I just can't resist.

You're funny!! but accurate. Don't start none, it won't be none (in my best James Brown voice). Then there was the outrageous comparison of graduates getting into the best colleges. Really, Banneker is boasting a 100% graduating rate with all being accepted into their college of choice.

ALL of Bannaker's students get into their top choice college? I find that very hard to believe, especially with those average SAT scores (unless there are some seriously low ambitions in the graduating class). Do you have any support for that statement?

You have Wilson whose graduating class can boast about college acceptance but in comparison to the 100% rate, it would take more than pulling a tiger's tale.

First, I have no idea what that means. Second, it's tail.

You will have those from Wilson say for every person who comes from Banneker who gets accepted to Howard doesn't compare to their students who will attend Harvard. Yadda, Yadda if you want to see ugly, just say that a Howard University education doesn't compare to a Harvard education.

Umm - OK. A Howard education doesn't compare to a Harvard education. That's a pretty non-controversial statement. Are you saying that Howard is a better education than Harvard? That's against all conventional wisdom - care to explain why?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:May I ask the OP, what is your point? To another poster, how dare you compare Wilson to Banneker.

Not the PP - but why not? Two high schools in the same system - what other schools in DC should Bannaker be compared to?

Wilson is a comprehensive high school.
Banneker is an application only high school, therefore if one should compare let's try SWW, McKinley, Phelps and Ellington. Even DCPS separates Banneker and catagorizes it as a specialty school.

Quite frankly, Wilson is one of the largest comprehensive high-schools in the city, they comparable counter-part would be Ballou which is the second largest comprehensive high school in the city.

If anything, the fact that Bannaker is application only means that it is an unfair comparison to Wilson, not Bannaker? Shouldn't Bannaker's SAT scores be higher than Wilson's? Are they?

Anonymous wrote:What were Washington Latin's SAT scores?

Probably will be so-so. C'mon, we have our FIRST every 12th grade this year, and though this class has some wonderful students who stuck through it all -- there has been a tradition of attrition from Middle to High School at Latin (peeling off to Wilson, Walls, privates). The largest group ever transitioned from 8th this year. That being said, the seniors are great, ambitious kids and have a college counselor who got the college counselor of the year award (or something like that). She's basically outstanding. I'm pretty sure they will all go, with great support and fanfare, to college-and some to great colleges (much like Wilson). In the coming years, I expect we will see stronger SAT's and placement across the board if attrition continues to decrease.
That being said, can we not overplay SAT scores? As PP's have thoughtfully acknowledged - they are on piece of a complicated picture (thank god!).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:May I ask the OP, what is your point? To another poster, how dare you compare Wilson to Banneker.

Allow me to translate this hilarious post. Sentence one: Are you just trying to start sh!t? Sentence two: This is how you start sh!t.

You're funny!! but accurate. Don't start none, it won't be none (in my best James Brown voice). Then there was the outrageous comparison of graduates getting into the best colleges. Really, Banneker is boasting a 100% graduating rate with all being accepted into their college of choice. You have Wilson whose graduating class can boast about college acceptance but in comparison to the 100% rate, it would take more than pulling a tiger's tale.

You will have those from Wilson say for every person who comes from Banneker who gets accepted to Howard doesn't compare to their students who will attend Harvard. Yadda, Yadda if you want to see ugly, just say that a Howard University education doesn't compare to a Harvard education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:May I ask the OP, what is your point? To another poster, how dare you compare Wilson to Banneker.

Not the PP - but why not? Two high schools in the same system - what other schools in DC should Bannaker be compared to?

Wilson is a comprehensive high school.
Banneker is an application only high school, therefore if one should compare let's try SWW, McKinley, Phelps and Ellington. Even DCPS separates Banneker and catagorizes it as a specialty school.

Quite frankly, Wilson is one of the largest comprehensive high-schools in the city, they comparable counter-part would be Ballou which is the second largest comprehensive high school in the city.

