Reply to Middle School is Easy, But Does it Matter? (Not Deal)

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Reply to "Middle School is Easy, But Does it Matter? (Not Deal)"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, i think it's funny that you think Deal has high-level programming.  The reality is, it doesn't.  It's pretty darn easy to get straight As and the academic high flyers are not challenged in any way, outside of maybe math. 
In math they offer 4 levels by grade 8 (math 8, algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2).  I had 2 kids finish Algebra 2 at Deal and go on to private high school (Sidwell/NCS).  They did well in math but the rest of the transition was a 
crazy and rude awakening which Deal did not prepare them for.  It took a full semester to rewire their brains to think and to get their organization skills up to par.  The homework demand went from 30 minutes to 3 hours.  My kids are still (several years later) not the best writers because 
DCPS often does not (outside of some teachers) teach kids to write a top quality essay, analyze literary text, etc. We really like MANY things about DCPS and Deal specifically but we have moved our 3rd kid to private for middle 
school because it's almost too late (or at the minimum rough) to make this jump in expectations at high school.  [/quote]

Did those problems partially rooted from students not being high performers, transfer trauma, unrealistic parental expectations or too much pressure at the new school?[/quote]

I'm the poster your'e replying to.  My kids are not prodigies but they did very well at Deal with minimal work, always scored 99% on the PARCC, etc. 
The privates are just next level of work.  My Deal kid last year went from reading 4 books at Deal to at least 8 in Freshman English and having to write 12+ papers.  Exams are also essay in all subjects outside of math and science. 
Deal had never taught him to write a literary analysis of the text.  He could write a half decent essay (Thanks to his elementary school) but never really had to at Deal.  The private school work load is also a giant step up: from 20 minutes (maybe?) at Deal to 3, 4 hours a night.  Plus no retakes (ever---on any assignment) and no credit for late work.

I am not here to tout the wonders of private school as there are plusses and minuses (and that is another post) but private high school has highlighted how little work my kids did at Deal and honestly, how poorly they were prepared in all subjects outside of math. 
This is both pre-covid and during covid (different kids).  
So I'm not sure what the point of my post is except maybe to say to the OP that Deal is probably not much better than whatever school her kids attend.  Because it's kind of weak academically.  It has many other strengths (many extracurriculars, teachers that care, a committed principal, racial and 
economic diversity, etc) but it's by no means a strong academic school with all sorts of differentiation.   It's kind of bare-bones schooling.  
[/quote]

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