Do parents choose Latin/BASIS over Deal/J-R?

[Anonymous]

The reason many people here are saying 'come back and ask in a few years' is that education in DC can change on a dime. Pick your home where you want to live, then figure out the schooling later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My multiple kids are at a dci feeder and dci. We are happy with dci. The only kids who chose Latin over dci were the kids who were already struggling with the admittedly weak academics at our feeder. The kids who still didn’t speak spanish after 8 years of immersion clearly were going to continue to struggle at dci. Latin is just a better fit for kids who aren’t super academically focused, not terribly motivated, and aren’t the kid of kids who will do well in IB math. Some kids need small class sizes and don’t need the added challenge of multiple languages.

Latin actually has much better middle school math CAPE scores than DCI.

Overall meeting or exceeding in MS:
Latin - 56% (220/391)
DCI - 33% (250/754)

Algebra I meeting or exceeding in MS:
Latin - 49% (32/66)
DCI - less than 10

Geometry meeting or exceeding in MS:
Latin - 90% (35/39)
DCI - 31% (18/58)

I think DCI and Latin are both perfectly fine schools. I only pulled these numbers so that it's clear to others that you have no idea what you're talking about.

You can’t extrapolate the data above to say that the weaker kids from feeders are not going to Latin.

You actually need to know the kids and where they stand academically.

The data above skews majority non feeder, non immersion kids.

Latin also has significantly less at risk kids. Plus DCI offers more advance math tracks at middle school and I would want to know what percentage of kids of any are not even taking CAPE. Lastly IB math is different in that some of the topics are combined and not as delineated as traditional track

DCI is 19% at risk. Latin is 11%.

Both schools offer advanced math. As you can see from the MS scores above, Latin has a fair number of students taking both Algebra I and Geometry. In fact, from the CAPE testing it appears that more Latin students than DCI students are taking advanced math in middle school, even though DCI has nearly double the student population.

Almost all students are taking math CAPE at the middle school level. Latin MS had 393 enrolled, of which 391 took CAPE. DCI MS had 777 enrolled, of which 754 took CAPE.

Again, you have no idea what you're talking about.

Latin has one advanced math track, dci has several. You cannot compare the math offered at Deal and DCI to Latin. Latin has other positives, relax.

And yet, it is objectively the case that Latin’s MS kids do *much* better in Geometry than DCI’s. Their non-at risk kids do better too.

I’m not dumping on DCI. It’s a good school that’s a natural destination of immersion families. But most Capitol Hill kids don’t go to immersion schools because their neighborhood ESes are good and the immersion schools are far away. The calculation in, e.g., Brentwood is far different. But in Brent or Maury or LT’s IB, it’s not like the kids who attend the IB are the weak ones academically; in general, they’re outperforming immersion schools overall and controlling for demographics. Those kids don’t then choose between DCI and Latin; 95% of them never even consider DCI. Not because they’re dumb or can’t hack immersion, but because they’ve never done immersion and are looking to guarantee an MS in 5th grade. It may be that the kids who leave YY are the least good at languages — I would totally believe that — but that’s not the average profile of a Latin student and certainly not of the kids coming from the Hill.

Some people choose immersion because of their heritsge, since we aren’t all white.

Also please cite your source re Latin kids doing better in geometry. Every Latin parent I know is grateful for the weak math curriculum. I honestly don’t care enough to waste time looking things up but those scores look rough last time I checked.

The stats are literally in this thread. Go back a couple of pages.

You people are hopeless.

You are too lazy to scroll back a few pages but we are “hopeless”?

Yes, you are hopelessly caught up in the need to deride others so you feel better. Hence calling me lazy. Feel better?

DP. You don’t know what hopeless means.

Clever.

Incapable of redemption or improvement.

Example: The DCI and Latin boosters are incapable of resisting the urge to tear down others to make their school look better.

:lol:

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My multiple kids are at a dci feeder and dci. We are happy with dci. The only kids who chose Latin over dci were the kids who were already struggling with the admittedly weak academics at our feeder. The kids who still didn’t speak spanish after 8 years of immersion clearly were going to continue to struggle at dci. Latin is just a better fit for kids who aren’t super academically focused, not terribly motivated, and aren’t the kid of kids who will do well in IB math. Some kids need small class sizes and don’t need the added challenge of multiple languages.

