Parent Essay critical of DCI

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:no one is really talking about the numbers here... Deal had over 450 sixth graders last year, DCI over 250. this is well above the average number of sixth graders most DC middle schools in DC are charged with managing.

if your kid goes to a school with a large class, you cant expect a huge amount of differentiation, you have to supplement.

Why can’t DC parents expect differentiation? They are entitled to it because they pay taxes. Without a true GT curriculum, people in DC are being taxed without representation. Surely, with all the overachievers in the Nations Capital we should have a vast amount of GT kids in the diamond dimensional space called DC. DC needs to reimplement a Board of Education representing all eight wards with the Mayor being the tie breaker.

High achieving parents does not necessarily mean gifted children. There are 90000 public school students in the city and about 2% will be gifted.

The priority in the city has to be to help the tens of thousands who are underrepresented and poor. Stop whining.

And low income doesn’t necessarily mean stupid. Stop short-changing those poor, smart kids.

No one is. But that’s a tiny fraction of students, regardless of their SES. The ones with means are largely out of the public school world. And the smart but not wealthy kids have an extra burden to bear just getting to DCI or whatever school they go to.

I just don’t think the top 2% (actually gifted) are as important as the at-risk. And my oldest has been tested, is 2e with an IQ of 135. His school has bigger fish to fry.

Wow, I'm sorry for your kid! Great advocate his parent is! He absolutely is as important as an at risk kid.

This is exactly EXACTLY why DC, yes filled with overachievers whose IQ may be average but who certainly were in honors and advanced level classes and know how to push their kids to excel, are not getting what their kids need. It's because of their (white) guilt. When you grew up as the leader of the pack, you may end up as an "everyone is special in their own way" parent. That's fine but sometimes it veers into "other kids are even more special than you". I totally get it and yet I think it's wrong. We need honors and G&T to be a priority as well.

NP. It has nothing to do with white guilt. All available data, without exception, shows that bright kids from high SES homes will be fine pretty much regardless of the school. You are clearly totally unaware of the data in this field. Please go read something. Meanwhile, my kid's school literally has bigger fish to fry than my bright kid's need for supplementation.

I don't want my kid to be "fine". I want my kid to be challenged. You do you, then. Your studies are BS.

I went to a vaunted FCPS and the education was overrated. Beyond the bare basics, I learned what has made me successful outside of school. Maybe 10% of what I learned in college was useful too. Public schools great at churning out mediocrity.

For example, except for the top magnetim FCPS or MCPS, your kid is probably going to be taught advanced math by someone who barely understands the math themselves, who maxed out their higher math education at or near the level they teached. Better off supplementing regardless of where your kid is. If at some superficially good public school, chances are the kid will be buried with homework and supplementing will be more difficult.

Too many parents rely on universally bad public schools to educate their kids. Instead of taking up the responsibility of promoting a love of self directed learning at home, with targeted supplementation by true experts.

Snob.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:no one is really talking about the numbers here... Deal had over 450 sixth graders last year, DCI over 250. this is well above the average number of sixth graders most DC middle schools in DC are charged with managing.

if your kid goes to a school with a large class, you cant expect a huge amount of differentiation, you have to supplement.

This doesn't make sense. A larger school should have more resources and ability to differentiate. A small school should have a harder time splitting up the classes.

[Anonymous]

Agree, it's a no-brainer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I don't want my kid to be "fine". I want my kid to be challenged. You do you, then. Your studies are BS.

Someone who cares about education should not be scientifically illiterate and anti-data. As the under-served bright kid in a terrible school system, I at least learned that. Apparently you did not.

[Anonymous]

My reading of the essay alarmed me on three points:
1. I assumed that the IB curriculum would make the programs rigorous. Are they not following the IB program?
2. Why are kids all given Chrome books? Do they get any training regarding internet use? And can't the school block You-tube, etc.?
3. Why are the kids sitting around in rooms at all? I mean, shouldn't they have lots of work to do?

How should parents looking at their kids going to school there consider this essay? Get involved now? Or look elsewhere?

[Anonymous]

1. They are.
2. They do.
3. They aren’t and they do.
The author is angry her kid was rejected by whittle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. They are.
2. They do.
3. They aren’t and they do.
The author is angry her kid was rejected by whittle.

Oh, stop. Plenty of DCI parents complain about lack of discipline, rigor and challenge at DCI. It's not just this one parent, not by a long shot. We know several families who have moved their kids out of DCI and even more feeder families who've elected not to send their kids to DCI at all.

[Anonymous]

You're right, PP. DCI is just OK, nothing special, particularly without academic tracking in ELA, social studies and science at the MS level and many students working behind grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. They are.
2. They do.
3. They aren’t and they do.
The author is angry her kid was rejected by whittle.

PP, that was just lazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. They are.
2. They do.
3. They aren’t and they do.
The author is angry her kid was rejected by whittle.

What is the relevance of #1, DCI following the IB Middle Years Curriculum when the program doesn't appropriately challenge many students?

I recently taught at school which follows IB Middle Years Curriculum where several levels of core subjects, including English/ELA, social studies, science and math were offered, as well as leveled language courses. The language classes included courses for native speakers of target languages.

