Reply to Thoughts about Brent Upper School from parents of kids who have gone through 5th?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My child attended 5th grade at Brent - Upper School model. This model was extremely isolating for them. The 5th grade students are grouped into 6 ish students in a class of 18ish 4th graders. The 4th graders already have their friends and have no interest in socializing with the "left over" 5th graders. Further, it was only by luck you are with the 1-2 friends that didn't switch schools. It felt like starting new after being at the school for many, many years. The teachers or Principal also refused to have 5th-grade only focused activities. Teachers focused heavily on 4th grade learning so my child was very bored. Bored and lonely. We supplemented at home, as did most other 5th grade peers, which more likely attributed to maintained or increased test scores. My [academically advanced] child had to listen to the same math and English lessons -- even read the identical books -- and was not held to a higher standard. They were pulled into the "advanced" group in math but that was pretty dismal in terms of learning. Brent may be showing "higher" test scores but I call BS. Their model is both academically and socially damaging without outside support and intervention. The Principal doesn't give a hoot about the 5th grade experience either. Also, this past year 3 of 4 Upper School teachers left so that says a lot as well. [/quote]

Thanks - PP current Brent parent here and this matches with what I've heard from 4th grade families as well. Assignments are the same, and obviously teachers have to focus on the 4th graders when the goal is to teach to the average. Sad to hear about the staff turnover, too, it must cause burnout. If you look at the astronomical 3rd grade WL offers this year, it's clear families did the math that two years at a swing space made no sense because they had no plans to return for 5th grade even in a new building. It's nuts because you see the increased buy-in to stay through 5th at LT, Maury, Payne, etc. We'd absolutely stay with a traditional 5th grade set-up. Parents with ECE/younger ES kids should make it priority 1,2,3,4 and 5 to get rid of this experiment. It's probably too late for us, but it's worth raising hell about before the school reopens on the Hill.[/quote]

As long as Brent remains a Jefferson feeder, there probably isn’t much point to “raising hell.” People don’t stay for 5th not just because of the upper school model, but to use 5th to secure a better MS plan as well. Better use of resources to raise hell for a better feeder pattern although that would be a real uphill battle.[/quote]

I would flip the usual framing a bit-as long as a large proportion of Brent families aren’t willing to send their kids to Jefferson, they’re undermining their own school by not having enough 5th grade students to make that experience better for those who stay. Brent has historically had the lowest MS buy-in of any Hill feeder. In contrast, Maury has been sending a growing cohort to EH and Jefferson is increasingly attracting families from the other three feeder schools, including UMC families.

By continuing on to Jefferson, they could help build a more integrated middle school, strengthen the 5th grade, and keep a stronger community feel by not having all their kids scatter in so many different directions. [/quote]

Oh come on. Sending your kid to Jefferson is a very high price to pay for the *possibility* of a slightly less inadequate 5th grade experience. This "framing" doesn't work at all. It isn't worth it. Brent needs to get its act together, provide a 5th grade experience that is academically and developmentally appropriate for all its students, and then maybe things could change. Trying to talk people into accepting inadequacy is never going to work.

Sincerely, a long time PTO leader at a Title I elementary.[/quote]

My point is that having a larger and more bought-in 5th grade would help with advocating for changes to the US model, or perhaps if there were enough kids, they wouldn’t have a need for it anymore. But it’s hard to build that larger cohort when Jefferson is a non-starter for so many families, which I don’t think it should be. [/quote]

If you'd like to make the case for Jefferson being a high quality school, go for it. I'm not saying you're wrong. But "Jefferson is so great it's worth the tradeoffs of putting your 5th grader through an inadequate year and accepting that you have no plan for high school" is quite the hill to climb.

You need to understand that a lot of the rising 5th grade class is siblings at Latin or BASIS or somewhere, and they're not going to be persuadable. Your potentially reachable population is quite small. And sure, some 5th grade parents have younger kids and find advocacy worthwhile, but for some 5th grade parents this is their last kid at Brent ever, so they have one foot out the door and won't bother to advocate for change at a school they're leaving. Don't be naive about these dynamics. If you're serious about making change, it's essential that you have your eyes wide open and accurately predict what people will do.[/quote]

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