Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is at TJ and knows a couple of the Nysmith kids in his grade. And both kids were underprepared in math. They both came in with a class called Alebra II under their belt. But were apparently not prepared to handle Math 4, which is the normal placement for a FCPS kid who has completed A2. One kid ended up placing into Math 2.5, which is for weaker math students who have not yet taken A2. The other went into Math 4, tanking the class and having to remediate in Algebra and Geometry and retake Math 4 the next semester.

All A2 classes are not created equal. And apparently Nysmith engages in the math version of vanity sizing.

I’m a former Fcps teacher. I’ve said this on this site many times. Most kids taking higher level math classes in private schools ARE far behind the public school kids. While many hate the sols, I think the sols and the uniform pacing guides require a certain end result for every student. Kids in private school also have gaps in their working math knowledge that is only discovered when they falter for awhile and we can see the problem is deeper than not understanding the present lesson. Kids in the “highest” math group in a private are typically not equal to the same math groups in public.

That makes sense that the elite kids at public fair better than those at private when many public schools have 3000 kids and most private’s have about 400.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is at TJ and knows a couple of the Nysmith kids in his grade. And both kids were underprepared in math. They both came in with a class called Alebra II under their belt. But were apparently not prepared to handle Math 4, which is the normal placement for a FCPS kid who has completed A2. One kid ended up placing into Math 2.5, which is for weaker math students who have not yet taken A2. The other went into Math 4, tanking the class and having to remediate in Algebra and Geometry and retake Math 4 the next semester.

All A2 classes are not created equal. And apparently Nysmith engages in the math version of vanity sizing.

I’m a former Fcps teacher. I’ve said this on this site many times. Most kids taking higher level math classes in private schools ARE far behind the public school kids. While many hate the sols, I think the sols and the uniform pacing guides require a certain end result for every student. Kids in private school also have gaps in their working math knowledge that is only discovered when they falter for awhile and we can see the problem is deeper than not understanding the present lesson. Kids in the “highest” math group in a private are typically not equal to the same math groups in public.

That makes sense that the elite kids at public fair better than those at private when many public schools have 3000 kids and most private’s have about 400.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is at TJ and knows a couple of the Nysmith kids in his grade. And both kids were underprepared in math. They both came in with a class called Alebra II under their belt. But were apparently not prepared to handle Math 4, which is the normal placement for a FCPS kid who has completed A2. One kid ended up placing into Math 2.5, which is for weaker math students who have not yet taken A2. The other went into Math 4, tanking the class and having to remediate in Algebra and Geometry and retake Math 4 the next semester.

All A2 classes are not created equal. And apparently Nysmith engages in the math version of vanity sizing.

I’m a former Fcps teacher. I’ve said this on this site many times. Most kids taking higher level math classes in private schools ARE far behind the public school kids. While many hate the sols, I think the sols and the uniform pacing guides require a certain end result for every student. Kids in private school also have gaps in their working math knowledge that is only discovered when they falter for awhile and we can see the problem is deeper than not understanding the present lesson. Kids in the “highest” math group in a private are typically not equal to the same math groups in public.

Anonymous wrote:My DS is at TJ and knows a couple of the Nysmith kids in his grade. And both kids were underprepared in math. They both came in with a class called Alebra II under their belt. But were apparently not prepared to handle Math 4, which is the normal placement for a FCPS kid who has completed A2. One kid ended up placing into Math 2.5, which is for weaker math students who have not yet taken A2. The other went into Math 4, tanking the class and having to remediate in Algebra and Geometry and retake Math 4 the next semester.

All A2 classes are not created equal. And apparently Nysmith engages in the math version of vanity sizing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, Nysmith is $32,000? That's crazy. For that price, can't you go somewhere good like Sidwell Friends

It's average for a private school but I think many are more.

Nysmith parent here (6 years and counting). Most private schools in this area are hugely (college level) expensive. One of the things that impressed us when visiting Nysmith is how obvious it is that most of the tuition money goes straight into educating the students. Some of the other private schools have large and expensive campuses, fancy ostentatious buildings full of over-furnished non-classroom impressive spaces designed to impress. Nysmith has clean modern facilities but it's all workaday and child focused type spaces. I'm not saying this is the only factor, and I have a second child at a private school that fits more into the other category here, but the down to earth spending priorities at Nysmith have always impressed me by comparison.

