IS DCI dropping IB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the DCI boosters are trying to make folks feel confident about the school, the weirdness in this thread is not helping!

Why are YOU on this thread?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the DCI boosters are trying to make folks feel confident about the school, the weirdness in this thread is not helping!

Are you the insecure Walls parent from the high school thread who thinks everything is about boosting DCI?

Every school has some crazy parents and that is that. No one is boosting anything. We are discussing the addition of more AP courses at the school and offering these to kids earlier in high school

No need to overtake this thread with your delusions.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The DCI guidance counselors don't have previous IB experience either. But the bigger problem is that lack of middle school challenge at DCI holds the brightest kids back. There isn't nearly enough academic tracking in core subjects and not enough of a push academically, at least not by 8th grade. And I'm not impressed by how DCI does nothing to channel students into summer immersion study. Still, their college acceptances aren't pretty good anyway.

I would be totally fine with this criticism if it was fact based but it really isn’t. First take college acceptances - this year alone we have multiple acceptances for ivies such as Dartmouth, U Penn, Yale, Stanford right off the top of my head. No MIT and no Harvard as far as I know. Lots of of U Pitt honors. It’s not even Ivy day yet so there could be more.

DCI definitely does not hold bright kids back. There is significant tracking up and down the spectrum. I have one child that needs specific help. They’re in some support classes. For my kids that are more academic, they have lots of accelerated classes particularly in math and science. I think a weak point is the lack of stronger courses in English but they are now offering ap English which would have been great for my eldest bit she’s now in IB diploma program.

I honestly don’t know what you mean about dci channeling kid into summer study. My kids who are eligible all studied abroad with dci for a few weeks. Then there is a partnership with dci to study abroad for longer. You can inquire directly but I understand it’s the only school in Dc to encourage study abroad.

I’m one of those people who really thinks that we should always push the school for more tracking more opportunities. I definitely think there is more room to grow. But I also think DCI is the best school for my kids. The middle school was a great fit especially since they do a great job of tracking kids who excel in math. I believe dci is the only school to allow kids to take algebra 2 in 8th grade (Integrated Math). There were a ton of clubs both in middle school and high school for kids who are super brainy (Mathletes, chess, robotics, debate) and clubs for those who wanted to have fun (cooking baking e sports D&D). My zoned dcps did not offer this at all. What was the real draw for us was the language, especially the chance to take multiple courses in the language (like social studies I&S) and electives like art and music.

One of my kids did get in to SWW, but I ultimately advised her against it because I felt that the hardest courses offered at SWW were offered to freshmen and sophomores and she had the chance to take some really interesting stuff as a junior senior in the full diploma program. She decided to stay at dci for the study abroad more than anything else, although now she definitely is grateful she has the course offerings available at dci. One of my kids will be on the career track and loving not having to take the rigorous courses that our oldest had to take. I’m genuinely happy that there is a place for the academic superstars where they can shine and a place for kids who aren’t, without the behavioral issues that plague a lot of high schoolers that cause academic kids to leave.

I always always think there is a lot of room for improvement at any school, but honestly for what my kids are looking for (stellar academics, study abroad opportunities, language, tracking for students to make them thrive, clubs, and sports) we have been and continue to be happy at dci.

OK, if it's all so great, why only 3 dozen DCI seniors a year earning IB Diploma, with most scoring in the 20s? Come on, there are a bunch of public IB World Schools in the DMV, mostly school-within-a-school programs in big high schools, where IBD points averages are well into the 30s and 100+ students earn the Diploma annually.

My nephews attended DCI before the family moved to Arlington for W-L IBD. The boys talk about how much harder they're pushed in Arlington for pre-IB and IB everything: math, English, Individuals and Societies (social studies), language, science.

I'm not buying that DCI academics are stellar.

Why on earth do you care? I'm genuinely curious. You don't have kids there and obviously don't plan to send any. Don't you have anything better to do than disparage a school with which you have no connection?

I think that white people don’t like to see a school that is as diverse as DCI succeed. Calling it like I see it.

I see a Yale, a Dartmouth and a Stanford on their Instagram. How do folks know about all the other schools? Are you sure they're not all acceptances shared between these three kids?

