Deal kid is floundering in private high school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Deal sucks.

Your parenting sucks.

How's your hangover this morning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is just more work at a private school than a public, it doesn't mean your child isn't able to do it--they just need to get used to the volume. I do think that the volume of work prepares them more for college, but it does take a lot of fun out of the high school experience.

. Come on, such BS. Other US cities offer far more HS rigor in the public system than DC. My alma mater, Boston Latin,is the HS sending the most grads to Ivies on a per capita basis, not a Top DC (or NYC) private. Spare us your misplaced snobbery, PP.

This thread is local.

But the point is a good one. Tony private schools aren't magic bullets. Coddled kids in cocoon environments, with no more than token poor and lower middle-class peers on scholarships, don't necessarily put nose to the grindstone, hustle to get ahead, or appreciate their opportunities to learn like public students might. This is true matter how terrific the teachers and curriculum.

After almost a decade in DCPS, we learned not to rely on school inputs to provide serious humanities challenge long ago. We enroll our children in a variety of on-line workshops and classes each school year to beef up and round out the education on offer at our neighborhood MS. We started hiring a tough writing tutor with another DCPS family last year.

We require our kids to read at least one challenging novel weekly, mainly classics we discuss with them, on top of what's being assigned at school. We shut off the Internet in the afternoons, to promote reading. We have them earn "reading points" they can cash in for adventures of their own choosing, e.g. horse-riding lessons and zip lines. We opt out of PARCC, which we consider a waste of time, in favor of having them read during testing hours. In the summers, we send our children to several weeks of academic sleep-away camps. We spend 8-10K per kid per school year to supplement, a bargain compared to Sidwell, GDS etc.

You don't understand what OP is describing. None of what you write is remotely close. We did all of that and more while in DCPS. It isn't the same at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just started at a Big3 for 9th and the summer reading was the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

A classic.

Exactly. But PPs insist that only white authors can write classics.

Currently at Deal,
6th graders are reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
7th graders are reading Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
8th graders are reading Raisin in the Sun

Who insisted upon that?!
No one, that’s who.

The first PP that said “The books they read at Deal are not particularly advanced. And for some reason all the books are about racism or minority groups being oppressed. Like every single book”.

I’m sure they think Malcom X and Raisin in the Sun falls into the not advanced category.

I think the point is that these books don’t foster critical thinking. There is nothing to debate. There’s only one correct viewpoint. When the kids finish the book about segregated schools, they start a book about the Japanese internment camps. And when they finish that, they read about about the trail of tears. And then they learn about Jackie Robinson for the seventh consecutive year.

Nothing to debate??
Have you read any of these books? Maybe it's you that lacks critical thinking skills.

It would take a very brave 8th grader to publicly express any view that wasn’t 100% woke approved in a DCPS building. Very brave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is just more work at a private school than a public, it doesn't mean your child isn't able to do it--they just need to get used to the volume. I do think that the volume of work prepares them more for college, but it does take a lot of fun out of the high school experience.

. Come on, such BS. Other US cities offer far more HS rigor in the public system than DC. My alma mater, Boston Latin,is the HS sending the most grads to Ivies on a per capita basis, not a Top DC (or NYC) private. Spare us your misplaced snobbery, PP.

This thread is local.

But the point is a good one. Tony private schools aren't magic bullets. Coddled kids in cocoon environments, with no more than token poor and lower middle-class peers on scholarships, don't necessarily put nose to the grindstone, hustle to get ahead, or appreciate their opportunities to learn like public students might. This is true matter how terrific the teachers and curriculum.

After almost a decade in DCPS, we learned not to rely on school inputs to provide serious humanities challenge long ago. We enroll our children in a variety of on-line workshops and classes each school year to beef up and round out the education on offer at our neighborhood MS. We started hiring a tough writing tutor with another DCPS family last year.

