Reply to Sidwell vs. Georgetown Day School -- pros and cons

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Two differences we experiences:

1) Parent conferences - parent communication.

At Sidwell - parent conferences occurred in Fall  9th grade and then never again.  And parents do not meet with all teachers at that time. Parents are asked to rank preferences and eventually are assigned 3 teachers to meet with (I think we got our top 3?)

At GDS - parent conferences are every Fall 9-12th grade - and there is time to meet with every teacher.

We much prefer the GDS model. We knew the teachers, they clearly knew our child.

Disclaimer that maybe Sidwell will change conference structure with new HS principal (who we loved through their prior role) - so current parents can speak up if an adjustment has been made this year.

The difference between conferences also reflects a difference in whether/how Sidwell and GDS handles parental conversation with the admin or teachers. GDS has been far more open to engagement.

New HS parents reading this should note that parent engagement in HS is (appropriately) far less than in MS/LS for any school.

2) Day to day student campus life

GDS has an open campus from day one. Kids are free to come and go and are trusted to act accordingly.

Sidwell is more structured and has more rules regarding being on campus. They are tracked and required to be on campus more often.  Students get LOP points if they are caught (for this and missing meeting for worship and other thing). It's far more structured and more punitory overall (but often for campus rules)

Kids going to GDS need to have the maturity to handle this sort of freedom for sure. Note that Sidwell kids do still go out for lunch. Mine went out equally often. As a parent, the GDS model is another feature that leads to the school feeling lighter and happier and Sidwell feeling more restrictive.

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But to each their own - my Sidwell child chose it over GDS (and would do so again) and my GDS child the opposite.  We do think the GDS path is a happier one (and college outcomes and preparedness the same).

If a kid has a choice between both - let them choose.

[/quote]

Same pp as above  - one other difference

GDS's schedule allows for a wider variety of choices and choice begins at earlier stages than Sidwell. GDS also allows for more courses to be taken over time.

One of the ways we have seen this play out is that students take a wider variety of pathways at GDS based on their interests. At Sidwell, especially for the go-getter group - they all seemed to be racing in the same lane when it came to college applications.  At GDS - kids could distinguish themselves by course selection over time and they felt like there were more lanes (and less head to head college competition where the only distinguishing feature was a grade or a test score).

[/quote]

This sounds like a key distinction but looking at the curricula I can’t see the difference. Both schools have identical minimum requirements for high school, except that Sidwell only requires 2 years of science and GDS requires 3. How have you seen this play out differently?[/quote]

I suspect the poster above meant a difference in terms of choices of class vs specific requirements. I don’t know what Sidwell offers but for GDS selection opportunities are:
9th—pick language, math level, elective (most pick an arts requirement but you technically don’t have to—could pick another elective and take art junior or senior year for example), everyone takes the same History, English 9, PE

10th—pick language, math level, science level, history topic (world, euro, Latin American, Asian, or African), elective (most pick the other arts requirement but don’t have to if they take it later—some kids will take an additional elective and have no free period), everyone takes English 10, PE

11th—most pick language, math topic/level, history topic/level, science topic/level, 1-2 electives per semester that can range widely in topic/difficulty—could take an additional year long core course ie 2nd science, or a few single semester classes), everyone takes English 11 (for those that love English they can also select an additional English from several electives)

12th—everyone takes English 12–everything else is a choice and there are lots of choices among the core topics as well as electives.  Most kids end up with 6-7 periods worth of classes depending on if they have a science with a lab that takes 2 periods.

Many will take some form of the 5 core subjects all four years but it can look very different depending on which classes are selected under science, history, math, language and additional English electives.

Having had another kid go through a DMV private with less selection, we can attest to the virtue of having more choice in spreading out the kids interests and making it feel less competitive. [/quote]

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