But they aren’t paying their teachers, which is where I would want a school to invest money. DS has ADHD and uses an organizational tutor. His tutor went to Nysmith for a couple years after her DC was born, rather than back to FCPS,because she could get a half time schedule. But was actively trying to move to Franklin, RRMS or Carson when I met her. I was shocked when she told me how much less she would make FT at Nysmith vs FCPS— before factoring in Nysmith crappy benefits. She also said teacher turnover was very high at Nysmith, there was less support for teachers and the math program at Nysmith was a lot weaker. Which lines up with Nysmith’s crappy TJ admissions rates vs Carson and RRMS.

I'm the PP who used to work at Nysmith. The bolded is true, and it's hugely important. I saw at least ten very good, experienced teachers leave for public schools during my relatively short time there. They were replaced by teachers who were either not licensed or who had very little classroom experience. Nysmith is, first and foremost, a business. They are not going to pay a licensed teacher with a Masters +10 years experience anywhere close to what FCPS will pay. I think it's telling that a lot of the teachers who teach upper-level math or science send their kids to FCPS AAP schools.

Anonymous wrote:I can’t figure out why people keep falsely saying that Nysmith is for AAP rejects. In our 9 years there, never heard of this happening. Maybe there are some kids that tried to get into AAP that I don’t know about, but most kids started Nysmith in pre-K through 1st grade, well before AAP testing/applications. We hear far more stories about kids coming to Nysmith because they were not challenged enough in the early grades at their public schools, and in our case because our public school still only had 1/2 day Kindergarten.

With regard to the assertion regarding them not getting into TJ- that’s just false. Almost all the kids who took the TJ test this year made it to the semi-final pool (about 20 kids). Not bragging - just a fact. While we don’t know the final result, that seems pretty good out of a class of about 60, many of whom didn’t apply. About a third of the 8th graders are in Algebra II Honors or higher. Not a bragging point but just rebutting the insinuation that these kids wouldn’t be able to make it in AAP. This year’s graduating class has been accepted to various private chools such as Phillips Exeter, Sidwell, NCS, Holton, Potomac and other great schools, and many will go to their awesome public schools that we are very fortunate to have in this area.

The kids are not obnoxious or rude, they are nice kids just trying their hardest, like everyone else’s. We don’t judge your kids. I know many kids who have thrived in AAP and good for them! I am happy for them. Seems to me that the obnoxious people are not the kids, but the parents on this board who think it is okay to bash kids for no reason.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, Nysmith is $32,000? That's crazy. For that price, can't you go somewhere good like Sidwell Friends

It's average for a private school but I think many are more.

Nysmith parent here (6 years and counting). Most private schools in this area are hugely (college level) expensive. One of the things that impressed us when visiting Nysmith is how obvious it is that most of the tuition money goes straight into educating the students. Some of the other private schools have large and expensive campuses, fancy ostentatious buildings full of over-furnished non-classroom impressive spaces designed to impress. Nysmith has clean modern facilities but it's all workaday and child focused type spaces. I'm not saying this is the only factor, and I have a second child at a private school that fits more into the other category here, but the down to earth spending priorities at Nysmith have always impressed me by comparison.

But they aren’t paying their teachers, which is where I would want a school to invest money. DS has ADHD and uses an organizational tutor. His tutor went to Nysmith for a couple years after her DC was born, rather than back to FCPS,because she could get a half time schedule. But was actively trying to move to Franklin, RRMS or Carson when I met her. I was shocked when she told me how much less she would make FT at Nysmith vs FCPS— before factoring in Nysmith crappy benefits. She also said teacher turnover was very high at Nysmith, there was less support for teachers and the math program at Nysmith was a lot weaker. Which lines up with Nysmith’s crappy TJ admissions rates vs Carson and RRMS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, Nysmith is $32,000? That's crazy. For that price, can't you go somewhere good like Sidwell Friends

It's average for a private school but I think many are more.

Nysmith parent here (6 years and counting). Most private schools in this area are hugely (college level) expensive. One of the things that impressed us when visiting Nysmith is how obvious it is that most of the tuition money goes straight into educating the students. Some of the other private schools have large and expensive campuses, fancy ostentatious buildings full of over-furnished non-classroom impressive spaces designed to impress. Nysmith has clean modern facilities but it's all workaday and child focused type spaces. I'm not saying this is the only factor, and I have a second child at a private school that fits more into the other category here, but the down to earth spending priorities at Nysmith have always impressed me by comparison.

Anonymous wrote:Plus, if your kid goes to Nysmith, you get one of those car magnets that says "Nysmith School for the Gifted" so everyone knows how special your snowflake is!

If I was shelling out $30K to send my kid to private, Nysmith would not be on my list. With a 150 IQ, there are better places to spend that tuition money.