ELA: JA 32%, SH 45%
PARCC 4+ Math: JA 18%, SH 22%

PARCC 3+ ELA: JA 61%, SH 71%
PARCC 3+ Math: JA 46%, SH 44% (that's right, JA is higher)

Median Growth Percentile ELA: JA 64, SH 66
MGP Math: JA 44, SH 34

These are not enormous differences, especially considering that JA is 59% at-risk and SH is 29% at-risk. If it's important to you that your kid attends a middle school that's 83% black instead of 93% that's fine, and if you live IB for SH I get why it's more convenient to go there, but Jefferson is doing some great things and the teachers I know there are very good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's true. Hobson has become much more attractive under the new head.

Our WL number for Latin is hopeless and BASIS is not a good fit for kid. We're IB for the Cluster and now plan to enroll at SH next year.

Might hire a tutor or two to supplement in 6th grade and will stick with CTY camps in the summers for enrichment but like the 3-minute commute and honors classes.

Ten years ago, when we bought IB, I never dreamed that SH's 6th grade would become 100% IB.

We are also across the street from SH. What CTY camps have you found commutable? Have not figured out how to make those work yet.

Kid has to get high enough score on entrance test before you can apply. St Stephens and St. Agnes campus in Alexandria is the nearest CTY site to Cap Hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does the Basis list move so much? Where do those kids go after declining a Basis spot?

If everyone is telling me that Basis is more math and Latin is more humanities, how do the two schools maintain those specializations if the prospective students don't really get a chance to pick between them?

Why is Hardy nowhere on the thread if up until a year ago it was mostly OOB? I get that this year 6th great was almost all IB, but why doesn't anyone try to get in? With all the fear about McFarland, is noone on this forum trying to get into Hardy?

Hardy - more IB families are attending, especially from Eaton now that the grandfathering at Deal is a thing of the past. Hardy offers fewer seats in the initial lottery than in the past (~20 vs. ~60 just a couple years ago). They will fill from their waitlist. ANd yes the wait list is pretty long.

BASIS - it's an accelerated curriculum. Students start doing high-school level work in 6th grade (5th is a more standard curriculum). The facilities are not great, and extracurriculars have been limited in the past. That said, there are now inter-scholastic soccer, basketball, flag football, baseball teams, strong dance clubs, debate and a really strong Certamen team. The middle school students produce a musical each year. The homework load is pretty high - at least 60-90 minutes a night/weekend and the high stakes end of the year comprehensive exams can be daunting. It is just not what a lot of families are looking for, or at least not their first choice.

MacFarland is growing, but perhaps not as much with the "gentrifier" crowd.

DCI has taken a couple dozen students (from non-feeders) at 6th each year so some go there.

Slowly Stuart Hobson and Jefferson are becoming more popular with families IB for those schools.

Actually Stuart Hobson has taken off in the last two years under a new head who has added honors classes, and established a good system for entry to them. There were no OOB 6th grade spots auctioned off this year. Five years ago, most of the Cluster MS spots were auctioned off. Hobson and Jefferson just aren't in the same category.

Hobson definitely has more rich and white families, but the test scores are quite similar and JA also differentiates--go talk to the principal about it if you're interested. He's taught at the school and served as AP so he knows it well.

PARCC 4+ ELA: JA 32%, SH 45%
PARCC 4+ Math: JA 18%, SH 22%

PARCC 3+ ELA: JA 61%, SH 71%
PARCC 3+ Math: JA 46%, SH 44% (that's right, JA is higher)

Median Growth Percentile ELA: JA 64, SH 66
MGP Math: JA 44, SH 34

These are not enormous differences, especially considering that JA is 59% at-risk and SH is 29% at-risk. If it's important to you that your kid attends a middle school that's 83% black instead of 93% that's fine, and if you live IB for SH I get why it's more convenient to go there, but Jefferson is doing some great things and the teachers I know there are very good.

NP. We're IB for Stuart Hobson but at Brent in 4th - lotteried in years back. Our 5th WL numbers for Latin and Basis stink. Will enroll at SH this spring because the program offers bona fide at-grade level classes across the board. JA does not. Would prefer to keep kid with longtime Brent friends but will not do it with classes admitting kids working below grade level and without a good UMC cohort. Not worth it to us. Great teachers and great things are nice but, sorry, high-performing peers are most important to us.

Good luck to the Brent families who move on to JA.

[Anonymous]

Sad but true. Argh.

[Anonymous]

We're at Brent for 5th after striking out spectacularly in Latin lottery two years running. We won't enroll at ANY middle school where our child is in class with a bunch of kids who lack basic skills: not public, not private, not urban, not suburban.

Wish JA was there, but it's not. Maybe it will be in 5 years....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does the Basis list move so much? Where do those kids go after declining a Basis spot?

If everyone is telling me that Basis is more math and Latin is more humanities, how do the two schools maintain those specializations if the prospective students don't really get a chance to pick between them?

Why is Hardy nowhere on the thread if up until a year ago it was mostly OOB? I get that this year 6th great was almost all IB, but why doesn't anyone try to get in? With all the fear about McFarland, is noone on this forum trying to get into Hardy?

