Tiny violin to all the hens on here clucking about how will
My child ever get into Walls now? It’s not fair that someone without a private tutor might get in

One option is to weight the GPA based on 7th grade quarters. 35% Q1
35% Q2
20% Q3
10% Q4

That’s why a lottery for any kids who wants to apply with a cumulative MS GPA above 3.0 is the only thing that makes sense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need something to get the number of students down to 10% of the applicants.

Last year 1300+ students applied based on the qualification of a GPA of 3.0. 145 enrolled.
The school is very proud of their average SAT score, average number of APs, AP scores, and college acceptances. If they just lottery the 1300 (or 1400 or 2000 or 2500) kids who apply these will all tank.

I don’t disagree but there is no equitable way to offer an admissions test. And the PARCC is flawed, most privates don’t give it and you could argue that basing admissions to high school on your sixth grade work is unfair as well. There are no easy answers to this, unfortunately.

Easiest answer is to place more weight on GPA.

Can they ratchet up the eligible GPA to get to the number of kids they want to interview? Thousands will have a 3.0. Probably a thousand have a 3.5 given the relaxed standards of Covid. The number will get manageable if they move it up to a 3.8 or 4.0.

This will be a huge equity issue. It is a whole lot easier to do distance learning when you are doing it at a quite place with high speed and not simultaneously watching your 6 YO sibling. There are significant disparities across the city and GPA is not the answer.

So what is the answer if testing and grades don't feed into it. How do you go from 2000 random of kids with every degree of ability and motivation down to 145?
Remember, the teachers don't know these kids either because they're only taught them over a screen and for sure extroverts will unfairly benefit. So recommendations are really unfair.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need something to get the number of students down to 10% of the applicants.

Last year 1300+ students applied based on the qualification of a GPA of 3.0. 145 enrolled.
The school is very proud of their average SAT score, average number of APs, AP scores, and college acceptances. If they just lottery the 1300 (or 1400 or 2000 or 2500) kids who apply these will all tank.

I don’t disagree but there is no equitable way to offer an admissions test. And the PARCC is flawed, most privates don’t give it and you could argue that basing admissions to high school on your sixth grade work is unfair as well. There are no easy answers to this, unfortunately.

Easiest answer is to place more weight on GPA.

Can they ratchet up the eligible GPA to get to the number of kids they want to interview? Thousands will have a 3.0. Probably a thousand have a 3.5 given the relaxed standards of Covid. The number will get manageable if they move it up to a 3.8 or 4.0.

This will be a huge equity issue. It is a whole lot easier to do distance learning when you are doing it at a quite place with high speed and not simultaneously watching your 6 YO sibling. There are significant disparities across the city and GPA is not the answer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need something to get the number of students down to 10% of the applicants.

Last year 1300+ students applied based on the qualification of a GPA of 3.0. 145 enrolled.
The school is very proud of their average SAT score, average number of APs, AP scores, and college acceptances. If they just lottery the 1300 (or 1400 or 2000 or 2500) kids who apply these will all tank.

I don’t disagree but there is no equitable way to offer an admissions test. And the PARCC is flawed, most privates don’t give it and you could argue that basing admissions to high school on your sixth grade work is unfair as well. There are no easy answers to this, unfortunately.

Easiest answer is to place more weight on GPA.

Can they ratchet up the eligible GPA to get to the number of kids they want to interview? Thousands will have a 3.0. Probably a thousand have a 3.5 given the relaxed standards of Covid. The number will get manageable if they move it up to a 3.8 or 4.0.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need something to get the number of students down to 10% of the applicants.

Last year 1300+ students applied based on the qualification of a GPA of 3.0. 145 enrolled.
The school is very proud of their average SAT score, average number of APs, AP scores, and college acceptances. If they just lottery the 1300 (or 1400 or 2000 or 2500) kids who apply these will all tank.

I don’t disagree but there is no equitable way to offer an admissions test. And the PARCC is flawed, most privates don’t give it and you could argue that basing admissions to high school on your sixth grade work is unfair as well. There are no easy answers to this, unfortunately.

Easiest answer is to place more weight on GPA.

Anonymous wrote:They need something to get the number of students down to 10% of the applicants.

Last year 1300+ students applied based on the qualification of a GPA of 3.0. 145 enrolled.
The school is very proud of their average SAT score, average number of APs, AP scores, and college acceptances. If they just lottery the 1300 (or 1400 or 2000 or 2500) kids who apply these will all tank.

