DCI college acceptances

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fact is that we don't have a high-performing IB Diploma program in the DC public school realm, and don't seem to be on track to get one.

We've got BASIS, Walls and Banneker as competitive AP programs, but nothing comparable for IB Diploma. It's never been clear to me why Wilson doesn't offer IB when Deal has for a long time.

I assumed that most of last year's DCI Diploma candidates would earn the Diploma. I couldn't quite believe that not even 1/4, 15 students out of 63 candidates, could clear the bar. Can we expect significantly more robust results this year?

When I attended an info night for the IBD program at Washington-Liberty HS in Arlington before Covid, I learned that their annual pass rate is more than 85%, although the program has never been test-in/selective. The W-L program is around the same size as a DCI class, 100 students.

I don't understand why most DCI parents don't see a red flag in last year's results. Because they're confident that most candidates will pass this year, or maybe in 2022? Serious question.

The IB diploma results to date (just the class of 2020) are not bad considering most schools IB schools are either private, magnet or school-within-a-school. DCI provides the IB diploma path to every student, not just its stars.
In any case, we expect to see more IB diplomas awarded, and higher passing scores, every year, and I am feel no need to pull my child out for HS. At least wait till you see this year's results (which I think come out some time after graduation). If the college acceptances, scholarships and and prestigious awards to this class are any indication, things are looking up. And IB organization itself was apparently impressed enough with DCI to give one of DCI's senior its 2021 award for the best IB Diploma student in the midatlantic region, and that should tell you a lot about the quality of DCI's IB program and students.
If you're in a feeder and thinking of going private for ms, because of doubts expressed by anonymous posters here, in a couple years you may really regret losing this amazing FREE path to the IB diploma and college preparation.

[Anonymous]

Whatever. It isn't difficult to scrape by with the IBD curriculum. I had lazy high school friends who coasted through diploma studies, barely clearing the 24 points bar. They probably could have scored 10 points higher with effort.

Some of us want our kids to head off to college fluent in a second language, not just DC public "Seal of Bilingualism" fluent, or "proficient." Some of us are shooting for HL languages and science scores of 6-7.

I'm not wild about the idea of supplementing like mad to get my kid where he could go in strong IBD program. We're not poor, not minorities, can't afford pricey colleges, no breaks in college admissions or fi aid for us.

DCI's high school still looks dicey for the likes of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whatever. It isn't difficult to scrape by with the IBD curriculum. I had lazy high school friends who coasted through diploma studies, barely clearing the 24 points bar. They probably could have scored 10 points higher with effort.

Some of us want our kids to head off to college fluent in a second language, not just DC public "Seal of Bilingualism" fluent, or "proficient." Some of us are shooting for HL languages and science scores of 6-7.

I'm not wild about the idea of supplementing like mad to get my kid where he could go in strong IBD program. We're not poor, not minorities, can't afford pricey colleges, no breaks in college admissions or fi aid for us.

DCI's high school still looks dicey for the likes of us.

What's your backup plan then? Lottery for Basis? Walls? Move to the suburbs? Would any of those achieve your goal of fluency in a second language?

I ask as the parent of a kid in lower elementary at a feeder, reading this thread, and second guessing all our life decisions. We definitely can't afford private, aren't in bounds for Wilson, so DCI may still be our best option.

(In fairness, we may be part of the problem. I look at the dual language in elementary as a nice-to-have enrichment and do not supplement the language outside of school.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whatever. It isn't difficult to scrape by with the IBD curriculum. I had lazy high school friends who coasted through diploma studies, barely clearing the 24 points bar. They probably could have scored 10 points higher with effort.

Some of us want our kids to head off to college fluent in a second language, not just DC public "Seal of Bilingualism" fluent, or "proficient." Some of us are shooting for HL languages and science scores of 6-7.

I'm not wild about the idea of supplementing like mad to get my kid where he could go in strong IBD program. We're not poor, not minorities, can't afford pricey colleges, no breaks in college admissions or fi aid for us.

DCI's high school still looks dicey for the likes of us.

Lordy! “The likes of us”? Please don’t come to DCI. We value everyone here and don’t believe that test results are the only indicators of quality education and quality citizens. You sound horrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whatever. It isn't difficult to scrape by with the IBD curriculum. I had lazy high school friends who coasted through diploma studies, barely clearing the 24 points bar. They probably could have scored 10 points higher with effort.

Some of us want our kids to head off to college fluent in a second language, not just DC public "Seal of Bilingualism" fluent, or "proficient." Some of us are shooting for HL languages and science scores of 6-7.

I'm not wild about the idea of supplementing like mad to get my kid where he could go in strong IBD program. We're not poor, not minorities, can't afford pricey colleges, no breaks in college admissions or fi aid for us.

DCI's high school still looks dicey for the likes of us.

Lordy! “The likes of us”? Please don’t come to DCI. We value everyone here and don’t believe that test results are the only indicators of quality education and quality citizens. You sound horrible.

That’s all well and good in elementary. See how far that attitude gets you in postsecondary education.

[Anonymous]

Anybody else hit the wall with the stunning mediocrity of DC public high schools? We can’t take anymore. Guess that makes us horrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact is that we don't have a high-performing IB Diploma program in the DC public school realm, and don't seem to be on track to get one.

We've got BASIS, Walls and Banneker as competitive AP programs, but nothing comparable for IB Diploma. It's never been clear to me why Wilson doesn't offer IB when Deal has for a long time.