I know about some of the schools from a parent and families they know. The early decision acceptances, you can only apply 1 school for that.

So yes, all the early decisions are different kids.

Regular decisions are about to come out.

Only ED are out so all these acceptances are ED.

Families usually start to hear about regular decisions in April.

I’m curious about total scholarship money that the kids this year will get and if they can do as well as last year with 300 million or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some teachers and parents spreading rumors and creating chaos for the purpose of getting the ED to step down. Apparently harassing and making false claims are fun for them.

Do these parents have nothing better to do with their time? The nonsense I heard is ridiculous.

Among their many wild tales, they are saying the HS Principal was forced out and we must save him.

I can only imagine the crazy things they will say now that the principal himself announced today that, just as he said at the start of the year, he was moving to Massachusetts (congrats to him, he got a great job there!) I am sure they will say this is a lie and that he is being forced to say this.

The current ED is creating an environment of fear among the staff and he's pushed out many beloved administrators, including the principal. The turnover rate at the school is insane.

[Anonymous]

As a new family, I don’t know what is going on but the email from the principal said that he and his family were interested in moving to New England area.

Also, his new job is an advancement and move up the ladder as an ED. Congrats to him.

I’m sure he will be missed. I heard he was a great principal and the short interaction I had with him at the open house, I was very impressed with his character, honesty, and sincerity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some teachers and parents spreading rumors and creating chaos for the purpose of getting the ED to step down. Apparently harassing and making false claims are fun for them.

Why do they want the ED to step down? The school seems to be doing well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some teachers and parents spreading rumors and creating chaos for the purpose of getting the ED to step down. Apparently harassing and making false claims are fun for them.

Why do they want the ED to step down? The school seems to be doing well.

Because there is a small contingency of staff who use this forum to air their complaints and stir controversy to drive a divisive agenda. I'm a DCI staff member. The staff behind generally believe that public smear campaigns will be seen positively by other staff. Many of us are not supportive of these actions. We care deeply about the staff and students. For the HS principal, who I greatly respect, to have to send us a letter today to stop these rumors is an indication of how ridiculous this is getting. DCI is a wonderful school with so much diversity in program offering. Many of my colleagues are strong, talented educators who care deeply. And, the shifts the school has made to the IB program are moving in the right direction. We just had an update on the school's strategic plan for staff that celebrated many positives in student outcomes and the direction of the school and was clear about areas we need to keep pushing. The college acceptances are real students. The robotics team is real. The athletic championships are won by real students and coaches. The theater program is led with real passion from students and staff alike. The ED is not perfect and he continues to learn - but he is not the problem. The nay sayers on DCUM should be reminded we are talking about real people, real students, and real communities. Unity, celebration and not division.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some teachers and parents spreading rumors and creating chaos for the purpose of getting the ED to step down. Apparently harassing and making false claims are fun for them.

Do these parents have nothing better to do with their time? The nonsense I heard is ridiculous.

Among their many wild tales, they are saying the HS Principal was forced out and we must save him.

I can only imagine the crazy things they will say now that the principal himself announced today that, just as he said at the start of the year, he was moving to Massachusetts (congrats to him, he got a great job there!) I am sure they will say this is a lie and that he is being forced to say this.

The current ED is creating an environment of fear among the staff and he's pushed out many beloved administrators, including the principal. The turnover rate at the school is insane.

According to DCI sources the HS Principal departure was long planned and related to family move/health stuff. Apparently the divisive people trying to foist ED job onto him were just making it easier to leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the DCI boosters are trying to make folks feel confident about the school, the weirdness in this thread is not helping!

Why are YOU on this thread?

Because they’re a huge loser trying to make the very mediocre dcps alternatives look good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some teachers and parents spreading rumors and creating chaos for the purpose of getting the ED to step down. Apparently harassing and making false claims are fun for them.

Why do they want the ED to step down? The school seems to be doing well.

A lot of people think IB for all basically makes it IB for none. I don’t know if I feel that way, but the marginal student would probably do better if there were some bar to clear to get into the IB program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some teachers and parents spreading rumors and creating chaos for the purpose of getting the ED to step down. Apparently harassing and making false claims are fun for them.

Why do they want the ED to step down? The school seems to be doing well.

