Latin Cooper v DCI

Anonymous
Currently at a DCI feeder but without a guaranteed spot at DCI (due to expansion). Got a spot at Latin Cooper in the lottery, so trying to compare a known spot at Latin Cooper with a possible but not guaranteed spot at DCI in 6th grade. I doubt there is anyone with experience at both but figured I’d try asking.
Anonymous
What odds for DCI did they give you?
Anonymous
What happens if you don’t get into DCI?
Anonymous
Latin
Anonymous
In this situation, I'd go for Latin. We are also at a DCI feeder but we aren't dealing with an expansion and too few slots from our school. Even so, I'm not sure whether we want to stick with DCI.
Anonymous
Latin both for the actual school quality and for the certainty of having the high school pathway settled.
Anonymous
Depends on the kid and what they want, but not having DCI for sure would make me super anxious.

The biggest trade-off would be losing gains in Spanish, or having to make a lot of effort on your own to maintain it. Latin does not offer dual enrollment (I don't think? someone can correct me if I'm wrong), and they did say they were going to offer Spanish, but probably not until 8th grade at the earliest.

My kid is at Cooper, we are having a pretty good experience, but some other peers are not, so it really varies. What does your kid prefer to do? I think buy-in at this age is also useful.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Depends on the kid and what they want, but not having DCI for sure would make me super anxious.

The biggest trade-off would be losing gains in Spanish, or having to make a lot of effort on your own to maintain it. Latin does not offer dual enrollment (I don't think? someone can correct me if I'm wrong), and they did say they were going to offer Spanish, but probably not until 8th grade at the earliest.

My kid is at Cooper, we are having a pretty good experience, but some other peers are not, so it really varies. What does your kid prefer to do? I think buy-in at this age is also useful.


P.S. But your kid will be taking Latin, which is VERY similar (for obvious reasons), so that might be fun for them.
Anonymous
Why are their peers not having a good experience, PP?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Why are their peers not having a good experience, PP?


Bump. Curious about this too.
Anonymous
DCI. Continue language, IB curriculum, great facilities, lots of sports, extracurriculars, clubs, good size school.



Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Why are their peers not having a good experience, PP?


I'm the person who said that. It varies. Some of it may just be middle school/age. I've been told one person doesn't like the facilities (and it's only going to get more crowded). I wonder if it's not challenging enough for those kids who are way ahead (I don't know that, just a guess). Other kids are definitely thriving, so it's a mixed bag (like at any school? I don't really know enough to say).

My advice, for what it's worth, is to really think of what school out of the available (to you) options would be a better fit for your kid. I recommend your kid being engaged in the process (not in charge of the decision, but engaged in some way).

The school is small, all fifth graders this year knew each other (next fifth grade will be larger, but still). The teachers were the same for all fifth graders. Same curriculum. I don't have a good sense as to the range of abilities, except in math, where things are quite dire, not many kids are comfortable with the material, this is probably a post-COVID or post-DCPS/charter issue.
Anonymous
Latin does not have a high school pathway.

DCI offers the IB Diploma and Career Programs.

DCI by a large margin
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Latin does not have a high school pathway.

DCI offers the IB Diploma and Career Programs.

DCI by a large margin


Huh? Latin goes through grade 12.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why are their peers not having a good experience, PP?


Bump. Curious about this too.
. DCI academics just don’t push the most capable kids across the board, including for language instruction. Extra curricular are mostly meh. Capitol Hill kids commute on public transportation for an hour to get there. We make do with DCI, that’s it.
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