Who sends their kid to Wakefield HS? Is it really that bad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's get real by comparing apples to apples. When you compare a school as a whole that has lots of ESOL/FARMS kids to another school (as a whole) that has very few needy/language learners... of course the school with the higher SES and low language learners is going to appear better.

But, looking at the white kids at Wakefield (which is 20% of the population) compared to other schools like Yorktown or McLean (where the white population is closer to 60%), you still have the impact of family wealth affecting the results, but you also have a lot of similarities.

40% of the white students at Wakefield take AP classes. 47-59% of white kids are taking AP classes at Yorktown and McLean. 85-94% of not-low-income kids at Wakefield are passing SOLs in Biology/World Hist2/Writing. 95-97% of not-low-income kids are passing the same subjects at Yorktown and McLean.

Yes, there is a bump up in passrates and AP participation at Yorktown and McLean. I think that higher household income could easily account for that. It's not like Wakefield isn't providing a good education --- the kids who are ready to make use of it are doing just that.

The big difference is that Wakefield is really diverse.

I posted much further back in this thread that my friend's kid just started there. She is having a great experience. She is involved in sports, so that is her group. Perhaps a different kid who didn't have a group of like-minded/similar SES peers might not have such a good experience. I can't say for sure. I know that they are very happy with it. In fact, they are so happy with it and impressed by other kids who went to ARlington public school for MS, that they are taking their younger child out of catholic school and putting her in public MS and then on to Wakefield.

So, you can crow all you want about National Merit semifinalists and what not. You can compare apples to oranges. Or you can look at the data that applies to kids who aren't poor and aren't learning English and think about how that data would apply to your kid (assuming your kid is in the same categories).

Looking at the data, School Digger rates Wakefield as 226 out of 290 high schools in VA.

https://www.schooldigger.com/go/VA/schools/0027000111/school.aspx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's get real by comparing apples to apples. When you compare a school as a whole that has lots of ESOL/FARMS kids to another school (as a whole) that has very few needy/language learners... of course the school with the higher SES and low language learners is going to appear better.

But, looking at the white kids at Wakefield (which is 20% of the population) compared to other schools like Yorktown or McLean (where the white population is closer to 60%), you still have the impact of family wealth affecting the results, but you also have a lot of similarities.

40% of the white students at Wakefield take AP classes. 47-59% of white kids are taking AP classes at Yorktown and McLean. 85-94% of not-low-income kids at Wakefield are passing SOLs in Biology/World Hist2/Writing. 95-97% of not-low-income kids are passing the same subjects at Yorktown and McLean.

Yes, there is a bump up in passrates and AP participation at Yorktown and McLean. I think that higher household income could easily account for that[i][u]. It's not like Wakefield isn't providing a good education --- the kids who are ready to make use of it are doing just that.

The big difference is that Wakefield is really diverse.

I posted much further back in this thread that my friend's kid just started there. She is having a great experience. She is involved in sports, so that is her group. Perhaps a different kid who didn't have a group of like-minded/similar SES peers might not have such a good experience. I can't say for sure. I know that they are very happy with it. In fact, they are so happy with it and impressed by other kids who went to ARlington public school for MS, that they are taking their younger child out of catholic school and putting her in public MS and then on to Wakefield.

So, you can crow all you want about National Merit semifinalists and what not. You can compare apples to oranges. Or you can look at the data that applies to kids who aren't poor and aren't learning English and think about how that data would apply to your kid (assuming your kid is in the same categories).

You nailed it right there. It comes down to these simple words: resources, resources and more resources.

The wealthy people and UMC in Arlington and Great Falls/Mclean/Langley will send their kids to private schools like Sidwell, Potomac, and Madeira because they can afford it. The MC in Arlington and Mclean with HHI between 400k - 600k will send their kids to Yorktown, Mclean/Langley, respectively. They have extra income to support school activities, private tutoring and private sports lessons for their kids. Those are things kids with immigrant parents simply can not afford. You can take any not performing well from Wakefield and help him with private tutoring, he/she will do just as well as any kids from Yorktown or Mclean. The problem is that the parents of Wakefield kid don't have the resource to help him. Another example, my kid attends Sidwell at a cost of 43k/year, including all fees, and she also has private tutoring three times a week for a total of 6 hours, at a cost of $80/hour. On top of that, she is also preparing for the SAT every Sunday for 5 hours at a cost of $200.

If the kid is already smart and driven, he/she will succeed at Wakefield, Yorktown or Mclean. That being said, those that succeeded at Wakefield is more of the exception rather than the rule. We are not talking about the top kids. We are talking about the average one. The sad reality is that money does matter a lot when it comes to education.

