SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?

[Anonymous]

So many entitled know-it-alls on here, makes me wonder what your kids are like

[Anonymous]

It is ridiculous that rich people who send their kids to private schools also have access to public schools. How is that fair that they can get free education when they can afford to pay $50K? While we are at it, why do they get to use public pools and parks? Surely they can afford to go to their elitist private pools and join clubs or gyms for exercise! And how about the library? Hard working poor people need free access to literature but these fat cats can afford to just buy whatever they want to read! And fire trucks shouldn't be able to service rich houses either! Responding to a fire in a rich neighborhood could tie up resources that might be needed for the less fortunate. The private school elite can buy their own fire services, or just buy everything new again when it burns down!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is ridiculous that rich people who send their kids to private schools also have access to public schools. How is that fair that they can get free education when they can afford to pay $50K? While we are at it, why do they get to use public pools and parks? Surely they can afford to go to their elitist private pools and join clubs or gyms for exercise! And how about the library? Hard working poor people need free access to literature but these fat cats can afford to just buy whatever they want to read! And fire trucks shouldn't be able to service rich houses either! Responding to a fire in a rich neighborhood could tie up resources that might be needed for the less fortunate. The private school elite can buy their own fire services, or just buy everything new again when it burns down!

Rich people pay taxes too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents are sh*tting on a parent of an otherwise qualified kid who didn’t get an interview just because the kid climbed Mount Kilimanjaro but no one is saying that this climb makes the kid qualified.

The fact is that the Walls admissions process is not only opaque, subjective, and unfair but absurd. Two teacher recommendations--graded subjectively by overworked Walls admissions staff--count three times more than GPA. And a three-question interview (“Pick a number between 1 and 20”) and one paragraph “essay”--the interview graded by a Walls teenager and Walls staff member and the “essay” graded by admission staff--count for six times more than GPA.

No magnet school outside of DC has an admissions process even remotely as dumb as this.

And the results are already in: Last year, over 30% of Walls 9th graders scored below grade level in math on the PARCC.

Does anyone seriously think that the Walls admissions process is selecting the top students in the application pool?

Wondering: Where are you getting this information? PARCC tests algebra or geometry specifically, not "grade level" for 9th graders.

If you go to the OSSE spreadsheets, you can pull the pass rate for all students enrolled in any given grade at any given school, regardless of which math PARCC they took. But if you believe that it’s better for a 9th grader to fail the Geometry exam than to pass the Algebra I exam, then the overall pass rate isn’t meaningful.

This is only as accurate as the number of 9th graders who take Algebra and/or Geometry. My kid started at Walls Pre-Calc and a number of their classmates started with Algebra II. PARCC doesn't test beyond Geometry so any 9th graders on an advanced math track would not be included in the stats above - rather than saying 30%. of Walls 9th graders scored below. grade level in math on the PARCC it would be more accurate to say 30% of 9th graders in Algebra I and/or Geometry.

Algebra II and Pre Calc are the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can I ask, for those who regularly travel around these areas, is it hard to get to Dunbar, or is that just my impression?

I usually go in/out of DC along 16th and Georgia and related corridors and it seems to me that getting from NE down North Capitol or NJ or 1st or whatever to Dunbar is not easy. Is there a Metro near there or anything? Is there any bus line that can take you there?

It just seems to me - no specific knowledge, just 30 years as a DC resident - that if there wasn't a high school already where Dunbar is, that it wouldn't be the place we would choose to site one. (Not that good sites are chosen - MacArthur's location is insane.)

But can anybody share on that? And does it affect where NE kids actually choose to go to high school?

It's bizarre that you think there isn't a bus line. The 80 runs right down North Capitol only a block or two away. The P6 goes along K. The G8 would be a little more of a walk but is totally doable for a kid that age.

To answer PP's question without condescension... Yes, its location is an historical artifact. If you were building today for Dunbar's catchment area you would put the school somewhere else, probably in Brookland. Here's a map.

https://dmv.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Dunbar%20HS.pdf

That said, Dunbar has a magnificent building on a very valuable piece of real estate. It would be a better location for a school attracting kids from all over the city, however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents are sh*tting on a parent of an otherwise qualified kid who didn’t get an interview just because the kid climbed Mount Kilimanjaro but no one is saying that this climb makes the kid qualified.

The fact is that the Walls admissions process is not only opaque, subjective, and unfair but absurd. Two teacher recommendations--graded subjectively by overworked Walls admissions staff--count three times more than GPA. And a three-question interview (“Pick a number between 1 and 20”) and one paragraph “essay”--the interview graded by a Walls teenager and Walls staff member and the “essay” graded by admission staff--count for six times more than GPA.

No magnet school outside of DC has an admissions process even remotely as dumb as this.

And the results are already in: Last year, over 30% of Walls 9th graders scored below grade level in math on the PARCC.

