Reply to 26-27 Lottery data up

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]6th grade OOB at SH is unquestionably a pretty difficult lottery draw.  Part of why is that the school is otherwise enrolling ballpark 100 IB/feeder students each year.  The Basis 5th grade lottery is so much more in the majority who list it (and do not match at Latin) will at least get offered a waitlist spot at Basis category.  But lots of the students at Basis are IB for SH.  The two schools are geographically pretty close together.  Basis is niche enough it's mostly apples and oranges to compare the lottery difficulty - most people have clear preferences for one school over the other.[/quote]

I think the key here is that the relationship between SH and BASIS is evolving, for SH-IB families.

Ten years ago, UMC families IB for SH were almost universally looking for other options and viewed BASIS as a better option. You would see a big exodus from any SH feeder (at the time Watkins was considered the "best" SH feeder, L-T was still Title 1 but had a growing reputation and increased neighborhood buy-in) in 5th grade to BASIS or Latin, but BASIS was considered especially desirable because of proximity. You saw the same with Brent and Maury -- virtually no buy in to feeder middle, lots of kids going to BASIS.

In the interim, people have refined their view of BASIS. It hasn't fallen in estimation, but people have realized it's not necessarily the right school for all kids. I think a LOT of the people who have decided that would prefer Latin, but Latin has become progressively harder to get into and in the last few years, there is a feeling like it's almost impossible to get a spot at either campus. Obviously some people still do, but if you don't have a sibling preference, people see it as a total crap shoot.

Which has led to more people giving SH a second look, and more IB families giving it a try. At first it was like "we'll try it for 6th" and some people would leave after 6th. That still happens sometimes. But other families have stayed, which means you hear more about IB kids going all the way through SH and then getting spots at application HSs. This has started to feel like a viable path for more families.

Which has changed how SH and BASIS are seen by prospective families. It's used to be that UMC families IB for SH who really valued strong education almost all wanted spots at BASIS (or Latin). Now it's more like families check out BASIS to see if it might be a fit for their kid, but also genuinely check out SH and consider that pathway. It's more like an actual choice. Now, plenty of parents actually decide they don't like either option and instead look at private school or moving (maybe after trying for Latin). But there's definitely a big shift from a decade ago when no one really saw SH as a viable choice. Now it's viewed as viable by a lot more people, with caveats. But BASIS also comes with caveats. So there's more comparability. And I see a similar thing happening at EH. So the middle school landscape on the Hill feels like there is more choice generally, even if many people (myself included) aren't super happy or excited about those choices. At least there *are* choices.[/quote]

I agree with all of this. Next year, there is a pretty sizeable cohort of kids headed from L-T to SH, including enough CAPE ELA 5s to fill a class and a solid number of Math 5s (and if you add 4s, enough to fill a class). A couple of these kids have older siblings at SH, so are choosing it eyes wide open and/or didn't even lottery. L-T's theater program has also definitely built excitement for SH's and I know kids who are planning to go that route just to get the good cohort. Some of these kids might have preferred BASIS, but some definitely didn't (one went and came back) and only one high acheiving kid that I'm aware of is heading for private, so clearly there is a group of UMC parents who think that SH is good enough that they're willing to give it a shot.[/quote]

Out of curiosity .... which privates are the Maury and LT kids heading to, if they do choose that route? We're still a few years away from middle school and definitely do not have private-school salaries but curious nonetheless. [/quote]

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