Latin actually has much better middle school math CAPE scores than DCI.

Overall meeting or exceeding in MS:
Latin - 56% (220/391)
DCI - 33% (250/754)

Algebra I meeting or exceeding in MS:
Latin - 49% (32/66)
DCI - less than 10

Geometry meeting or exceeding in MS:
Latin - 90% (35/39)
DCI - 31% (18/58)

I think DCI and Latin are both perfectly fine schools. I only pulled these numbers so that it's clear to others that you have no idea what you're talking about.

You can’t extrapolate the data above to say that the weaker kids from feeders are not going to Latin.

You actually need to know the kids and where they stand academically.

The data above skews majority non feeder, non immersion kids.

Latin also has significantly less at risk kids. Plus DCI offers more advance math tracks at middle school and I would want to know what percentage of kids of any are not even taking CAPE. Lastly IB math is different in that some of the topics are combined and not as delineated as traditional track

DCI is 19% at risk. Latin is 11%.

Both schools offer advanced math. As you can see from the MS scores above, Latin has a fair number of students taking both Algebra I and Geometry. In fact, from the CAPE testing it appears that more Latin students than DCI students are taking advanced math in middle school, even though DCI has nearly double the student population.

Almost all students are taking math CAPE at the middle school level. Latin MS had 393 enrolled, of which 391 took CAPE. DCI MS had 777 enrolled, of which 754 took CAPE.

Again, you have no idea what you're talking about.

Latin has one advanced math track, dci has several. You cannot compare the math offered at Deal and DCI to Latin. Latin has other positives, relax.

And yet, it is objectively the case that Latin’s MS kids do *much* better in Geometry than DCI’s. Their non-at risk kids do better too.

I’m not dumping on DCI. It’s a good school that’s a natural destination of immersion families. But most Capitol Hill kids don’t go to immersion schools because their neighborhood ESes are good and the immersion schools are far away. The calculation in, e.g., Brentwood is far different. But in Brent or Maury or LT’s IB, it’s not like the kids who attend the IB are the weak ones academically; in general, they’re outperforming immersion schools overall and controlling for demographics. Those kids don’t then choose between DCI and Latin; 95% of them never even consider DCI. Not because they’re dumb or can’t hack immersion, but because they’ve never done immersion and are looking to guarantee an MS in 5th grade. It may be that the kids who leave YY are the least good at languages — I would totally believe that — but that’s not the average profile of a Latin student and certainly not of the kids coming from the Hill.

Some people choose immersion because of their heritsge, since we aren’t all white.

Also please cite your source re Latin kids doing better in geometry. Every Latin parent I know is grateful for the weak math curriculum. I honestly don’t care enough to waste time looking things up but those scores look rough last time I checked.

The stats are literally in this thread. Go back a couple of pages.

You people are hopeless.

You are too lazy to scroll back a few pages but we are “hopeless”?

Yes, you are hopelessly caught up in the need to deride others so you feel better. Hence calling me lazy. Feel better?

DP. You don’t know what hopeless means.

Clever.

Incapable of redemption or improvement.

Example: The DCI and Latin boosters are incapable of resisting the urge to tear down others to make their school look better.

:lol:

You are hopeless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but the fact remains that these aren't great options as compared to the best options in the near burbs, not even close.

Our family keeps in close touch with friends who moved from Cap Hill to MoCo, Arlington and Fairfax for schools. We also visit their kids' schools now and again for sporting events, competitions, high school musicals and the like.

It's clear to me that none of our public high school options in the District--BASIS, Latin, DCI, Walls, J-R--can touch these suburban programs on any level. Top suburban schools might as well be on a different planet. If you never tour suburban schools and aren't familiar with their offerings, this fact may be lost on you. I'm particularly jealous of honors middle school classes across the board in Arlington and Fairfax.

I've been shown printouts from suburban high schools listing more than 100 serious sounding electives any student can take. None of you ask yourselves how BASIS, Latin, DCI, J-R and Walls compare because....moving to the burbs for high school is a fate worse than death or what?