We require our kids to read at least one challenging novel weekly, mainly classics we discuss with them, on top of what's being assigned at school. We shut off the Internet in the afternoons, to promote reading. We have them earn "reading points" they can cash in for adventures of their own choosing, e.g. horse-riding lessons and zip lines. We opt out of PARCC, which we consider a waste of time, in favor of having them read during testing hours. In the summers, we send our children to several weeks of academic sleep-away camps. We spend 8-10K per kid per school year to supplement, a bargain compared to Sidwell, GDS etc.

You don't understand what OP is describing. None of what you write is remotely close. We did all of that and more while in DCPS. It isn't the same at all.

NP. We do understand. We moved on from DCPS to a high-powered private HS (parochial actually) this school year ourselves, after the distance learning mess at Deal. Like the PP above, we effectively homeschooled our kid in humanities subjects in DCPS. Our kid has not been overwhelmed by HS workload. He has hit the ground running.

Get a clue, DCPS parents. When Deal assigns 3 books in 8th grade, ensure that your kid reads at least five times that many. Hire tutors, tutor yourself. Covid or not Covid, you don't have to pay tens of thousands of dollars for private school to ensure that a kid gets a good middle school education, not in this city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid left Deal and is at a top private high school (Sidwell/NCS/STA/Potomac).
He/she was a top student at Deal: As every quarter in every class grades 6-8, top math track (Algebra 2), 5's on every PARCC since 3rd grade. 99% on the 6th grade Deal PARCC in both ELA and math.

Started private high school and it is an absolute SH$%T show. Currently getting Ds. My kid doesn't know how to study, how to read and annotate dense text in rapid fashion. He/she gets dozens of pages
a night to read and process (across history, ELA, science). Homework in every subject each evening. Has already written 5 essays and 2 lab lengthy reports. Has frequent pop quizzes. One class has one every single day.
Has a sequence of exams in every class this week.

It just f-ing frustrates me how little my kid learned at Deal. How he never learned to think critically or write well. So much wasted time in the pandemic. No Wednesdays, 45 minute classes twice a week. The chicken has come home to roost because my
kid is now having his/her ass kicked. And it all counts for college grades. Things will get better but we're quitting activities, hiring tutors and trying to right the course.

Not sure what the point of my post is except---if you have a kid in DCPS. Supplement like a mad person. We did but not enough. His/her classmates who are at Wilson report that they haven't done any
homework yet in most classes because with the 4x4 schedule, many teachers are only teaching for half of it and little or no homework is given (and what is given is done in class). So if you're at Wilson
(I have another kid likely headed there) continue to supplement.

I'm just so frustrated. I'm sure it is somewhat better in typical times but the pandemic learning was just a mess. Those of us who have left DCPS are seeing clearly just how bad it was.

OP, I don't get it. Why did you fall for high Deal grades and PARCC scores = high standards and a great education, particularly during the virtual stage? Some of us never did, not for a minute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid left Deal and is at a top private high school (Sidwell/NCS/STA/Potomac).
He/she was a top student at Deal: As every quarter in every class grades 6-8, top math track (Algebra 2), 5's on every PARCC since 3rd grade. 99% on the 6th grade Deal PARCC in both ELA and math.

Started private high school and it is an absolute SH$%T show. Currently getting Ds. My kid doesn't know how to study, how to read and annotate dense text in rapid fashion. He/she gets dozens of pages
a night to read and process (across history, ELA, science). Homework in every subject each evening. Has already written 5 essays and 2 lab lengthy reports. Has frequent pop quizzes. One class has one every single day.
Has a sequence of exams in every class this week.

It just f-ing frustrates me how little my kid learned at Deal. How he never learned to think critically or write well. So much wasted time in the pandemic. No Wednesdays, 45 minute classes twice a week. The chicken has come home to roost because my
kid is now having his/her ass kicked. And it all counts for college grades. Things will get better but we're quitting activities, hiring tutors and trying to right the course.

Not sure what the point of my post is except---if you have a kid in DCPS. Supplement like a mad person. We did but not enough. His/her classmates who are at Wilson report that they haven't done any
homework yet in most classes because with the 4x4 schedule, many teachers are only teaching for half of it and little or no homework is given (and what is given is done in class). So if you're at Wilson
(I have another kid likely headed there) continue to supplement.