Does anyone seriously think that the Walls admissions process is selecting the top students in the application pool?

Wondering: Where are you getting this information? PARCC tests algebra or geometry specifically, not "grade level" for 9th graders.

If you go to the OSSE spreadsheets, you can pull the pass rate for all students enrolled in any given grade at any given school, regardless of which math PARCC they took. But if you believe that it’s better for a 9th grader to fail the Geometry exam than to pass the Algebra I exam, then the overall pass rate isn’t meaningful.

This is only as accurate as the number of 9th graders who take Algebra and/or Geometry. My kid started at Walls Pre-Calc and a number of their classmates started with Algebra II. PARCC doesn't test beyond Geometry so any 9th graders on an advanced math track would not be included in the stats above - rather than saying 30%. of Walls 9th graders scored below. grade level in math on the PARCC it would be more accurate to say 30% of 9th graders in Algebra I and/or Geometry.

Algebra II and Pre Calc are the same thing.

No. Match sequence in DCPS is Algebra I (one year); Geometry (1 year); Algebra II (1 year); then Pre calc, which is trig (plus other stuff, but focus on trigonometry)

[Anonymous]

Math not match!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents are sh*tting on a parent of an otherwise qualified kid who didn’t get an interview just because the kid climbed Mount Kilimanjaro but no one is saying that this climb makes the kid qualified.

The fact is that the Walls admissions process is not only opaque, subjective, and unfair but absurd. Two teacher recommendations--graded subjectively by overworked Walls admissions staff--count three times more than GPA. And a three-question interview (“Pick a number between 1 and 20”) and one paragraph “essay”--the interview graded by a Walls teenager and Walls staff member and the “essay” graded by admission staff--count for six times more than GPA.

No magnet school outside of DC has an admissions process even remotely as dumb as this.

And the results are already in: Last year, over 30% of Walls 9th graders scored below grade level in math on the PARCC.

Does anyone seriously think that the Walls admissions process is selecting the top students in the application pool?

Wondering: Where are you getting this information? PARCC tests algebra or geometry specifically, not "grade level" for 9th graders.

If you go to the OSSE spreadsheets, you can pull the pass rate for all students enrolled in any given grade at any given school, regardless of which math PARCC they took. But if you believe that it’s better for a 9th grader to fail the Geometry exam than to pass the Algebra I exam, then the overall pass rate isn’t meaningful.

This is only as accurate as the number of 9th graders who take Algebra and/or Geometry. My kid started at Walls Pre-Calc and a number of their classmates started with Algebra II. PARCC doesn't test beyond Geometry so any 9th graders on an advanced math track would not be included in the stats above - rather than saying 30%. of Walls 9th graders scored below. grade level in math on the PARCC it would be more accurate to say 30% of 9th graders in Algebra I and/or Geometry.

Algebra II and Pre Calc are the same thing.

No. Match sequence in DCPS is Algebra I (one year); Geometry (1 year); Algebra II (1 year); then Pre calc, which is trig (plus other stuff, but focus on trigonometry)

That is the course sequence, yes. But in spring 2023, DCPS 9th graders taking Algebra II and Precalc (and beyond) all took the Algebra II PARCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is ridiculous that rich people who send their kids to private schools also have access to public schools. How is that fair that they can get free education when they can afford to pay $50K? While we are at it, why do they get to use public pools and parks? Surely they can afford to go to their elitist private pools and join clubs or gyms for exercise! And how about the library? Hard working poor people need free access to literature but these fat cats can afford to just buy whatever they want to read! And fire trucks shouldn't be able to service rich houses either! Responding to a fire in a rich neighborhood could tie up resources that might be needed for the less fortunate. The private school elite can buy their own fire services, or just buy everything new again when it burns down!

Rich people pay taxes too.

I take it that the post you were responding to was an attempt at sarcasm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents are sh*tting on a parent of an otherwise qualified kid who didn’t get an interview just because the kid climbed Mount Kilimanjaro but no one is saying that this climb makes the kid qualified.

The fact is that the Walls admissions process is not only opaque, subjective, and unfair but absurd. Two teacher recommendations--graded subjectively by overworked Walls admissions staff--count three times more than GPA. And a three-question interview (“Pick a number between 1 and 20”) and one paragraph “essay”--the interview graded by a Walls teenager and Walls staff member and the “essay” graded by admission staff--count for six times more than GPA.

No magnet school outside of DC has an admissions process even remotely as dumb as this.

And the results are already in: Last year, over 30% of Walls 9th graders scored below grade level in math on the PARCC.

Does anyone seriously think that the Walls admissions process is selecting the top students in the application pool?

Wondering: Where are you getting this information? PARCC tests algebra or geometry specifically, not "grade level" for 9th graders.

