New to Banneker

[Anonymous]

Anyone have experience with Banneker providing 504 / ADHD accommodations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gosh Banneker seems hard. My DD was planning on applying but now after reading all this, I’d rather she not. Walls has less work and is still number 1. Win-Win and probably way better for the children’s stress level and mental health. We can’t forget that they aren’t adults yet and also need a break from time to time. Overworking them is not the solution.

My kid is at Banneker and has friends (they all graduated last year from the same MS) at Walls and the workload seems similar.

Yes. My family has direct experience at both and people on this thread are deluding themselves. The truth is that it's much easier to get into Banneker than Walls and the majority of students rank Walls ahead. As a result, the average student at Walls is much better prepared than the average student at Banneker. That means that Banneker seems harder, because it's harder for its average student, but it's not actually harder.

Also have experience with Walls. The IB track is harder than what’s offered at Walls. Banneker and Walls flip-flop for the top position all the time.

Not sure what you mean by "top position." But Walls has always been considerably harder to get into. The average SAT score differential between the schools is telling (and large).

Yes, I have had kids attend both schools. Both schools are great. Banneker’s IB program is the most challenging program in DCPS.

lol

You also have had kids attend every program in DCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have experience with Banneker providing 504 / ADHD accommodations?

Not direct experience, so I don’t know the diagnoses and cannot say whether these are IEPs or 504s, but my Banneker student has mentioned friends/classmates who get extra time or dyslexia/dysgraphia accommodations. It does not seem to be a big deal. Also I have another child at a different school who works with a specialist whose introductory “hi parent” letter said that they are at Banneker one day a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have experience with Banneker providing 504 / ADHD accommodations?

Not direct experience, so I don’t know the diagnoses and cannot say whether these are IEPs or 504s, but my Banneker student has mentioned friends/classmates who get extra time or dyslexia/dysgraphia accommodations. It does not seem to be a big deal. Also I have another child at a different school who works with a specialist whose introductory “hi parent” letter said that they are at Banneker one day a week.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have experience with Banneker providing 504 / ADHD accommodations?

My 9th grader just mentioned that a student was able to type their essay while everyone else had to handwrite theirs due to accommodations. They said it was no big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gosh Banneker seems hard. My DD was planning on applying but now after reading all this, I’d rather she not. Walls has less work and is still number 1. Win-Win and probably way better for the children’s stress level and mental health. We can’t forget that they aren’t adults yet and also need a break from time to time. Overworking them is not the solution.

My kid is at Banneker and has friends (they all graduated last year from the same MS) at Walls and the workload seems similar.

Yes. My family has direct experience at both and people on this thread are deluding themselves. The truth is that it's much easier to get into Banneker than Walls and the majority of students rank Walls ahead. As a result, the average student at Walls is much better prepared than the average student at Banneker. That means that Banneker seems harder, because it's harder for its average student, but it's not actually harder.

Also have experience with Walls. The IB track is harder than what’s offered at Walls. Banneker and Walls flip-flop for the top position all the time.

Not sure what you mean by "top position." But Walls has always been considerably harder to get into. The average SAT score differential between the schools is telling (and large).

Yes, I have had kids attend both schools. Both schools are great. Banneker’s IB program is the most challenging program in DCPS.

lol

You also have had kids attend every program in DCPS?

My oldest went to Walls and graduated. My youngest graduates this year from Banneker. This is actually pretty common. I have met a couple of parents that have had kids go to Walls and Banneker. I even know a parent that has had three kids at Walls, Banneker, and JR.

[Anonymous]

For legacy Banneker families-- how much do parents and kids need to stress about a C or two in the 1st quarter grading period when they were previously all A students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For legacy Banneker families-- how much do parents and kids need to stress about a C or two in the 1st quarter grading period when they were previously all A students?

Thank you for asking this question. My son who had gotten all As in middle school is beating himself up because of a few bad grades.

Question:For purposes of a final GPA, does the individual term grades really matter? He can still recover if he does well in terms 2-4, right because the grades are averaged?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For legacy Banneker families-- how much do parents and kids need to stress about a C or two in the 1st quarter grading period when they were previously all A students?

