New to DCI-Anything we should know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how the first week is going, OP?

Thanks for asking! It is going OK. I didn't realize since he had no French experience it would only be one French class. I thought it was 25%-50% immersion. So it is really just regular middle school with French I.

How did you think your child would learn content material at grade level in French if he spoke no French??? DCI is not a "regular middle school with french 1" for the majority of the kids. Those with higher levels of french proficiency get more immersion. It only makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how the first week is going, OP?

Thanks for asking! It is going OK. I didn't realize since he had no French experience it would only be one French class. I thought it was 25%-50% immersion. So it is really just regular middle school with French I.

He should get more classes in French next year, after he has had a year of French. There are arts & music classes taught in the immersion language and a culture/history class as well. At least that is the way it is in the Spanish track.

In theory, OP. The arts and music classes and culture/history tend to include a certain amount of English at DCI, particularly for Chinese and French, because so many kids can't speak or understand well enough to cope with classes taught entirely in the immersion language. This is true not just in the MS but in the HS. If DCI would just push summer immersion study, raise the funds to help send kids to immersion camps and stop doling out good grades to kids who can barely speak the target languages, things would start to improve.

DCI tries very hard to raise money. Remember, many of their students are socio-economically disadvantaged. Why don't you put your money where your big mouth is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The first week was absolutely DISASTER.

My kid didn't even receive his schedules for the first few days, leaving me fuming and questioning what on earth the school was up to during the entire summer break ?

To add insult to injury, for one class, my child was shoved into a classroom that looked like it had been squeezed out of a closet, crammed with 16 students. It's downright impossible and unsafe for them to even move around during class! This is beyond infuriating!

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how the first week is going, OP?

This was at DCI!?!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how the first week is going, OP?

Thanks for asking! It is going OK. I didn't realize since he had no French experience it would only be one French class. I thought it was 25%-50% immersion. So it is really just regular middle school with French I.

He should get more classes in French next year, after he has had a year of French. There are arts & music classes taught in the immersion language and a culture/history class as well. At least that is the way it is in the Spanish track.

In theory, OP. The arts and music classes and culture/history tend to include a certain amount of English at DCI, particularly for Chinese and French, because so many kids can't speak or understand well enough to cope with classes taught entirely in the immersion language. This is true not just in the MS but in the HS. If DCI would just push summer immersion study, raise the funds to help send kids to immersion camps and stop doling out good grades to kids who can barely speak the target languages, things would start to improve.

DCI tries very hard to raise money. Remember, many of their students are socio-economically disadvantaged. Why don't you put your money where your big mouth is?

Problem is, what DCI doesn't do is prioritize helping low SES academic high fliers access immersion opportunities. We were one of the DCI families that sent a kid to Concordia Language Villages in MN this summer ($5,000). We know that the giant 4-week camp our kid attended for high school credit included a good many low SES students on scholarships from their schools and jurisdictions around the country. None of them were from DCI or any other DC public school. Meanwhile, MoCo sent a dozen poor students aiming for good grades on AP Higher Level IBD language and AP language to the camp. I know this because I spoke to the adult chaperones with the MoCo group.

[Anonymous]

Concordia is immersion-light with no proficiency standards and is very expensive. I wouldn't expect a school to endorse this, nor would I send my kid back there. Fun but not rigorous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The first week was absolutely DISASTER.

My kid didn't even receive his schedules for the first few days, leaving me fuming and questioning what on earth the school was up to during the entire summer break ?

To add insult to injury, for one class, my child was shoved into a classroom that looked like it had been squeezed out of a closet, crammed with 16 students. It's downright impossible and unsafe for them to even move around during class! This is beyond infuriating!

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how the first week is going, OP?

OMG!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Concordia is immersion-light with no proficiency standards and is very expensive. I wouldn't expect a school to endorse this, nor would I send my kid back there. Fun but not rigorous.

Your kid did a 2-week program or a 4-week program? The 4-week program for high school credit we did was far more rigorous than the 2-week. Many schools do endorse the 4-week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The first week was absolutely DISASTER.

