Reply to ACPS Jefferson Houston I.B. Program Middle School vs. GW open enrollment honors?

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Reply to "ACPS Jefferson Houston I.B. Program Middle School vs. GW open enrollment honors?"

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[quote=Anonymous]Apologies for being so late to this party.  I find some of the posts amusing and simultaneously scary, and couldn't resist posting.

GW Middle School is a perfectly terrific school.  There are kids there who exhibit disciplinary problems, some relatively bad.  There are kids there who will academically excel, and will go on to top-flight colleges.  It's a real City school, and there's going to be a mix.

JH has historically been a troubled school.  It's been improving, but only because of what everybody admits is pretty invasive attention that wasn't provided until the late 00s.  Most of the admins are gone, there are plans to rip down most of the building and rebuild it (this is long overdue - the design simply doesn't work well and a rebuild is really needed), and the school is going to be voluntary K-8, which means that those kids who are economically disadvantaged from the surrounding area will be able to have a really local school for special, close attention through the start of high school (any child in JH will be able to opt out of the K-8 plan and go to GW).

A really strong student is likely to fare well at either, but I suspect that many parents may find that the overall course selection and combination of opt-honors and high-performance course skips at GW (in the latter, a strong student can be permitted to skip a grade only in selected courses) beats what any smaller program could offer.

What I don't think a thoughtful parent or a well-prepared kid will find is a hostile or unreasonably chaotic (that is, more chaotic than any other middle school) environment at GW MS.  I also believe that an academically average or above-average student will do as well or better at GW MS than at any private school, especially in this area.  We're private school refugees, FWIW, and we've found the ACPS system consistently better for our DC -- better academically, socially, and in every developmental respect.  I don't offer this opinion in derogation of private schools generally, and I fully recognize that some children need and may benefit from a combination of an unregulated program and close attention from non-licensed school personnel.

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