Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 21:34     Subject: I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
I went to DCPS my whole way up (SWW for HS). College was more of the same from HS. I have friends who graduated from schools like Eastern and excelled through college.

This same article couldve been written from a Langley HS graduate and nobody would say that Fairfax schools are a complete waste.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 21:29     Subject: Re:I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
Anonymous wrote:
I too went from mediocre big public high school to an Ivy, but really struggled at first. My classmates who had gone to private or great public schools were better clearly prepared--many spoke a second language, had more rigorous science courses, had taken lots of AP classes (mine offered only one).


Similar situation. I graduated top of my class at a large public school in another state, and attended an Ivy. My high school was considered one of the better public schools, but definitely not the best. I really struggled my first semester. Had a terrible time with time management and simply dealing with the volume of reading required (and I'm a reader!) - I'd just never dealt with that kind of workload, or written anything resembling a college-level paper. My roommate, who came from a very poor background but had attended an east coast boarding school on scholarship, did great. She wasn't flustered by 20 page papers, or prioritizing her work. I did better my second year, once I got the hang of it. But that first year was really humbling.

And I'm not at all surprised by the opinion piece. One year I was part of a mentoring program that had kids from Cesar Chavez. The girl I worked with was bright and had almost straight As. Then I saw her test scores (SATs were awful) and a writing sample (let's just say it needed a lot of work). Like the young man who wrote the article, she'd never truly been challenged, nor had she been given the skills that would help her succeed in college. She ended up getting a scholarship to a local university anyway. We lost touch at the end of the program, and I don't know how her college experience was, but I have to think it wasn't easy her first year.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 19:30     Subject: I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
I could have written this article graduating from an inner city school in Denver 20 years ago. I think the author of the article is a good reminder of how much more progress needs to be made in all the public education institutions in the District. 100% proficiency on DC CAS still does get us kids with strong enough academic skills.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 18:34     Subject: I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
Others have written about this experience. My favorite is this one:

http://www.ronsuskind.com/hopeintheunseen/
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 18:15     Subject: I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
Anyone knocking the young man who wrote this article is missing the point -- in DC, public and charter, we are forced to settle for less. Playing catch up, while many bloggers here can talk about how they or their kids did it and no big deal doesn't mean we shouldn't shine a spot light on the discrepancies between our DC graduates and so many others. It's not fair and I'm thankful for Darryl for taking the time (and the heat) to write this open, honest portrayal of his experience jumping from pubic DC schools to one of the finest US colleges.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 17:43     Subject: I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
My first reaction was who thinks Chavez is a top D.C. school? I don't know what their test scores are, but I bet they're at no more than 50% proficiency.

My second thought was: What about Georgetown's role in this? Most schools of that caliber have summer sessions for kids who are more likely to struggle (those who are inner city/lower income/first in their family to attend college) designed to catch writing or analysis issues early on.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 17:38     Subject: I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
How is this news? They're getting better but DC schools still lack rigor and strong teachers and peers. It will take generations to improve.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 17:25     Subject: Re:I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
Anonymous wrote:
My kid went to a DC public high school, not charter, and took college classes his senior year at Georgetown through HiSCIP, along with many other DCPS high school seniors at other other area colleges. He managed to get Bs in his classes, while taking his regular high school classes. The professors had no idea he was a high school student. This kid wasn't prepared b/c he went to a CHARTER school. I would not consider any charter school one of DC's best schools.


Well, that's certainly not true at the elementary school level. I confess I have no idea about the high schools. What are the most highly regarded charter high schools in DC?


Um....none.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 17:22     Subject: Re:I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
I went to Sidwell and got my ass KICKED at Harvard for my first year--after that I figured out the system and went Dean' list for the rest of my time there.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 17:18     Subject: I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
If my DC's DCPS does not appear to be teaching her to research, write well, and doesn't offer multiple AP classes we'll look/move elsewhere. I don't expect the art history, SAT prep and summer trips to Europe that my private high school offered. I struggled in college too, but mostly due to self made factors i.e. coming from a small school to a larger social stage and partying too much!
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 15:47     Subject: Re:I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
Anonymous wrote:Wow. I went to a crappy public school, was at the top of my class, went to an Ivy League school and did very well. I think if you have common sense and didn't have helicopter parents coaching you all throughout school, you can do great in college if you did well in high school. Many of my peers were just used to having their parents monitor everything for them--they were from upper middle class backgrounds. I was working class and the first in my family to go to college, so no one checked my homework for me, made sure i was taking the right classes, etc.

I too went from mediocre big public high school to an Ivy, but really struggled at first. My classmates who had gone to private or great public schools were better clearly prepared--many spoke a second language, had more rigorous science courses, had taken lots of AP classes (mine offered only one). For that reason while I'm fine with having my kids attend DCPS for elementary, I'll be looking hard at the middle school and high schools to see if they're challenging enough. If not I think they can still go public but we'll look to supplement with academic summer camps etc.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 15:25     Subject: Re:I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
Wow. I went to a crappy public school, was at the top of my class, went to an Ivy League school and did very well. I think if you have common sense and didn't have helicopter parents coaching you all throughout school, you can do great in college if you did well in high school. Many of my peers were just used to having their parents monitor everything for them--they were from upper middle class backgrounds. I was working class and the first in my family to go to college, so no one checked my homework for me, made sure i was taking the right classes, etc.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 15:23     Subject: Re:I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
My kid went to a DC public high school, not charter, and took college classes his senior year at Georgetown through HiSCIP, along with many other DCPS high school seniors at other other area colleges. He managed to get Bs in his classes, while taking his regular high school classes. The professors had no idea he was a high school student. This kid wasn't prepared b/c he went to a CHARTER school. I would not consider any charter school one of DC's best schools.


Well, that's certainly not true at the elementary school level. I confess I have no idea about the high schools. What are the most highly regarded charter high schools in DC?
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 15:22     Subject: I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
all DCPS including charters SUCK. So the best of crap is still crap, if you are into math 100% of 0 rating is still 0
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2012 15:22     Subject: Re:I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college.
Anonymous wrote:My kid went to a DC public high school, not charter, and took college classes his senior year at Georgetown through HiSCIP, along with many other DCPS high school seniors at other other area colleges. He managed to get Bs in his classes, while taking his regular high school classes. The professors had no idea he was a high school student. This kid wasn't prepared b/c he went to a CHARTER school. I would not consider any charter school one of DC's best schools.[/quote]

Well, that's certainly not true at the elementary school level. I confess I have no idea about the high schools. What are the most highly regarded charter high schools in DC?