Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Enlarging HB to the size of the other high schools has been discussed many times over the years and it will never happen. It would simply continue to be a socio-economically segregated escape from the neighborhood schools, but much larger and thus undermining those comprehensive high schools. APS has a good balance at the moment among the neighborhood schools and options programs.

Clearly you live in N Arlington or haven't spent anytime looking at the racial and economic segregation in APS.

There is segregation and there has been for quite some time. Boundary changes have historically exacerbated the segregation, which has also been the case in FCPS and MCPS. Enlarging HB would only exacerbate existing segregation.

Anonymous wrote:

Enlarging HB to the size of the other high schools has been discussed many times over the years and it will never happen. It would simply continue to be a socio-economically segregated escape from the neighborhood schools, but much larger and thus undermining those comprehensive high schools. APS has a good balance at the moment among the neighborhood schools and options programs.

Clearly you live in N Arlington or haven't spent anytime looking at the racial and economic segregation in APS.

Enlarging HB to the size of the other high schools has been discussed many times over the years and it will never happen. It would simply continue to be a socio-economically segregated escape from the neighborhood schools, but much larger and thus undermining those comprehensive high schools. APS has a good balance at the moment among the neighborhood schools and options programs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to ATS and later, only one applied and got into HB. We felt she was the perfect fit for the HB style of learning.
Guess what? When your kid starts kindergarten, you aren't quite sure what learning style suits them best. ATS has traditional values and approach but my future HB kid didn't fit the mold. My DD would have suffered in 'regular' MS and HS. HB was perfect for her quirky, 'square peg in a round hole' personality. ATS prepped her for being more organized but HB allowed her to flourish and be herself.
If HB admissions really stuck to the original intent of the program, we wouldn't be where we are. Instead, we have parents who clamor to get their child in for HB's seeming exclusivity when they would have been fine at other schools.

The exact same thing can be said about ATS. And I can’t believe how parents who seek both ATS and HB don’t understand how they show the rest of the world that it is about exclusivity and not academics. I mean, HB and ATS could not be further apart in pedagogy. But the pRENTS DONT KNOW OR CARE, BECAUSE ITS ABOUT PRESTIGE.

The only prestige here is the slight of hand APS does by holding out the chance of something better, that so few people can have.

You can see it in how lopsided the applications for Woodlawn are. Yes, the parents at option schools are more likely to continue applying for option schools because they won previously. I know families who have had kids at two and even three option programs (moving from Campbell, MPSA, or immersion to ATS). It's the same with those zoned to lower performing middle schools: they apply at much higher rates than those zoned to the top ones. Unfortunately, there's only so many slots per school, so most people will lose out. That doesn't mean people are out for "prestige" they just want what they think is the best option. As long as options exist, people will persue them.

There is no perceived prestige foe MPSA, Immersion, or Claremont. I see you left off ATS.

HB presitige is all about a tiny high school of 400 students compared to nearly 3000 at the closest neighborhood school and overcrowding at the remaining 2.

Why didn’t they make it the same size as AT is planned to be, 1500?

Nope... plenty of people leave other option schools, even after getting in and attending, to go to ATS if they have the chance. Overall, people see option schools as better.

Agree that Woodlawn should be bigger. AT is shoehorned on to a little strip and isn't near as fancy looking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to ATS and later, only one applied and got into HB. We felt she was the perfect fit for the HB style of learning.
Guess what? When your kid starts kindergarten, you aren't quite sure what learning style suits them best. ATS has traditional values and approach but my future HB kid didn't fit the mold. My DD would have suffered in 'regular' MS and HS. HB was perfect for her quirky, 'square peg in a round hole' personality. ATS prepped her for being more organized but HB allowed her to flourish and be herself.
If HB admissions really stuck to the original intent of the program, we wouldn't be where we are. Instead, we have parents who clamor to get their child in for HB's seeming exclusivity when they would have been fine at other schools.

The exact same thing can be said about ATS. And I can’t believe how parents who seek both ATS and HB don’t understand how they show the rest of the world that it is about exclusivity and not academics. I mean, HB and ATS could not be further apart in pedagogy. But the pRENTS DONT KNOW OR CARE, BECAUSE ITS ABOUT PRESTIGE.