Whoever wrote this knows nothing about J-R.

I don’t doubt some suburban schools have more electives…but that’s a small consideration in selecting a high school.

For kids taking rigorous, 10+ AP schedules plus PE, art and music requirements…there aren’t many slots left for electives. There are really no slots if you are in a JR academy like engineering as you are essentially taking those classes as electives.

This post makes no sense. The suburbs seldom have art or music requirements in HS, and not much in the way of PE/Health either. No student needs to take 10 AP classes anywhere, no matter how ambitious they may be on the college admissions front. In the burbs, students can often meet PE requirements on-line or over summers. The burbs don't just offer dozens of serious electives, but feeder middle schools with strong academics/honors classes, better trained teachers overall, more STEM classes, more and languages (e.g. HS Russian, Korean, Japanese, Hebrew, Portuguese, Hindi etc). They also offer high-performing IB Diploma programs that don't operate as IB for all like at DCI. The burbs offer far richer opportunities for a kid to shine in running with their interests, without parents have to pay out of pocket.

We didn't make it through Deal. The teaching was far too uneven, most classes weren't hard enough, and the building was much too chaotic. We got into BASIS and, on close inspection, weren't impressed. If you don't want to move to the burbs, fine, but you're not going to convince me that public schools are....better here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but the fact remains that these aren't great options as compared to the best options in the near burbs, not even close.

Our family keeps in close touch with friends who moved from Cap Hill to MoCo, Arlington and Fairfax for schools. We also visit their kids' schools now and again for sporting events, competitions, high school musicals and the like.

It's clear to me that none of our public high school options in the District--BASIS, Latin, DCI, Walls, J-R--can touch these suburban programs on any level. Top suburban schools might as well be on a different planet. If you never tour suburban schools and aren't familiar with their offerings, this fact may be lost on you. I'm particularly jealous of honors middle school classes across the board in Arlington and Fairfax.

I've been shown printouts from suburban high schools listing more than 100 serious sounding electives any student can take. None of you ask yourselves how BASIS, Latin, DCI, J-R and Walls compare because....moving to the burbs for high school is a fate worse than death or what?

Whoever wrote this knows nothing about J-R.

I don’t doubt some suburban schools have more electives…but that’s a small consideration in selecting a high school.

For kids taking rigorous, 10+ AP schedules plus PE, art and music requirements…there aren’t many slots left for electives. There are really no slots if you are in a JR academy like engineering as you are essentially taking those classes as electives.

This post makes no sense. The suburbs seldom have art or music requirements in HS, and not much in the way of PE/Health either. No student needs to take 10 AP classes anywhere, no matter how ambitious they may be on the college admissions front. In the burbs, students can often meet PE requirements on-line or over summers. The burbs don't just offer dozens of serious electives, but feeder middle schools with strong academics/honors classes, better trained teachers overall, more STEM classes, more and languages (e.g. HS Russian, Korean, Japanese, Hebrew, Portuguese, Hindi etc). They also offer high-performing IB Diploma programs that don't operate as IB for all like at DCI. The burbs offer far richer opportunities for a kid to shine in running with their interests, without parents have to pay out of pocket.

We didn't make it through Deal. The teaching was far too uneven, most classes weren't hard enough, and the building was much too chaotic. We got into BASIS and, on close inspection, weren't impressed. If you don't want to move to the burbs, fine, but you're not going to convince me that public schools are....better here.

Wow, it’s amazing that your kid managed to start at Deal and transfer to BASIS, considering how BASIS never admits anyone after 5th grade, and Deal doesn’t start until 6th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but the fact remains that these aren't great options as compared to the best options in the near burbs, not even close.

Our family keeps in close touch with friends who moved from Cap Hill to MoCo, Arlington and Fairfax for schools. We also visit their kids' schools now and again for sporting events, competitions, high school musicals and the like.

It's clear to me that none of our public high school options in the District--BASIS, Latin, DCI, Walls, J-R--can touch these suburban programs on any level. Top suburban schools might as well be on a different planet. If you never tour suburban schools and aren't familiar with their offerings, this fact may be lost on you. I'm particularly jealous of honors middle school classes across the board in Arlington and Fairfax.

