Yorktown VS Washington liberty non-IB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What is the most rigorous academic path at Wakefield. It seemed similar to Yorktown, no IB, but with a real overcrowding issue that doesn’t seem will be fixed soon and worsen as National Landing grows.

WHS has an AP network and Capstone program. Not sure how many dual enrollment courses. You'll find the most DE in the Arlington Tech program at the Career Center (lottery). I don't know about YHS; but WHS freshmen can take AP World History. That's not an option at WL; but they, I believe, have a more coordinated intensified English-History curriculum instead. FWIW, from comments I've read/heard about students taking a world language that is conducted at the Career Center, it seems to be easier to do that from Wakefield than YHS - perhaps because it is a little closer?

Boundary adjustments are currently being made, sending kids who were newly districted to Wakefield during the last boundary change back to WL.
All the high schools are going to remain crowded. But Wakefield's physical campus is more open (and newer) than Yorktown and you don't have the excessive affluence and attitudes of entitlement other posters complain about at Yorktown.

What ages are your children now? There are fluctuations in enrollment over time. Right now and into the foreseeable future, you're going to be crowded in any of the 3 schools; but WL is going to be significantly larger as they open another 600 additional seats at the old Ed Center. Adding seats to Arlington Tech will also help divert handfuls of kids to the Career Center; but APS still doesn't seem interested in building a fourth comprehensive high school. So any additional capacity will likely be used to expand Arlington Tech and probably add yet another special program with lottery admissions.

Maybe you should visit each school during a school day and get a feel for the atmosphere and environment. My personal experience is a noticeable sense of pressure and anxiety in the WL atmosphere v. Wakefield's. I haven't been inside Yorktown during the school day to compare. There are high achieving students in every school and obnoxious parents at every school. I do believe the Wakefield environment and community is more relaxed and noticeably less stressful. Perhaps some of that lower stress is from lower overt excessive academic pressure from admin and parents; but students can still sufficiently challenge themselves and be prepared for top colleges and universities.

WL and WHS certainly offer more socioeconomic diversity, which imo is a positive. It seems to me that parent attitude used to be that YHS was the "end all be all" in Arlington; but that has transferred over to WL over the last several years. Hence, nobody will allow APS to make boundary changes that take them out of the WL zone and its fast-approaching mega-size and the side effects that come with that. That isn't going to change any time soon.

Unless it's changed recently AP World History is an option for freshman at W-L.

Agree with PP that you can find rigorous classes and a motivated peer group at all the HS's. I know plenty of families happy at both Yorktown and W-L. It does seem that I only know people who transferred away from Yorktown because of its reputation for some entitled students, but that transfer generally happened before starting HS so they don't really have any experience. Also, there's no formal option right now for kids to transfer TO Yorktown so you're not going to hear from families who might have wanted that option.

[Anonymous]

You can’t visit the schools bc of the pandemic. There is way too much hand wringing over this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can’t visit the schools bc of the pandemic. There is way too much hand wringing over this.

If I were the parent, I'd physically go to the school anyway. They're not going to turn the away at the door. It isn't like parents aren't allowed to enter the buildings. They can still talk to admin and see the school and will likely see lots of students milling around and can get some sense of the place. Admin can answer the academic questions.

But I agree about the excessive hand wringing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t visit the schools bc of the pandemic. There is way too much hand wringing over this.

If I were the parent, I'd physically go to the school anyway. They're not going to turn the away at the door. It isn't like parents aren't allowed to enter the buildings. They can still talk to admin and see the school and will likely see lots of students milling around and can get some sense of the place. Admin can answer the academic questions.

But I agree about the excessive hand wringing.

So you think a random adult who doesn't have students in the school can just walk into the building?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What is the most rigorous academic path at Wakefield. It seemed similar to Yorktown, no IB, but with a real overcrowding issue that doesn’t seem will be fixed soon and worsen as National Landing grows.

WHS has an AP network and Capstone program. Not sure how many dual enrollment courses. You'll find the most DE in the Arlington Tech program at the Career Center (lottery). I don't know about YHS; but WHS freshmen can take AP World History. That's not an option at WL; but they, I believe, have a more coordinated intensified English-History curriculum instead. FWIW, from comments I've read/heard about students taking a world language that is conducted at the Career Center, it seems to be easier to do that from Wakefield than YHS - perhaps because it is a little closer?

Boundary adjustments are currently being made, sending kids who were newly districted to Wakefield during the last boundary change back to WL.
All the high schools are going to remain crowded. But Wakefield's physical campus is more open (and newer) than Yorktown and you don't have the excessive affluence and attitudes of entitlement other posters complain about at Yorktown.

What ages are your children now? There are fluctuations in enrollment over time. Right now and into the foreseeable future, you're going to be crowded in any of the 3 schools; but WL is going to be significantly larger as they open another 600 additional seats at the old Ed Center. Adding seats to Arlington Tech will also help divert handfuls of kids to the Career Center; but APS still doesn't seem interested in building a fourth comprehensive high school. So any additional capacity will likely be used to expand Arlington Tech and probably add yet another special program with lottery admissions.