I don’t disagree but there is no equitable way to offer an admissions test. And the PARCC is flawed, most privates don’t give it and you could argue that basing admissions to high school on your sixth grade work is unfair as well. There are no easy answers to this, unfortunately.

Anonymous wrote:I’m nervous that no test reduces my kids chances of getting in to Walls. My kid took the SATs last year and scored levels above grade level and has fives on all PARCC to date. I’m fearful that not having a test will make the pool larger and make his probability (to get in) smaller/less likely.

I thought they ruled PARCC out of testing two years ago- so not sure how they would put that back in to the equation. They mentioned that the requirements will be out in two weeks- right before the application window opens.

You might want a back up plan. There are classmates of my child who were on Principal's Honor Role for all quarters in 7th grade and did not get in. (Interestingly some did not get interviewed).

They need something to get the number of students down to 10% of the applicants.

Last year 1300+ students applied based on the qualification of a GPA of 3.0. 145 enrolled.
The school is very proud of their average SAT score, average number of APs, AP scores, and college acceptances. If they just lottery the 1300 (or 1400 or 2000 or 2500) kids who apply these will all tank.

I’m nervous that no test reduces my kids chances of getting in to Walls. My kid took the SATs last year and scored levels above grade level and has fives on all PARCC to date. I’m fearful that not having a test will make the pool larger and make his probability (to get in) smaller/less likely.

I thought they ruled PARCC out of testing two years ago- so not sure how they would put that back in to the equation. They mentioned that the requirements will be out in two weeks- right before the application window opens.

Anonymous wrote:If I was in charge ......
2 fives or on 6th grade PARCC gets you an interview
1 five and 1 four on 6th grade PARCC gets you an interview
if you are in private school or did not qualify with previous PARCCs, you can take an in person test to qualify for the interview.

For interviews, they take the top 100 from the test + whoever got to waive the test.

Anyone who "passes" the interview gets put into a lottery to create the final ranked list.

This is a good approach.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can do a live, virtual test.

Deal did live, proctored MAP testing for math placement this year.
My Algebra 2 kid at Deal has live exams.

It would be difficult to live proctor a thousand kids but not impossible to live proctor 100 (if like the previous poster said there were private school kids who needed testing).

And I know a kid who cheated on the MAP test.

There is no way to administer a secure and equitable test.

A kid cheated on the Deal MAP math test?

Lol. That's really something.

The prize for that cheating is being placed into a math class over your skill level. As I type my kid is pounding out 2 hours of Algebra 2 homework. Thankfully she didn't cheat her way into this class.
No wonder she says that some kids are struggling.

Yup, by all reports it’s not going well.

I'm so intrigued by this. Did a parent rig up a double monitor and feed the kid answers?
Does the kid cheat on the subsequent live exams that have been given in the class?
What happens when the kid goes on to precalc next year and then calculus and beyond?
Will the parent continue to do the work all the way though high school?
It just seems so incredibly short sighted.

I have a kid who was ready for this course and we're still not sure it's a good thing. Not because the kid can't do the math now but
because what's to come down the road (math beyond calculus in high school). It would really suck to be the kid who was inappropriately pushed up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can do a live, virtual test.

Deal did live, proctored MAP testing for math placement this year.
My Algebra 2 kid at Deal has live exams.

It would be difficult to live proctor a thousand kids but not impossible to live proctor 100 (if like the previous poster said there were private school kids who needed testing).

And I know a kid who cheated on the MAP test.

There is no way to administer a secure and equitable test.

A kid cheated on the Deal MAP math test?

Lol. That's really something.

The prize for that cheating is being placed into a math class over your skill level. As I type my kid is pounding out 2 hours of Algebra 2 homework. Thankfully she didn't cheat her way into this class.
No wonder she says that some kids are struggling.

Yup, by all reports it’s not going well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can do a live, virtual test.

Deal did live, proctored MAP testing for math placement this year.
My Algebra 2 kid at Deal has live exams.

It would be difficult to live proctor a thousand kids but not impossible to live proctor 100 (if like the previous poster said there were private school kids who needed testing).

And I know a kid who cheated on the MAP test.

There is no way to administer a secure and equitable test.

A kid cheated on the Deal MAP math test?

Lol. That's really something.

The prize for that cheating is being placed into a math class over your skill level. As I type my kid is pounding out 2 hours of Algebra 2 homework. Thankfully she didn't cheat her way into this class.
No wonder she says that some kids are struggling.