Any Walls boosters / haters these days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is bizarre, including OPs post. I don't know why a question about a school someone is considering would be juxtaposed by boosters v haters, when for most schools it's a lot of in between. DCUM is a place of extremes and not one I'd go to for actual feedback on a school.

These Walls posts are so predictable. You could play a drinking game off of them. Key phrases include: admissions are a lottery/crapshoot, the school is going downhill, crew team woes, and bonus points for the amazing kid who got into every selective private school but rejected from Walls.

And this response is so predicable. Yawn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is bizarre, including OPs post. I don't know why a question about a school someone is considering would be juxtaposed by boosters v haters, when for most schools it's a lot of in between. DCUM is a place of extremes and not one I'd go to for actual feedback on a school.

These Walls posts are so predictable. You could play a drinking game off of them. Key phrases include: admissions are a lottery/crapshoot, the school is going downhill, crew team woes, and bonus points for the amazing kid who got into every selective private school but rejected from Walls.

+1

Meanwhile all these parents are upset their kid didn’t get into Walls. If it’s going downhill and so on, why would you want your kid to go there?

The rub is that Walls is going downhill. I know this because I have a kid who graduated pre-Covid and another who attends now, making me a rare Walls parent. The students being admitted without the exam and standardized test score just aren't as sharp overall as the current crop. The principal just isn't half as effective as the old one. And so on. Pretending that Walls isn't going downhill may make you feel good, but it's not reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is bizarre, including OPs post. I don't know why a question about a school someone is considering would be juxtaposed by boosters v haters, when for most schools it's a lot of in between. DCUM is a place of extremes and not one I'd go to for actual feedback on a school.

These Walls posts are so predictable. You could play a drinking game off of them. Key phrases include: admissions are a lottery/crapshoot, the school is going downhill, crew team woes, and bonus points for the amazing kid who got into every selective private school but rejected from Walls.

+1

Meanwhile all these parents are upset their kid didn’t get into Walls. If it’s going downhill and so on, why would you want your kid to go there?

The rub is that Walls is going downhill. I know this because I have a kid who graduated pre-Covid and another who attends now, making me a rare Walls parent. The students being admitted without the exam and standardized test score just aren't as sharp overall as the current crop. The principal just isn't half as effective as the old one. And so on. Pretending that Walls isn't going downhill may make you feel good, but it's not reality.

Please provide your evidence. Do you sit in on classes? Are you reviewing students' essays and tests?

I am genuinely curious as a current Walls parent too. I have no idea what anyone but my child is doing, nor should I. So what are you basing this on?

Also are you saying your younger child isn't as smart and capable because they didn't yet in via entrance exam?

[Anonymous]

My younger child is more capable than my older where STEM work goes and would undoubtedly have done well on the Walls entrance exam. Younger scored in 700s on the SAT freshman year for CTY. Older never qualified for CTY. Falling standards are obvious if you have your eyes open. There aren't as many Walls students who can handle the most advanced math taught as there were pre-Covid. From what we hear, kids don't score as high on APs overall or take as many on average. There aren't as many seniors cracking Ivies and top SLACs. There are (minor) discipline issues in classes that we didn't hear about before. Humanities assignments get dumbed down a bit comparatively, because there aren't as many advanced humanities students. If you don't want to believe it, fine, but this is what's happening. Hint: Yale, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown etc. haven't brought back the SAT post Covid for no reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My younger child is more capable than my older where STEM work goes and would undoubtedly have done well on the Walls entrance exam. Younger scored in 700s on the SAT freshman year for CTY. Older never qualified for CTY. Falling standards are obvious if you have your eyes open. There aren't as many Walls students who can handle the most advanced math taught as there were pre-Covid. From what we hear, kids don't score as high on APs overall or take as many on average. There aren't as many seniors cracking Ivies and top SLACs. There are (minor) discipline issues in classes that we didn't hear about before. Humanities assignments get dumbed down a bit comparatively, because there aren't as many advanced humanities students. If you don't want to believe it, fine, but this is what's happening. Hint: Yale, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown etc. haven't brought back the SAT post Covid for no reason.

The 2023 class was the last to come in through the old way (entrance exam and interview).

Are you claiming to know the college outcomes of every kid for the class of 2024 when I would imagine a fair number have not even yet decided on their college?

