High school shutouts-- what's the plan?

[Anonymous]

1. Regarding large MCPS schools: my kids attended/attend two large public high schools in MCPS, Walter Johnson and Bethesda - Chevy Chase. They have never been shut out from any class they wanted, or had any trouble navigating such environments, even my kid with special needs who had an IEP from K to 11th grade (BTW, his IEP teams were great in elementary, middle and high school!). Oldest took 12 APs, youngest is taking 14. My oldest is a freshman at a large private university and felt at home immediately, since he comes from a large public school.

2. We know kids in MD, NoVa and DC public schools, and kids in top DC privates. It's clear to me that the best FCPS and MCPS high schools rival the top DC privates for instruction, with the following caveat: English writing and literature is much better taught in private, and STEM level is much higher in public (particularly public magnets such as TJ and Blair, but public FCPS and MCPS do a great job as well). No other public school system in the greater DC region even comes close to FCPS and MCPS. There are problems everywhere, obviously. But in general, this is true.

3. You need to take a good hard look at your finances. With the exorbitant cost of college these days, it might be worth your while to move for in-state tuition before your kids get to the end of high school. And that's whether or not DCPS is objectively worse than other public school systems!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have close friends and relatives with teens in schools in Fairfax, Arlington and MoCo. The friends became our pals in our DCPS ES. It's clear to me that there really isn't any comparison between dysfunctional, low-capacity, ambition challenged DCPS and the high-capacity school systems in the burbs. For starters, those counties support advanced programs for ES and MS. They track academically in middle school in all core subjects by 7th grade. They also run serious test-in HS programs, mostly the school-within-a-school type. Parents in those school systems grumble on these threads because it's all relative - they haven't experienced DCPS middle or high school chaos and ad hocery.

Cool anecdote. You're wildly incorrect, but cool anecdote.

NP. Wildly incorrect? Dream on.

In MoCo, Arlington and Fairfax, advanced middle school students can take honors (aka "intensified" or above-grade-level) classes in 7th and 8th grades in science, social studies, English and math. In DCPS, the best you can do are grade level middle school classes in core subjects, with advanced math at Deal, Hardy and maybe Hobson

Correct, no serious test-in HS programs in the DC public system. We don't have high octane high school programs because we don't have advanced elementary school or middle school programs. Can you make do with Walls, or J-R, or Latin, or DCI, or Banneker? Yes. Can these programs compete with what's offered at the better suburban high school programs? Definitely not.

Not that it matters to me, but have you looked at college acceptances for Arlington? Walls, JR, and Banneker perform at or above APS.

Yes, perform better than APS overall, but not the top tier in APS. The top tier includes IB Diploma grads from Washington-Liberty with points totals in the high 30s-40s (dozens of kids kids annually) or the top 5% of the AP track crop at Yorktown and W-L.

DCPS just doesn't accelerate like NoVa. APS middle schools have bumped up their curriculum to include "intensified" 8th grade classes for all core subjects this year, with intensified classes for 7th grade rolling out next year. They're doing this to keep up with Fairfax acceleration, having lost ground in the last decade in admissions to UVA and College of William and Mary.

I'd kill to have those options at our DCPS middle school EotP. My kid is bored at school. We're looking at Arlington if our eldest, 7th grader, doesn't crack Walls or Banneker next year. That seems likely. We didn't get in to BASIS, the Latins, DCI.

I was referencing college acceptances and top DCPS students are outperforming top APS students. 38s and 41s are largely attending state schools that are already acceptable to DCPS students.

Yes, because UVA and College of William and Mary in-state are a great deal, less than 30K annually, for UMC families in the Fi Aid doughnut. DC Tag helps, but it doesn't provide in-state tuition in VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have close friends and relatives with teens in schools in Fairfax, Arlington and MoCo. The friends became our pals in our DCPS ES. It's clear to me that there really isn't any comparison between dysfunctional, low-capacity, ambition challenged DCPS and the high-capacity school systems in the burbs. For starters, those counties support advanced programs for ES and MS. They track academically in middle school in all core subjects by 7th grade. They also run serious test-in HS programs, mostly the school-within-a-school type. Parents in those school systems grumble on these threads because it's all relative - they haven't experienced DCPS middle or high school chaos and ad hocery.

