Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A Langley's mom here. I don't know what kids at Wakefield HS do in the summer but at Langley, I do know a lot of kids including mine, especially Asians, attend SAT prep class for eight straight weeks from M-F, 9am-4pm in the summer at the cost of around 6K. That probably explains why they have better scores than kids from Wakefield.

Wow. Mom with very young kids here. Does that really pay off as far as much better scores?
It seems like a crazy intense time investment. But times have changed I guess?

Really? I remember when SAT prep classes were 6 weeks for 1 hour. 9-4 pm?

Anonymous wrote:https://www.apsva.us/post/wakefield-senior-wins-prestigious-horatio-alger-national-scholarship/

this is really misleading: The 2018 Horatio Alger Association National Scholars are students who come from households with an average income of $12,996 per year but maintain an average GPA of 3.8[u][i]. Each National Scholarship recipient is awarded $25,000 to apply toward the educational costs of the college or university of their choice and will have access to a variety of Association-provided resources including counseling and referral services, internship opportunities and Alumni connections.

so this is not a academic scholarship but it has other strings attached.

https://www.apsva.us/post/wakefield-senior-wins-prestigious-horatio-alger-national-scholarship/

Anonymous wrote:If Wakefield serves its diverse population so well, why does it get a “2” equity rating from Great Schools?

Because the methodology is flawed. It expects ESL kids to perform the same on the SOLs as other groups. That's not a realistic expectation. It takes an average of seven years to acquire a language and test at the same level as a native speaker. GS is a bunch of crap. It's not comparing how ESL kids score at one school relative to another, or comparing them against statewide averages for "equity." It's just taking points off for "equity" because those students exist on higher numbers at some schools and aren't meeting benchmarks rather than awarding points for growth or relative scores of the ESL subgroup.

If Wakefield serves its diverse population so well, why does it get a “2” equity rating from Great Schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not idiotic.
I imagine Langley has zero ms 13 presence.

I don’t think you can say that for Wakefield, but I also don’t think it’s a real concern. It’s more like,
“ my cousin has a friend who runs with MS13”

Not a concern for middle class families.

Will Suzie Whitebread at Wakefield get recruited by MS-13? No. Will Suzie get intimidated at some point by a kid associated ith a gang? Quite possibly. Will Suzie get the short end of the stick because her school focuses primarily on the MS-13 members and other students who are frequently truent and at risk of failing the SOLs? Probably.

Not going to roll those dice.

Are there people who conflate issues with poverty and ESOL on the one hand, with issues involving MS-13? Yes. Are those people part of the Wakefield community. No.

Conflation is different than correlation. When those in the Wakefield community pretend to ignore the correlation, they will be shot down, and rightly so.

Will Suzie get the short end of the stick because her school focuses primarily on the MS-13 members and other students who are frequently truent and at risk of failing the SOLs?

That is not correlation. That is conflation. You are what you are. One reason to live in a racially and socioeconomically diverse community, even if it has challenges, is to avoid people like you.

Your rhetoric is no better than your school's test scores.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not idiotic.
I imagine Langley has zero ms 13 presence.

I don’t think you can say that for Wakefield, but I also don’t think it’s a real concern. It’s more like,
“ my cousin has a friend who runs with MS13”

Not a concern for middle class families.

Will Suzie Whitebread at Wakefield get recruited by MS-13? No. Will Suzie get intimidated at some point by a kid associated ith a gang? Quite possibly. Will Suzie get the short end of the stick because her school focuses primarily on the MS-13 members and other students who are frequently truent and at risk of failing the SOLs? Probably.

Not going to roll those dice.

Are there people who conflate issues with poverty and ESOL on the one hand, with issues involving MS-13? Yes. Are those people part of the Wakefield community. No.

Conflation is different than correlation. When those in the Wakefield community pretend to ignore the correlation, they will be shot down, and rightly so.

Will Suzie get the short end of the stick because her school focuses primarily on the MS-13 members and other students who are frequently truent and at risk of failing the SOLs?

That is not correlation. That is conflation. You are what you are. One reason to live in a racially and socioeconomically diverse community, even if it has challenges, is to avoid people like you.

To answer the original question, I have a happy, challenged 9th grader who loves Wakefield. Wakefield is a welcoming place that emphasizes that every student should have a trusted adult in the building and teachers and staff go out of their way to help students, whether they are A students or struggling. Even in the huge 9th grade class, my student has found more than one teacher to connect to and build a relationship with.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A Langley's mom here. I don't know what kids at Wakefield HS do in the summer but at Langley, I do know a lot of kids including mine, especially Asians, attend SAT prep class for eight straight weeks from M-F, 9am-4pm in the summer at the cost of around 6K. That probably explains why they have better scores than kids from Wakefield.

Wow. Mom with very young kids here. Does that really pay off as far as much better scores?
It seems like a crazy intense time investment. But times have changed I guess?

My daughter graduated from Woodson HS in 2002. She took the SAT in 10th grade and scored 1150. My "tiger" wife was very upset and sent her to a seven weeks SAT boot camp run by Korean in the summer of 10th and 11th grade. She took the SAT again in 11th grade and scored 1350. She took it again in 12th grade scored 1530. She was accepted into UVA. There is a downside to all this. After graduation, she refused to talk to my wife all these years until recently because of what happened even though looking back she is very grateful for it.

