applying to private school from DCPS isn't easy; my advice: if you want to move, do it early on

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have not had the perception from this forum that it's "easy" to get into a private school.

There are regularly posts about DCPS that insinuate that switching to private is easy:

"well, if XX school quality decreases, upper middle class families will leave for private".
"if my kid doesn't get advanced math instruction we'll switch to private".

I do think it's said pretty routinely and cavalierly.

As a long-time dcum participant, I completely agree. And I smh too, because as a private school parent (for 10 years now) I know the odds are much more difficult than the cavalier posters realize. Note that's very true of elementary school, too. A variation on the theme is the parent who assumes they can simply switch their rising 2nd grader from Watkins / noyes / seaton to a non-parochial private if the mood overtakes them. I see them on tours at my kids'' school every year. There just isn't space, especially in those non-expansion years when it seems the "fine for ECE" dcps and dcpcs are no longer working.

Honestly, it's not that hard to get into most private schools. There are a handful of "top" schools where admissions is challenging but if you're willing to look beyond those, there is lots of room.

Honestly, it actually is difficult to get an offer from a high quality independent school.

If you're simply fleeing dcps and will give your tuition check to any old non-public school that will take it, then I agree with you. Query whether that's actually an improvement.

You basically just repeated what the pp wrote.

[Anonymous]

Huh, I have to say I am sorry OP's kid didn't get in. But I think there's a ton of hyperbole going on here.

It may be the good economy means more applicants and thus just a numbers game harder to get in. That's probably what is going on.

Because, anecdotally, I know kids who got into top schools without tutors and without all the upper NW parental angst. Just fairly normal brights kids with laid back parents (who are full pay).

I don't think denigrating DCPS is the best message. Maybe just saying sometimes you win, sometimes you lose might be a better message to receive here.

[Anonymous]

A weaker student will get in from a private school because that is how private schools work. They need to get a spot for everyone somewhere because this is part of what the parents are paying for, and they all work together to make that happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:thank you OP. that is the reality check I needed. My kid is in PK4 at a title one school and her teacher already told me she has my kid paired up with slower kids to work on letters, sounds, colors etc. Thats not her responsibility and it starts young and only gets worse. Unfortunately in DC classrooms just being at grade level puts you ahead of most kids. We probably wouldn't go for a big three but Lowell is looking like an option now.

You realize that that strategy is going to be found in private school as well as public school, particularly at a progressive school such as Lowell. Your dc's "teaching" helps to reinforce the concepts for your dc. It's not detrimental.

It becomes detrimental quickly especially by 2nd and 3rd grade. The achievement gap is so wide that the entire pace of the class slows down and the teaching focuses on the slowest kids. My mom was a teacher for 3 years and said parents are kidding themselves if hey believe that a teacher can do any significant differentiation in a class where kids can be two or three grades apart. So no I do t want my kid learning by having to teach slow kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Huh, I have to say I am sorry OP's kid didn't get in. But I think there's a ton of hyperbole going on here.

It may be the good economy means more applicants and thus just a numbers game harder to get in. That's probably what is going on.

Because, anecdotally, I know kids who got into top schools without tutors and without all the upper NW parental angst. Just fairly normal brights kids with laid back parents (who are full pay).

I don't think denigrating DCPS is the best message. Maybe just saying sometimes you win, sometimes you lose might be a better message to receive here.

And there is no polite way for those of us with better results to counter the hyperbole without seeming to pour salt on OP's wounds. Which leaves OP's poor impression hanging out here as the singular reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A weaker student will get in from a private school because that is how private schools work. They need to get a spot for everyone somewhere because this is part of what the parents are paying for, and they all work together to make that happen.

This x100.

And as classes expand, there are some spaces for kids from public school who help round out a class in a way that the schools need -- and which change year to year. Some years they need more science-oriented kids, other years they need basketball or field hockey players and sometimes they need to bring some kind of diversity to the school.

It's unknowable and you need to apply widely because you don't know what they're looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:thank you OP. that is the reality check I needed. My kid is in PK4 at a title one school and her teacher already told me she has my kid paired up with slower kids to work on letters, sounds, colors etc. Thats not her responsibility and it starts young and only gets worse. Unfortunately in DC classrooms just being at grade level puts you ahead of most kids. We probably wouldn't go for a big three but Lowell is looking like an option now.

You realize that that strategy is going to be found in private school as well as public school, particularly at a progressive school such as Lowell. Your dc's "teaching" helps to reinforce the concepts for your dc. It's not detrimental.

It becomes detrimental quickly especially by 2nd and 3rd grade. The achievement gap is so wide that the entire pace of the class slows down and the teaching focuses on the slowest kids. My mom was a teacher for 3 years and said parents are kidding themselves if hey believe that a teacher can do any significant differentiation in a class where kids can be two or three grades apart. So no I do t want my kid learning by having to teach slow kids.

I agree with PP.

PPP, there's nothing in progressive pedagogy about having better students teach lagging students.

Montessori has older kids help younger kids. Montessori is not the same as progressive, and age is not the same as skill.

[Anonymous]

It’s about the economy. Public class sizes have grown as more people are choosing public which has pushed some to try to move to private for the lower student teacher ratios. 10-15 kids applied for every spot at many of the privates this year. It was the hardest year to get admitted in more than a decade. Also a very hard year for boys. If the economy tanks, there will be fewer applicants to private and more room in privates. Please dont take it personally or blame your public.

I agree that privates want to maintain relationships with their private feeders.

