Probably. I actually think recommendations count for a lot. They are a window into how your kid actually is in the classroom and most middle school teachers are fairly sharp assessors of kids. The conundrum here is that most people report/believe that their recommendations were excellent. Having seen a lot of kids go through this process I can guarantee that not all the recommendations are excellent. In fact, most are probably just good. Along the lines of “pretty smart kid, sometimes contributes, sometimes doesn’t.” I don’t think teachers hand out the “best I’ve taught” check marks as often as people think they do. Those go to the kids who win the award for best student in every subject and the teacher cries when presenting it to them on awards night. That kid is getting the best rec. others are getting an ok rec.