Because there is a small contingency of staff who use this forum to air their complaints and stir controversy to drive a divisive agenda. I'm a DCI staff member. The staff behind generally believe that public smear campaigns will be seen positively by other staff. Many of us are not supportive of these actions. We care deeply about the staff and students. For the HS principal, who I greatly respect, to have to send us a letter today to stop these rumors is an indication of how ridiculous this is getting. DCI is a wonderful school with so much diversity in program offering. Many of my colleagues are strong, talented educators who care deeply. And, the shifts the school has made to the IB program are moving in the right direction. We just had an update on the school's strategic plan for staff that celebrated many positives in student outcomes and the direction of the school and was clear about areas we need to keep pushing. The college acceptances are real students. The robotics team is real. The athletic championships are won by real students and coaches. The theater program is led with real passion from students and staff alike. The ED is not perfect and he continues to learn - but he is not the problem. The nay sayers on DCUM should be reminded we are talking about real people, real students, and real communities. Unity, celebration and not division.

Would you please tell us the range of scores DCI students receive for their IB diploma? I've not been able to find that anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some teachers and parents spreading rumors and creating chaos for the purpose of getting the ED to step down. Apparently harassing and making false claims are fun for them.

Why do they want the ED to step down? The school seems to be doing well.

Because there is a small contingency of staff who use this forum to air their complaints and stir controversy to drive a divisive agenda. I'm a DCI staff member. The staff behind generally believe that public smear campaigns will be seen positively by other staff. Many of us are not supportive of these actions. We care deeply about the staff and students. For the HS principal, who I greatly respect, to have to send us a letter today to stop these rumors is an indication of how ridiculous this is getting. DCI is a wonderful school with so much diversity in program offering. Many of my colleagues are strong, talented educators who care deeply. And, the shifts the school has made to the IB program are moving in the right direction. We just had an update on the school's strategic plan for staff that celebrated many positives in student outcomes and the direction of the school and was clear about areas we need to keep pushing. The college acceptances are real students. The robotics team is real. The athletic championships are won by real students and coaches. The theater program is led with real passion from students and staff alike. The ED is not perfect and he continues to learn - but he is not the problem. The nay sayers on DCUM should be reminded we are talking about real people, real students, and real communities. Unity, celebration and not division.

Hi Mike!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Im the PP- you also don’t seem to understand that IB courses are only junior or senior year courses for the most part. In other words if it can easily take AP as a freshman or sophomore if you’re a high achiever. If you choose the career track you don’t have to worry about taking IB exams your senior year so you can take AP ones at that time.

And YOU don't seem to understand that some of the feeder schools to DCI are IB and DCI is IB for all of grades 6-8 and all of high school grades 9-12. So some students at DCI have only been doing IB since they started elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some teachers and parents spreading rumors and creating chaos for the purpose of getting the ED to step down. Apparently harassing and making false claims are fun for them.

The claims are true. The problems are huge. You're either completely out of the loop, or you're someone protecting bad decisions that have already been made that are hurting the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some teachers and parents spreading rumors and creating chaos for the purpose of getting the ED to step down. Apparently harassing and making false claims are fun for them.

Why do they want the ED to step down? The school seems to be doing well.

Because there is a small contingency of staff who use this forum to air their complaints and stir controversy to drive a divisive agenda. I'm a DCI staff member. The staff behind generally believe that public smear campaigns will be seen positively by other staff. Many of us are not supportive of these actions. We care deeply about the staff and students. For the HS principal, who I greatly respect, to have to send us a letter today to stop these rumors is an indication of how ridiculous this is getting. DCI is a wonderful school with so much diversity in program offering. Many of my colleagues are strong, talented educators who care deeply. And, the shifts the school has made to the IB program are moving in the right direction. We just had an update on the school's strategic plan for staff that celebrated many positives in student outcomes and the direction of the school and was clear about areas we need to keep pushing. The college acceptances are real students. The robotics team is real. The athletic championships are won by real students and coaches. The theater program is led with real passion from students and staff alike. The ED is not perfect and he continues to learn - but he is not the problem. The nay sayers on DCUM should be reminded we are talking about real people, real students, and real communities. Unity, celebration and not division.

Hi Mike!

Yes the ED himself weighed in!