I've been shown printouts from suburban high schools listing more than 100 serious sounding electives any student can take. None of you ask yourselves how BASIS, Latin, DCI, J-R and Walls compare because....moving to the burbs for high school is a fate worse than death or what?

Whoever wrote this knows nothing about J-R.

I don’t doubt some suburban schools have more electives…but that’s a small consideration in selecting a high school.

For kids taking rigorous, 10+ AP schedules plus PE, art and music requirements…there aren’t many slots left for electives. There are really no slots if you are in a JR academy like engineering as you are essentially taking those classes as electives.

This post makes no sense. The suburbs seldom have art or music requirements in HS, and not much in the way of PE/Health either. No student needs to take 10 AP classes anywhere, no matter how ambitious they may be on the college admissions front. In the burbs, students can often meet PE requirements on-line or over summers. The burbs don't just offer dozens of serious electives, but feeder middle schools with strong academics/honors classes, better trained teachers overall, more STEM classes, more and languages (e.g. HS Russian, Korean, Japanese, Hebrew, Portuguese, Hindi etc). They also offer high-performing IB Diploma programs that don't operate as IB for all like at DCI. The burbs offer far richer opportunities for a kid to shine in running with their interests, without parents have to pay out of pocket.

We didn't make it through Deal. The teaching was far too uneven, most classes weren't hard enough, and the building was much too chaotic. We got into BASIS and, on close inspection, weren't impressed. If you don't want to move to the burbs, fine, but you're not going to convince me that public schools are....better here.

Wow, it’s amazing that your kid managed to start at Deal and transfer to BASIS, considering how BASIS never admits anyone after 5th grade, and Deal doesn’t start until 6th.

No worries.

PP is just making stuff up per usual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but the fact remains that these aren't great options as compared to the best options in the near burbs, not even close.

Our family keeps in close touch with friends who moved from Cap Hill to MoCo, Arlington and Fairfax for schools. We also visit their kids' schools now and again for sporting events, competitions, high school musicals and the like.

It's clear to me that none of our public high school options in the District--BASIS, Latin, DCI, Walls, J-R--can touch these suburban programs on any level. Top suburban schools might as well be on a different planet. If you never tour suburban schools and aren't familiar with their offerings, this fact may be lost on you. I'm particularly jealous of honors middle school classes across the board in Arlington and Fairfax.

I've been shown printouts from suburban high schools listing more than 100 serious sounding electives any student can take. None of you ask yourselves how BASIS, Latin, DCI, J-R and Walls compare because....moving to the burbs for high school is a fate worse than death or what?

Whoever wrote this knows nothing about J-R.

I don’t doubt some suburban schools have more electives…but that’s a small consideration in selecting a high school.

For kids taking rigorous, 10+ AP schedules plus PE, art and music requirements…there aren’t many slots left for electives. There are really no slots if you are in a JR academy like engineering as you are essentially taking those classes as electives.

This post makes no sense. The suburbs seldom have art or music requirements in HS, and not much in the way of PE/Health either. No student needs to take 10 AP classes anywhere, no matter how ambitious they may be on the college admissions front. In the burbs, students can often meet PE requirements on-line or over summers. The burbs don't just offer dozens of serious electives, but feeder middle schools with strong academics/honors classes, better trained teachers overall, more STEM classes, more and languages (e.g. HS Russian, Korean, Japanese, Hebrew, Portuguese, Hindi etc). They also offer high-performing IB Diploma programs that don't operate as IB for all like at DCI. The burbs offer far richer opportunities for a kid to shine in running with their interests, without parents have to pay out of pocket.

We didn't make it through Deal. The teaching was far too uneven, most classes weren't hard enough, and the building was much too chaotic. We got into BASIS and, on close inspection, weren't impressed. If you don't want to move to the burbs, fine, but you're not going to convince me that public schools are....better here.

Ok…I was giving you the benefit of the doubt…but you are an idiot.

Serious kids at Whitman or Langley are absolutely taking 10+ AP classes and nobody gives a shit if you can take HS Portuguese or Hindi. Certain schools offer better STEM classes and others don’t. Again, BCC is a good example.

