Our daughter is a current 10th grader at Walls. For her, the small school size/feel and the focus on humanities has been great (the math instruction has been good, too; she's currently taking Pre-Calculus and she'll take take AP Pre-Calculus BC next year).

The school prepares all students to take AP courses starting in 10th grade. All 10th grade students take AP World History and many (if not most) will take another AP, as well. Most students will take multiple AP classes junior year. While there aren't a ton of elective offerings, there are a variety. Art, music, and AP electives are popular.

All students will complete an internship during junior or senior year and complete senior research project. There's also a freshman research paper and a sophomore speech. At the end of sophomore year, students can apply to dual-enroll at GW.

There is a counselor per grade level that follows students students from their freshman year until senior year (some are better than others) and a really helpful team of social workers and mental health therapists.

Our daughter has made friends from across the city and has taken advantage of clubs and sports. Walls usually comes in second to most of the J-R athletic teams; they've taken first place in a number of city-wide club events.

Most of the teachers are fantastic; a few do a better job at assigning work than actually teaching students how to do it (but as a former MS/HS teacher myself, that's common) - many go above and beyond and really care.

I'd say that almost all of our daughter's friends seem to take academics seriously (some more than others) and they enjoy being at GW with off-campus lunch.

The parties don't tend to be too wild and drug and alcohol use is no worse than any other school I've worked at.

Like any school, there are issues...

In my opinion, there's limited communication from the school in any coordinated way and the communication we do get is often last minute. Thankfully the Home School Association puts out a weekly newsletter.

Having worked in larger high schools were there's a bigger focus on student activities, Walls offers some school-wide programming and school-wide spirit days - but it definitely does not have a pep-rally type of culture.

In terms of Summer Bridge, two summers ago it was held in mid-August (with the rest of the DCPS Summer Bridge programming). Last summer, though, Walls held it at the start of the summer (like was previously done at Walls). It is optional, but it is also when students select their electives and language placement tests are offered.

Walls also gets to do their own thing when it comes to some of the course curriculum and doesn't have to follow the DCPS pacing guides - which can be good or bad. Students will get an incredible sampling of American literature in 10th grade, but students will spend an entire term reading the Epic of Gilgamesh in 9th grade (it'll be a painful quarter!).

Overall, we've been satisfied with Walls, though I think the future is uncertain - especially with budget cuts. As other posters have mentioned, Walls is cutting a world language position and the theater arts position next year. The budget is not looking much better for FY 26, so it will be interesting to see what will be cut.

I’ve heard that JR is not really challenging until junior year, while SWW is challenging academically from the start. After that, it’s pretty even. For those of you with experience with both schools- do you agree?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of an 11th grader. SWW is... fine. Some good teachers, some crummy ones. Nice community, lots of good clubs, kid has made good ffriends. But (nerdy, diligent, perfectionist) kid has been surprised by how few classmates are as hard-charging academically as they are.

As another person chimed in above, biggest benefit of the application-school status is there are no behavioral issues.

Biggest downside is the facilities. Very crowded building, effectively no lab spaces, and no athletic facilities, so the sports teams have to travel to get to their practice sites. I was surprised to hear that some teams get released early from their 7th period every day to go to practice.

Someone earlier said Walls stands to lose three teachers--actually, it's two. Not that that's great on such a small faculty. Unless things change significantly, SWW will lose a language teacher and the theater teacher.

This is tremendously helpful - thank you. Do you think your kid is getting a strong foundation in the academic skills they'll need in college? I'm particularly thinking about whether they receive regular/substantive writing feedback, decent foreign language instruction, and sufficient depth in math/science (including lab sciences) to pursue those areas in college, if they so choose.

Mostly, I'm trying to figure out if Walls teachers will establish a strong academic foundation and set a high bar for my extrinsically motivated kid to work toward, or if it will take more self-direction/motivation.

My kid was also admitted to Walls and we have similar questions. FWIW, I have heard from current students and families that the writing instruction and experience has been excellent.

9th grade is better at SWW than JR.
I had one kid go through JR and one through Walls. Most Walls 10th graders do AP World History. JR does not offer AP World any more.
Both my kids are doing Engineering in college.
The Walls kid was not hindered by Walls being a Humanities school. The Engineering classes at JR are not all that great. A couple of the Engineering teachers are meh. You also now can’t do Engineering + CS at JR because the academy model has become restrictive and strict. The Biomed academy at JR gets mixed reviews from parents and kids. Counseling was way better at Walls than JR at least in my experience. If you want to row, you should probably go to JR although I believe there are a couple of club teams in the DC area. Robotics team is better at JR but it is chaotic and leadership is usually hogged by a few kids so many kids get turned off. The newspaper is better at JR but Walls has a decent one. Model UN is good at Walls. Probably same at JR. Wall’s sports kids have to travel all over for practice and games. That is not great but the upside is that they get to know the city really well. Any other questions?

Anonymous wrote:Parent of an 11th grader. SWW is... fine. Some good teachers, some crummy ones. Nice community, lots of good clubs, kid has made good ffriends. But (nerdy, diligent, perfectionist) kid has been surprised by how few classmates are as hard-charging academically as they are.

As another person chimed in above, biggest benefit of the application-school status is there are no behavioral issues.

Biggest downside is the facilities. Very crowded building, effectively no lab spaces, and no athletic facilities, so the sports teams have to travel to get to their practice sites. I was surprised to hear that some teams get released early from their 7th period every day to go to practice.