I know a few 2024s at Walls (don’t have a kid there) and their college outcomes seem great. Maybe I just know the only 3 going to Top 20 colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My younger child is more capable than my older where STEM work goes and would undoubtedly have done well on the Walls entrance exam. Younger scored in 700s on the SAT freshman year for CTY. Older never qualified for CTY. Falling standards are obvious if you have your eyes open. There aren't as many Walls students who can handle the most advanced math taught as there were pre-Covid. From what we hear, kids don't score as high on APs overall or take as many on average. There aren't as many seniors cracking Ivies and top SLACs. There are (minor) discipline issues in classes that we didn't hear about before. Humanities assignments get dumbed down a bit comparatively, because there aren't as many advanced humanities students. If you don't want to believe it, fine, but this is what's happening. Hint: Yale, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown etc. haven't brought back the SAT post Covid for no reason.

The 2023 class was the last to come in through the old way (entrance exam and interview).

Are you claiming to know the college outcomes of every kid for the class of 2024 when I would imagine a fair number have not even yet decided on their college?

I know a few 2024s at Walls (don’t have a kid there) and their college outcomes seem great. Maybe I just know the only 3 going to Top 20 colleges.

Class of 2024 was admitted by exam. They sat the exam in person in February 2020.

Class of 2025 is the first GPA class.

[Anonymous]

Given the natural diversity of interests and family circumstances of a citywide public school, plus the crazy low acceptance rates of top colleges these days, I think the current Walls outcomes are quite good:

https://www.instagram.com/sww2024decisions/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is bizarre, including OPs post. I don't know why a question about a school someone is considering would be juxtaposed by boosters v haters, when for most schools it's a lot of in between. DCUM is a place of extremes and not one I'd go to for actual feedback on a school.

These Walls posts are so predictable. You could play a drinking game off of them. Key phrases include: admissions are a lottery/crapshoot, the school is going downhill, crew team woes, and bonus points for the amazing kid who got into every selective private school but rejected from Walls.

+1

Meanwhile all these parents are upset their kid didn’t get into Walls. If it’s going downhill and so on, why would you want your kid to go there?

The rub is that Walls is going downhill. I know this because I have a kid who graduated pre-Covid and another who attends now, making me a rare Walls parent. The students being admitted without the exam and standardized test score just aren't as sharp overall as the current crop. The principal just isn't half as effective as the old one. And so on. Pretending that Walls isn't going downhill may make you feel good, but it's not reality.

This is obviously, empirically going to be true.

What can be done?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My younger child is more capable than my older where STEM work goes and would undoubtedly have done well on the Walls entrance exam. Younger scored in 700s on the SAT freshman year for CTY. Older never qualified for CTY. Falling standards are obvious if you have your eyes open. There aren't as many Walls students who can handle the most advanced math taught as there were pre-Covid. From what we hear, kids don't score as high on APs overall or take as many on average. There aren't as many seniors cracking Ivies and top SLACs. There are (minor) discipline issues in classes that we didn't hear about before. Humanities assignments get dumbed down a bit comparatively, because there aren't as many advanced humanities students. If you don't want to believe it, fine, but this is what's happening. Hint: Yale, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown etc. haven't brought back the SAT post Covid for no reason.

Thanks for confirming that you don't have evidence. I also think it's pretty gross to call children "not as sharp" but even worse when you have nothing but a feeling and hearsay to back that up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is bizarre, including OPs post. I don't know why a question about a school someone is considering would be juxtaposed by boosters v haters, when for most schools it's a lot of in between. DCUM is a place of extremes and not one I'd go to for actual feedback on a school.

These Walls posts are so predictable. You could play a drinking game off of them. Key phrases include: admissions are a lottery/crapshoot, the school is going downhill, crew team woes, and bonus points for the amazing kid who got into every selective private school but rejected from Walls.

+1

Meanwhile all these parents are upset their kid didn’t get into Walls. If it’s going downhill and so on, why would you want your kid to go there?

I don't have a feeling one way or another whether Walls is going downhill, because I have one kid there now and another who didn't get an interview this year. But I can answer that last question: even if Walls is going downhill, it's better than a lot of the alternatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My younger child is more capable than my older where STEM work goes and would undoubtedly have done well on the Walls entrance exam. Younger scored in 700s on the SAT freshman year for CTY. Older never qualified for CTY. Falling standards are obvious if you have your eyes open. There aren't as many Walls students who can handle the most advanced math taught as there were pre-Covid. From what we hear, kids don't score as high on APs overall or take as many on average. There aren't as many seniors cracking Ivies and top SLACs. There are (minor) discipline issues in classes that we didn't hear about before. Humanities assignments get dumbed down a bit comparatively, because there aren't as many advanced humanities students. If you don't want to believe it, fine, but this is what's happening. Hint: Yale, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown etc. haven't brought back the SAT post Covid for no reason.

