DCI Parent Petition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCI was founded as an IB-for-all, socially just school. That's not a staff invention or a union talking point. It's in the charter and it's in the mission statement. And it's why the five founding member schools created DCI in the first place.

Parents who chose DCI chose that mission (and more feeder parents are opting out of DCI bc of what Rosskamm and Pardo are doing).

Casting equity as a failed ideology, framing teachers who believe in it as sacrificing children, calling for admins to get rid of them, is not a critique of Michael Rosskamm's leadership. It's a critique of DCI's existence.

We're focusing on the immediate governance crisis and the board that is not meeting its fiduciary responsibility to this community.

Start another thread if you want to relitigate whether DCI should exist as the school it was founded to be.

I wonder what percentage of parents have any idea what their child’s school mission statement even is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI was founded as an IB-for-all, socially just school. That's not a staff invention or a union talking point. It's in the charter and it's in the mission statement. And it's why the five founding member schools created DCI in the first place.

Parents who chose DCI chose that mission (and more feeder parents are opting out of DCI bc of what Rosskamm and Pardo are doing).

Casting equity as a failed ideology, framing teachers who believe in it as sacrificing children, calling for admins to get rid of them, is not a critique of Michael Rosskamm's leadership. It's a critique of DCI's existence.

We're focusing on the immediate governance crisis and the board that is not meeting its fiduciary responsibility to this community.

Start another thread if you want to relitigate whether DCI should exist as the school it was founded to be.

I wonder what percentage of parents have any idea what their child’s school mission statement even is.

They certainly don't make much effort to talk to incoming parents or any parents about it. We get a lot of bland pillars talk.

I think most parents just wanted DCI as a language school (continue progress in the language their kids spent years learning), and an IB school, and a culturally diverse school which celebrated world culture and language, so would essentially continue the missions of their elementaries. Oh, and just a F*&*& GOOD SCHOOL PLEASE as the topline in a city that has precious few of them at middle/hs level if you aren't made of money.

The whole part about IB for All and Social Justice seem like add-ons to parents while they may indeed be the main purpose on paper.

[Anonymous]

Non-DCI parent here, but my son is in a feeder school and I hope he will attend middle and high school there in a few years. In DCI, I want:
- High quality and stable teachers and leaders who run an academically rigorous school that will prepare my child to achieve to his potential
- A safe school with a strong culture, where students who want to learn aren't constantly disrupted by students who don't
- The continuation of a rigorous foreign language program
- Strong, hands-on science classes with labs. Rigorous history courses. Reasonably good extra-curriculars

I also want my child to go to a diverse school where he will be expected to be kind to others and leave the world a bit better than he found it. But a school that teaches to a high standard and also sets a high standard for student behavior (and has strong accountability systems to ensure both) are my top two priorities. Why doesx this seem so hard for middle and high schools to get right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Non-DCI parent here, but my son is in a feeder school and I hope he will attend middle and high school there in a few years. In DCI, I want:
- High quality and stable teachers and leaders who run an academically rigorous school that will prepare my child to achieve to his potential
- A safe school with a strong culture, where students who want to learn aren't constantly disrupted by students who don't
- The continuation of a rigorous foreign language program
- Strong, hands-on science classes with labs. Rigorous history courses. Reasonably good extra-curriculars

I also want my child to go to a diverse school where he will be expected to be kind to others and leave the world a bit better than he found it. But a school that teaches to a high standard and also sets a high standard for student behavior (and has strong accountability systems to ensure both) are my top two priorities. Why doesx this seem so hard for middle and high schools to get right?

SOME staff are ideologically opposed to sacrificing “equity” for rigor- it’s not purely an either or thing at all, but when the equity goals conflict with what we know produces good academic outcomes (eg, streaming based on test scores might lead some groups to be underrepresented in advanced classes)- many many staff and admin choose equity over rigor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non-DCI parent here, but my son is in a feeder school and I hope he will attend middle and high school there in a few years. In DCI, I want:
- High quality and stable teachers and leaders who run an academically rigorous school that will prepare my child to achieve to his potential
- A safe school with a strong culture, where students who want to learn aren't constantly disrupted by students who don't
- The continuation of a rigorous foreign language program
- Strong, hands-on science classes with labs. Rigorous history courses. Reasonably good extra-curriculars

I also want my child to go to a diverse school where he will be expected to be kind to others and leave the world a bit better than he found it. But a school that teaches to a high standard and also sets a high standard for student behavior (and has strong accountability systems to ensure both) are my top two priorities. Why doesx this seem so hard for middle and high schools to get right?

SOME staff are ideologically opposed to sacrificing “equity” for rigor- it’s not purely an either or thing at all, but when the equity goals conflict with what we know produces good academic outcomes (eg, streaming based on test scores might lead some groups to be underrepresented in advanced classes)- many many staff and admin choose equity over rigor.

Actually, DCI has shown you can have equity and rigor.

What’s destroying rigor at DCI right now isn’t an ideology. It’s losing both IB coordinators, cutting staff development 41%, and driving out 125 staff in two years.

That’s a leadership problem. Not an equity problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI was founded as an IB-for-all, socially just school. That's not a staff invention or a union talking point. It's in the charter and it's in the mission statement. And it's why the five founding member schools created DCI in the first place.

Parents who chose DCI chose that mission (and more feeder parents are opting out of DCI bc of what Rosskamm and Pardo are doing).