I came to US in 1982 as a refugee from Vietnam. I lived in the seven corners ghetto apartments and attended Stuart HS. My wife is also a refugee from Vietnam and graduated from Wakefield HS in 1989. Back in the '80s, there were a very large Vietnamese students population at Falls Church, Stuart and Wakefield because there are so many apartments in those areas that immigrants could afford. I have 20 close friends from Stuart and Falls Church HS that I keep in touch. All of us are living in either Vienna, Mclean, Langley or Great Falls. All of their kids are either attending private schools or Mclan/Langley HS. None of us would want our children to attend either Stuart or Wakefield.

If you ask any of the former Vietnamese students that graduated from Stuart, Falls Church and Wakefield today if they want to send their kids to Wakefield, Falls Church, and Stuart versus Mclean/Langley HS, I can almost guarantee that Mclean/Langley HS will win by a landslide. The current Vietnamese students that are attending Wakefield today because their parents are recent immigrants, they will become successful and their kids will not be attending Wakefield in the future.

Btw, drugs and alcohol are everywhere, including Mclean and Yorktown. Even Sidwell is not immuned by it.

[Anonymous]

^ how is that relevant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's get real by comparing apples to apples. When you compare a school as a whole that has lots of ESOL/FARMS kids to another school (as a whole) that has very few needy/language learners... of course the school with the higher SES and low language learners is going to appear better.

But, looking at the white kids at Wakefield (which is 20% of the population) compared to other schools like Yorktown or McLean (where the white population is closer to 60%), you still have the impact of family wealth affecting the results, but you also have a lot of similarities.

40% of the white students at Wakefield take AP classes. 47-59% of white kids are taking AP classes at Yorktown and McLean. 85-94% of not-low-income kids at Wakefield are passing SOLs in Biology/World Hist2/Writing. 95-97% of not-low-income kids are passing the same subjects at Yorktown and McLean.

Yes, there is a bump up in passrates and AP participation at Yorktown and McLean. I think that higher household income could easily account for that[i][u]. It's not like Wakefield isn't providing a good education --- the kids who are ready to make use of it are doing just that.

The big difference is that Wakefield is really diverse.

I posted much further back in this thread that my friend's kid just started there. She is having a great experience. She is involved in sports, so that is her group. Perhaps a different kid who didn't have a group of like-minded/similar SES peers might not have such a good experience. I can't say for sure. I know that they are very happy with it. In fact, they are so happy with it and impressed by other kids who went to ARlington public school for MS, that they are taking their younger child out of catholic school and putting her in public MS and then on to Wakefield.

So, you can crow all you want about National Merit semifinalists and what not. You can compare apples to oranges. Or you can look at the data that applies to kids who aren't poor and aren't learning English and think about how that data would apply to your kid (assuming your kid is in the same categories).

You nailed it right there. It comes down to these simple words: resources, resources and more resources.

The wealthy people and UMC in Arlington and Great Falls/Mclean/Langley will send their kids to private schools like Sidwell, Potomac, and Madeira because they can afford it. The MC in Arlington and Mclean with HHI between 400k - 600k will send their kids to Yorktown, Mclean/Langley, respectively. They have extra income to support school activities, private tutoring and private sports lessons for their kids. Those are things kids with immigrant parents simply can not afford. You can take any not performing well from Wakefield and help him with private tutoring, he/she will do just as well as any kids from Yorktown or Mclean. The problem is that the parents of Wakefield kid don't have the resource to help him. Another example, my kid attends Sidwell at a cost of 43k/year, including all fees, and she also has private tutoring three times a week for a total of 6 hours, at a cost of $80/hour. On top of that, she is also preparing for the SAT every Sunday for 5 hours at a cost of $200.

If the kid is already smart and driven, he/she will succeed at Wakefield, Yorktown or Mclean. That being said, those that succeeded at Wakefield is more of the exception rather than the rule. We are not talking about the top kids. We are talking about the average one. The sad reality is that money does matter a lot when it comes to education.

I came to US in 1982 as a refugee from Vietnam. I lived in the seven corners ghetto apartments and attended Stuart HS. My wife is also a refugee from Vietnam and graduated from Wakefield HS in 1989. Back in the '80s, there were a very large Vietnamese students population at Falls Church, Stuart and Wakefield because there are so many apartments in those areas that immigrants could afford. I have 20 close friends from Stuart and Falls Church HS that I keep in touch. All of us are living in either Vienna, Mclean, Langley or Great Falls. All of their kids are either attending private schools or Mclan/Langley HS. None of us would want our children to attend either Stuart or Wakefield.

If you ask any of the former Vietnamese students that graduated from Stuart, Falls Church and Wakefield today if they want to send their kids to Wakefield, Falls Church, and Stuart versus Mclean/Langley HS, I can almost guarantee that Mclean/Langley HS will win by a landslide. The current Vietnamese students that are attending Wakefield today because their parents are recent immigrants, they will become successful and their kids will not be attending Wakefield in the future.

Btw, drugs and alcohol are everywhere, including Mclean and Yorktown. Even Sidwell is not immuned by it.

