Walls- Is it really as great as people say

[Anonymous]

Right.

10 went to an Ivy, mostly Cornell and Penn. 1 to Stanford.

That is 6-7% of the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My guess is that if you took the top 150 kids from J-R and the W schools, you'd see the same list as posted above...the point being, this is a self-selected group of kids whose performance may have little to do with the quality of Walls as a school.

And I assume the point would also be that those 150 kids at JR and the W schools are successful and their performance has little to do with the quality of the schools. So no school is good, it doesn’t matter where those top kids go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is that if you took the top 150 kids from J-R and the W schools, you'd see the same list as posted above...the point being, this is a self-selected group of kids whose performance may have little to do with the quality of Walls as a school.

And I assume the point would also be that those 150 kids at JR and the W schools are successful and their performance has little to do with the quality of the schools. So no school is good, it doesn’t matter where those top kids go.

Kind of. The point is if you have an average kid, getting them into Walls won’t make them Ivy material. And if you have a strong kid who doesn’t get into Walls because the admissions process is fluky, it’s not the end of the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is that if you took the top 150 kids from J-R and the W schools, you'd see the same list as posted above...the point being, this is a self-selected group of kids whose performance may have little to do with the quality of Walls as a school.

And I assume the point would also be that those 150 kids at JR and the W schools are successful and their performance has little to do with the quality of the schools. So no school is good, it doesn’t matter where those top kids go.

Kind of. The point is if you have an average kid, getting them into Walls won’t make them Ivy material. And if you have a strong kid who doesn’t get into Walls because the admissions process is fluky, it’s not the end of the world.

I appreciate this perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s only “great” as compared to the other DCPS high schools. And with a cherry-picked cohort of on-grade, motivated kids it should be the best HS in DC. But, it would really only be considered a normal, average school in most upper middle class suburbs.

I don't think this is true - your "normal, average" school, even in an upper middle class suburb, is going to have plenty of not particularly bright and/or disruptive kids. Walls biggest strength is the (almost) uniformly high-achieving cohort. The disruptive kids have been (for the most part) weeded out (I think disruptive kids have a hard time achieving a 3.9 GPA (application cut off last year) in middle school, even if they are super bright). So Walls is chock full of high-achieving kids who want to get straight As and who toe the line, for the most part. Probably why lots of teachers want to teach there.

Of course. But the quality of education the smart kids receive in an upper middle class HS is equivalent to what every SWW kids gets. There is no magic in the SWW formula other than being self selecting and weeding out the unmotivated kids. That’s the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s only “great” as compared to the other DCPS high schools. And with a cherry-picked cohort of on-grade, motivated kids it should be the best HS in DC. But, it would really only be considered a normal, average school in most upper middle class suburbs.

I don't think this is true - your "normal, average" school, even in an upper middle class suburb, is going to have plenty of not particularly bright and/or disruptive kids. Walls biggest strength is the (almost) uniformly high-achieving cohort. The disruptive kids have been (for the most part) weeded out (I think disruptive kids have a hard time achieving a 3.9 GPA (application cut off last year) in middle school, even if they are super bright). So Walls is chock full of high-achieving kids who want to get straight As and who toe the line, for the most part. Probably why lots of teachers want to teach there.

Of course. But the quality of education the smart kids receive in an upper middle class HS is equivalent to what every SWW kids gets. There is no magic in the SWW formula other than being self selecting and weeding out the unmotivated kids. That’s the point.

Sure - but don't underestimate how huge this is - makes for a really great school environment for your motivated/smart kid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s only “great” as compared to the other DCPS high schools. And with a cherry-picked cohort of on-grade, motivated kids it should be the best HS in DC. But, it would really only be considered a normal, average school in most upper middle class suburbs.

I don't think this is true - your "normal, average" school, even in an upper middle class suburb, is going to have plenty of not particularly bright and/or disruptive kids. Walls biggest strength is the (almost) uniformly high-achieving cohort. The disruptive kids have been (for the most part) weeded out (I think disruptive kids have a hard time achieving a 3.9 GPA (application cut off last year) in middle school, even if they are super bright). So Walls is chock full of high-achieving kids who want to get straight As and who toe the line, for the most part. Probably why lots of teachers want to teach there.