I now don’t think you attend a high performing suburban HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Latin vs. DCI debate is kind of silly. Latin (and BASIS) is mostly full of kids who went through DCPS elementary schools (happily) and chose not to lottery into the DCI feeders. I'm happy DCI is working out for those families, but the need to insult Latin makes no sense. Very few families are actively making that choice in 5th/6th grade -- it's done. The choice was made much, much earlier. They are choosing between Latin, BASIS, privates or moving to the Deal/Hardy zone.

Agree. We unsuccessfully tried to lottery our kids into what are now called DCI feeders for years. But at some point, we stopped because a native English speaker joining an immersion program from a non-immersion program from about third grade on makes no sense. We never tried for DCI because we weren’t coming from immersion or a feeder. We did throw our hat in for Latin, BASIS because there was no language immersion hurdle.

Incorrect. You can attend DCI with no language background.

Also many CH BTW try to lottery into 6th if they strike out in 5th

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Latin vs. DCI debate is kind of silly. Latin (and BASIS) is mostly full of kids who went through DCPS elementary schools (happily) and chose not to lottery into the DCI feeders. I'm happy DCI is working out for those families, but the need to insult Latin makes no sense. Very few families are actively making that choice in 5th/6th grade -- it's done. The choice was made much, much earlier. They are choosing between Latin, BASIS, privates or moving to the Deal/Hardy zone.

Agree. We unsuccessfully tried to lottery our kids into what are now called DCI feeders for years. But at some point, we stopped because a native English speaker joining an immersion program from a non-immersion program from about third grade on makes no sense. We never tried for DCI because we weren’t coming from immersion or a feeder. We did throw our hat in for Latin, BASIS because there was no language immersion hurdle.

Incorrect. You can attend DCI with no language background.

Also many CH BTW try to lottery into 6th if they strike out in 5th

How can you get into DCI without coming from a feeder?

Why would you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Latin vs. DCI debate is kind of silly. Latin (and BASIS) is mostly full of kids who went through DCPS elementary schools (happily) and chose not to lottery into the DCI feeders. I'm happy DCI is working out for those families, but the need to insult Latin makes no sense. Very few families are actively making that choice in 5th/6th grade -- it's done. The choice was made much, much earlier. They are choosing between Latin, BASIS, privates or moving to the Deal/Hardy zone.

Agree. We unsuccessfully tried to lottery our kids into what are now called DCI feeders for years. But at some point, we stopped because a native English speaker joining an immersion program from a non-immersion program from about third grade on makes no sense. We never tried for DCI because we weren’t coming from immersion or a feeder. We did throw our hat in for Latin, BASIS because there was no language immersion hurdle.

Incorrect. You can attend DCI with no language background.

Also many CH BTW try to lottery into 6th if they strike out in 5th

How can you get into DCI without coming from a feeder?

Why would you?

Very few Hill kids try for DCI in 6th with no immersion background. But also, those kids that do didn’t get into or didn’t try for BASIS or Latin. No one is deciding directly between the two coming from the Hill and a non-feeder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Latin vs. DCI debate is kind of silly. Latin (and BASIS) is mostly full of kids who went through DCPS elementary schools (happily) and chose not to lottery into the DCI feeders. I'm happy DCI is working out for those families, but the need to insult Latin makes no sense. Very few families are actively making that choice in 5th/6th grade -- it's done. The choice was made much, much earlier. They are choosing between Latin, BASIS, privates or moving to the Deal/Hardy zone.

Agree. We unsuccessfully tried to lottery our kids into what are now called DCI feeders for years. But at some point, we stopped because a native English speaker joining an immersion program from a non-immersion program from about third grade on makes no sense. We never tried for DCI because we weren’t coming from immersion or a feeder. We did throw our hat in for Latin, BASIS because there was no language immersion hurdle.

Incorrect. You can attend DCI with no language background.

Also many CH BTW try to lottery into 6th if they strike out in 5th

How can you get into DCI without coming from a feeder?

Why would you?

There are spots for non-feeders but less each year as the school continues to get better every year and most feeder kids track. No chance to get in for spanish track but you have a chance for French or Chinese. They have language 101 classes for these kids.

