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[quote=Anonymous]Current MS parent here.  A few random answers:

Middle school teachers are currently very strong.  We did have an issue with a middle school math teacher a couple of years ago but she has moved on.

MS math, English, science, history teachers are all outstanding, and I have seen the difference that the upfront emphasis on MS study skills has made in both my DC and in the class.

The kids are outstanding writers and they get a lot of practice and editing and feedback.  They are reading works in 7th and 8th grade that others are reading in high school.

Do be aware that right now at best your DC will only go through Algebra1 by the time he or she graduates.  I believe that this is more due to parental preference as anything else; most of the parents tend to be liberal arts majors and they don't seem to see the need for advanced math education.  Hasn't been a huge issue for us but I do notice that DC is now competing for HS slots against kids who are currently taking geometry, etc., so a thought to keep in mind if YOUR DC is a math prodigy.

The current adminstration is very good as well.  Losing Cemmy Peterson to retirement a few years back made the school drift for a couple of years, but things are now back on track.

We would make the same decision again in a heartbeat.

WRT previous questions:

There are a few slots each year between K and 5th usually due to folks relocating from DC.  We have had very few transfers to other DC schools.

There are more slots in upper grades as some kids tend to leave after 5th grade.  The sports program is enthusiastic, but given the size of the student body, not very extensive.

Coming in later than 6th grade could potentially put your child at a disadvantage so do make sure your child has learned the same general skills (there are some in our class who took a while to catch up).

About 25% of our class does not live on the Hill (most of those are from Maryland).  Many of them do visit and many of them play sports on the Hill.  The after-school progam also tends to keep the non-Hill ones on the Hill until 6PM anyway, and once they are older, they can always go to someone's house, so they still seem to make good friends.

Our kids apply to [b]and get admitted to [/b]the same high schools in the area that the bigger name schools do.  The high school admissions folks we have talked to all know who we are and all have gone out of their way to say nice things not only about the school, but also about our middle school teachers (by name).

Many but not all CHDS graduates seem to prefer smaller high schools (and colleges), but the colleges they go to are impressive and the students are certainly quite competitive at Madeira/GDS/StA/Potomac/SFS/etc.  They also tend to scatter to different high schools, but they do keep in touch with each other for years afterwards.

Hope this helps -- good luck...

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