What do families that do not get into an acceptable middle school do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mean, what do most high SES families EOTP do when they don't get into DEAL, BASIS or Latin.

Move.

Seems like the obvious answer, but I personally haven't known anyone in this situation. The people I've known who moved for middle school hadn't bothered to apply or left a few years before. Many of them already had one foot out the door so to speak.

I live in CCDC near Metro and have for a long time. One thing I've noticed only recently, say in the past five years, is that when a big, expensive home goes on the market, it is purchased by a family moving form the Hill. Always the Hill. Presumably they are pumping their equity from the sale of their not-inexpensive rowhome on the Hill into the house here in Ward 3, so kids can attend Deal/Wilson.

In years past, the families that bought these homes were families whose kids already attend private schools like GDS, or, families with preschoolers. Those people do still buy around me, but the new development is families with 10 year olds who then go to Murch. It's not just conjecture -- they put the bumper sticker on the car right away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are at a DCI feeder. Scores were on par with Hardy but they weren't great. Only a 1/3 proficient or above. Hoping DCI works out but I am having trouble committing to a school where 2/3 of the student are not considered proficient. Would feel more comfortable at Hardy, which appears to be on the upswing, than DCI, which is still so new.

DCI results vary by feeder.

YY and LAMB students all do very well. Why did they have to include DC Bi? They are a drag on performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many OOB kids get into Hardy and Hobson. Everyone gets into Basis. There are options.

This. OP, you have a good expansive list, and are almost guaranteed to get into one of your schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are at a DCI feeder. Scores were on par with Hardy but they weren't great. Only a 1/3 proficient or above. Hoping DCI works out but I am having trouble committing to a school where 2/3 of the student are not considered proficient. Would feel more comfortable at Hardy, which appears to be on the upswing, than DCI, which is still so new.

Also at a feeder and planning on private school for middle school where 100% of kids will be at least at grade level in reading and math. By middle school, we care more about academics than anything else.

[Anonymous]

Go to Hardy then.

[Anonymous]

Does Hardy have a waitlist or does everyone get in?

[Anonymous]

We could use more help from people advocating for the proposed new Ward 4 North middle school. Even if your kid won't go there, new spots that are attractive to EOTP gentrifiers will ease pressure everywhere else. The middle school grades at all the education campuses up here are way too small.

[Anonymous]

To 22:42, I am considering Hardy and other charters because I have concerns about the academics. I am really surprised that DCI is compared to BASIS and Latin given their scores, high number of ESL and % FARMS. Not sure how DCI can meet the needs of those students who are on grade level. Maybe they can but the school is too new to have developed a solid track record of helping all kind of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We could use more help from people advocating for the proposed new Ward 4 North middle school. Even if your kid won't go there, new spots that are attractive to EOTP gentrifiers will ease pressure everywhere else. The middle school grades at all the education campuses up here are way too small.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To 22:42, I am considering Hardy and other charters because I have concerns about the academics. I am really surprised that DCI is compared to BASIS and Latin given their scores, high number of ESL and % FARMS. Not sure how DCI can meet the needs of those students who are on grade level. Maybe they can but the school is too new to have developed a solid track record of helping all kind of students.

Ask the DCI leaders about high school. IB offers two paths - IB diploma and IB career. They plan on building out both and I recall Carmen saying at an open house that not all want to go to college, and they need to serve the non college bound too.

So they have a plan to engage kids with all kid a of skills, not just college bound.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To 22:42, I am considering Hardy and other charters because I have concerns about the academics. I am really surprised that DCI is compared to BASIS and Latin given their scores, high number of ESL and % FARMS. Not sure how DCI can meet the needs of those students who are on grade level. Maybe they can but the school is too new to have developed a solid track record of helping all kind of students.

Ask the DCI leaders about high school. IB offers two paths - IB diploma and IB career. They plan on building out both and I recall Carmen saying at an open house that not all want to go to college, and they need to serve the non college bound too.

So they have a plan to engage kids with all kid a of skills, not just college bound.

The full IB diploma is pretty rigorous. I think if they continue on the current path DCI will be great, not just acceptable. It is our current plan to send our kids there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To 22:42, I am considering Hardy and other charters because I have concerns about the academics. I am really surprised that DCI is compared to BASIS and Latin given their scores, high number of ESL and % FARMS. Not sure how DCI can meet the needs of those students who are on grade level. Maybe they can but the school is too new to have developed a solid track record of helping all kind of students.

Ask the DCI leaders about high school. IB offers two paths - IB diploma and IB career. They plan on building out both and I recall Carmen saying at an open house that not all want to go to college, and they need to serve the non college bound too.

So they have a plan to engage kids with all kid a of skills, not just college bound.

The full IB diploma is pretty rigorous. I think if they continue on the current path DCI will be great, not just acceptable. It is our current plan to send our kids there.

I don't disagree at all (although we didn't send our feeder student there for 6th this year).

I was only saying that they do seem to realize that they are serving a population with diverse needs and intend on having a high school that can serve many different kids. So those who are fretting about the proficiency PARCC scores and how it may affect their college bound child may (or may not) be glad to know that there will be some sort of tracking. Of course the devil is in the details and they don't have any high school aged students yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at a DCI feeder. Scores were on par with Hardy but they weren't great. Only a 1/3 proficient or above. Hoping DCI works out but I am having trouble committing to a school where 2/3 of the student are not considered proficient. Would feel more comfortable at Hardy, which appears to be on the upswing, than DCI, which is still so new.

DCI results vary by feeder.

YY and LAMB students all do very well. Why did they have to include DC Bi? They are a drag on performance.

But they have actual native speakers of Spanish, which is helpful if your goal is for your kid to reach native-level proficiency.

Also because DCI's founders were interested in educating a range of children, not just the ones who will keep test scores high?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at a DCI feeder. Scores were on par with Hardy but they weren't great. Only a 1/3 proficient or above. Hoping DCI works out but I am having trouble committing to a school where 2/3 of the student are not considered proficient. Would feel more comfortable at Hardy, which appears to be on the upswing, than DCI, which is still so new.

DCI results vary by feeder.

YY and LAMB students all do very well. Why did they have to include DC Bi? They are a drag on performance.

But they have actual native speakers of Spanish, which is helpful if your goal is for your kid to reach native-level proficiency.

Also because DCI's founders were interested in educating a range of children, not just the ones who will keep test scores high?

+1. Frankly it was hard enough to get the feeder path / DCI established with the charter school board. Had YY and LAMB tried to go it alone, which is what you are suggesting, it wouldn't have happened.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the information re: IB track. Good to know. Still the school hasn't had a chance to prove itself yet. Just not sure I am willing to take the risk with my DC. It is not like you get a redo on educating your kid. Right now there are more kids below grade level than on grade level which is concerning.