The following is a representative sample of responses to the initial study of the Lafayette class of 2000 posted on this web site in February 2007.
As the parent of two former Lafayette students (classes of 2001 and 2004) now attending Wilson and Deal, I was particularly interested to read the results of your study. This is valuable information for helping parents make an informed choice about sending their children to public versus private high schools.
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Bravo for your hard work and many thanks. I read the article in the Northwest Current with great interest. As parents with two teenagers, one at Deal and the other preparing to enter Wilson, my wife and I have had numerous discussions as to the costs/benefits of public vs. private high school education. As a graduate of a private high school, I am skeptical of the benefits private day or boarding schools provide for normal/average students in their core curriculum. My wife and I opted to send our children to our public schools and augment the school core curriculum with music and sports classes, targeted tutoring, and summer school. While limited to a small sample of one graduating class, your analysis certainly reassured us that our decision to choose a public school was not a flawed decision as regards limiting their future competitiveness for admission to a good university or college. I hope more families choose to send their children to our local public schools and become involved themselves. Such involvement can only make our community and our public institutions stronger.
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I was thrilled to see your analysis regarding public vs. private….we too are beginning to consider “what to do” and have also considered moving out of DC to Montgomery MD to attend public school there.
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Unbelievably helpful AND the perfect timing as well!!!! our oldest is only a 1st grader (we also have a 4 year old) and already feel overwhelmed by folks encouraging us to move to the Whitman cluster sooner than later and others saying…STAY in DC and give Deal and Wilson a try.
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As a parent of a Lafayette first grader (and two younger children), I want to thank you for conducting your study. For several years, I have been frustrated at my own inability to obtain this sort of data from DCPS. I have long felt that DCPS should be required to publish college admissions data for all public schools.