Hmmm. I got 780/710 on the SATs after taking the PSAT twice and the SAT twice. No additonal test prep classes but we did some review in school and I did take several AP courses. My hubbie got into Cornell with scores in the high 500s, low 600s. So at first my reaction is, those are some sad test scores! But I'll bet there were a few kids headed to engineering schools (MIT, Cal Tech, Harvey Mudd, Carnegie Mellon) with 700s or close to perfect scores. If not, Banneker should roll up the rugs and shut down.

Do you have a kid at Banneker? You did not say. If not, why the concern?

OP--What is the point of your post?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having had a SAT of only a 1000, I still managed to get a bachelor and master's degree from high quality schools. I even hold down a well paying job. Not having a super high SAT is not an indicator of stupidity. What you are seeing at Banneker are fewer parents that can pay for Kaplan and all the test prep.

This is a silly (if apparently oft-repeated) argument. First of all, Banneker offers SAT prep for free as part of its extended day program. Second, prep courses don't really boost scores that much -- maybe 30 points, total, and most if not all of that bump could be achieved by sitting in the library, by yourself, taking practice tests. See generally, e.g., http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/05/20/pm_sat/

Banneker's SAT scores -- for an exam-entry school -- are atrocious. That's probably not Banneker's fault, but it speaks volumes about the quality of the applicant pool. In NYC, lots of students -- from across the SES spectrum -- choose to attend Bronx Sci or Stuyvesant instead of even the best private high schools. That's apparently not so in DC.

population of new york city: 8,175,133
population of washington, dc: 601,723

send your super-bright kid to Banneker and the SAT scores will go up!

You can bet the kids at Wilson who get ivy league level SATs are sitting next to kids in class who don't do nearly as well, but it doesn't seem to affect their scores.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those avgs are sad like any mediocre, below avg high school. I went to Stuy (where SES is middle to below middle for most) and am not familiar with DCPS or Banneker but does Banneker have an entrance exam like TJ? I would guess not.

Banneker does have an entrance exam, and rigorous entrance process. It is by far the op school in the DCPS system, and while Wilson or walls might have a higher SAT average, I would attribute that to the fact that (especially now) both of those schools tend to serve a higher-income demographic, not because they are any better then Banneker, just that their kids are more likely to have the money and time to take extensive SAT prep classes.

Interesting... The entrance exam and "rigorous entrance process" can't be too difficult based on their SAT scores: It sounds like they expect their students to perform at grade level which should be the norm for any school. At Stuy, the demographic was and still is middle to lower middle class and many private school kids take the entrance exam along with the plebs Stuy did not lose kids to private schools but private schools lost their best and brightest to Stuy regardless of race/income. I would guess it's the same for TJ. When I went there, we compared our exmissions and SAT scores to the elite national prep schools like Exeter/Andover and the very top local prep schools like Mann/Trinity.

Most of the Banneker's applicant pool swims away to NCS, Sidwell, Holton, Prep, St. Albans, and a number of other private schools. High achieving AA students are a commodity and their parents know this.

Anonymous wrote:Having had a SAT of only a 1000, I still managed to get a bachelor and master's degree from high quality schools. I even hold down a well paying job. Not having a super high SAT is not an indicator of stupidity. What you are seeing at Banneker are fewer parents that can pay for Kaplan and all the test prep.

This is a silly (if apparently oft-repeated) argument. First of all, Banneker offers SAT prep for free as part of its extended day program. Second, prep courses don't really boost scores that much -- maybe 30 points, total, and most if not all of that bump could be achieved by sitting in the library, by yourself, taking practice tests. See generally, e.g., http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/05/20/pm_sat/

Banneker's SAT scores -- for an exam-entry school -- are atrocious. That's probably not Banneker's fault, but it speaks volumes about the quality of the applicant pool. In NYC, lots of students -- from across the SES spectrum -- choose to attend Bronx Sci or Stuyvesant instead of even the best private high schools. That's apparently not so in DC.

What were Washington Latin's SAT scores?

Anonymous wrote:May I ask the OP, what is your point? To another poster, how dare you compare Wilson to Banneker.

Allow me to translate this hilarious post. Sentence one: Are you just trying to start sh!t? Sentence two: This is how you start sh!t.