DC has two competitive-admission academic high schools

[Anonymous]

...plus an arts magnet high school. Please don't worry about the lack of political will to set something like this up: it's already been done. Twice.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. This is widely known. Also, Wilson's WISP (Wilson International Studies Program) is a selective program that's open to all DC students on a magnet basis. So make the four. It's also widely known that fact that DC's selective schools do not compare with New York's or for that matter TJHS on the other side of the river. The main reason: NYC is huge and thousands, not hundreds, of applicants vie for spots. So they are selecting to upper percentiles, DC schools are selected top by not as narrow from the top.

[Anonymous]

I got curious and did some research. For the competitive-admission schools in each location, I calculated the number of student slots available per population, to get a sense of the applicant pool. Here's what I found:

NYC: 970 residents per student slot
TJ/NoVA: 1089 residents per student slot (just area TJ pulls from)
DC: 421 residents per student slot

These number do suggest that NYC & TJ are pulling from a much bigger applicant pool, and thus should have bigger numbers of academic superstars at their magnet schools. I suspect that TJ also benefits from a high-SES population, while DC faces a lower-SES population.

Interesting stuff.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for starting this thread. I was getting so tired of people acting like we don't have these kinds of schools. And if people think the schools are not competitive enough, well send your friggin' geniuses and the schools will get more competitive.

Nope, everyone is holding out for TJ...

[Anonymous]

I disagree that anyone is holding out for TJ (or even gives a damn about TJ one way or the other) aside from a some weirdo from NoVa misposting it to this forum.

DC has a new start-up high school and it's called Washington Latin. (No - we don't go there, but I like the idea.) It's a classical curriculum and it's doing quite well, so evidence suggests the interest lies more in that direction.

Five assorted academically selective programs to choose from. Not bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree that anyone is holding out for TJ (or even gives a damn about TJ one way or the other) aside from a some weirdo from NoVa misposting it to this forum.

DC has a new start-up high school and it's called Washington Latin. (No - we don't go there, but I like the idea.) It's a classical curriculum and it's doing quite well, so evidence suggests the interest lies more in that direction.

Five assorted academically selective programs to choose from. Not bad.

yes, Washington Latin sounds good. But since it's a charter doesn't it have to accept all comers?

[Anonymous]

I'm not a Latin parent (yet), but it is my hope that it has become self-selecting. Any current parents able to chime in on how well this has worked? Are all students who decide to stay able to at least keep up in a demanding environment, or does the school have to do a lot of hand-holding for low students?

[Anonymous]

The following public high schools in DC work on a competitive-admissions basis:

Banneker
School Without Walls
McKinley
Phelps
Wilson Academies
Duke Ellington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree that anyone is holding out for TJ (or even gives a damn about TJ one way or the other) aside from a some weirdo from NoVa misposting it to this forum.

DC has a new start-up high school and it's called Washington Latin. (No - we don't go there, but I like the idea.) It's a classical curriculum and it's doing quite well, so evidence suggests the interest lies more in that direction.

Five assorted academically selective programs to choose from. Not bad.

yes, Washington Latin sounds good. But since it's a charter doesn't it have to accept all comers?

In theory, but it's pretty self-selecting. If you had a child who couldn't hack the workload would you send them to a school where they'd flunk out?

[Anonymous]

Our kid went to Latin. It's not competitive admissions at this point. But for starters, it attracts parents who are involved in their kids' educations, because you need to fill out the forms for the transfer. Having involved families is always a good thing. My impression is that some of the kids aren't so much into the classical education, and may be escaping bad local schools. But other kids have embraced the classical education.