Anonymous wrote:Our dd was like that when she started at NCS in 7th. It was really bad. We thought she was going to flunk out. We live in DC so we would have never considered DCPS. Luckily middle school grades don't count for college admissions (unless your kid takes h.s. math early-don't). We hired a tutor + kid did great in h.s. Recruited for a sport at HYP. I am not sure you can get a boy to work that hard-- it is up to you OP. Most boys won't listen to their moms. Let your dh do tough love + get a tutor asap. Good luck!

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Anonymous wrote:Know lots of people who have boys who are struggling at STA. They pay outside tutors, feed their kids ADHD meds, and do everything they can to keep their boys in. You can say these people can’t leave because other less stressful schools are currently full, but this has been going on for decades. Parents keep their boys at STA for their own personal benefit/sense of prestige and they always have.

While I am sure that there are parents in Washington who have unrealistic expectations and try to force their kid to live up to them- this is in ALL schools, including public.

In many ways, STA is one of the few schools in this town that actually doesn't cotton to this kind of thing because:

a) they simply don't need the admits that bad that they would take high numbers of unqualifieds- not HIGH numbers

b) while the occasional parent will watch their kid be flogged and struggle, the vast majority will accept the results of the STA pre-admissions test as a forecast of what is to come and opt out- in other words, not apply from BVR

c) STA is very , very selective from MS on and, especially for 9th grade admits. Schools with lower yields and slimmer endowments/ budget ratios might not be as selective so take your points to those schools

d) STA teachers have long tenure, vast majority have Masters degree and that quality of teacher just would not put up with that crap ( admitting high numbers of young people not able to do the work )


So, in summary, SURE in every class there may be 1, 2, 3 kids struggling and maybe more who have a tutor for a certain time period or subject matter, but in no way is that the bulk of the students or the main culture of the school. No way.

You realize that only about 30 out of 80 graduates end up being from Beauvoir don't you? Beauvoir is not the vast majority by 9th grade.

Umm... not clear what point you intend to make by that. True, only about 30 of the entries in 4th come from BVR, but that is because BVR is co-ed and the other 35 or so Beauvoir 3rd graders are GIRLS and so are not going onto STA.

I think the "lifers' number is actually lower than 30 by graduation year. It might be more like 25, but that is because some enter BVR in KDG or 1st grade and are therefore not considered true lifers ( admitted to BVR in Pre-K )

From that group of true " lifers" were 1/3 of the 17 Cum Laude inductees last year

The other 20 or so who came from BVR I am sure got a great education

We are a long time family on the Close and Beauvoir family so I don’t need to be schooled about Beauvoir. I know. I was just saying that most of the graduating class at STA is not BVR students. Nothing more nothing less.

Meaning they admit 50 plus new students over the course of the next years….

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Anonymous wrote:Our dd was like that when she started at NCS in 7th. It was really bad. We thought she was going to flunk out. We live in DC so we would have never considered DCPS. Luckily middle school grades don't count for college admissions (unless your kid takes h.s. math early-don't). We hired a tutor + kid did great in h.s. Recruited for a sport at HYP. I am not sure you can get a boy to work that hard-- it is up to you OP. Most boys won't listen to their moms. Let your dh do tough love + get a tutor asap. Good luck!

To many people, the idea that a high school-age student actually requires a tutor to get through classes is simply a bridge too far. I realize it's all the norm at STA, but please try to grasp, through your rose-colored glasses, that the vast majority of parents in the world would consider that a non-starter.

I don’t know of a single kid who has a tutor in my son’s high school class. I realize that is anecdotal but I don’t think having a tutor is the norm. FWIW, my son has never had one. He does go into see his teachers though for office hours, lest I be accused of bragging.

This is a very strange post. What makes you think you would know what 80 other boys in your grade are doing or not doing? Having a tutor is not something that people announce. Yes several boys do get outside help by tutors. There’s no shame in that and that’s certainly none of your business which is why you and your son do not know.

Anonymous wrote:My son was admitted to STA from a K-8. He's very bright with major strengths in language arts, but generally an underperformer, mainly due to lack of effort. This seems to be because of a lack of maturity, which seems to be getting better recently. When he puts effort into things, he does well.

We're not particularly excited with the other schools he got into, so we would like him to attend STA--we're just feeling concerned about his work habits. Anyone have experience with this situation, and your DC ended up doing very well?