Of course. But the quality of education the smart kids receive in an upper middle class HS is equivalent to what every SWW kids gets. There is no magic in the SWW formula other than being self selecting and weeding out the unmotivated kids. That’s the point.

Sure - but don't underestimate how huge this is - makes for a really great school environment for your motivated/smart kid!

The number of people who underestimate the benefits of surrounding their kid with motivated, at grade level peers = 0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right.

10 went to an Ivy, mostly Cornell and Penn. 1 to Stanford.

That is 6-7% of the class.

One of the c/o 2023 students who went to Penn was both a legacy and an URM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right.

10 went to an Ivy, mostly Cornell and Penn. 1 to Stanford.

That is 6-7% of the class.

One of the c/o 2023 students who went to Penn was both a legacy and an URM.

Most were URM and/or legacy.

That is DMV admissions to the Ivy League nowadays.

We’ll see how that develops as the post-admissions-exam Walls admittees advance and colleges respond to the Supreme Court’s Harvard/UNC decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s only “great” as compared to the other DCPS high schools. And with a cherry-picked cohort of on-grade, motivated kids it should be the best HS in DC. But, it would really only be considered a normal, average school in most upper middle class suburbs.

I don't think this is true - your "normal, average" school, even in an upper middle class suburb, is going to have plenty of not particularly bright and/or disruptive kids. Walls biggest strength is the (almost) uniformly high-achieving cohort. The disruptive kids have been (for the most part) weeded out (I think disruptive kids have a hard time achieving a 3.9 GPA (application cut off last year) in middle school, even if they are super bright). So Walls is chock full of high-achieving kids who want to get straight As and who toe the line, for the most part. Probably why lots of teachers want to teach there.

Of course. But the quality of education the smart kids receive in an upper middle class HS is equivalent to what every SWW kids gets. There is no magic in the SWW formula other than being self selecting and weeding out the unmotivated kids. That’s the point.

Sure - but don't underestimate how huge this is - makes for a really great school environment for your motivated/smart kid!

But also recognize the downsides of a school with fewer clubs/opportunities…I have (equally smart) kids at Walks and J-R and there are pros and cons to each school. My DC at Walls would have hated the crowds and chaos at J-R…it doesn’t phase my J-R kid in the least and it hey would have hated the insular feel of Walls. FWIW, after 9th grade, the workload has been comparable at both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s only “great” as compared to the other DCPS high schools. And with a cherry-picked cohort of on-grade, motivated kids it should be the best HS in DC. But, it would really only be considered a normal, average school in most upper middle class suburbs.

DCPS for whatever reason has decided that their application schools will be "better" than comprehensive schools, but not even close to the magnet programs in the area.

If you look at TJ, it of course pulls the best-and-brightest, but also provides the best facilities/resources of any public school in NoVa and offers courses and activities that none of the NoVA publich HSs come close to matching. Walls arguably has some of the worst facilities, or more accurately no facilities.

That said, Walls is also an outlier for the area. I am not aware of any non-STEM magnet schools in our area. Walls definitely offers STEM classes, but it is not the reason for its existence like TJ, Blair Magnet, Poolesville Magnet, etc.

I know Walls had a very progressive reason for its existence when it was founded. It was supposed to incorporate experiential learning as core to the process...i.e., we are learning about US Government, let's go to the US Capitol right now and see Congress in action...it was supposed to be a School Without Walls. It is now a very traditional school.

This is interesting.

Is there any movement to get back to that experiential model?

[Anonymous]

This conversation is a weird one to me. OP started it by asking if Walls is so great. That somehow devolved into how many kids got into/go to Ivies from Walls, as if that's the measure of a good school. But it got me thinking, at the private HS that I attended, we had not a single kid go to an Ivy League school. It just feels a bit warped to be like, this public high school in Washington DC ONLY sends about a dozen kids to Ivies in a year. And the kids they send are only URM or hooked. I'm not sure if the comments are coming from the private sector forum parents trying to justify their decisions, or the same poster who keeps commenting on every Walls post about how all their son's brilliant friends who are now at Sidwell and Gonzaga are doing just fine but couldn't get into Walls.

Either way, it seems pretty great to me that a public school in DC is sending any kids to Ivies. And for those who care about such things, that seems like an indicator of a good school.

