Congressional School Academics
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Anonymous
| Ok, I've done searches, I know there are some Congressional haters on here, but I'm hopeful I can get a helpful answer. We attended the recent open house and I was very impressed how they focus on the whole child. I like extracurriculars starting at a young age and their music program seemed impressive. I've seen people say that kids coming from Congressional are more than prepared for high school and their list of outplacements includes schools I'd want my DD to go to. However, I am concerned about the abundance of people who speak so poorly of the academics at Congressional. Can any current or previous parents give me your feedback? I'm not trying to have my DD in a pressure cooker for academics and I have zero need for her to go Ivy league one day. I just want a strong education and a happy and well-rounded child. She's a strong-willed, independent and smart child who I think would really benefit from the personalized attention smaller schools can offer. Thanks! |
Anonymous
| Both of my kids graduated from there and were well prepared in all areas for high school and beyond. |
Anonymous
| Thank you! We haven't even submitted our application yet lol, but so far I really feel Congressional would be a great fit for our DD. I guess I'm just looking for reassurance after reading some of the super negative feedback on here. |
Anonymous
| Negativity is what DCUM does best. |
Anonymous
| I think Congressional looks great, although it's a bit too far for us to consider. Not for nothing, it's also $10-12K less expensive than, say, the same grades at Potomac. |
Anonymous
My pleasure. You should talk to current parents for the grade you are considering as well as older grades to get a better sense of the academics now. I will say that not only did my girls get into pretty much everywhere they applied, Congressional did a great job of recommending outplacement at schools that would be a good fit for them. |
Anonymous
| I have a Congressional graduate and a current middle school student. I can attest that my older child was very well prepared for high school and I have no doubt my younger child will be as well. My older kid went to their first choice high school and their teachers freshman year provided substantial feedback about how well they were prepared for their classes during our conferences. It was not a pressure cooker at all. There was not a lot of homework but there were meaningful projects. My kids also really appreciated being able to take many different electives over the course of a year instead of having to stick to just 1 per year. They got to try out new things they wouldn't have done otherwise. My kids aren't athletes, but they tried out different sports anyway, and still got to play even though their talents lie elsewhere. |
Anonymous
| OP here. Thanks so much for the feedback! It really does sound like a great school! |
Anonymous
| So many nice aspects of the school. Asst Head is super helpful. Sad part is the turnover of the staff. DS left a couple years ago when there were lots of changes. Sad to hear the drama teacher left. The campus is beautiful and the previous comment about not being a pressure cooker is accurate. Summer camp is quite special. This is a tough choice. Best wishes on your decision. |
Anonymous
| OP, in what grade is your DD? We've been happy at the school. The teachers are very engaged. The homework has gone up as our DD has gotten older (but at an appropriate level). I think the most challenging part for our DD is the size. She would prefer her class to have more kids. However, from the parent perspective, the small class size is wonderful. The school also uses its campus well for hands-on learning. |
Anonymous
My DD is young so we're looking at Pre- K for next year. I'm hopeful we can find a school that's a good fit and avoid transferring down the line, but we'll see. What age is your daughter? I thought the classes were two classes per grade with 20 per class. Are they significantly smaller as they get older? |
Anonymous
| I have a kid in MS at Congressional and one who recently graduated and we love it. It was sad when the Drama teacher left after last year--he'd been with the school for like 16 years, had started the MS musical program, taught baking/cooking electives pre-covid (and virtually during covid!), and had a number of leadership positions. He was fantastic and will leave a hole for a while. The new drama teacher is nice but is young and fairly inexperienced in teaching, but is slowly getting her feet under her after her first trimester. The Director of MS is amazing. The 7th-8th grade history teacher is an institution unto himself, with nearly 50 years teaching at the school. I do wonder if he will retire soon--he's had some health issues this year, and while I think he's maybe trying to get to his 50th in the next year or two, I wouldn't be surprised to hear of him leaving soon. The academics are strong, but it is not a pressure cooker. We liked the 8th grade capstone experience and our younger is already thinking about ideas for his. As far as size, the current 8th grade is a bit smaller than typical at about 25 kids, and the 7th grade has almost 40. 5th and 6th are closer to 30-35, which I think is the school's target number. In MS, the grades are divided into advisories (2-3 per grade) and are divided up based on math differentiation after 5th grade (math/science have the same students, and English/history/arts have the same students, but there's some shuffling between those two sets, rather than having two divided classes by homeroom, as in the LS). |
Anonymous
| Why not Langley? |
Anonymous
|
Congressional is a good school. Their main pity is they do not have a high school offering.
That said, be aware that the lower grades at Congressional rely upon the now-widely-discredited Readers Workshop & Writers Workshop from Lucy Calkins at ColumbiaU. See current thread on Writers Workshop in the General Education forum, for more on that. IF DC already is comfortably reading above grade level, then Readers Workshop might not matter, other than time wasted. IF DC is not reading at that level, watch closely and supplement reading if there are issues or even doubts. |
Anonymous
| I wish Congressional had a high school too! They did for a while, decades ago. I would have loved it if my kids could just have stayed there. |