If you go to the OSSE spreadsheets, you can pull the pass rate for all students enrolled in any given grade at any given school, regardless of which math PARCC they took. But if you believe that it’s better for a 9th grader to fail the Geometry exam than to pass the Algebra I exam, then the overall pass rate isn’t meaningful.

This is only as accurate as the number of 9th graders who take Algebra and/or Geometry. My kid started at Walls Pre-Calc and a number of their classmates started with Algebra II. PARCC doesn't test beyond Geometry so any 9th graders on an advanced math track would not be included in the stats above - rather than saying 30%. of Walls 9th graders scored below. grade level in math on the PARCC it would be more accurate to say 30% of 9th graders in Algebra I and/or Geometry.

Algebra II and Pre Calc are the same thing.

No. Match sequence in DCPS is Algebra I (one year); Geometry (1 year); Algebra II (1 year); then Pre calc, which is trig (plus other stuff, but focus on trigonometry)

That is the course sequence, yes. But in spring 2023, DCPS 9th graders taking Algebra II and Precalc (and beyond) all took the Algebra II PARCC.

Not PP, but, whoah! This maybe explains something I was trying to figure out. Is this written down somewhere? What about the 10th graders? Was this different at different schools? Has this changed? Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is ridiculous that rich people who send their kids to private schools also have access to public schools. How is that fair that they can get free education when they can afford to pay $50K? While we are at it, why do they get to use public pools and parks? Surely they can afford to go to their elitist private pools and join clubs or gyms for exercise! And how about the library? Hard working poor people need free access to literature but these fat cats can afford to just buy whatever they want to read! And fire trucks shouldn't be able to service rich houses either! Responding to a fire in a rich neighborhood could tie up resources that might be needed for the less fortunate. The private school elite can buy their own fire services, or just buy everything new again when it burns down!

Rich people pay taxes too.

I take it that the post you were responding to was an attempt at sarcasm

Yeah, which rich people? We do know about the regressive nature of the tax system, yes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can I ask, for those who regularly travel around these areas, is it hard to get to Dunbar, or is that just my impression?

I usually go in/out of DC along 16th and Georgia and related corridors and it seems to me that getting from NE down North Capitol or NJ or 1st or whatever to Dunbar is not easy. Is there a Metro near there or anything? Is there any bus line that can take you there?

It just seems to me - no specific knowledge, just 30 years as a DC resident - that if there wasn't a high school already where Dunbar is, that it wouldn't be the place we would choose to site one. (Not that good sites are chosen - MacArthur's location is insane.)

But can anybody share on that? And does it affect where NE kids actually choose to go to high school?

It's bizarre that you think there isn't a bus line. The 80 runs right down North Capitol only a block or two away. The P6 goes along K. The G8 would be a little more of a walk but is totally doable for a kid that age.

To answer PP's question without condescension... Yes, its location is an historical artifact. If you were building today for Dunbar's catchment area you would put the school somewhere else, probably in Brookland. Here's a map.

https://dmv.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Dunbar%20HS.pdf

That said, Dunbar has a magnificent building on a very valuable piece of real estate. It would be a better location for a school attracting kids from all over the city, however.

It used to be that McKinley was an in-boundary school, so many kids went there instead of Dunbar. Spingarn was also an operational school back then, kids zoned for Eastern would have gone there but maybe kids from the current Dunbar area too. Armstrong (currently Friendship Armstrong) was a "manual training school", and there was M St High School (aka Perry School). It would be nice to have a high school in the Brookland neighborhood-- until 5 or 6 years ago there was a charter Washington Math and Science, which failed financially. That area is home to a lot of Catholic schools which I suppose lessens the push for a public high school.

[Anonymous]

My kid didn't get an interview but hardly any of his (high-achieving) friends did either, so I'm kind of psyched that he might have lots of friends headed to JR with him.

[Anonymous]

I was the guy with the prior Q about Dunbar accessibility to NE students. And I didn't know about the 80s bus! I've never had to take it. Thanks for filling me in.

[Anonymous]

Not PP, but, whoah! This maybe explains something I was trying to figure out. Is this written down somewhere?

Not to my knowledge. My kid was affected, so it was explained to them at school, and it makes sense with the OSSE data.

What about the 10th graders?

10th graders who have already taken the Algebra II PARCC don’t repeat it. I’m not sure about 10th graders enrolled in Algebra II.

Was this different at different schools?

This is a DCPS-level policy. Other LEAs have their own policies.

Has this changed?

Yes. This policy was new with the spring 23 PARCC. In prior years, DCPS had all kids take the PARCC for the math course they were enrolled in. This meant that many of the strongest math students never took a math PARCC in high school, which artificially deflated high school math proficiency rates. The biggest effect was at Walls, followed by JR. Predictably, with this policy change, overall math proficiency rates went up at both schools, JR from 18% to 25% and Walls from 55% to 67%.

Thank you!

You’re welcome!