Hardy - more IB families are attending, especially from Eaton now that the grandfathering at Deal is a thing of the past. Hardy offers fewer seats in the initial lottery than in the past (~20 vs. ~60 just a couple years ago). They will fill from their waitlist. ANd yes the wait list is pretty long.

BASIS - it's an accelerated curriculum. Students start doing high-school level work in 6th grade (5th is a more standard curriculum). The facilities are not great, and extracurriculars have been limited in the past. That said, there are now inter-scholastic soccer, basketball, flag football, baseball teams, strong dance clubs, debate and a really strong Certamen team. The middle school students produce a musical each year. The homework load is pretty high - at least 60-90 minutes a night/weekend and the high stakes end of the year comprehensive exams can be daunting. It is just not what a lot of families are looking for, or at least not their first choice.

MacFarland is growing, but perhaps not as much with the "gentrifier" crowd.

DCI has taken a couple dozen students (from non-feeders) at 6th each year so some go there.

Slowly Stuart Hobson and Jefferson are becoming more popular with families IB for those schools.

Actually Stuart Hobson has taken off in the last two years under a new head who has added honors classes, and established a good system for entry to them. There were no OOB 6th grade spots auctioned off this year. Five years ago, most of the Cluster MS spots were auctioned off. Hobson and Jefferson just aren't in the same category.

Hobson definitely has more rich and white families, but the test scores are quite similar and JA also differentiates--go talk to the principal about it if you're interested. He's taught at the school and served as AP so he knows it well.

PARCC 4+ ELA: JA 32%, SH 45%
PARCC 4+ Math: JA 18%, SH 22%

PARCC 3+ ELA: JA 61%, SH 71%
PARCC 3+ Math: JA 46%, SH 44% (that's right, JA is higher)

Median Growth Percentile ELA: JA 64, SH 66
MGP Math: JA 44, SH 34

These are not enormous differences, especially considering that JA is 59% at-risk and SH is 29% at-risk. If it's important to you that your kid attends a middle school that's 83% black instead of 93% that's fine, and if you live IB for SH I get why it's more convenient to go there, but Jefferson is doing some great things and the teachers I know there are very good.

NP. We're IB for Stuart Hobson but at Brent in 4th - lotteried in years back. Our 5th WL numbers for Latin and Basis stink. Will enroll at SH this spring because the program offers bona fide at-grade level classes across the board. JA does not. Would prefer to keep kid with longtime Brent friends but will not do it with classes admitting kids working below grade level and without a good UMC cohort. Not worth it to us. Great teachers and great things are nice but, sorry, high-performing peers are most important to us.

Good luck to the Brent families who move on to JA.

If a school where 78% of the kids are scoring a 3 or lower on the math PARCC is that much better to you than a school where 82% are, and you have rights to both of them, then I'm glad you get to make the choice that's right for you. But to say the schools "aren't in the same category" seems a bit of a stretch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's true. Hobson has become much more attractive under the new head.

Our WL number for Latin is hopeless and BASIS is not a good fit for kid. We're IB for the Cluster and now plan to enroll at SH next year.

Might hire a tutor or two to supplement in 6th grade and will stick with CTY camps in the summers for enrichment but like the 3-minute commute and honors classes.

Ten years ago, when we bought IB, I never dreamed that SH's 6th grade would become 100% IB.

I’m sorry. But your last sentence is sorely misinformed. SH is nowhere close to being 100% IB Rather, latest stats show it as being only 25% inbound. Do
you really think the various feeder schools are majority IB? Time to wake up from your dream...

Signed, an IB family at SWS who struck out big time in the lottery for 5th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's true. Hobson has become much more attractive under the new head.

Our WL number for Latin is hopeless and BASIS is not a good fit for kid. We're IB for the Cluster and now plan to enroll at SH next year.

Might hire a tutor or two to supplement in 6th grade and will stick with CTY camps in the summers for enrichment but like the 3-minute commute and honors classes.

Ten years ago, when we bought IB, I never dreamed that SH's 6th grade would become 100% IB.

I’m sorry. But your last sentence is sorely misinformed. SH is nowhere close to being 100% IB Rather, latest stats show it as being only 25% inbound. Do
you really think the various feeder schools are majority IB? Time to wake up from your dream...

Signed, an IB family at SWS who struck out big time in the lottery for 5th.

It may be that it's not 100% IB, but Stuart-Hobson takes hardly any, if any, off the waitlist so it would be fair to say it's 100% IB/feeder. Hardy is also becoming like this, but at least as of a year ago, they were taking a number of students off the waitlist. As the SH feeder schools become more IB so will SH itself - and LT is well on its way. I don't know about JO Wilson.

I'm sorry you had bad lottery luck but I wouldn't think you're so poorly situated when you are IB for Stuart. SWS has sent about 10-12 kids for the past two years to Stuart so your kid would have a group of acquaintances/friends if that trend holds up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does the Basis list move so much? Where do those kids go after declining a Basis spot?

