Which schools, if any, excelled during the pandemic?

[Anonymous]

How did Hardy do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wilson actually did an excellent job; the principal was constrained by the distancing and cohort rules, which basically screws high schools in terms of in-person learning; however, in terms of virtual learning, my DC had real, synchronous classes from 9:30-4pm, with a short break in between classes and a break for lunch four days per week. All of her teachers were engaged and the administration was responsive. I can think of only a few times that classes were canceled. While it was not what it would have been had she been in person, it was a solid year of education (as opposed to the disaster that was Deal)...

I have one at Wilson and one at Deal, and our experience of the two was similar, much as PP describes for Wilson. I wonder how much of the disparity in experience at Deal discussed on here comes down to team and (to a lesser extent) grade? My 7th grader had a very good year, with none of the teacher no-shows and other negative experiences I’ve read about on here; I feel like I also heard a lot more negative stories about 8th grade than 7th.

yes, Deal 8th grade (on some teams) was a disaster. Also, school-wide the kids got only 3 hours of live instruction Mon/Thurs and 1.5 hours on Tues/Fri.
In comparison, my private school kid (and Wilson kids) got live instruction for 6+ hours a day.

PP here, and yes, that would be my primary critique of Deal—the amount of live instruction. I understand why they were conservative early on, but by mid-year they should have shifted the balance of time in live vs asynchronous instruction.

[Anonymous]

Sela

[Anonymous]

Why? Because you are bored and have nothing better to do? Because you wanted to start another "teachers suck" thread? Because you are mad at a school and intend to turn this into a hate spiral aimed at them? Because when the next once in a hundred years pandemic hits with no warning you want to be ready? There are hundreds of threads going back a year+. Go read those. Or go for a walk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why? Because you are bored and have nothing better to do? Because you wanted to start another "teachers suck" thread? Because you are mad at a school and intend to turn this into a hate spiral aimed at them? Because when the next once in a hundred years pandemic hits with no warning you want to be ready? There are hundreds of threads going back a year+. Go read those. Or go for a walk.

DP. I want to know because I’m making plans for middle school, and school that made such a hash out of things like Deal is further down my list for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why? Because you are bored and have nothing better to do? Because you wanted to start another "teachers suck" thread? Because you are mad at a school and intend to turn this into a hate spiral aimed at them? Because when the next once in a hundred years pandemic hits with no warning you want to be ready? There are hundreds of threads going back a year+. Go read those. Or go for a walk.

Oh, back off. It is so bizarre how people here attack parents advocating for their children and their education. This country was an epic fail for how it took care of children in Covid. Schools absorbed children.

[Anonymous]

**auto correct I meant “abandoned”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why? Because you are bored and have nothing better to do? Because you wanted to start another "teachers suck" thread? Because you are mad at a school and intend to turn this into a hate spiral aimed at them? Because when the next once in a hundred years pandemic hits with no warning you want to be ready? There are hundreds of threads going back a year+. Go read those. Or go for a walk.

Oh, back off. It is so bizarre how people here attack parents advocating for their children and their education. This country was an epic fail for how it took care of children in Covid. Schools abandoned children.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why? Because you are bored and have nothing better to do? Because you wanted to start another "teachers suck" thread? Because you are mad at a school and intend to turn this into a hate spiral aimed at them? Because when the next once in a hundred years pandemic hits with no warning you want to be ready? There are hundreds of threads going back a year+. Go read those. Or go for a walk.

I sure hope we will be prepared next time and won’t repeat this epic failure to protect the interests of the young, because I guarantee you that this kind of pandemic will happen again before another century goes by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did Hardy do?

The school and the teachers had really great attitudes, made good decisions, got kids back when they could. Frankly, not being in school for a year is difficult. The social emotional learning in middle school cannot be done remotely. I think the school did the best they could, but my kid really had a hard time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basis was incredible. Maybe even better than in person. Certainly not at all worse. I could not have been more impressed.

Agreed. Basis definitely rocked DL.

+1

I'm very surprised that people were happy with Basis - maybe it is grade-specific or element-specific? We thought it was very inconsistent - some teachers were ok, others disorganized, the material was not consistently organized within folders in Teams across classes, repeated requests for help or clarification were ignored, grades seemed wrong in some cases, confusion at the end with "revised" final grades, kids only brought back in person for comps in our grade.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the PP about the problems at BASIS this year - HOWEVER, my DC did actually learn a lot and I am not worried about them being prepared for the next grade level. They did a pretty good job given the circumstances will full programming every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the PP about the problems at BASIS this year - HOWEVER, my DC did actually learn a lot and I am not worried about them being prepared for the next grade level. They did a pretty good job given the circumstances will full programming every day.

I am the PP who was surprised about others praise for Basis - to clarify, some of the teachers were great and engaged, so I don't mean to be so negative. Mostly, it seemed inconsistent across classes and some of the teachers clearly needed more support with the technology. Certainly it could have been worse, but I don't think Basis excelled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wilson actually did an excellent job; the principal was constrained by the distancing and cohort rules, which basically screws high schools in terms of in-person learning; however, in terms of virtual learning, my DC had real, synchronous classes from 9:30-4pm, with a short break in between classes and a break for lunch four days per week. All of her teachers were engaged and the administration was responsive. I can think of only a few times that classes were canceled. While it was not what it would have been had she been in person, it was a solid year of education (as opposed to the disaster that was Deal)...

I have one at Wilson and one at Deal, and our experience of the two was similar, much as PP describes for Wilson. I wonder how much of the disparity in experience at Deal discussed on here comes down to team and (to a lesser extent) grade? My 7th grader had a very good year, with none of the teacher no-shows and other negative experiences I’ve read about on here; I feel like I also heard a lot more negative stories about 8th grade than 7th.

That's interesting...our Deal student was in 8th and it was awful. But I thought a lot of the problem was the fact that the school decided to schedule each class for only two days per week (for about 45 minutes of live class)...I didn't realize it was different for different grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a weird question.

DC is an extreme, extreme outlier nationally in its slowness in getting kids back in the classroom. Maybe the only place in the U.S. that did worse than DC was San Francisco.

And we're asking who excelled?

+1,000

There was too much accommodation for adults who didnt want to go back. To the detriment of kids.