Cool anecdote. You're wildly incorrect, but cool anecdote.

NP. Wildly incorrect? Dream on.

In MoCo, Arlington and Fairfax, advanced middle school students can take honors (aka "intensified" or above-grade-level) classes in 7th and 8th grades in science, social studies, English and math. In DCPS, the best you can do are grade level middle school classes in core subjects, with advanced math at Deal, Hardy and maybe Hobson

Correct, no serious test-in HS programs in the DC public system. We don't have high octane high school programs because we don't have advanced elementary school or middle school programs. Can you make do with Walls, or J-R, or Latin, or DCI, or Banneker? Yes. Can these programs compete with what's offered at the better suburban high school programs? Definitely not.

Not that it matters to me, but have you looked at college acceptances for Arlington? Walls, JR, and Banneker perform at or above APS.

Yes, perform better than APS overall, but not the top tier in APS. The top tier includes IB Diploma grads from Washington-Liberty with points totals in the high 30s-40s (dozens of kids kids annually) or the top 5% of the AP track crop at Yorktown and W-L.

DCPS just doesn't accelerate like NoVa. APS middle schools have bumped up their curriculum to include "intensified" 8th grade classes for all core subjects this year, with intensified classes for 7th grade rolling out next year. They're doing this to keep up with Fairfax acceleration, having lost ground in the last decade in admissions to UVA and College of William and Mary.

I'd kill to have those options at our DCPS middle school EotP. My kid is bored at school. We're looking at Arlington if our eldest, 7th grader, doesn't crack Walls or Banneker next year. That seems likely. We didn't get in to BASIS, the Latins, DCI.

I was referencing college acceptances and top DCPS students are outperforming top APS students. 38s and 41s are largely attending state schools that are already acceptable to DCPS students.

Yes, because UVA and College of William and Mary in-state are a great deal, less than 30K annually, for UMC families in the Fi Aid doughnut. DC Tag helps, but it doesn't provide in-state tuition in VA.

I totally understand why in-state schools would be preferable. In recent conversations about the quality of DCPS schools, college acceptances were a benchmark so I applied the same standard. I will leave this alone as I'm detracting from the overall point of this thread.

I imagine it would be too late to compete for Blair Magnet, right?

[Anonymous]

Your kid needs to be enrolled in 8th grade in MoCo (public or private school) to compete for admission to a Blair Magnet or Richard Montgomery IB Diploma. Look it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I could do it all over again, I would have moved out of this area a while ago, into a better school system far from DMV area. Alas, I can't uproot my family now that we have some roots in DC. We are paying for private for the rest of our kids' education (probably private for college at this trajectory). We're very happy with our private option, but I still can't believe all the angst about schools we've put up with to live in DC and the money we will be spending for a decent education.

+100. Right there with you. We aren't going anywhere, as my DS is almost through HS and we love our neighborhood/school/church/house; but I don't love DC anymore and haven't for a long time. I can't even recall why we were so intent years ago on staying in the city.
Perhaps I'll feel differently once my husband and I are empty nesters and then retired. But especially right now, with the increase in crime, I'm over it.

[Anonymous]

I wonder, if you moved to Virginia immediately after your kid graduated high school as a renter (and changed registration, voted, etc), would your kid be able to qualify for in-state tuition for sophomore-senior years? (Staying in Virginia those years)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder, if you moved to Virginia immediately after your kid graduated high school as a renter (and changed registration, voted, etc), would your kid be able to qualify for in-state tuition for sophomore-senior years? (Staying in Virginia those years)

LMGTFY: https://www.schev.edu/financial-aid/in-state-residency

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I could do it all over again, I would have moved out of this area a while ago, into a better school system far from DMV area. Alas, I can't uproot my family now that we have some roots in DC. We are paying for private for the rest of our kids' education (probably private for college at this trajectory). We're very happy with our private option, but I still can't believe all the angst about schools we've put up with to live in DC and the money we will be spending for a decent education.

