New to DCI at middle school?
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Anonymous
DCI just doesn't have the resources to offer more ib diploma classes than it does now. |
Anonymous
| And don’t forget all of the behavioral issues in classes and the constant revolving door of teachers. |
Anonymous
| Be fair, discipline has been improving at DCI in the last few years, and teacher turnover is down, especially in the Middle School. |
Anonymous
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OP, in case you missed it, this DCI thread on this board was much more informative than the current thread. Like the old saying does, beauty is in the eye of beholder. Plenty of UMC parents like DCI for their children, even love it. Others, not so much.
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/960330.page |
Anonymous
| well we are one of those upper middle class families trying hard to engage with the city instead of finding places that cater to us. It is hard to figure out sometimes what certain schools are offering vs what others offer. I am tired of the conversations boiling down to "the instruction's 6 of one, half dozen of the other, but the demographic differences should tell you where to stick your kid." |
Anonymous
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So stick your kid where you feel comfortable sticking him or her, OP. Correlation is, after all, not causation.
If you're leaning toward a Title 1 DCPS for your middle school student because you believe it's a good school, with strong leadership, academics, extra-curriculars, facilities etc. go for it. Sounds like you must be a Jefferson Academy or Brookfield MS zoned family.... |
Anonymous
| Brookland |
Anonymous
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I'm tired of this conversation sequence EotP:
Conversation #1: We're a family who's fine w/a heavily low SES DCPS school because, you know, it's a good school. There are other umc in boundary families there! Conversation #2 (weeks, months maybe years later): BTW, we're moving to VA (or MD). It's a work-related thing, a commute thing, or our house is just too small for us now and we can't afford a bigger house in the District. |
Anonymous
| +100. Most of the parents who claim they can make DCPS middle schools with hardly any umc students find out that they’re barking up the wrong tree quickly. Many bail on these schools. Happens a lot. |
Anonymous
| Yeah but the choice isn’t just DCPS or DCI. We turned down a DCI feeder spot because neither give me the confidence for me to choose either for my family. There’s nothing wrong with starting in DCPS or a charter and knowing you’ll only take it so far. The siren song of MD is calling to us and I’m okay with that. |
Anonymous
DCI parent who encourages you to invest in.....reality here, op. It's just not out of the norm for DCI parents of the most capable middle class students to hire tutors under t he radar. The "malcontent" who posts about writing tutors is right. If the post secondary education you see your child aiming for is at an elite college, you're not going to get there without extra enrichment if your kid isn't low ses/minority. Same with extra language supports. I don't think the situation is different than that in other decent public middle school programs in this metro area, other than maybe gt programs in teh burbs. I know of Basis parents who hire writing tutors. Some of them team up to do it. VERY rigorous is a really subjective descriptor. DCI is just ok. |
Anonymous
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My child is starting 6th at DCI this year. I'm going in with low expectations. For now we want to stay in the city and I think a city education does offer something that you can't get in the 'burbs. (Feel free to disagree.) We picked DCI over the inbound school for a number of reasons.
I'm definitely taking a try it and see approach. Maybe the commute will be untenable, maybe the academics won't be great (but my kid wasn't challenged in elementary school either, and we stayed, so...), maybe it'll be awful socially, I have no idea. We haven't ruled out moving, either. But I am always hearing from friends in the 'burbs about their gripes with their county's education system, too. I'm glad to hear that DCI kids can get a shot at Walls. But also, I don't think all UMC parents are aiming at elite universities. We're not. It's a rat race, especially for those of us who are not running in the right circles. |
Anonymous
I'm impressed with this post, PP. If you're not expecting all that much, sounds like DCI might work out for your kid, at least for ms. We have friends EotP who bolted from decent DCPS or DCPC elementary schools with no more than 22 or 23 students in a classroom taught by two 2 teachers for most of the school day. They fled to Fairfax or MoCo for schools with up to 30 kids in a class taught by a single teacher. They complain more about the new schools than they grumbled about the old ones. DCI wasn't awful on any level for my kid, who's on the shy side. It just wasn't great, especially given the longish, multi-stage commute (no Metro near Walter Read). Writing instruction was the worst, and language instruction was just so-so (not taken very seriously by families or admins more than teachers). But math, science and electives were pretty good and there were some good teachers who differentiated well. Any DC resident who's in 8th grade can apply to Walls, though not clear what the application will look like in the future. Walls has students who attended private middle schools. |
Anonymous
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Not clear why OP doesn't seem to know what to expect from 6th grade at DCI.
DCI has become a big, popular charter with almost 1,000 students. School attracts a diverse group of mostly Ward 5 and 6 families. Program has one of the highest retention rates of a DC MS-HS charter. |
Anonymous
| DCI has almost 1500 students. Families come from all 8 wards of the city with ward 1 equal to wards 4 and 5 |