I'm just so frustrated. I'm sure it is somewhat better in typical times but the pandemic learning was just a mess. Those of us who have left DCPS are seeing clearly just how bad it was.

OP, I don't get it. Why did you fall for high Deal grades and PARCC scores = high standards and a great education, particularly during the virtual stage? Some of us never did, not for a minute.

You simply don't "get" how a parent, (especially in the middle of a pandemic) would not have the ability to implement an entire home humanities curriculum for their 8th grader? You're an ass.

[Anonymous]

Not pp, but with fake school last year it should have been painfully obvious how little they were doing. If they were staying in DCPS, you could probably ignore it, but if they’re were going to a high school that drew heavily from kids doing real school in 8th grade you should have seen this coming. If you can afford a big 3, you can afford a few novels or a history book. Buy them and assign a few essays

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:8th grade (at least my kid's team) did not read anything near full books either-they read excerpts only. I know because my kid struggled mightily last year (depression) and I sat and helped him with homework almost nightly for the entire year. If this wasn't the case I would have never known.

I'm sorry, pp. I think most of our kids had similar issues with the huge mistake of keeping schools closed. Principal Neal sending WTU propaganda to support keeping schools closed was a knife in the back to our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just started at a Big3 for 9th and the summer reading was the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

A classic.

Exactly. But PPs insist that only white authors can write classics.

Currently at Deal,
6th graders are reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
7th graders are reading Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
8th graders are reading Raisin in the Sun

They're not reading entire books, just excerpts.

Huh?! That's odd. My 6th grader read "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry", "Beowulf", "Tuck Everlasting" and a novel in verse about a Hmong girl (forget the title) in its entirety last year at Hardy. The assignments did cover the entire set of books. Was it not so at Deal? But I do agree that reading is pretty minimal at DCPS.

Nope - mine read "part" of Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry - and I think parts of Beowulf - but not the complete set of 4 books - that we did purchase - was an "on the fly" change...and they were not assigned full books

Interesting. Does it depend on the teacher? My 6th grader had homework twice a week with questions that covered each book in its entirety, a project to write a chapter of a novel in verse, a podcast interview with a character in Beowulf, a multiple page point of view essay on a character in RoT,HMC and reflections on immortality for Tuck Everlasting. There was more but I forget. This was in Hardy.

No, none of this at Deal. hardy handled remote learning much better than deal. deal was a sh$&7t-show.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just started at a Big3 for 9th and the summer reading was the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

A classic.

Exactly. But PPs insist that only white authors can write classics.

Currently at Deal,
6th graders are reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
7th graders are reading Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
8th graders are reading Raisin in the Sun

Who insisted upon that?!
No one, that’s who.

The first PP that said “The books they read at Deal are not particularly advanced. And for some reason all the books are about racism or minority groups being oppressed. Like every single book”.

I’m sure they think Malcom X and Raisin in the Sun falls into the not advanced category.

I think the point is that these books don’t foster critical thinking. There is nothing to debate. There’s only one correct viewpoint. When the kids finish the book about segregated schools, they start a book about the Japanese internment camps. And when they finish that, they read about about the trail of tears. And then they learn about Jackie Robinson for the seventh consecutive year.

Nothing to debate??
Have you read any of these books? Maybe it's you that lacks critical thinking skills.

It would take a very brave 8th grader to publicly express any view that wasn’t 100% woke approved in a DCPS building. Very brave.

this. What does PP think there is to debate in any of those books; can they come up with a single topic that the whole class won't either agree on or know they have to agree on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid left Deal and is at a top private high school (Sidwell/NCS/STA/Potomac).
He/she was a top student at Deal: As every quarter in every class grades 6-8, top math track (Algebra 2), 5's on every PARCC since 3rd grade. 99% on the 6th grade Deal PARCC in both ELA and math.