I can't answer whether Walls is a great as everyone says since there's an equal number of haters as those who boost it. From my vantage point, it's a great public school option that, as previous posters have said, puts a select group of smart, motivated kids all together. Peers mattered a lot in my education experience and I think that is a pretty significant measure to consider. We've been happy with the teachers and activities available to our child. And they are enjoying the school and environment. They love being in a more urban setting in Foggy Bottom and the independence that that entails.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This conversation is a weird one to me. OP started it by asking if Walls is so great. That somehow devolved into how many kids got into/go to Ivies from Walls, as if that's the measure of a good school. But it got me thinking, at the private HS that I attended, we had not a single kid go to an Ivy League school. It just feels a bit warped to be like, this public high school in Washington DC ONLY sends about a dozen kids to Ivies in a year. And the kids they send are only URM or hooked. I'm not sure if the comments are coming from the private sector forum parents trying to justify their decisions, or the same poster who keeps commenting on every Walls post about how all their son's brilliant friends who are now at Sidwell and Gonzaga are doing just fine but couldn't get into Walls.

Either way, it seems pretty great to me that a public school in DC is sending any kids to Ivies. And for those who care about such things, that seems like an indicator of a good school.

I can't answer whether Walls is a great as everyone says since there's an equal number of haters as those who boost it. From my vantage point, it's a great public school option that, as previous posters have said, puts a select group of smart, motivated kids all together. Peers mattered a lot in my education experience and I think that is a pretty significant measure to consider. We've been happy with the teachers and activities available to our child. And they are enjoying the school and environment. They love being in a more urban setting in Foggy Bottom and the independence that that entails.

You attended a private school that didn’t send a single student to an Ivy? You attended a mediocre private school. I can see why you think Walls is great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s only “great” as compared to the other DCPS high schools. And with a cherry-picked cohort of on-grade, motivated kids it should be the best HS in DC. But, it would really only be considered a normal, average school in most upper middle class suburbs.

DCPS for whatever reason has decided that their application schools will be "better" than comprehensive schools, but not even close to the magnet programs in the area.

If you look at TJ, it of course pulls the best-and-brightest, but also provides the best facilities/resources of any public school in NoVa and offers courses and activities that none of the NoVA publich HSs come close to matching. Walls arguably has some of the worst facilities, or more accurately no facilities.

That said, Walls is also an outlier for the area. I am not aware of any non-STEM magnet schools in our area. Walls definitely offers STEM classes, but it is not the reason for its existence like TJ, Blair Magnet, Poolesville Magnet, etc.

I know Walls had a very progressive reason for its existence when it was founded. It was supposed to incorporate experiential learning as core to the process...i.e., we are learning about US Government, let's go to the US Capitol right now and see Congress in action...it was supposed to be a School Without Walls. It is now a very traditional school.

This is interesting.

Is there any movement to get back to that experiential model?

I haven’t heard of any, but since dropping the (math heavy) entrance exam I think they have been emphasizing the “humanities” part of their mission statement more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This conversation is a weird one to me. OP started it by asking if Walls is so great. That somehow devolved into how many kids got into/go to Ivies from Walls, as if that's the measure of a good school. But it got me thinking, at the private HS that I attended, we had not a single kid go to an Ivy League school. It just feels a bit warped to be like, this public high school in Washington DC ONLY sends about a dozen kids to Ivies in a year. And the kids they send are only URM or hooked. I'm not sure if the comments are coming from the private sector forum parents trying to justify their decisions, or the same poster who keeps commenting on every Walls post about how all their son's brilliant friends who are now at Sidwell and Gonzaga are doing just fine but couldn't get into Walls.

Either way, it seems pretty great to me that a public school in DC is sending any kids to Ivies. And for those who care about such things, that seems like an indicator of a good school.

I can't answer whether Walls is a great as everyone says since there's an equal number of haters as those who boost it. From my vantage point, it's a great public school option that, as previous posters have said, puts a select group of smart, motivated kids all together. Peers mattered a lot in my education experience and I think that is a pretty significant measure to consider. We've been happy with the teachers and activities available to our child. And they are enjoying the school and environment. They love being in a more urban setting in Foggy Bottom and the independence that that entails.

You attended a private school that didn’t send a single student to an Ivy? You attended a mediocre private school. I can see why you think Walls is great.

Is that all you have to offer? Move along troll.