The only prestige here is the slight of hand APS does by holding out the chance of something better, that so few people can have.

You can see it in how lopsided the applications for Woodlawn are. Yes, the parents at option schools are more likely to continue applying for option schools because they won previously. I know families who have had kids at two and even three option programs (moving from Campbell, MPSA, or immersion to ATS). It's the same with those zoned to lower performing middle schools: they apply at much higher rates than those zoned to the top ones. Unfortunately, there's only so many slots per school, so most people will lose out. That doesn't mean people are out for "prestige" they just want what they think is the best option. As long as options exist, people will persue them.

There is no perceived prestige foe MPSA, Immersion, or Claremont. I see you left off ATS.

HB presitige is all about a tiny high school of 400 students compared to nearly 3000 at the closest neighborhood school and overcrowding at the remaining 2.

Why didn’t they make it the same size as AT is planned to be, 1500?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to ATS and later, only one applied and got into HB. We felt she was the perfect fit for the HB style of learning.
Guess what? When your kid starts kindergarten, you aren't quite sure what learning style suits them best. ATS has traditional values and approach but my future HB kid didn't fit the mold. My DD would have suffered in 'regular' MS and HS. HB was perfect for her quirky, 'square peg in a round hole' personality. ATS prepped her for being more organized but HB allowed her to flourish and be herself.
If HB admissions really stuck to the original intent of the program, we wouldn't be where we are. Instead, we have parents who clamor to get their child in for HB's seeming exclusivity when they would have been fine at other schools.

The exact same thing can be said about ATS. And I can’t believe how parents who seek both ATS and HB don’t understand how they show the rest of the world that it is about exclusivity and not academics. I mean, HB and ATS could not be further apart in pedagogy. But the pRENTS DONT KNOW OR CARE, BECAUSE ITS ABOUT PRESTIGE.

The only prestige here is the slight of hand APS does by holding out the chance of something better, that so few people can have.

You can see it in how lopsided the applications for Woodlawn are. Yes, the parents at option schools are more likely to continue applying for option schools because they won previously. I know families who have had kids at two and even three option programs (moving from Campbell, MPSA, or immersion to ATS). It's the same with those zoned to lower performing middle schools: they apply at much higher rates than those zoned to the top ones. Unfortunately, there's only so many slots per school, so most people will lose out. That doesn't mean people are out for "prestige" they just want what they think is the best option. As long as options exist, people will persue them.

There is no perceived prestige foe MPSA, Immersion, or Claremont. I see you left off ATS.

HB presitige is all about a tiny high school of 400 students compared to nearly 3000 at the closest neighborhood school and overcrowding at the remaining 2.

Why didn’t they make it the same size as AT is planned to be, 1500?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to ATS and later, only one applied and got into HB. We felt she was the perfect fit for the HB style of learning.
Guess what? When your kid starts kindergarten, you aren't quite sure what learning style suits them best. ATS has traditional values and approach but my future HB kid didn't fit the mold. My DD would have suffered in 'regular' MS and HS. HB was perfect for her quirky, 'square peg in a round hole' personality. ATS prepped her for being more organized but HB allowed her to flourish and be herself.
If HB admissions really stuck to the original intent of the program, we wouldn't be where we are. Instead, we have parents who clamor to get their child in for HB's seeming exclusivity when they would have been fine at other schools.

The exact same thing can be said about ATS. And I can’t believe how parents who seek both ATS and HB don’t understand how they show the rest of the world that it is about exclusivity and not academics. I mean, HB and ATS could not be further apart in pedagogy. But the pRENTS DONT KNOW OR CARE, BECAUSE ITS ABOUT PRESTIGE.

The only prestige here is the slight of hand APS does by holding out the chance of something better, that so few people can have.

You can see it in how lopsided the applications for Woodlawn are. Yes, the parents at option schools are more likely to continue applying for option schools because they won previously. I know families who have had kids at two and even three option programs (moving from Campbell, MPSA, or immersion to ATS). It's the same with those zoned to lower performing middle schools: they apply at much higher rates than those zoned to the top ones. Unfortunately, there's only so many slots per school, so most people will lose out. That doesn't mean people are out for "prestige" they just want what they think is the best option. As long as options exist, people will persue them.

