Anonymous wrote:"It's funny to me that most parents are more concerned with middle and high school
In middle and high school you are tracked. Elementary school is the most important.
Parent of a high performing elementary school in an average middle and high school pyramid "
It's because I went to a city ES and MS and my mom taught in a city HS. In ES it was ok since kids were mostly nice & not too bad - at my ES at least we had grade level groupings of higher and lower paced classes so that helped too (that's not allowed now some places).
In MS there were fights. Lots of them. Kids punching teachers; regular occurrence on bus, etc. Pregnant 8th graders. Although classes were still grouped, we were together for lunch, PE, bus rides - certainly enough time to be really cognizant that you needed to be on guard against kids from the other classes. It's not the academics necessarily - it's the social environment. Your kid does not operate in a bubble in MS & HS even if they are taking advanced classes.
This isn't SE DC. There aren't any MS or HS around here that are remotely like that at all. Additionally the "good" MS and HS have problems of their own. Body image issues, drinking and drugs, self-esteem/pressure/suicide. There is a chance of negative influences happening on your kid no matter where you go to school. The good thing is most kids will be fine, especially if the parents actually act like parents every now and again. That goes for elementary school too. I still stand by my original point that if you are making a school decision pay more attention to the quality of the elementary school.