So you have a weird grudge / chip on your shoulder. Thanks for sharing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shit hole school

You know that's supposed to be one word, don't you genius?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why is everyone so obsessed with trashing schools their kids don't attend?

Because deep down, DCUM is a bastion of insecurity. People have to know they chose the right neighborhood, bought the right house, got their kids into the right school. But most of us don't have kids in their 30s or 40s, where we could realistically assess their lives to see if the investment was actually worth it. So people trash any choice that is "the other" to make themselves feel better about their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you have a weird grudge / chip on your shoulder. Thanks for sharing.

No grudge/chip on my shoulder. Simply just the reality of these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you have a weird grudge / chip on your shoulder. Thanks for sharing.

No grudge/chip on my shoulder. Simply just the reality of these schools.

You mean the schools that allowed you to success and rise to the umc? The schools that got you to Mclean and sending your kids to Sidwell? Those schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The “best” graduates from my highly ranked and competitive FCPS aren’t doing anything special. They have good jobs and nice families. Same as many of the average students.
But go ahead and pay that extra 100k on your crappy house in 22207.
I’d prefer to save for my kids college fund and our retirement.
Also, I’ve never met an employee that gave 3 f#cks about nmsf. It really couldn’t be less important.

Not the average students from Wakefield, unfortunately.

Be honest with yourself. Let say if you live in Wakefield school district on a 1 acre lot house and I came and ask you to swap your house with my Mclean house that is also sitting on a 1 acre lot and Mclean/Langley HS district, free of charge? What would you answer be?

Does it come with free tiger moms and cram schools? I'm in!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You mean the schools that allowed you to success and rise to the umc? The schools that got you to Mclean and sending your kids to Sidwell? Those schools?

Those success examples are the exception rather than the rule at those schools. Probably 1 success for every 800 failures.

As Mike Tyson famously once said: EVERYONE HAS A PLAN UNTIL THEY GET PUNCHED IN THE MOUTH.

If you feel Wakefield is a good school and want to send your kids there, please go ahead. This is a free country and everyone has the right to be stupid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why is everyone so obsessed with trashing schools their kids don't attend?

Because deep down, DCUM is a bastion of insecurity. People have to know they chose the right neighborhood, bought the right house, got their kids into the right school. But most of us don't have kids in their 30s or 40s, where we could realistically assess their lives to see if the investment was actually worth it. So people trash any choice that is "the other" to make themselves feel better about their own.

Seems like people keep starting threads about low-performing schools to try and convince the people they want to send their kids to those schools to do so. I mean, how many Wakefield threads have there been?

Not sure why they get bent out of shape when the facts about those schools are then shared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mean the schools that allowed you to success and rise to the umc? The schools that got you to Mclean and sending your kids to Sidwell? Those schools?

Those success examples are the exception rather than the rule at those schools. Probably 1 success for every 800 failures.

As Mike Tyson famously once said: EVERYONE HAS A PLAN UNTIL THEY GET PUNCHED IN THE MOUTH.

If you feel Wakefield is a good school and want to send your kids there, please go ahead. This is a free country and everyone has the right to be stupid

800 failures? Where on earth are you getting your stats?
You sound very bitter. You’ll feel so much lighter without the chip you are carrying around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why is everyone so obsessed with trashing schools their kids don't attend?

Because deep down, DCUM is a bastion of insecurity. People have to know they chose the right neighborhood, bought the right house, got their kids into the right school. But most of us don't have kids in their 30s or 40s, where we could realistically assess their lives to see if the investment was actually worth it. So people trash any choice that is "the other" to make themselves feel better about their own.

Seems like people keep starting threads about low-performing schools to try and convince the people they want to send their kids to those schools to do so. I mean, how many Wakefield threads have there been?

Not sure why they get bent out of shape when the facts about those schools are then shared.

+1000. They can’t be happy that the county plans even more low-income housing in South Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why is everyone so obsessed with trashing schools their kids don't attend?

Because deep down, DCUM is a bastion of insecurity. People have to know they chose the right neighborhood, bought the right house, got their kids into the right school. But most of us don't have kids in their 30s or 40s, where we could realistically assess their lives to see if the investment was actually worth it. So people trash any choice that is "the other" to make themselves feel better about their own.

Seems like people keep starting threads about low-performing schools to try and convince the people they want to send their kids to those schools to do so. I mean, how many Wakefield threads have there been?

Not sure why they get bent out of shape when the facts about those schools are then shared.

+1000. They can’t be happy that the county plans even more low-income housing in South Arlington.

And you're crowing about residential segregation because? Just curious.

[Anonymous]

I don't know anyone in their right mind would want to send their kids to Wakefield. This is the school that almost lost its state accreditation back in 2011. You don't hear about this kind of things at Yorktown, Langley or Mclean. A big red flag there: http://wjla.com/news/education/wakefield-high-school-at-risk-of-losing-state-accreditation-67395