Anonymous wrote:Prestige, ha. How does getting selected in a lottery grant prestige? In Arlington, you put a Yorktown (or better yet, DC private school) sticker on your car to show that you're rich.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It always amuses me the contortions some families go through. Especially the ones who insisted their kids needed a traditional education and maneuvered to get them into ATS but come time for secondary school suddenly they need a hippy-dippy experiential approach and the HBW philosophy is for them. I've long thought attendance at ATS should be disqualifying to HBW, especially given the scarcity of spots (why should one family win the lottery twice?)

Since the 1980s parents of all political or social backgrounds have liked the small, generally socio-economically homogeneous or majority affluent aspect of H-B. That's why test scores have always been high. Before the lottery, families would camp outside of the school for days on end to not loose their spot in the queue (to gain admittance). I personally like HB but wish more of the students who could truly benefit from its unique pedagogy could gain admittance. But I don't think that means making H-B huge to get more students in. Right now APS is at a good balance with strong neighborhood secondary schools and strong option programs.

How do you even see or assess this? I’ve been trying to look at test data, but HB (as well as the other secondary option programs) are always lumped in with the big high schools, including on VDOE, and rarely is it possible to see any stand alone performance data - please link if you know of any. It seems a bit of a cop out by APS that they are not publishing any data for these programs separately. .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to ATS and later, only one applied and got into HB. We felt she was the perfect fit for the HB style of learning.
Guess what? When your kid starts kindergarten, you aren't quite sure what learning style suits them best. ATS has traditional values and approach but my future HB kid didn't fit the mold. My DD would have suffered in 'regular' MS and HS. HB was perfect for her quirky, 'square peg in a round hole' personality. ATS prepped her for being more organized but HB allowed her to flourish and be herself.
If HB admissions really stuck to the original intent of the program, we wouldn't be where we are. Instead, we have parents who clamor to get their child in for HB's seeming exclusivity when they would have been fine at other schools.

The exact same thing can be said about ATS. And I can’t believe how parents who seek both ATS and HB don’t understand how they show the rest of the world that it is about exclusivity and not academics. I mean, HB and ATS could not be further apart in pedagogy. But the pRENTS DONT KNOW OR CARE, BECAUSE ITS ABOUT PRESTIGE.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It always amuses me the contortions some families go through. Especially the ones who insisted their kids needed a traditional education and maneuvered to get them into ATS but come time for secondary school suddenly they need a hippy-dippy experiential approach and the HBW philosophy is for them. I've long thought attendance at ATS should be disqualifying to HBW, especially given the scarcity of spots (why should one family win the lottery twice?)

Since the 1980s parents of all political or social backgrounds have liked the small, generally socio-economically homogeneous or majority affluent aspect of H-B. That's why test scores have always been high. Before the lottery, families would camp outside of the school for days on end to not loose their spot in the queue (to gain admittance). I personally like HB but wish more of the students who could truly benefit from its unique pedagogy could gain admittance. But I don't think that means making H-B huge to get more students in. Right now APS is at a good balance with strong neighborhood secondary schools and strong option programs.

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to ATS and later, only one applied and got into HB. We felt she was the perfect fit for the HB style of learning.
Guess what? When your kid starts kindergarten, you aren't quite sure what learning style suits them best. ATS has traditional values and approach but my future HB kid didn't fit the mold. My DD would have suffered in 'regular' MS and HS. HB was perfect for her quirky, 'square peg in a round hole' personality. ATS prepped her for being more organized but HB allowed her to flourish and be herself.
If HB admissions really stuck to the original intent of the program, we wouldn't be where we are. Instead, we have parents who clamor to get their child in for HB's seeming exclusivity when they would have been fine at other schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You do know your number. Atop
Pushing lies. Just because your kid didn’t get in doesn’t mean it’s rigged. Very maga!

Stop making things political. How do I find my number, and so it shows up on the ball on the video live when I watch the lottery?

Why do you want this? What difference would it make?

You are claiming that we do know out number. i signed up for lottery. So if I watch it st Syphax, will I see it maybe come up?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You do know your number. Atop
Pushing lies. Just because your kid didn’t get in doesn’t mean it’s rigged. Very maga!

Stop making things political. How do I find my number, and so it shows up on the ball on the video live when I watch the lottery?

Why do you want this? What difference would it make?