Started private high school and it is an absolute SH$%T show. Currently getting Ds. My kid doesn't know how to study, how to read and annotate dense text in rapid fashion. He/she gets dozens of pages
a night to read and process (across history, ELA, science). Homework in every subject each evening. Has already written 5 essays and 2 lab lengthy reports. Has frequent pop quizzes. One class has one every single day.
Has a sequence of exams in every class this week.

It just f-ing frustrates me how little my kid learned at Deal. How he never learned to think critically or write well. So much wasted time in the pandemic. No Wednesdays, 45 minute classes twice a week. The chicken has come home to roost because my
kid is now having his/her ass kicked. And it all counts for college grades. Things will get better but we're quitting activities, hiring tutors and trying to right the course.

Not sure what the point of my post is except---if you have a kid in DCPS. Supplement like a mad person. We did but not enough. His/her classmates who are at Wilson report that they haven't done any
homework yet in most classes because with the 4x4 schedule, many teachers are only teaching for half of it and little or no homework is given (and what is given is done in class). So if you're at Wilson
(I have another kid likely headed there) continue to supplement.

I'm just so frustrated. I'm sure it is somewhat better in typical times but the pandemic learning was just a mess. Those of us who have left DCPS are seeing clearly just how bad it was.

We had a similar experience, although our straight 'A' public school kid eventually righted the ship and managed to pull out good grades. The reason your kid is having trouble is because ALL privates schools( even the middle tier ones) teach these critical skills in middle school - how to annotate text; how to properly take notes; how to manage your time and grammar. They also train the kids to do homework - it isn't always a lot but they cover most subjects every night, even if it's just reading a chunk of text. Public schools don't do this - not because they are 'bad' but because they don't have time. I ended up volunteering for some activities at my kid's new private school and our HOS remarked one of the things that always surprised her about public school transfers was how horrible their writing was. And you are right, 'Wasted Wednesdays' for the last couple of years did not help. You are right to stop all activities and get tutors. However, at some point, you have to determine whether it makes sense to have tutors AND pay for private school. You should post this on the private school forum though, because here you are likely to get parents who are prickly and sensitive about your perception of Deal because that is the school their kid(s) attend.

+1. Middle school at private school is all about study skills, grammar, vocabulary, and writing skills. The schools are tough on this kids at the middle school level, when the grades don't matter for college applications. They get rid of bad habits so kids are ready for challenging work in high school.

Actually, my kid did it in fourth grade in private. He went through it all again at his DCPS high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just started at a Big3 for 9th and the summer reading was the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

A classic.

Exactly. But PPs insist that only white authors can write classics.

Currently at Deal,
6th graders are reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
7th graders are reading Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
8th graders are reading Raisin in the Sun

They're not reading entire books, just excerpts.

You're kidding.

Sadly, no.

This came up on another thread. I have no idea what PPs are talking about because my kids were assigned and read entire books.

[Anonymous]

I suspect some of the PPs on this thread are not Deal parents because their experience is completely different than my experience with two kids at Deal during the pandemic. Bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Last year Team Port-au-Prince at Deal did not read full books. They read about 2 chapters from Raisin in the Sun. I made my kid finish it. Same with To Kill a Mockingbird. The class read an excerpt. My kid watched the movie to see what ended up happening. Then they read a single chapter from Chains and two short stories from Walter Dean Myers.

I was following closely---I shared an office with my kid all year. I am 100% confident I know what was going on daily.

Perhaps it varied by team. Our ELA teacher was horrendous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last year Team Port-au-Prince at Deal did not read full books. They read about 2 chapters from Raisin in the Sun. I made my kid finish it. Same with To Kill a Mockingbird. The class read an excerpt. My kid watched the movie to see what ended up happening. Then they read a single chapter from Chains and two short stories from Walter Dean Myers.

I was following closely---I shared an office with my kid all year. I am 100% confident I know what was going on daily.

Perhaps it varied by team. Our ELA teacher was horrendous.

This was our experience too...also Port-au-Prince. To the degree my child did any reading/writing, it was in history, not ELA.

Deal was truly awful last year but it was not always that way...our older (by only a couple of years) child went through Deal and read several books in ELA. It is teacher dependent for sure and ELA has always been a weak link.