SSSAS Upper School
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Anonymous
It's so nuanced that it's too difficult to articulate in this type of forum. Conventional wisdom would suggest that if numerous kids have always had good grades in English and suddenly all have bad grades with a certain new teacher, it's not the kids. Their peers who have other teachers are getting good grades and by all accounts are being graded differently, or at least in a timely manner. This is a huge deal when you are paying this amount of tuition and a new teacher literally has the power to eliminate college options for your child. |
Anonymous
200k for high school and your kid gets their GPA destroyed at one of the few privates known for inflation. |
Anonymous
I don't think we're talking about the same teacher. The grades aren't being recorded. Assignments are being lost. There are a lot of kids who have been at the school for many years without issues and parents who have never complained about a teacher but they are now. |
Anonymous
Right. you can now get into GMU and VCU if you have a 3.5 which is relatively easy at a public school. |
Anonymous
| meant guaranteed admission at those schools |
Anonymous
If getting a B instead of an A in freshman English will “eliminate college options” you might be a little over the top. |
Anonymous
| English teacher is awful. My child is basically taking a year off of English in addition to having their GPA ruined unfairly. HOS’s son also has the same English teacher so hopefully she’s enjoying the same experience. |
Anonymous
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I suspect any issue with the English teacher will be addressed. The Administration is generally very responsive. SSSAS deserves credit for taking ChatGPT on directly. Lots of other privates (and publics and colleges) are putting their heads in the sand. I have no information on that teacher/class/issue, but High school English has always been bumpy as honors teachers push students to analyze and write. Whether or not students previously relied upon ChatGPT (or help from parents), in-class essay writing is probably where they are going to run into trouble.
SSSAS Academics are on par with other schools. Our kids have graduated from a "Top 3 private", a high-end public and SSSAS. Without a doubt, the happiest with their experience was the SSSAS student. In our experience, the most challenging courses at SSSAS (starting in 10th grade through 12th grade) are on par with courses at the Top 3 Private and high-end public. Our SSSAS DC was eligible for more college credit than their siblings and more credit than they could ever use at their college of choice. (Many colleges are offering less and less credit.) Each of our DC have seen great continuity between their high school and college learning. Finally, the incidence of transcendent classroom experiences was probably the same in all three school systems, meaning their are great teachers everywhere. The only notable difference was a couple of disastrous public school teachers. Our DC at SSSAS had a wonderful experience in each class, including English. In particular, DC's writing, which was already at a high level improved tremendously. The math department also deserves a special shout-out for its continuity, rigor, and success in preparing kids. Part of what makes SSSAS different is that, along with the most challenging courses, there are others that are less rigorous. Personally, I can't imagine dropping $200K on four years of high school to not take the most challenging classes, but every kid, family and situation is different. Having parented high schoolers for 7+ years and seen it from the inside out, I can say that the mode SSSAS students are generally less stressed, happier, and more comfortable in their own skin than their peers at high-end publics publics and "top" privates. SSSAS students do not attend Ivies at the same rate as their peers at "Top 3 Privates", but I would imagine that the outcomes for non-legacy students with rigorous course loads are probably about the same. Children of Ivy alums enjoy at least a 10X advantage in admissions (around 35-40% of Harvard students are legacies) I couldn't tell you where most of the SSSAS parents we know went to college, but the license plate holders, sweatshirts, ties and cocktail party banter at the Top 3 left no doubt as to each parent's alma mater. No school is a golden ticket. Choose the school that will make your kid happy, not make you proud of your car magnet. |
Anonymous
| This English teacher is new this year. I’m certain the school did not want a crappy English teacher, and now they’re not sure what to do. Trying to work with the teacher. Kids upset, Parents upset, and no good solution in sight. I laughed when I dropped my child off this morning and saw it was a shadow day. Bet no shadows are going in that class! |
Anonymous
| How is science in the 9th grade? My DD is really interested in science but I don't want a negative experience to scare her off of that track. |
Anonymous
My DD is a math kid more than science but she’s enjoying physics well enough so far. She loves her teacher. His policy (and I’m assuming it’s department policy, but we’re new this year, so I don’t know for sure) is that kids can turn in test corrections for partial credit back (about 1/3 of the points they missed), which I think is a great balance to encourage review and continued learning without making test scores meaningless through retakes. They’ve done some fun labs and projects so far. |
Anonymous
I can only assume that the administration does not see a significant problem with this English teacher as they have not yet dismissed them, but did swiftly dismiss the newly hired math teacher. |
Anonymous
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The teacher has integrity! Have you seen 9th grade writing samples recently? My guess is the grades are accurate.
Tell the kids to dig deep and grow their skills. Stop bothering the teacher. Let her do her job and trust the school to make the proper assessment, and take necessary action. They are the ones most qualified to do that. Mallett knows what he is doing. Not his first rodeo. |
Anonymous
| Actually, we haven’t because nothing is graded within a month. Hold my beer. |
Anonymous
You could have left last year. |