+100. Right there with you. We aren't going anywhere, as my DS is almost through HS and we love our neighborhood/school/church/house; but I don't love DC anymore and haven't for a long time. I can't even recall why we were so intent years ago on staying in the city.
Perhaps I'll feel differently once my husband and I are empty nesters and then retired. But especially right now, with the increase in crime, I'm over it.

You know, the increase in crime doesn't end at the border. There's plenty in Silver Spring, Takoma Park and other places in Maryland and Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I could do it all over again, I would have moved out of this area a while ago, into a better school system far from DMV area. Alas, I can't uproot my family now that we have some roots in DC. We are paying for private for the rest of our kids' education (probably private for college at this trajectory). We're very happy with our private option, but I still can't believe all the angst about schools we've put up with to live in DC and the money we will be spending for a decent education.

+100. Right there with you. We aren't going anywhere, as my DS is almost through HS and we love our neighborhood/school/church/house; but I don't love DC anymore and haven't for a long time. I can't even recall why we were so intent years ago on staying in the city.
Perhaps I'll feel differently once my husband and I are empty nesters and then retired. But especially right now, with the increase in crime, I'm over it.

You know, the increase in crime doesn't end at the border. There's plenty in Silver Spring, Takoma Park and other places in Maryland and Virginia.

There is crime everywhere but if you seriously think there is as much crime in burbs as in DC, you are delusional. I say this as a DC resident who have friends and families who live in surrounding MD and VA.

The crime has gotten out of control in the city and add that all the pot smokers and huge spiked in juvenile crime, the city has gone downhill since the pandemic. It’s just sad.

I love living in the city and have for the past 16 years but I don’t see the crime improving anywhere in the near future and combined with much better schools, we are considering moving to the burbs if the school situation we want does not work out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder, if you moved to Virginia immediately after your kid graduated high school as a renter (and changed registration, voted, etc), would your kid be able to qualify for in-state tuition for sophomore-senior years? (Staying in Virginia those years)

Looks like yes. You should be able to get it even for freshman year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder, if you moved to Virginia immediately after your kid graduated high school as a renter (and changed registration, voted, etc), would your kid be able to qualify for in-state tuition for sophomore-senior years? (Staying in Virginia those years)

Looks like yes. You should be able to get it even for freshman year.

Huh? No, that’s not what that link said. Domicile has to be established for 12 months in Virginia for in-state tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder, if you moved to Virginia immediately after your kid graduated high school as a renter (and changed registration, voted, etc), would your kid be able to qualify for in-state tuition for sophomore-senior years? (Staying in Virginia those years)

Looks like yes. You should be able to get it even for freshman year.

Huh? No, that’s not what that link said. Domicile has to be established for 12 months in Virginia for in-state tuition.

For 12 months before applying to colleges or for 12 months before the first day of college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder, if you moved to Virginia immediately after your kid graduated high school as a renter (and changed registration, voted, etc), would your kid be able to qualify for in-state tuition for sophomore-senior years? (Staying in Virginia those years)

Looks like yes. You should be able to get it even for freshman year.

Huh? No, that’s not what that link said. Domicile has to be established for 12 months in Virginia for in-state tuition.

For 12 months before applying to colleges or for 12 months before the first day of college?

“An individual must demonstrate legal residence in Virginia with an intent to remain in Virginia indefinitely to establish domicile in Virginia. After meeting the requirements to establish domicile, a person must continue to be domiciled in Virginia for at least 12 months preceding the first day of classes.”

https://www.schev.edu/financial-aid/in-state-residency

This is regarding tuition. I’m not sure how it would work with any preferences for admissions.

Also it looks like Virginia is more generous than Maryland when the parents are divorced. I think in Maryland, if the child resides in DC and goes to a DC high school they cannot be considered in state. But in Virginia if the “supporting parent” is domiciled in Virginia, that’s enough.

[Anonymous]

I read the link above, and while it's clear that moving in May before enrollment would not get in-state for that first year, it's silent on whether you could qualify for soph-sr years.

What is really interesting is it says a parent working in Virginia could be enough to qualify! I used to commute from DC to Virginia for work years ago, but alas, not now.

[Anonymous]

Very interesting! Looks like this piqued the interest in a different thread and seems only for special circumstances:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/60/1196519.page#27213622