The 2023 class was the last to come in through the old way (entrance exam and interview).

Are you claiming to know the college outcomes of every kid for the class of 2024 when I would imagine a fair number have not even yet decided on their college?

I know a few 2024s at Walls (don’t have a kid there) and their college outcomes seem great. Maybe I just know the only 3 going to Top 20 colleges.

NP pointing out that Walls has slipped partly because of Covid learning loss/school closures, a general problem nationally. It's impossible to separate out the Covid issues from the no entrance exam issues at Walls. But I agree that eliminating exam scores from the admissions process was a big mistake on DCPS' part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is bizarre, including OPs post. I don't know why a question about a school someone is considering would be juxtaposed by boosters v haters, when for most schools it's a lot of in between. DCUM is a place of extremes and not one I'd go to for actual feedback on a school.

These Walls posts are so predictable. You could play a drinking game off of them. Key phrases include: admissions are a lottery/crapshoot, the school is going downhill, crew team woes, and bonus points for the amazing kid who got into every selective private school but rejected from Walls.

+1

Meanwhile all these parents are upset their kid didn’t get into Walls. If it’s going downhill and so on, why would you want your kid to go there?

The rub is that Walls is going downhill. I know this because I have a kid who graduated pre-Covid and another who attends now, making me a rare Walls parent. The students being admitted without the exam and standardized test score just aren't as sharp overall as the current crop. The principal just isn't half as effective as the old one. And so on. Pretending that Walls isn't going downhill may make you feel good, but it's not reality.

This is obviously, empirically going to be true.

What can be done?

Nothing can be done. Bowser is our education czar because DC hasn't had an elected school board for many years and isn't on track to get one back. Bowser essentially runs unelected. She doesn't give a hoot about falling standards at Walls or in any other DC public school. She installed the current weak chief admin at Walls because she was looking for an empty suit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My younger child is more capable than my older where STEM work goes and would undoubtedly have done well on the Walls entrance exam. Younger scored in 700s on the SAT freshman year for CTY. Older never qualified for CTY. Falling standards are obvious if you have your eyes open. There aren't as many Walls students who can handle the most advanced math taught as there were pre-Covid. From what we hear, kids don't score as high on APs overall or take as many on average. There aren't as many seniors cracking Ivies and top SLACs. There are (minor) discipline issues in classes that we didn't hear about before. Humanities assignments get dumbed down a bit comparatively, because there aren't as many advanced humanities students. If you don't want to believe it, fine, but this is what's happening. Hint: Yale, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown etc. haven't brought back the SAT post Covid for no reason.

Thanks for confirming that you don't have evidence. I also think it's pretty gross to call children "not as sharp" but even worse when you have nothing but a feeling and hearsay to back that up.

Why do I get the feeling that you don't have teens at Walls, never have and never will?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My younger child is more capable than my older where STEM work goes and would undoubtedly have done well on the Walls entrance exam. Younger scored in 700s on the SAT freshman year for CTY. Older never qualified for CTY. Falling standards are obvious if you have your eyes open. There aren't as many Walls students who can handle the most advanced math taught as there were pre-Covid. From what we hear, kids don't score as high on APs overall or take as many on average. There aren't as many seniors cracking Ivies and top SLACs. There are (minor) discipline issues in classes that we didn't hear about before. Humanities assignments get dumbed down a bit comparatively, because there aren't as many advanced humanities students. If you don't want to believe it, fine, but this is what's happening. Hint: Yale, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown etc. haven't brought back the SAT post Covid for no reason.

Thanks for confirming that you don't have evidence. I also think it's pretty gross to call children "not as sharp" but even worse when you have nothing but a feeling and hearsay to back that up.

Why do I get the feeling that you don't have teens at Walls, never have and never will?

Sorry to disappoint. My kid loves Walls.

[Anonymous]

Which doesn't alter the fact that many if not most current Walls students would not have been admitted via the pre-Covid admissions process because they weren't adequately prepared and are insufficiently academic.