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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If 4.0 BASIS kids aren’t even being considered for Walls, I’m not sure Walls is as great of a school as people make it seem.  It’s a flawed admissions process when it doesn’t account for what it takes to get all As at BASIS, including in class subjects other middle schoolers haven’t even yet taken.  It wouldn’t surprise me if the BASIS students who end up at Walls for high school are some of the most prepared students that school has.[/quote]

As a parent of a former BASIS kid who switched to Walls (mainly for social reasons) I just want to tell any disappointed BASIS parents that[b] IMO academics are much stronger at BASIS than they are at Walls[/b] (so far).  My guess is that because BASIS has a relatively uniform curriculum that must be taught across the network, this keeps the academics/material learned at a high level.  Many (not all!) Walls/DCPS teachers just seem to phone it in/do whatever they want (in some cases not much!) with no oversight. (I am still generally happy with switch given kid's overall happiness, but do lament the loss of rigor - which is somewhat made up for by the fact that the Walls cohort is almost uniformly diligent and high performing)[/quote]

This has long been the case.  [b]And probably has not been helped with the removal of the Walls test[/b]. [/quote]

The teaching ability/curriculum (or lack thereof) at Walls has nothing to do with the removal of the Walls test.  And as far as I can tell, the cohort admitted post-test seems very motivated/high performing.[/quote]

Really because I heard almost 1/3rd of the kids are not even getting 4 on PARCC[/quote]

67% 4+ makes SWW the highest performing HS in the city for 4+ math. So your statement is true but there are no other high school students doing better.  [/quote]

Getting a 4 simply means that you have met expectations. How does a selective academic high school in DC have 33% of its student body not even meeting expectations in math? How did these students make the grade cut off?[/quote]

Teacher here (not at Walls)-  you do realize that this test has absolutely no impact on hs student grades or course placement right.  Students have no reason to try hard on these tests.  We do our best to motivate them but sometimes I’m amazed that more than half the students try hard enough to show their true knowledge.  My 9th graders will take CAPE (former PARCC) across 7 days for a total of about 12 hours of pointless testing.  Every year I see a number of capable students who I need to repeatedly wake up or who I see hit submit 20 minutes into a 80 minute testing session.  I’m not saying this explains schools with single digit 4+ but don’t assume that all 33% of those non-4’s at walls represent students who can’t do the math. [/quote]

+1. 9th grade parent who attended SWW. I don't know that there's ever been standardized testing that I haven't fallen asleep on during HS, including the SAT. Looking back, it was because I managed my own schedule and often worked the night before and ate crap the morning of. I believe this is not uncommon for FGLIs. By comparison, my kid is doing math prep and I'll ensure they're in bed at a decent hour and have a high protein breakfast the morning of.[/quote]

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