By contrast, DCI lumps middle school students who work two or three years behind grade level into the same academic classes as kids who work above grade level. This is done for all subjects but math and target language instruction. To my knowledge, there are no courses for native speakers of target languages at DCI. The system obviously leaves a lot to be desired.

[Anonymous]

Parent of a 6th grader at DCI. My frustration is centered on the fact that my kid seems to have an awful lot of free time at school during classes. And it seems I have to manage this free time from afar by asking the school to lock down certain websites so she can't play games, open up accounts on music sites, etc. And then I get to be the bad guy when she's bored. Asking for more to do doesn't seem to be encouraged and in some classes, she said she has already completed the next module/assignment so she plays games.

I don't have a problem with chromebooks per se. I have an issue with my kid needing it to fill her time in class when she is finished with her work. And with me feeling like I have to manage this.

We have no other options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a 6th grader at DCI. My frustration is centered on the fact that my kid seems to have an awful lot of free time at school during classes. And it seems I have to manage this free time from afar by asking the school to lock down certain websites so she can't play games, open up accounts on music sites, etc. And then I get to be the bad guy when she's bored. Asking for more to do doesn't seem to be encouraged and in some classes, she said she has already completed the next module/assignment so she plays games.

I don't have a problem with chromebooks per se. I have an issue with my kid needing it to fill her time in class when she is finished with her work. And with me feeling like I have to manage this.

We have no other options.

Can parents of middle schoolers at other schools possibly weigh in? Is this normal? We're at a DCI feeder but this thread, plus comments from parents I know who have pulled their kids out, make me think this school is not going to serve my children either. These chromebooks seem to be a major problem. I also expected IB would mean the school would be even more challenging, but instead it seems less. At this point, I have no idea what we'll do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a 6th grader at DCI. My frustration is centered on the fact that my kid seems to have an awful lot of free time at school during classes. And it seems I have to manage this free time from afar by asking the school to lock down certain websites so she can't play games, open up accounts on music sites, etc. And then I get to be the bad guy when she's bored. Asking for more to do doesn't seem to be encouraged and in some classes, she said she has already completed the next module/assignment so she plays games.

I don't have a problem with chromebooks per se. I have an issue with my kid needing it to fill her time in class when she is finished with her work. And with me feeling like I have to manage this.

We have no other options.

Can parents of middle schoolers at other schools possibly weigh in? Is this normal? We're at a DCI feeder but this thread, plus comments from parents I know who have pulled their kids out, make me think this school is not going to serve my children either. These chromebooks seem to be a major problem. I also expected IB would mean the school would be even more challenging, but instead it seems less. At this point, I have no idea what we'll do.

MS IB is not known to be particularly challenging or rigorous. HS IB is -- but that doesn't really start until 11th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a 6th grader at DCI. My frustration is centered on the fact that my kid seems to have an awful lot of free time at school during classes. And it seems I have to manage this free time from afar by asking the school to lock down certain websites so she can't play games, open up accounts on music sites, etc. And then I get to be the bad guy when she's bored. Asking for more to do doesn't seem to be encouraged and in some classes, she said she has already completed the next module/assignment so she plays games.

I don't have a problem with chromebooks per se. I have an issue with my kid needing it to fill her time in class when she is finished with her work. And with me feeling like I have to manage this.

We have no other options.

Can parents of middle schoolers at other schools possibly weigh in? Is this normal? We're at a DCI feeder but this thread, plus comments from parents I know who have pulled their kids out, make me think this school is not going to serve my children either. These chromebooks seem to be a major problem. I also expected IB would mean the school would be even more challenging, but instead it seems less. At this point, I have no idea what we'll do.

DCI should engage fourth grade feeder parents more. We had to scramble to tour DCI after our child matched at BASIS and it was kind of grudging as the process isn't designed for fourth grade families. I understand why, but I think waiting until fifth grade to start to get feeder families excited is too late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a 6th grader at DCI. My frustration is centered on the fact that my kid seems to have an awful lot of free time at school during classes. And it seems I have to manage this free time from afar by asking the school to lock down certain websites so she can't play games, open up accounts on music sites, etc. And then I get to be the bad guy when she's bored. Asking for more to do doesn't seem to be encouraged and in some classes, she said she has already completed the next module/assignment so she plays games.

I don't have a problem with chromebooks per se. I have an issue with my kid needing it to fill her time in class when she is finished with her work. And with me feeling like I have to manage this.

We have no other options.

Can parents of middle schoolers at other schools possibly weigh in? Is this normal? We're at a DCI feeder but this thread, plus comments from parents I know who have pulled their kids out, make me think this school is not going to serve my children either. These chromebooks seem to be a major problem. I also expected IB would mean the school would be even more challenging, but instead it seems less. At this point, I have no idea what we'll do.

MS IB is not known to be particularly challenging or rigorous. HS IB is -- but that doesn't really start until 11th grade.

Why believe that IB Diploma studies will be challenging/rigorous in the upper HS grades when IB students weren't particularly before? This sounds seriously optimistic.