Someone earlier said Walls stands to lose three teachers--actually, it's two. Not that that's great on such a small faculty. Unless things change significantly, SWW will lose a language teacher and the theater teacher.

Parent of a current Walls student and a former J-R student. The above is very similar to our impression of Walls. No behavior issues is a huge plus...though I'd agree that there are not that many super star students either. In fact, my older student who went to J-R (then Wilson) had more classmates that were in that category....this is why "fit" is so critical. For some students, it's more important to have the calm environment...for others, they can navigate the chaos and will happily do so for the opportunities/challenges that come with JR.

Anonymous wrote:Which language teacher will Walls lose? Will they offer fewer languages next year?

I think it is Chinese.

Which language teacher will Walls lose? Will they offer fewer languages next year?

Anonymous wrote:Parent of an 11th grader. SWW is... fine. Some good teachers, some crummy ones. Nice community, lots of good clubs, kid has made good ffriends. But (nerdy, diligent, perfectionist) kid has been surprised by how few classmates are as hard-charging academically as they are.

As another person chimed in above, biggest benefit of the application-school status is there are no behavioral issues.

Biggest downside is the facilities. Very crowded building, effectively no lab spaces, and no athletic facilities, so the sports teams have to travel to get to their practice sites. I was surprised to hear that some teams get released early from their 7th period every day to go to practice.

Someone earlier said Walls stands to lose three teachers--actually, it's two. Not that that's great on such a small faculty. Unless things change significantly, SWW will lose a language teacher and the theater teacher.

This is tremendously helpful - thank you. Do you think your kid is getting a strong foundation in the academic skills they'll need in college? I'm particularly thinking about whether they receive regular/substantive writing feedback, decent foreign language instruction, and sufficient depth in math/science (including lab sciences) to pursue those areas in college, if they so choose.

Mostly, I'm trying to figure out if Walls teachers will establish a strong academic foundation and set a high bar for my extrinsically motivated kid to work toward, or if it will take more self-direction/motivation.

Parent of an 11th grader. SWW is... fine. Some good teachers, some crummy ones. Nice community, lots of good clubs, kid has made good ffriends. But (nerdy, diligent, perfectionist) kid has been surprised by how few classmates are as hard-charging academically as they are.

As another person chimed in above, biggest benefit of the application-school status is there are no behavioral issues.

Biggest downside is the facilities. Very crowded building, effectively no lab spaces, and no athletic facilities, so the sports teams have to travel to get to their practice sites. I was surprised to hear that some teams get released early from their 7th period every day to go to practice.

Someone earlier said Walls stands to lose three teachers--actually, it's two. Not that that's great on such a small faculty. Unless things change significantly, SWW will lose a language teacher and the theater teacher.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure if Walls or McKinley is better for STEM. I feel like McKinley has better facilities, but still, the stats aren't that impressive.

When I went to the Walls open house earlier this year, the math teacher openly said that it's not a STEM school. That doesn't mean it doesn't teach math, but it means that DCPS doesn't really give Walls the kinds of resources/access to opportunities a true STEM school would have. It looks like DCPS is choosing to put those resources towards McKinley.

I don't understand do you people ever read a damn thing? SWW clearly states it's a Humanities school on it's website and in every description. Of course there are some advanced math classes. Things are not what you want them be!

Anonymous wrote:Can current Walls parents tell me more about the Summer Bridge Program for all new students? When is it and how long is it?

Trying to decide on summer plans and whether we should schedule around it or forego it.

I don't expect to hear from the school itself due to the high volume of all sorts of inquiries.

Week long program to let gets see/get acclimated a bit to the school. Also allows them to meet some of their new classmates. Nice but Can totally skip it with no problem

Can current Walls parents tell me more about the Summer Bridge Program for all new students? When is it and how long is it?

Trying to decide on summer plans and whether we should schedule around it or forego it.

I don't expect to hear from the school itself due to the high volume of all sorts of inquiries.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why worry, OP, your odds of admission to Walls aren't good. Moreover, the school is going downhill without standardized test scores in admissions for three years now. The new head doesn't have a clear vision for the place, and that's putting it mildly. Some good teachers, yes, good crew team, not much else to cheer about at Walls these days.

Girls soccer team won DCIAA championship (beating JR) last year - woo hoo - SO FUN!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/10/30/school-without-walls-girls-dciaa-soccer-champions/#:~:text=That%20feeling%20proved%20prescient%3A%20Freed%27s,it%20was%20just%20such%20relief.%E2%80%9D

JR did smoke them in the DCSAA playoffs the following week...but referencing one championship in the last 14 years is only noteworthy for how rare it is.

You go to Walls because you get to play on the teams, which is a big plus if that is what you want from HS.

Anonymous wrote:Why worry, OP, your odds of admission to Walls aren't good. Moreover, the school is going downhill without standardized test scores in admissions for three years now. The new head doesn't have a clear vision for the place, and that's putting it mildly. Some good teachers, yes, good crew team, not much else to cheer about at Walls these days.

OP here. My kid is in at Walls.

Anonymous wrote:Why worry, OP, your odds of admission to Walls aren't good. Moreover, the school is going downhill without standardized test scores in admissions for three years now. The new head doesn't have a clear vision for the place, and that's putting it mildly. Some good teachers, yes, good crew team, not much else to cheer about at Walls these days.

This is incredibly inaccurate. I have a child at Walls and they love it and I am very please with it as well. Nothing is perfect but so far almost all of their teachers have been great. Also, they don't have a crew team. They used to be allowed to row for Jackson Reed but stopped offering that as an option two years ago I believe.