Maybe you should visit each school during a school day and get a feel for the atmosphere and environment. My personal experience is a noticeable sense of pressure and anxiety in the WL atmosphere v. Wakefield's. I haven't been inside Yorktown during the school day to compare. There are high achieving students in every school and obnoxious parents at every school. I do believe the Wakefield environment and community is more relaxed and noticeably less stressful. Perhaps some of that lower stress is from lower overt excessive academic pressure from admin and parents; but students can still sufficiently challenge themselves and be prepared for top colleges and universities.

WL and WHS certainly offer more socioeconomic diversity, which imo is a positive. It seems to me that parent attitude used to be that YHS was the "end all be all" in Arlington; but that has transferred over to WL over the last several years. Hence, nobody will allow APS to make boundary changes that take them out of the WL zone and its fast-approaching mega-size and the side effects that come with that. That isn't going to change any time soon.

Unless it's changed recently AP World History is an option for freshman at W-L.

Agree with PP that you can find rigorous classes and a motivated peer group at all the HS's. I know plenty of families happy at both Yorktown and W-L. It does seem that I only know people who transferred away from Yorktown because of its reputation for some entitled students, but that transfer generally happened before starting HS so they don't really have any experience. Also, there's no formal option right now for kids to transfer TO Yorktown so you're not going to hear from families who might have wanted that option.

Our child's friend districted for YHS but considering IB at WL as an incoming freshman this year was told they could not take AP World History as a freshman at WL. Perhaps it is a change - maybe someone actually at WL can confirm?
Regardless, its availability at WHS is indicative of WHS' comparable academic rigor to YHS and WL minus IB. WHS also houses the immersion program; so it isn't like the value of "rigor" is lacking there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t visit the schools bc of the pandemic. There is way too much hand wringing over this.

If I were the parent, I'd physically go to the school anyway. They're not going to turn the away at the door. It isn't like parents aren't allowed to enter the buildings. They can still talk to admin and see the school and will likely see lots of students milling around and can get some sense of the place. Admin can answer the academic questions.

But I agree about the excessive hand wringing.

So you think a random adult who doesn't have students in the school can just walk into the building?

Sure. Just say you're evaluating to see if the level of bro culture is acceptable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What is the most rigorous academic path at Wakefield. It seemed similar to Yorktown, no IB, but with a real overcrowding issue that doesn’t seem will be fixed soon and worsen as National Landing grows.

WHS has an AP network and Capstone program. Not sure how many dual enrollment courses. You'll find the most DE in the Arlington Tech program at the Career Center (lottery). I don't know about YHS; but WHS freshmen can take AP World History. That's not an option at WL; but they, I believe, have a more coordinated intensified English-History curriculum instead. FWIW, from comments I've read/heard about students taking a world language that is conducted at the Career Center, it seems to be easier to do that from Wakefield than YHS - perhaps because it is a little closer?

Boundary adjustments are currently being made, sending kids who were newly districted to Wakefield during the last boundary change back to WL.
All the high schools are going to remain crowded. But Wakefield's physical campus is more open (and newer) than Yorktown and you don't have the excessive affluence and attitudes of entitlement other posters complain about at Yorktown.

What ages are your children now? There are fluctuations in enrollment over time. Right now and into the foreseeable future, you're going to be crowded in any of the 3 schools; but WL is going to be significantly larger as they open another 600 additional seats at the old Ed Center. Adding seats to Arlington Tech will also help divert handfuls of kids to the Career Center; but APS still doesn't seem interested in building a fourth comprehensive high school. So any additional capacity will likely be used to expand Arlington Tech and probably add yet another special program with lottery admissions.

Maybe you should visit each school during a school day and get a feel for the atmosphere and environment. My personal experience is a noticeable sense of pressure and anxiety in the WL atmosphere v. Wakefield's. I haven't been inside Yorktown during the school day to compare. There are high achieving students in every school and obnoxious parents at every school. I do believe the Wakefield environment and community is more relaxed and noticeably less stressful. Perhaps some of that lower stress is from lower overt excessive academic pressure from admin and parents; but students can still sufficiently challenge themselves and be prepared for top colleges and universities.

WL and WHS certainly offer more socioeconomic diversity, which imo is a positive. It seems to me that parent attitude used to be that YHS was the "end all be all" in Arlington; but that has transferred over to WL over the last several years. Hence, nobody will allow APS to make boundary changes that take them out of the WL zone and its fast-approaching mega-size and the side effects that come with that. That isn't going to change any time soon.

Unless it's changed recently AP World History is an option for freshman at W-L.

Agree with PP that you can find rigorous classes and a motivated peer group at all the HS's. I know plenty of families happy at both Yorktown and W-L. It does seem that I only know people who transferred away from Yorktown because of its reputation for some entitled students, but that transfer generally happened before starting HS so they don't really have any experience. Also, there's no formal option right now for kids to transfer TO Yorktown so you're not going to hear from families who might have wanted that option.

