In the City of Alexandria, every private, no matter how mediocre, is in demand because there is one massive and overcrowded public option for 9-12. No option of magnets or charters, since Alexandria doesn't participate in that.

Because public school class sizes are huge, there's a range of abilities that is impossible for even the most seasoned teacher to accommodate, and well behaved kids who are on or above grade level are ignored. The established private schools aren't stupid and have done a good job advertising to UMC families of solid students who are increasingly fed up. Throw in a modest merit scholarship for the ones with top grades and test scores and it's not a hard sell.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read an article that staff at Alice Deal in DC chose to eliminate reading full novels from the 8th grade curriculum.

last year's 8th grade at Maret did not read a full book or write a full essay until the end of year.

Woah, that’s crazy.

Anonymous wrote:Applications for admissions to most private schools in the DMV area area keep getting more competitive every year. One school we are applying to for 9th ( from our K-8) told us that applications have been up 70% this year.
I can understand why applications were up during the pandemic , but why are people still increasingly applying to privates five years later ?
Has the quality of education gone down at the public schools? Did people do well in the stock market over the past few years?
Just asking a genuine question.

I don’t think your promise is actually true. I’d be interested to know what school said their applications were up 70%.

Our DD can just barely cope with a class size of 20. Local public for her would be 30-32 kids in each class. She would not be able to learn in a class that size.

My public elementary years ago had max class size of 24 and their typical class size was 22 — not the 30-32 students per class that our zoned public has today.

Anonymous wrote:Applications for admissions to most private schools in the DMV area area keep getting more competitive every year. One school we are applying to for 9th ( from our K-8) told us that applications have been up 70% this year.
I can understand why applications were up during the pandemic , but why are people still increasingly applying to privates five years later ?
Has the quality of education gone down at the public schools? Did people do well in the stock market over the past few years?
Just asking a genuine question.

I cannot comment on DC or VA, but it's my opinion that MCPS is in a downslide, unfortunately. I moved to Montgomery County because of the reputation of the school system (I grew up in this area in the 80s/90s when MCPS was good), and was shocked at the realities of the school system now. When I observed my kid's classroom, I did not like the class size, classroom disruption, pace of instruction, lack of differentiation, etc. (Basically everything everyone mentions as a motivating factor for switching from public to private.)
After touring private, even my very reluctant husband said "we need to find a way to send the kids here". Our position is that if we are able to put our kids in a better situation, we should do it.

Public schools are under scrutiny and pressure over the scores of low-performing kids. Teachers there focus on the bottom group because that is what Principals and central office demand.

Even in FCPS AAP, the differentiation is modest, not huge, and some believe better behavior is the main benefit.

Many, not all, public elementary schools have stopped - or significantly reduced - direct instruction in areas such as spelling, grammar, multiplication table memorization, and cursive writing. Many privates still teach all of those areas explicitly and in depth, particularly consistent with this are the Catholic schools. Also, for reading, most Catholic and almost all Montessori schools stuck with Phonics-centered literacy instruction - and skipped the whole language/balanced literacy Lucy Calkins crap.

Anonymous wrote:I just read an article that staff at Alice Deal in DC chose to eliminate reading full novels from the 8th grade curriculum.

last year's 8th grade at Maret did not read a full book or write a full essay until the end of year.

Anonymous wrote:Private schools in dc are super mediocre. In Massachussets the quality is way better. The only explanation is that public schools are deteriorating, not private schools improving. On top of that private school parents are more obnoxious in dc.

Totally irrelevant opinion. Clearly, someone has an axe to grind with private schools in the DC area. Hoping they got to move back to Massachusetts for their childrens sake so they can be happier........

Anonymous wrote:Private schools in dc are super mediocre. In Massachussets the quality is way better. The only explanation is that public schools are deteriorating, not private schools improving. On top of that private school parents are more obnoxious in dc.

And of which are you a product? Your post is in response to what question exactly?

Private schools in dc are super mediocre. In Massachussets the quality is way better. The only explanation is that public schools are deteriorating, not private schools improving. On top of that private school parents are more obnoxious in dc.

Even if you don't think the quality of public education has gone down (although I do) college has become more competitive. People feel the need to do more for their kids.

I just read an article that staff at Alice Deal in DC chose to eliminate reading full novels from the 8th grade curriculum.

Anonymous wrote:Applications for admissions to most private schools in the DMV area area keep getting more competitive every year. One school we are applying to for 9th ( from our K-8) told us that applications have been up 70% this year.
I can understand why applications were up during the pandemic , but why are people still increasingly applying to privates five years later ?
Has the quality of education gone down at the public schools? Did people do well in the stock market over the past few years?
Just asking a genuine question.

DCUM’s standard answer for a question about public schools is to find a way to do private instead. In a lower income forum, the stock answer is find a way to homeschool. People will do anything but try to reform something that benefits all of society and not just their own tribe.

Applications for admissions to most private schools in the DMV area area keep getting more competitive every year. One school we are applying to for 9th ( from our K-8) told us that applications have been up 70% this year.
I can understand why applications were up during the pandemic , but why are people still increasingly applying to privates five years later ?
Has the quality of education gone down at the public schools? Did people do well in the stock market over the past few years?
Just asking a genuine question.