My kid didn't even receive his schedules for the first few days, leaving me fuming and questioning what on earth the school was up to during the entire summer break ?

To add insult to injury, for one class, my child was shoved into a classroom that looked like it had been squeezed out of a closet, crammed with 16 students. It's downright impossible and unsafe for them to even move around during class! This is beyond infuriating!

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how the first week is going, OP?

This was at DCI!?!?

I wasn’t the poster, but it definitely sounds right. I heard from a teacher that the building simply isn’t big enough for the number of students and that they have gotten “creative” with classroom spaces. At least one classroom used to be a storage closet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The first week was absolutely DISASTER.

My kid didn't even receive his schedules for the first few days, leaving me fuming and questioning what on earth the school was up to during the entire summer break ?

To add insult to injury, for one class, my child was shoved into a classroom that looked like it had been squeezed out of a closet, crammed with 16 students. It's downright impossible and unsafe for them to even move around during class! This is beyond infuriating!

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how the first week is going, OP?

This was at DCI!?!?

I wasn’t the poster, but it definitely sounds right. I heard from a teacher that the building simply isn’t big enough for the number of students and that they have gotten “creative” with classroom spaces. At least one classroom used to be a storage closet.

Wow—what the heck is happening at DCI?

[Anonymous]

What's happening at DCI? Growth! Demand! Quality!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The first week was absolutely DISASTER.

My kid didn't even receive his schedules for the first few days, leaving me fuming and questioning what on earth the school was up to during the entire summer break ?

To add insult to injury, for one class, my child was shoved into a classroom that looked like it had been squeezed out of a closet, crammed with 16 students. It's downright impossible and unsafe for them to even move around during class! This is beyond infuriating!

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how the first week is going, OP?

This was at DCI!?!?

I wasn’t the poster, but it definitely sounds right. I heard from a teacher that the building simply isn’t big enough for the number of students and that they have gotten “creative” with classroom spaces. At least one classroom used to be a storage closet.

Wow—what the heck is happening at DCI?

Awesome things are happening at DCI! IB program, sports, arts, immersion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The first week was absolutely DISASTER.

My kid didn't even receive his schedules for the first few days, leaving me fuming and questioning what on earth the school was up to during the entire summer break ?

To add insult to injury, for one class, my child was shoved into a classroom that looked like it had been squeezed out of a closet, crammed with 16 students. It's downright impossible and unsafe for them to even move around during class! This is beyond infuriating!

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how the first week is going, OP?

This was at DCI!?!?

I wasn’t the poster, but it definitely sounds right. I heard from a teacher that the building simply isn’t big enough for the number of students and that they have gotten “creative” with classroom spaces. At least one classroom used to be a storage closet.

Wow—what the heck is happening at DCI?

DCI is at enrollment capacity. And they have added some interesting new electives in HS this year, and you need classrooms for that. Many schools don't have enough space; I am surprised you are so shocked by this.

[Anonymous]

Any chance anyone is leaving DCI in the 6th grade Spanish track. We are in the top 5 on the waitlist and were hoping it would move this month but hasn't so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's happening at DCI? Growth! Demand! Quality!

Agree lots of demand.I am I am sure it is good but DCI does not perform as well as many other schools with a similar low at-risk population. I think the immersion feeder and lack of options draw people in. Only 20% of their students are considered "at-risk" and perform lower than one would expect according to Empowerk12 https://www.empowerk12.org/data-dashboard-source/dc-parcc-dash

[Anonymous]

Yes, because disruptive middle school kids, most of them low SES, aren't handled well at DCI as a general rule and classes aren't tracked academically for all core subjects. In a nutshell, disruptive kids get away with being rowdy in class over and over at the expense of serious students in the DCI middle school. The problem worsens between 6th and 8th grades. Parents of serious students complain to admins but their pushback comes to nothing.

We're hoping to have a better option for high school, Walls, Banneker, MacArthur or a private. Buyer beware.