Thank you for asking this question. My son who had gotten all As in middle school is beating himself up because of a few bad grades.

Question:For purposes of a final GPA, does the individual term grades really matter? He can still recover if he does well in terms 2-4, right because the grades are averaged?

Yes, Banneker uses the same inflationary grading policy as all DCPS schools. So a C, A, A, A is an A- on the year, and a B, A, A, A is an A. There is time to recover.

Also, even right now, your kid’s first quarter class rank is higher than you think. An unweighted 4.0 is pretty rare at Banneker.

[Anonymous]

I have experience. My kid had a 504 for vision all 4 years and had a good experience. They do encourage students to advocate for themselves as they get older. 504s can be diverse; advocate for your kid and they are very responsive for reasonable accommodations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gosh Banneker seems hard. My DD was planning on applying but now after reading all this, I’d rather she not. Walls has less work and is still number 1. Win-Win and probably way better for the children’s stress level and mental health. We can’t forget that they aren’t adults yet and also need a break from time to time. Overworking them is not the solution.

My kid is at Banneker and has friends (they all graduated last year from the same MS) at Walls and the workload seems similar.

Yes. My family has direct experience at both and people on this thread are deluding themselves. The truth is that it's much easier to get into Banneker than Walls and the majority of students rank Walls ahead. As a result, the average student at Walls is much better prepared than the average student at Banneker. That means that Banneker seems harder, because it's harder for its average student, but it's not actually harder.

Also have experience with Walls. The IB track is harder than what’s offered at Walls. Banneker and Walls flip-flop for the top position all the time.

Not sure what you mean by "top position." But Walls has always been considerably harder to get into. The average SAT score differential between the schools is telling (and large).

Yes, I have had kids attend both schools. Both schools are great. Banneker’s IB program is the most challenging program in DCPS.

No it isn't, not by a long shot, not when there are J-R and Walls students taking 8, 9 even 10 AP exams, scoring all 4s and 5s. J-R is teaching much tougher sciences than Banneker and a lot more AP subjects. Walls teaches more foreign languages and more humanities AP subjects. IB Diploma alone doesn't offer fantastic challenge. Bannker's IBD curriculum is ridiculously narrow and many of their IBD classes aren't even true IB classes (just for full IBD students).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gosh Banneker seems hard. My DD was planning on applying but now after reading all this, I’d rather she not. Walls has less work and is still number 1. Win-Win and probably way better for the children’s stress level and mental health. We can’t forget that they aren’t adults yet and also need a break from time to time. Overworking them is not the solution.

My kid is at Banneker and has friends (they all graduated last year from the same MS) at Walls and the workload seems similar.

Yes. My family has direct experience at both and people on this thread are deluding themselves. The truth is that it's much easier to get into Banneker than Walls and the majority of students rank Walls ahead. As a result, the average student at Walls is much better prepared than the average student at Banneker. That means that Banneker seems harder, because it's harder for its average student, but it's not actually harder.

Also have experience with Walls. The IB track is harder than what’s offered at Walls. Banneker and Walls flip-flop for the top position all the time.

Not sure what you mean by "top position." But Walls has always been considerably harder to get into. The average SAT score differential between the schools is telling (and large).

Yes, I have had kids attend both schools. Both schools are great. Banneker’s IB program is the most challenging program in DCPS.

lol

You also have had kids attend every program in DCPS?

My oldest went to Walls and graduated. My youngest graduates this year from Banneker. This is actually pretty common. I have met a couple of parents that have had kids go to Walls and Banneker. I even know a parent that has had three kids at Walls, Banneker, and JR.

So the answer is no.

[Anonymous]

My kid is in the pre-IB program, and it has thus far been a terrific experience. It's really been great witnessing him come alive as a learner, seeing how he and classmates have fun while collaborating on projects, and how proud he is now of his work.

I don't know why so many feel the need to nitpick. It is great for some kids (like mine); not for others. Just like any school.