Doing well in an IB diploma absolutely makes you stand out among the dime a dozen kids doing AP courses. It also gives you so much more flexibility in college options abroad where IB is the accepted. BTW good abroad programs are much, much less expensive then in the states. Lastly, there is a heavy focus on writing in addition to mini-thesis requirement, and these kids typically are much stronger writers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Latin vs. DCI debate is kind of silly. Latin (and BASIS) is mostly full of kids who went through DCPS elementary schools (happily) and chose not to lottery into the DCI feeders. I'm happy DCI is working out for those families, but the need to insult Latin makes no sense. Very few families are actively making that choice in 5th/6th grade -- it's done. The choice was made much, much earlier. They are choosing between Latin, BASIS, privates or moving to the Deal/Hardy zone.

Agree. We unsuccessfully tried to lottery our kids into what are now called DCI feeders for years. But at some point, we stopped because a native English speaker joining an immersion program from a non-immersion program from about third grade on makes no sense. We never tried for DCI because we weren’t coming from immersion or a feeder. We did throw our hat in for Latin, BASIS because there was no language immersion hurdle.

Incorrect. You can attend DCI with no language background.

Also many CH BTW try to lottery into 6th if they strike out in 5th

How can you get into DCI without coming from a feeder?

Why would you?

There are spots for non-feeders but less each year as the school continues to get better every year and most feeder kids track. No chance to get in for spanish track but you have a chance for French or Chinese. They have language 101 classes for these kids.

Doing well in an IB diploma absolutely makes you stand out among the dime a dozen kids doing AP courses. It also gives you so much more flexibility in college options abroad where IB is the accepted. BTW good abroad programs are much, much less expensive then in the states. Lastly, there is a heavy focus on writing in addition to mini-thesis requirement, and these kids typically are much stronger writers.

Also they multiple levels of math tracking with the highest basically taking AP Calculus in 10th and post Calculus math for 11th and 12th with 2 different levels in each class - standard and high level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Latin vs. DCI debate is kind of silly. Latin (and BASIS) is mostly full of kids who went through DCPS elementary schools (happily) and chose not to lottery into the DCI feeders. I'm happy DCI is working out for those families, but the need to insult Latin makes no sense. Very few families are actively making that choice in 5th/6th grade -- it's done. The choice was made much, much earlier. They are choosing between Latin, BASIS, privates or moving to the Deal/Hardy zone.

Agree. We unsuccessfully tried to lottery our kids into what are now called DCI feeders for years. But at some point, we stopped because a native English speaker joining an immersion program from a non-immersion program from about third grade on makes no sense. We never tried for DCI because we weren’t coming from immersion or a feeder. We did throw our hat in for Latin, BASIS because there was no language immersion hurdle.

Incorrect. You can attend DCI with no language background.

Also many CH BTW try to lottery into 6th if they strike out in 5th

How can you get into DCI without coming from a feeder?

Why would you?

There are spots for non-feeders but less each year as the school continues to get better every year and most feeder kids track. No chance to get in for spanish track but you have a chance for French or Chinese. They have language 101 classes for these kids.

Doing well in an IB diploma absolutely makes you stand out among the dime a dozen kids doing AP courses. It also gives you so much more flexibility in college options abroad where IB is the accepted. BTW good abroad programs are much, much less expensive then in the states. Lastly, there is a heavy focus on writing in addition to mini-thesis requirement, and these kids typically are much stronger writers.

Also they multiple levels of math tracking with the highest basically taking AP Calculus in 10th and post Calculus math for 11th and 12th with 2 different levels in each class - standard and high level.

I have looked, but I have yet to find, a college or university math department that gives post-calculus credit for any score on any IB math exam. Most seem to treat even HL IB math as equivalent to AP Calc AB. And few give any credit at all for SL IB math.

That doesn’t mean IB math is bad. It might be beneficial for students who accelerated young to repeat basic algebra and calculus concepts in a different format. IB math seems to be an adequate substitute for AP math if you have to pick one. And IB math allows you to get an IB diploma. But if you actually want “post-calculus” math, you should be looking at dual enrollment in actual post-calculus math courses, not messing around with IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but the fact remains that these aren't great options as compared to the best options in the near burbs, not even close.

