Anonymous wrote:Highest predictor of academic success is education level of mother. That's why J-R is called "Yale or Jail." Parents who can supplement - supplement from an early age with weekend language classes, tutors, summer camps, internships. Those kids are prepared for college and would be prepared anywhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Highest predictor of academic success is education level of mother. That's why J-R is called "Yale or Jail." Parents who can supplement - supplement from an early age with weekend language classes, tutors, summer camps, internships. Those kids are prepared for college and would be prepared anywhere.

I work in college admissions, have a kid at J-R and don't think it's quite that simple. Yes, the "Yale" or "Jail" phenomenon is real. But there's a good-sized group of bright but not terribly motivated potential "Yale" students in the ES feeders and Deal who would do better in better-run and more demanding schools than DCPS, schools that would have pushed them harder from the upper ES grades. UMC parents can't always compensate for what schools aren't doing by supplementing extensively. All of these parents aren't going to find the time, resources, stamina or working relationship with a child to get and stay on track for "Yale" from DCPS. My do-the-minimum older kid wouldn't have worked hard at Deal or J-R (so attended parochial schools after ES), while my younger one has thrived in DCPS as a pre-teen and teen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Highest predictor of academic success is education level of mother. That's why J-R is called "Yale or Jail." Parents who can supplement - supplement from an early age with weekend language classes, tutors, summer camps, internships. Those kids are prepared for college and would be prepared anywhere.

To be clear "Yale or jail" is widely recognized as a racist trope centered in the idea of Black exceptionalism (i.e. any outstanding Black student is one of a small number of "good ones", but most Black teens are inherently bad and destined for jail).

Of course, the reality is that the overwhelming majority of non-college-bound kids who graduate from JR go on extremely positive and productive lives -- there are ROTC kids who join the military, kids who become firefighters, kids who become police officers, etc. In short, the people who do the day-to-day work that makes DC livable as a city and the US a functional country.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Highest predictor of academic success is education level of mother. That's why J-R is called "Yale or Jail." Parents who can supplement - supplement from an early age with weekend language classes, tutors, summer camps, internships. Those kids are prepared for college and would be prepared anywhere.

To be clear "Yale or jail" is widely recognized as a racist trope centered in the idea of Black exceptionalism (i.e. any outstanding Black student is one of a small number of "good ones", but most Black teens are inherently bad and destined for jail).

Of course, the reality is that the overwhelming majority of non-college-bound kids who graduate from JR go on extremely positive and productive lives -- there are ROTC kids who join the military, kids who become firefighters, kids who become police officers, etc. In short, the people who do the day-to-day work that makes DC livable as a city and the US a functional country.

"Yale or Jail" is a widely recognized term in academic literature to describe an often racist system centered in the ideal that White/Asian students are destined for college and Black and Brown students are tracked for non-college curricula. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/854858/pdf. Still exists. Still exists at J-R. Still, Black and Brown students with educated mothers are going to be largely fine and prepared for college.

Anonymous wrote:I was just with a group of former students who all went to an array of DCPS high schools, Banneker, Walls, Phelps. McKinley. All of them said that they were ready for college and have graduated and started careers or have continued to grad school. One of my former students graduated from Walls and recently defended her dissertation. A few students who went to Banneker said they felt over-prepared, especially for freshman and sophomore years.

So while not a parent of a DCPS high school graduate (my child attended a charter and the youngest is in a DCPS middle school), I have a fairly solid group of students who felt very prepared for school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Highest predictor of academic success is education level of mother. That's why J-R is called "Yale or Jail." Parents who can supplement - supplement from an early age with weekend language classes, tutors, summer camps, internships. Those kids are prepared for college and would be prepared anywhere.

I work in college admissions, have a kid at J-R and don't think it's quite that simple. Yes, the "Yale" or "Jail" phenomenon is real. But there's a good-sized group of bright but not terribly motivated potential "Yale" students in the ES feeders and Deal who would do better in better-run and more demanding schools than DCPS, schools that would have pushed them harder from the upper ES grades. UMC parents can't always compensate for what schools aren't doing by supplementing extensively. All of these parents aren't going to find the time, resources, stamina or working relationship with a child to get and stay on track for "Yale" from DCPS. My do-the-minimum older kid wouldn't have worked hard at Deal or J-R (so attended parochial schools after ES), while my younger one has thrived in DCPS as a pre-teen and teen.

Can you speak a little more about your kids different styles? Would the older kid not worked as hard at Deal/JR and pushed more at parochial school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Highest predictor of academic success is education level of mother. That's why J-R is called "Yale or Jail." Parents who can supplement - supplement from an early age with weekend language classes, tutors, summer camps, internships. Those kids are prepared for college and would be prepared anywhere.

I work in college admissions, have a kid at J-R and don't think it's quite that simple. Yes, the "Yale" or "Jail" phenomenon is real. But there's a good-sized group of bright but not terribly motivated potential "Yale" students in the ES feeders and Deal who would do better in better-run and more demanding schools than DCPS, schools that would have pushed them harder from the upper ES grades. UMC parents can't always compensate for what schools aren't doing by supplementing extensively. All of these parents aren't going to find the time, resources, stamina or working relationship with a child to get and stay on track for "Yale" from DCPS. My do-the-minimum older kid wouldn't have worked hard at Deal or J-R (so attended parochial schools after ES), while my younger one has thrived in DCPS as a pre-teen and teen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Highest predictor of academic success is education level of mother. That's why J-R is called "Yale or Jail." Parents who can supplement - supplement from an early age with weekend language classes, tutors, summer camps, internships. Those kids are prepared for college and would be prepared anywhere.

I work in college admissions, have a kid at J-R and don't think it's quite that simple. Yes, the "Yale" or "Jail" phenomenon is real. But there's a good-sized group of bright but not terribly motivated potential "Yale" students in the ES feeders and Deal who would do better in better-run and more demanding schools than DCPS, schools that would have pushed them harder from the upper ES grades. UMC parents can't always compensate for what schools aren't doing by supplementing extensively. All of these parents aren't going to find the time, resources, stamina or working relationship with a child to get and stay on track for "Yale" from DCPS. My do-the-minimum older kid wouldn't have worked hard at Deal or J-R (so attended parochial schools after ES), while my younger one has thrived in DCPS as a pre-teen and teen.

Can you speak a little more about your kids different styles? Would the older kid not worked as hard at Deal/JR and pushed more at parochial school?

Older kid is pushed much harder at top parochial middle school than at Deal. He only does what he has to, now he puts nose to the grindstone (or we don't let him play sports he loves). His interests aren't academic, but he can perform well if required to. Younger kid has strong academic interests, enjoys reading, writing, plays a musical instrument well. We supplement for younger kid in DCPS with harder math and language study on weekends. We can only afford parochial school for one comfortably, don't get fi aid from the school and highly doubt that they'd have admitted him if we needed a scholarship. If we hadn't bought a house in NW almost 20 years ago, leaving us with a small mortgage, we'd have bailed for the burbs by now to head off college admissions issues for older kid.

Anonymous wrote:Yup, the kid's motivation and intellectual curiosity is critical in DCPS if you're aiming for elite colleges.