Reply to The time has come. Walls versus Jackson Reed

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can anyone outline pros and cons of each? TIA![/quote]

I will take a shot:

Walls Pros
- Academically motivated kids and smaller overall school size
- Far fewer disruptive kids (close to none)
- Ability to do the Associates Degree with GW, though that is the only way to get DCPS credit at GW (i.e., if you want Dual Enrollment DCPS credit, you have to go elsewhere)...if you don't care about DCPS credit, then the convenience of GW is high
- Seems like very good college outcomes...though as you would expect fairly anecdotal
- If your kid just wants to play Varsity on a sports team (but doesn't really care if the team is good/great and no expectation of athletic recruiting), Walls allows that opportunity in many sports
- Offers Multivariable Calc at Walls vs. JR that stops at BC and then you have to do DE

Walls Cons
- Sports facilities are many times quite far away from the school...baseball practices at Banneker field, Soccer at RFK stadium fields, etc. and the teams are not top sports teams
- Walls has far fewer AP classes compared to JR...I think maybe 40% - 50% less...many of these are non-core APs, but probably big ones are AP CS Principles, AP CSA, AP Physics C (both sections...believe Walls only offers one of the sections).  Walls does offer AP World History which JR eliminated
- If you are very interested in STEM, JR offers a ton more if you want to take engineering classes at the HS, participate in a range of STEM activities, etc.
- This is true for JR too...understand it is still a DCPS school, not a charter school...Walls sometimes has missing teachers (I believe they were missing a Biology teacher last year) with little to no back-up since it is a smaller school

JR Pros
- Lots of STEM classes and activities...more than McKinley Tech which is supposed to be the STEM Magnet school in DC
- 29 AP classes...most of any DCPS school
- The top 20-30% of kids at JR are the equivalent of Walls kids...highly motivated, 10+ APs, getting top college acceptances, etc.
- Good to great Sports teams, but quite competitive in a number (i.e., there are cuts)...Crew team is National champion, basketball team is often nationally ranked, baseball team is strong, Ultimate Frisbee team actually nationally ranked, etc.  A number of D1 recruits across these different sports, including a number of Top 20 academic college recruits.  They also offer football which Walls does not (if you care).
- Sports facilities are on-site...they have their own baseball field, football / soccer field, etc.
- Lots of EC opportunities in general...Beacon newspaper is well regarded, Model UN, Debate, etc....dozens

JR Cons
- Grade level classes are essentially a joke...you have to take a ton of APs because you either take AP USHistory or grade level US History (as an example)...no Honors or other accelerated classes that sit in between grade level and AP
- Had teacher issues...didn't have an AP Physics I teacher for Fall of 2021 (when school was on a semester system)...believe AP Environmental Science has had teacher problems...seems like it is getting corrected and a result of Covid teacher attrition
- Sure, there are more behavior problems and fights compared to Walls...although my kids in the top 20% says they don't even really know it is happening and  doesn't seem to impact them

I am sure I missed things for both schools...but this gives you an idea I hope.
[/quote]

This is pretty accurate. To add to this - my kid at Walls loves sports but is not at a level where he can be recruited for any sport. Walls has been great for him because he has been on multiple sports teams at Walls. Unlikely he could do that at JR. He also does not mind commuting by metro/bus/walking and now he knows the city extremely well because of sports practices that are literally all over the city. Also, his friends are spread out all over the city. This has been a plus for him but some kids might hate it. He has taken multiple AP classes since 10th grade and there are more than enough AP classes offered at Walls to make him happy. The smaller selection at Walls compared to JR has not been an issue for him. He really enjoys the more focused environment at Walls. There are no fights and no classroom disruption issues. Most students are at least at grade level or higher so class discussions tend to be reasonably high level and interesting. There is no craziness in the beginning of the year with messed up schedules like JR seems to deal with every year. Good luck with your decision [/quote]

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