Our child's friend districted for YHS but considering IB at WL as an incoming freshman this year was told they could not take AP World History as a freshman at WL. Perhaps it is a change - maybe someone actually at WL can confirm?
Regardless, its availability at WHS is indicative of WHS' comparable academic rigor to YHS and WL minus IB. WHS also houses the immersion program; so it isn't like the value of "rigor" is lacking there.

Unless your kid is a STEM kid, in which case it definitely isn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t visit the schools bc of the pandemic. There is way too much hand wringing over this.

If I were the parent, I'd physically go to the school anyway. They're not going to turn the away at the door. It isn't like parents aren't allowed to enter the buildings. They can still talk to admin and see the school and will likely see lots of students milling around and can get some sense of the place. Admin can answer the academic questions.

But I agree about the excessive hand wringing.

So you think a random adult who doesn't have students in the school can just walk into the building?

You can't just walk in off the streets and mill around b/c there are security protocols in place. Additionally, the principal isn't just sitting around in his/her office waiting for something to do. Also, students milling around the front office would be very weird. This is not some HS TV drama.

[Anonymous]

I don't know about YHS; but WHS freshmen can take AP World History. That's not an option at WL; but they, I believe, have a more coordinated intensified English-History curriculum instead.

I can't speak to the current situation, but my kid (now a senior at W-L doing the full IB program), took AP World History as a freshman, along with plenty of other kids. (I think there were at least 3 classes of 9th graders taking the class). In addition to his IB classes, my kid has taken 5 AP classes, plus a dual-enrollment math class). So while the IB program does fill up the schedule junior and senior years, with some planning it is possible to take advantage of the other advanced academic options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know about YHS; but WHS freshmen can take AP World History. That's not an option at WL; but they, I believe, have a more coordinated intensified English-History curriculum instead.

I can't speak to the current situation, but my kid (now a senior at W-L doing the full IB program), took AP World History as a freshman, along with plenty of other kids. (I think there were at least 3 classes of 9th graders taking the class). In addition to his IB classes, my kid has taken 5 AP classes, plus a dual-enrollment math class). So while the IB program does fill up the schedule junior and senior years, with some planning it is possible to take advantage of the other advanced academic options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t visit the schools bc of the pandemic. There is way too much hand wringing over this.

If I were the parent, I'd physically go to the school anyway. They're not going to turn the away at the door. It isn't like parents aren't allowed to enter the buildings. They can still talk to admin and see the school and will likely see lots of students milling around and can get some sense of the place. Admin can answer the academic questions.

But I agree about the excessive hand wringing.

So you think a random adult who doesn't have students in the school can just walk into the building?

You can't just walk in off the streets and mill around b/c there are security protocols in place. Additionally, the principal isn't just sitting around in his/her office waiting for something to do. Also, students milling around the front office would be very weird. This is not some HS TV drama.

That's not what I meant, you dope.
But yes, you can walk up to the school and be let in, then talk to the folks in the office to get some information and maybe set up a meeting if necessary and get a "feel" for the environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t visit the schools bc of the pandemic. There is way too much hand wringing over this.

If I were the parent, I'd physically go to the school anyway. They're not going to turn the away at the door. It isn't like parents aren't allowed to enter the buildings. They can still talk to admin and see the school and will likely see lots of students milling around and can get some sense of the place. Admin can answer the academic questions.

But I agree about the excessive hand wringing.

So you think a random adult who doesn't have students in the school can just walk into the building?

It happens in Cobra Kai, so yeah.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t visit the schools bc of the pandemic. There is way too much hand wringing over this.

If I were the parent, I'd physically go to the school anyway. They're not going to turn the away at the door. It isn't like parents aren't allowed to enter the buildings. They can still talk to admin and see the school and will likely see lots of students milling around and can get some sense of the place. Admin can answer the academic questions.

But I agree about the excessive hand wringing.

So you think a random adult who doesn't have students in the school can just walk into the building?

You can't just walk in off the streets and mill around b/c there are security protocols in place. Additionally, the principal isn't just sitting around in his/her office waiting for something to do. Also, students milling around the front office would be very weird. This is not some HS TV drama.

That's not what I meant, you dope.
But yes, you can walk up to the school and be let in, then talk to the folks in the office to get some information and maybe set up a meeting if necessary and get a "feel" for the environment.

BWAHAHAHA! You won't get a "feel" for the environment by going into the office. Just go private.

[Anonymous]

The only way to get a "feel" for the environment is to talk to actual people who have students in the school. Randos on the internet aren't your answer, neither is walking into the office. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only way to get a "feel" for the environment is to talk to actual people who have students in the school. Randos on the internet aren't your answer, neither is walking into the office. Seriously.

That’s great. None of our friends have kids in YHS or WL, in fact almost all of our friends are going private. I guess I can go door to door to neighbors and ask “are your kids in high school in APS”