To answer your question, the answer is yes but.....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not idiotic.
I imagine Langley has zero ms 13 presence.

I don’t think you can say that for Wakefield, but I also don’t think it’s a real concern. It’s more like,
“ my cousin has a friend who runs with MS13”

Not a concern for middle class families.

Will Suzie Whitebread at Wakefield get recruited by MS-13? No. Will Suzie get intimidated at some point by a kid associated ith a gang? Quite possibly. Will Suzie get the short end of the stick because her school focuses primarily on the MS-13 members and other students who are frequently truent and at risk of failing the SOLs? Probably.

Not going to roll those dice.

Are there people who conflate issues with poverty and ESOL on the one hand, with issues involving MS-13? Yes. Are those people part of the Wakefield community. No.

Conflation is different than correlation. When those in the Wakefield community pretend to ignore the correlation, they will be shot down, and rightly so.

I know several Suzie Whitebreads who are happy at Wakefield and others who now attend quality state and private colleges. Several have been babysitters for my children.


I also work with a woman who graduated Wakefield in the late 80's (when arguably it was a much less strong school than it is now). She was from a large family and her parents were immigrants from Central America. She joined the military after college, later got an associates degree and is a successful professional now. Her four siblings all got either associates or bachelors degrees and own houses in Northern VA. I think there are many similar families at Wakefield now. For cultural and financial reasons some students choose to attend Nova or have other plans immediately after high school. It does seem as if some students are not accepted at some schools but there is a lot of judgement and fear on these boards. It's kind of sad.

My mother taught ESL for a short time at Wakefield in the late '70's. She had lots of stories about recent migrants working their butts off. Were their some unsuccessful kids and gang members--yes.

Future Wakefield parent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not idiotic.
I imagine Langley has zero ms 13 presence.

I don’t think you can say that for Wakefield, but I also don’t think it’s a real concern. It’s more like,
“ my cousin has a friend who runs with MS13”

Not a concern for middle class families.

Will Suzie Whitebread at Wakefield get recruited by MS-13? No. Will Suzie get intimidated at some point by a kid associated ith a gang? Quite possibly. Will Suzie get the short end of the stick because her school focuses primarily on the MS-13 members and other students who are frequently truent and at risk of failing the SOLs? Probably.

Not going to roll those dice.

Are there people who conflate issues with poverty and ESOL on the one hand, with issues involving MS-13? Yes. Are those people part of the Wakefield community. No.

Anonymous wrote:It’s not idiotic.
I imagine Langley has zero ms 13 presence.

I don’t think you can say that for Wakefield, but I also don’t think it’s a real concern. It’s more like,
“ my cousin has a friend who runs with MS13”

Not a concern for middle class families.

Will Suzie Whitebread at Wakefield get recruited by MS-13? No. Will Suzie get intimidated at some point by a kid associated ith a gang? Quite possibly. Will Suzie get the short end of the stick because her school focuses primarily on the MS-13 members and other students who are frequently truent and at risk of failing the SOLs? Probably.

Not going to roll those dice.

Anonymous wrote:A Langley's mom here. I don't know what kids at Wakefield HS do in the summer but at Langley, I do know a lot of kids including mine, especially Asians, attend SAT prep class for eight straight weeks from M-F, 9am-4pm in the summer at the cost of around 6K. That probably explains why they have better scores than kids from Wakefield.

Wow. Mom with very young kids here. Does that really pay off as far as much better scores?
It seems like a crazy intense time investment. But times have changed I guess?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A Langley's mom here. I don't know what kids at Wakefield HS do in the summer but at Langley, I do know a lot of kids including mine, especially Asians, attend SAT prep class for eight straight weeks from M-F, 9am-4pm in the summer at the cost of around 6K. That probably explains why they have better scores than kids from Wakefield.

You won’t find many kids from Langley spending eight full weeks of their summer at an SAT prep class. Not even the Asians.

On its face, that does sound like overkill (and over priced!) for your typical academically focused UMC. From what I've seen, some targeted one-on-one tutoring would save 200 hours of time and $3-$4k.

I am another mom from Langley and my daughter does go to eight weeks summer SAT boot camp. PP, I hope you're smarter than what you wrote here. You can get a Camry for 25k or you can get a Lexus for 80K. People who can afford it prefer Lexus over Camry because of all the safety features and comfort that Camry just does not have. The same goes with SAT prep. You get what you pay for.

If the kid is already smart and motivated, he/she doesn't need SAT boot camp. The kid could have been attending Wakefield and score 1600 on the SAT. Unfortunately, most kids can not do that so therefore they need help. Btw, I think Wakefield is a wonderful school. It is not where you go to school, it's how you make the most of it.

I do have a somewhat idiotic question. Is gang an issue at Wakefield as some in thread mentioned?

I 100% agree that you get what you pay for. What I'm suggesting is that you can get 1st class individualized instruction that is targeted toward actual identified areas of weakness vs. paying 3x more for a summer of drudgery for a group experience.