Our family keeps in close touch with friends who moved from Cap Hill to MoCo, Arlington and Fairfax for schools. We also visit their kids' schools now and again for sporting events, competitions, high school musicals and the like.

It's clear to me that none of our public high school options in the District--BASIS, Latin, DCI, Walls, J-R--can touch these suburban programs on any level. Top suburban schools might as well be on a different planet. If you never tour suburban schools and aren't familiar with their offerings, this fact may be lost on you. I'm particularly jealous of honors middle school classes across the board in Arlington and Fairfax.

I've been shown printouts from suburban high schools listing more than 100 serious sounding electives any student can take. None of you ask yourselves how BASIS, Latin, DCI, J-R and Walls compare because....moving to the burbs for high school is a fate worse than death or what?

Whoever wrote this knows nothing about J-R.

I don’t doubt some suburban schools have more electives…but that’s a small consideration in selecting a high school.

For kids taking rigorous, 10+ AP schedules plus PE, art and music requirements…there aren’t many slots left for electives. There are really no slots if you are in a JR academy like engineering as you are essentially taking those classes as electives.

This post makes no sense. The suburbs seldom have art or music requirements in HS, and not much in the way of PE/Health either. No student needs to take 10 AP classes anywhere, no matter how ambitious they may be on the college admissions front. In the burbs, students can often meet PE requirements on-line or over summers. The burbs don't just offer dozens of serious electives, but feeder middle schools with strong academics/honors classes, better trained teachers overall, more STEM classes, more and languages (e.g. HS Russian, Korean, Japanese, Hebrew, Portuguese, Hindi etc). They also offer high-performing IB Diploma programs that don't operate as IB for all like at DCI. The burbs offer far richer opportunities for a kid to shine in running with their interests, without parents have to pay out of pocket.

We didn't make it through Deal. The teaching was far too uneven, most classes weren't hard enough, and the building was much too chaotic. We got into BASIS and, on close inspection, weren't impressed. If you don't want to move to the burbs, fine, but you're not going to convince me that public schools are....better here.

Wow, it’s amazing that your kid managed to start at Deal and transfer to BASIS, considering how BASIS never admits anyone after 5th grade, and Deal doesn’t start until 6th.

That's not what PP claimed. They must have lotteried into BASIS from the Deal district for 5th grade but didn't take the spot. Same for us, we considered BASIS because our eldest was bored in a Deal feeder, but the building was just too awful. We're at a parochial school for middle school, a stretch for us financially, hoping for Walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Latin vs. DCI debate is kind of silly. Latin (and BASIS) is mostly full of kids who went through DCPS elementary schools (happily) and chose not to lottery into the DCI feeders. I'm happy DCI is working out for those families, but the need to insult Latin makes no sense. Very few families are actively making that choice in 5th/6th grade -- it's done. The choice was made much, much earlier. They are choosing between Latin, BASIS, privates or moving to the Deal/Hardy zone.

Agree. We unsuccessfully tried to lottery our kids into what are now called DCI feeders for years. But at some point, we stopped because a native English speaker joining an immersion program from a non-immersion program from about third grade on makes no sense. We never tried for DCI because we weren’t coming from immersion or a feeder. We did throw our hat in for Latin, BASIS because there was no language immersion hurdle.

Incorrect. You can attend DCI with no language background.

Also many CH BTW try to lottery into 6th if they strike out in 5th

How can you get into DCI without coming from a feeder?

Why would you?

There are spots for non-feeders but less each year as the school continues to get better every year and most feeder kids track. No chance to get in for spanish track but you have a chance for French or Chinese. They have language 101 classes for these kids.

Doing well in an IB diploma absolutely makes you stand out among the dime a dozen kids doing AP courses. It also gives you so much more flexibility in college options abroad where IB is the accepted. BTW good abroad programs are much, much less expensive then in the states. Lastly, there is a heavy focus on writing in addition to mini-thesis requirement, and these kids typically are much stronger writers.

Do students starting with French or Chinese 101 take all their other classes in English?