If everyone is telling me that Basis is more math and Latin is more humanities, how do the two schools maintain those specializations if the prospective students don't really get a chance to pick between them?

Why is Hardy nowhere on the thread if up until a year ago it was mostly OOB? I get that this year 6th great was almost all IB, but why doesn't anyone try to get in? With all the fear about McFarland, is noone on this forum trying to get into Hardy?

Hardy - more IB families are attending, especially from Eaton now that the grandfathering at Deal is a thing of the past. Hardy offers fewer seats in the initial lottery than in the past (~20 vs. ~60 just a couple years ago). They will fill from their waitlist. ANd yes the wait list is pretty long.

BASIS - it's an accelerated curriculum. Students start doing high-school level work in 6th grade (5th is a more standard curriculum). The facilities are not great, and extracurriculars have been limited in the past. That said, there are now inter-scholastic soccer, basketball, flag football, baseball teams, strong dance clubs, debate and a really strong Certamen team. The middle school students produce a musical each year. The homework load is pretty high - at least 60-90 minutes a night/weekend and the high stakes end of the year comprehensive exams can be daunting. It is just not what a lot of families are looking for, or at least not their first choice.

MacFarland is growing, but perhaps not as much with the "gentrifier" crowd.

DCI has taken a couple dozen students (from non-feeders) at 6th each year so some go there.

Slowly Stuart Hobson and Jefferson are becoming more popular with families IB for those schools.

Actually Stuart Hobson has taken off in the last two years under a new head who has added honors classes, and established a good system for entry to them. There were no OOB 6th grade spots auctioned off this year. Five years ago, most of the Cluster MS spots were auctioned off. Hobson and Jefferson just aren't in the same category.

Hobson definitely has more rich and white families, but the test scores are quite similar and JA also differentiates--go talk to the principal about it if you're interested. He's taught at the school and served as AP so he knows it well.

PARCC 4+ ELA: JA 32%, SH 45%
PARCC 4+ Math: JA 18%, SH 22%

PARCC 3+ ELA: JA 61%, SH 71%
PARCC 3+ Math: JA 46%, SH 44% (that's right, JA is higher)

Median Growth Percentile ELA: JA 64, SH 66
MGP Math: JA 44, SH 34

These are not enormous differences, especially considering that JA is 59% at-risk and SH is 29% at-risk. If it's important to you that your kid attends a middle school that's 83% black instead of 93% that's fine, and if you live IB for SH I get why it's more convenient to go there, but Jefferson is doing some great things and the teachers I know there are very good.

NP. We're IB for Stuart Hobson but at Brent in 4th - lotteried in years back. Our 5th WL numbers for Latin and Basis stink. Will enroll at SH this spring because the program offers bona fide at-grade level classes across the board. JA does not. Would prefer to keep kid with longtime Brent friends but will not do it with classes admitting kids working below grade level and without a good UMC cohort. Not worth it to us. Great teachers and great things are nice but, sorry, high-performing peers are most important to us.

Good luck to the Brent families who move on to JA.

If a school where 78% of the kids are scoring a 3 or lower on the math PARCC is that much better to you than a school where 82% are, and you have rights to both of them, then I'm glad you get to make the choice that's right for you. But to say the schools "aren't in the same category" seems a bit of a stretch.

These are the middle schools where more than 10 kids per grade score a 5 on the PARCC — Basis, Deal, DCI, Hardy, Oyster Adams, Stuart Hobson, Latin. That’s a cohort of kids that are high performing. I’m less worried that SH also has low performing kids than I am that my smart kid will be an outlier and not challenged by teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're at Brent for 5th after striking out spectacularly in Latin lottery two years running. We won't enroll at ANY middle school where our child is in class with a bunch of kids who lack basic skills: not public, not private, not urban, not suburban.

Wish JA was there, but it's not. Maybe it will be in 5 years....

You realize Latin has kids who lack basic skillls too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any idea how much Latin’s waitlist moves? Got a waitlist number in the teens which is good but not sure how much it’s worth thinking about so curious on history

Last 4 years it has ranged from 8 people getting calls to as many as 18.

[Anonymous]

Who cares what the IB percentage is at SH. or about test scores. I care about what goes on in the honors classes and they seem pretty good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at Brent for 5th after striking out spectacularly in Latin lottery two years running. We won't enroll at ANY middle school where our child is in class with a bunch of kids who lack basic skills: not public, not private, not urban, not suburban.

Wish JA was there, but it's not. Maybe it will be in 5 years....

You realize Latin has kids who lack basic skillls too.

Come on, hardly any kids who lack basic skills left in the heavily gentrified Latin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at Brent for 5th after striking out spectacularly in Latin lottery two years running. We won't enroll at ANY middle school where our child is in class with a bunch of kids who lack basic skills: not public, not private, not urban, not suburban.

Wish JA was there, but it's not. Maybe it will be in 5 years....

You realize Latin has kids who lack basic skillls too.

Come on, hardly any kids who lack basic skills left in the heavily gentrified Latin.

15% of Latin middle schoolers scored 1 or 2 on ELA; 22% scored 1 or 2 in Math