Casting equity as a failed ideology, framing teachers who believe in it as sacrificing children, calling for admins to get rid of them, is not a critique of Michael Rosskamm's leadership. It's a critique of DCI's existence.

We're focusing on the immediate governance crisis and the board that is not meeting its fiduciary responsibility to this community.

Start another thread if you want to relitigate whether DCI should exist as the school it was founded to be.

I wonder what percentage of parents have any idea what their child’s school mission statement even is.

Only Ed Consultants and parents of ECE kids care about such things. Once the advantages of two income households start to wane and education gets real, parents quickly stop pretending to care about such things. Mission statements don't create safe classrooms. They don't generate rigor or APs or college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Non-DCI parent here, but my son is in a feeder school and I hope he will attend middle and high school there in a few years. In DCI, I want:
- High quality and stable teachers and leaders who run an academically rigorous school that will prepare my child to achieve to his potential
- A safe school with a strong culture, where students who want to learn aren't constantly disrupted by students who don't
- The continuation of a rigorous foreign language program
- Strong, hands-on science classes with labs. Rigorous history courses. Reasonably good extra-curriculars

I also want my child to go to a diverse school where he will be expected to be kind to others and leave the world a bit better than he found it. But a school that teaches to a high standard and also sets a high standard for student behavior (and has strong accountability systems to ensure both) are my top two priorities. Why doesx this seem so hard for middle and high schools to get right?

Sadly there is a vocal minority in DC that has convinced decisionmakers that high standards are antithetical to equity. It is performative nonsense that has carried the day in DC for far too long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non-DCI parent here, but my son is in a feeder school and I hope he will attend middle and high school there in a few years. In DCI, I want:
- High quality and stable teachers and leaders who run an academically rigorous school that will prepare my child to achieve to his potential
- A safe school with a strong culture, where students who want to learn aren't constantly disrupted by students who don't
- The continuation of a rigorous foreign language program
- Strong, hands-on science classes with labs. Rigorous history courses. Reasonably good extra-curriculars

I also want my child to go to a diverse school where he will be expected to be kind to others and leave the world a bit better than he found it. But a school that teaches to a high standard and also sets a high standard for student behavior (and has strong accountability systems to ensure both) are my top two priorities. Why doesx this seem so hard for middle and high schools to get right?

SOME staff are ideologically opposed to sacrificing “equity” for rigor- it’s not purely an either or thing at all, but when the equity goals conflict with what we know produces good academic outcomes (eg, streaming based on test scores might lead some groups to be underrepresented in advanced classes)- many many staff and admin choose equity over rigor.

Actually, DCI has shown you can have equity and rigor.

What’s destroying rigor at DCI right now isn’t an ideology. It’s losing both IB coordinators, cutting staff development 41%, and driving out 125 staff in two years.

That’s a leadership problem. Not an equity problem.

By what standard does DCI have rigor? I think DCI is actually a pretty good school by DC standards but by national standards the test scores we have are not particularly good.

Just offering the classes is not “rigor.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non-DCI parent here, but my son is in a feeder school and I hope he will attend middle and high school there in a few years. In DCI, I want:
- High quality and stable teachers and leaders who run an academically rigorous school that will prepare my child to achieve to his potential
- A safe school with a strong culture, where students who want to learn aren't constantly disrupted by students who don't
- The continuation of a rigorous foreign language program
- Strong, hands-on science classes with labs. Rigorous history courses. Reasonably good extra-curriculars

I also want my child to go to a diverse school where he will be expected to be kind to others and leave the world a bit better than he found it. But a school that teaches to a high standard and also sets a high standard for student behavior (and has strong accountability systems to ensure both) are my top two priorities. Why doesx this seem so hard for middle and high schools to get right?

SOME staff are ideologically opposed to sacrificing “equity” for rigor- it’s not purely an either or thing at all, but when the equity goals conflict with what we know produces good academic outcomes (eg, streaming based on test scores might lead some groups to be underrepresented in advanced classes)- many many staff and admin choose equity over rigor.

Actually, DCI has shown you can have equity and rigor.

What’s destroying rigor at DCI right now isn’t an ideology. It’s losing both IB coordinators, cutting staff development 41%, and driving out 125 staff in two years.

That’s a leadership problem. Not an equity problem.

By what standard does DCI have rigor? I think DCI is actually a pretty good school by DC standards but by national standards the test scores we have are not particularly good.

Just offering the classes is not “rigor.”

There definitely is rigor, and there are definitely remedial classes for those who need them. I think the mixed nature is pushing down test scores but the kids at the top are doing very well. I say this as a parent of a child who is a high performer who spoke to college counselors and the school admin about this. My biggest issue is that if you are a high performer at DCI, you are essentially stuck there because there is no other school in dc that offers the ultra challenging math courses, science courses, and language courses that my kiddo is taking. Banneker and Eastern are both IB but don’t offer that level of math or those science courses. And the AP offered at walls are those they took as a sophomore. I think that’s very disappointing.

[Anonymous]

Doing our research for high school options and came across this. For us, the IB and DCI came out strongest. https://afsa.org/ap-vs-ib-practical-comparison

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doing our research for high school options and came across this. For us, the IB and DCI came out strongest. https://afsa.org/ap-vs-ib-practical-comparison

And DCI's college placement this year is impressive.

[Anonymous]

I came here to agree with PP. DCI college admissions are phenomenal