Best Charter High School

[Anonymous]

Are there any great (or good) high school charters in DC?

[Anonymous]

DCI is pretty good

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCI is pretty good

+1. IB program is rigorous. Great facilities, beautiful campus, lots of extracurriculars, clubs, sports - similar to your typical suburban school.

The issue is that it’s very difficult to get in.

[Anonymous]

BASIS DC is ranked the number one charter high school in the DC area.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/search?state-urlname=district-of-columbia&charter=true

https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-charter-high-schools/m/washington-dc-metro-area/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI is pretty good

+1. IB program is rigorous. Great facilities, beautiful campus, lots of extracurriculars, clubs, sports - similar to your typical suburban school.

The issue is that it’s very difficult to get in.

Uh, no

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI is pretty good

+1. IB program is rigorous. Great facilities, beautiful campus, lots of extracurriculars, clubs, sports - similar to your typical suburban school.

The issue is that it’s very difficult to get in.

Sort of. DCI has often been boring for my 8th grader, who excels at STEM and doesn't want to stay for HS. Admins insist on lumping kids who work years behind grade level into the same MS English, science and social studies classes as advanced students. The arrangement leads to many classroom disruptions. 8th grade has been better than 6th and 7th because social studies classes are taught in the target language and she's finally being allowed to take more challenging math. Most of the other families don't take language as seriously as we'd like, e.g. few of the high SES families paying for summer immersion camps, and we've had good teachers quit during the school year. The HS is getting better but isn't great. Their clueless college counselors don't seem to know the basics about IBD for Americans, like doubling up on AP tests that correspond to IB subjects so kids have standardized subject test scores to submit with college applications (IBD exams aren't taken until June of senior year).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC is ranked the number one charter high school in the DC area.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/search?state-urlname=district-of-columbia&charter=true

https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-charter-high-schools/m/washington-dc-metro-area/

Somebody posts this on every charter HS or BASIS thread. Yea, guy, we know. We also know that BASIS admitted 135 5th graders eight years ago but only 42 are left in the senior glass. If the school were really fantastic, two-thirds of the students wouldn't bail along the way.

[Anonymous]

Good question. Thinking about disciplinary issues (outside of normal teen issues), school attendance, student motivation…

I have one kid at an application high school that will probably leave for our inbound (JR) at the end of the year. Kids don’t show up on time to the point where teachers can’t get started with class until they’re 20-30 minutes in. Many kids below grade level and/or not doing their work. Kid is just trying to get to the end of the school year but very discouraged as this was their dream school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good question. Thinking about disciplinary issues (outside of normal teen issues), school attendance, student motivation…

I have one kid at an application high school that will probably leave for our inbound (JR) at the end of the year. Kids don’t show up on time to the point where teachers can’t get started with class until they’re 20-30 minutes in. Many kids below grade level and/or not doing their work. Kid is just trying to get to the end of the school year but very discouraged as this was their dream school.

Can you please name the school?

[Anonymous]

Sounds like McKinley, or maybe Ellington.

[Anonymous]

I have a kid looking for 9th grade options next year. Here's the thing about "good" charter high schools: it's close to impossible to access them as a 9th grader. And unlike DCPS (which offers a bunch of selective schools that begin in 9th), charters cannot establish any threshold criteria for admissions.

*BASIS: takes no kids at 9th
*Latin: matched 9 kids w/no sibling preference for 9th last year and made 3 total waitlist offers by end of August
*DCI Chinese: no lottery matches, made 9 waitlist offers by end of August
*DCI French: no lottery matches, made 16 WL offers by end of August
*DCI Spanish: no seats last year

Even when you look at the next tier, the lottery is truly a lottery:
*Capital City: matched 12 kids with no preference, made 8 WL offers by August
*EL Haynes: matched 17 kids with no preference

So, if you've got a kid who needs to go SOMEWHERE for high school, likelihood of getting into any of these schools is slim.

The good news, of course, is the DCPS has lots of seats in selective schools that begin at 9th grade. So that's the option that my kid (and many of their peers) will pursue. Their friends are looking at Walls, Banneker, McKinley, and Ellington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good question. Thinking about disciplinary issues (outside of normal teen issues), school attendance, student motivation…

I have one kid at an application high school that will probably leave for our inbound (JR) at the end of the year. Kids don’t show up on time to the point where teachers can’t get started with class until they’re 20-30 minutes in. Many kids below grade level and/or not doing their work. Kid is just trying to get to the end of the school year but very discouraged as this was their dream school.

Sorry your kids is so discouraged. I hope you find the right fit school. I never quite understood the teacher approach of not starting on time. In the high school I attended, the teachers started on time and if you missed part of their class they gave you zero participation points. Most (but not all) kids started showing up on time because it impacted their grade and class standing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI is pretty good

+1. IB program is rigorous. Great facilities, beautiful campus, lots of extracurriculars, clubs, sports - similar to your typical suburban school.

The issue is that it’s very difficult to get in.

Sort of. DCI has often been boring for my 8th grader, who excels at STEM and doesn't want to stay for HS. Admins insist on lumping kids who work years behind grade level into the same MS English, science and social studies classes as advanced students. The arrangement leads to many classroom disruptions. 8th grade has been better than 6th and 7th because social studies classes are taught in the target language and she's finally being allowed to take more challenging math. Most of the other families don't take language as seriously as we'd like, e.g. few of the high SES families paying for summer immersion camps, and we've had good teachers quit during the school year. The HS is getting better but isn't great. Their clueless college counselors don't seem to know the basics about IBD for Americans, like doubling up on AP tests that correspond to IB subjects so kids have standardized subject test scores to submit with college applications (IBD exams aren't taken until June of senior year).

Middle school is typically the weak link in DC. Starting grade with 6th grade with lots of different kids coming in is like a transiting year at most school. I would expect 7th and 8th to be better. We are in a feeder and following closely.. We know families with older siblings at the school and we have talked to parents and actual students and although anecdotal they are all happy.

Feedback from high school that I have gotten is that if your kid is in the IB program it’s pretty rigorous and the highest track. Also the Spanish track of course is the strongest track with the most fluent students and families who take the language seriously.

BTW, even better than summer immersion camp is that DCI allows study abroad which is a rare opportunity for high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like McKinley, or maybe Ellington.

I’m curious as to why you suggest these schools. Is that a hunch or do you have a kid who goes there? There are other selective schools that the PP could be referring to that don’t get mentioned a lot, like CHEC, Bard, Coolidge, Phelps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC is ranked the number one charter high school in the DC area.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/search?state-urlname=district-of-columbia&charter=true

https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-charter-high-schools/m/washington-dc-metro-area/

Somebody posts this on every charter HS or BASIS thread. Yea, guy, we know. We also know that BASIS admitted 135 5th graders eight years ago but only 42 are left in the senior glass. If the school were really fantastic, two-thirds of the students wouldn't bail along the way.

DP. BASIS is 100% lottery and doesn’t backfill. Kids leave for various reasons and only those who can keep up stay. That makes it unique in DC and explains the numbers.