[Anonymous]

I know 2 kids from a JKLM who applied to a "Big 3" for 6th. Both were accepted. Clearly my sample size is super small.

Also - doesn't all of Mann and most of Key typically go private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s about the economy. Public class sizes have grown as more people are choosing public which has pushed some to try to move to private for the lower student teacher ratios. 10-15 kids applied for every spot at many of the privates this year. It was the hardest year to get admitted in more than a decade. Also a very hard year for boys. If the economy tanks, there will be fewer applicants to private and more room in privates. Please dont take it personally or blame your public.

I agree that privates want to maintain relationships with their private feeders.

What makes you say it was a hard year for boys?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know 2 kids from a JKLM who applied to a "Big 3" for 6th. Both were accepted. Clearly my sample size is super small.

Also - doesn't all of Mann and most of Key typically go private?

Actually, a lot move and a lot go to Basis and Latin. And yes, many move to private schools of all sort. As has been pointed out numerous times on this thread, the range of competitiveness among private schools varies widely. Landing a spot in Blessed Sacrament or another parochial school is an easier proposition than getting into Maret at 6th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again.

-I've since heard from more of the parents at our JKLM and the results are the same. It was a really hard year for admissions. No one I know got in from our JKLM (this is for middle school). I do know some Deal kids who got
accepted at St. Johns and Gonzaga and GDS. I know many others from Deal who were rejected or waitlisted everywhere they applied. All are "good students"--A's, good testing, top athletes, etc.

-I'm not saying this to trash DCPS (we actually love our kids' schools) but just as an FYI for other parents because my eyes were opened.

-I'm talking about admissions for the top DC privates: Sidwell, GDS, the Cathedral schools, WIS, Potomac, Maret. There are other schools that are easier to get accepted at. Even at the top
schools there are those who have 20 spots and those who have 5 for some of the middle school entry years making some far more competitive. We did apply to top schools. I figured, "if we're going to leave DCPS where we're
happy, and start paying a lot of money it's only going to be for a top school". I also naively thought that a "top" student at DCPS would get in to one of these top schools. Some of the parents
saying they (or friends) got accepted at private schools from DCPS are not talking about the top schools. They're applying to places like Burke or Field or Lowell or Sheridan, or the Catholic high schools. All great
schools but easier to get accepted to.

-I wonder if it's easier to get accepted to private school from an EOTP public than from a JKLM. I bet this is the case for good students. The independent schools probably figure if they're going to
fill a "public school applicant" spot, they will take a top kid from less polished public (or a kid who doesn't have Deal as the next option). This total sense to me and is a good thing.

Plenty of kids from Deal I know got accepted into Sidwell and Maret. I know 8 that applied and 6 got in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again.

-I've since heard from more of the parents at our JKLM and the results are the same. It was a really hard year for admissions. No one I know got in from our JKLM (this is for middle school). I do know some Deal kids who got
accepted at St. Johns and Gonzaga and GDS. I know many others from Deal who were rejected or waitlisted everywhere they applied. All are "good students"--A's, good testing, top athletes, etc.

-I'm not saying this to trash DCPS (we actually love our kids' schools) but just as an FYI for other parents because my eyes were opened.

-I'm talking about admissions for the top DC privates: Sidwell, GDS, the Cathedral schools, WIS, Potomac, Maret. There are other schools that are easier to get accepted at. Even at the top
schools there are those who have 20 spots and those who have 5 for some of the middle school entry years making some far more competitive. We did apply to top schools. I figured, "if we're going to leave DCPS where we're
happy, and start paying a lot of money it's only going to be for a top school". I also naively thought that a "top" student at DCPS would get in to one of these top schools. Some of the parents
saying they (or friends) got accepted at private schools from DCPS are not talking about the top schools. They're applying to places like Burke or Field or Lowell or Sheridan, or the Catholic high schools. All great
schools but easier to get accepted to.

-I wonder if it's easier to get accepted to private school from an EOTP public than from a JKLM. I bet this is the case for good students. The independent schools probably figure if they're going to
fill a "public school applicant" spot, they will take a top kid from less polished public (or a kid who doesn't have Deal as the next option). This total sense to me and is a good thing.

Plenty of kids from Deal I know got accepted into Sidwell and Maret. I know 8 that applied and 6 got in.

OP was talking about getting into middle school, not high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A weaker student will get in from a private school because that is how private schools work. They need to get a spot for everyone somewhere because this is part of what the parents are paying for, and they all work together to make that happen.

I don't think they necessarily get a spot for everyone but probably close to it. It's just easier to find out info on candidates coming from other privates and there is a vested interest by k-8 schools to get students placed in the schools where the students will be successful. The students from that K-8 school become a "known quantity" and therefore it makes it easier to make a decision on them.

also, I don't believe there are hundreds upon hundreds of applicants for any of the area private schools. The number of people who actually go through the entire admissions process for any given school is much lower than the number of people who go to open houses, take tours and start the application process. When we were applying a few years ago, we started the process with a couple of schools and then decided to drop them and didn't finish. The admissions offices didn't think anything of it.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, OP, but your kid sounds too vanilla to have succeeded this year. High SES white kids are a dime a dozen in the "top" MS privates game. Why don't you play another game for at least another year, like BASIS as has been suggested, or suburban GT.

Our neighbors at a JKLM moved to MoCo after 5th and sent their girl to Takoma MS in MoCo for 6th grade, partly to give her a shot at cracking the math/sci magnet at the school for 7th. She succeeded and has gone onto Montgomery Blair HS math/sci magnet.