I assumed that most of last year's DCI Diploma candidates would earn the Diploma. I couldn't quite believe that not even 1/4, 15 students out of 63 candidates, could clear the bar. Can we expect significantly more robust results this year?

When I attended an info night for the IBD program at Washington-Liberty HS in Arlington before Covid, I learned that their annual pass rate is more than 85%, although the program has never been test-in/selective. The W-L program is around the same size as a DCI class, 100 students.

I don't understand why most DCI parents don't see a red flag in last year's results. Because they're confident that most candidates will pass this year, or maybe in 2022? Serious question.

The IB diploma results to date (just the class of 2020) are not bad considering most schools IB schools are either private, magnet or school-within-a-school. DCI provides the IB diploma path to every student, not just its stars.
In any case, we expect to see more IB diplomas awarded, and higher passing scores, every year, and I am feel no need to pull my child out for HS. At least wait till you see this year's results (which I think come out some time after graduation). If the college acceptances, scholarships and and prestigious awards to this class are any indication, things are looking up. And IB organization itself was apparently impressed enough with DCI to give one of DCI's senior its 2021 award for the best IB Diploma student in the midatlantic region, and that should tell you a lot about the quality of DCI's IB program and students.
If you're in a feeder and thinking of going private for ms, because of doubts expressed by anonymous posters here, in a couple years you may really regret losing this amazing FREE path to the IB diploma and college preparation.

Wow. The best IB Diploma student in all of the mid Atlantic region. That’s impressive for just a 2nd class.

Congrats to the student, school, and all the graduating class this year.

I agree that I think DCI is on a fast upward trajectory.

[Anonymous]

The best IB diploma program in the region? What are you smoking? There are multiple IBD programs in the mid-Atlantic region where most of the students are low SES AND actually earn the diploma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whatever. It isn't difficult to scrape by with the IBD curriculum. I had lazy high school friends who coasted through diploma studies, barely clearing the 24 points bar. They probably could have scored 10 points higher with effort.

Some of us want our kids to head off to college fluent in a second language, not just DC public "Seal of Bilingualism" fluent, or "proficient." Some of us are shooting for HL languages and science scores of 6-7.

I'm not wild about the idea of supplementing like mad to get my kid where he could go in strong IBD program. We're not poor, not minorities, can't afford pricey colleges, no breaks in college admissions or fi aid for us.

DCI's high school still looks dicey for the likes of us.

What's your backup plan then? Lottery for Basis? Walls? Move to the suburbs? Would any of those achieve your goal of fluency in a second language?

I ask as the parent of a kid in lower elementary at a feeder, reading this thread, and second guessing all our life decisions. We definitely can't afford private, aren't in bounds for Wilson, so DCI may still be our best option.

(In fairness, we may be part of the problem. I look at the dual language in elementary as a nice-to-have enrichment and do not supplement the language outside of school.)

We're looking at school-within-a-school IBD programs in MoCo and NoVa. We may try for fi aid at a private offering IBD, British International School, Our Lady of Good Counsel etc.

Our kids are close to fully bilingual. We turned down a DCI spot.

We don't particularly care about diversity in a program. We just want high-performing IBD, where the top students already score in the 40s, not the 20s.

[Anonymous]

Great! Goodbye and good riddance!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The best IB diploma program in the region? What are you smoking? There are multiple IBD programs in the mid-Atlantic region where most of the students are low SES AND actually earn the diploma.

I think you need reading comprehension help. The 2021 award to the best IB diploma student in the midAtlantic this year went to a student at DCI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anybody else hit the wall with the stunning mediocrity of DC public high schools? We can’t take anymore. Guess that makes us horrible.

It’s not just you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great! Goodbye and good riddance!!!

Good-bye, good riddance? No way. Speak for yourself. I want this kind of parent to come to DCI and to stay to the bitter end.

This type of parent would put pressure on lazy ass admins to aim for high diploma subject exam scores for my tax dollars. As far as I can tell, this isn't happening. The current parents are way too laid back.

This spring, when I asked admins if juniors and seniors were prepping using diploma past exams for HL languages, Chem, Math Bio etc. they informed me that this "wasn't necessary." Come on, prepping off past exams is common practice in diploma programs. When I asked if students used Pearson and Oxford HL IBD study exam guides to prep for exams, again, "just not necessary."

Pretty clearly, DCI admins don't give a darn if students can score 6s and 7s on exams or build toward point totals in the 30s or 40s.

We care and we're not alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great! Goodbye and good riddance!!!

Good-bye, good riddance? No way. Speak for yourself. I want this kind of parent to come to DCI and to stay to the bitter end.

This type of parent would put pressure on lazy ass admins to aim for high diploma subject exam scores for my tax dollars. As far as I can tell, this isn't happening. The current parents are way too laid back.

This spring, when I asked admins if juniors and seniors were prepping using diploma past exams for HL languages, Chem, Math Bio etc. they informed me that this "wasn't necessary." Come on, prepping off past exams is common practice in diploma programs. When I asked if students used Pearson and Oxford HL IBD study exam guides to prep for exams, again, "just not necessary."

Pretty clearly, DCI admins don't give a darn if students can score 6s and 7s on exams or build toward point totals in the 30s or 40s.

We care and we're not alone.

They’ve been pretty clear that their goal is exposure to the IB curriculum and not actual passing and getting the diploma. I think this is just a way to make excuses for poor performance and as a way to provide cover for their “IB for all” method.

[Anonymous]

You nailed it,PP. DCPC can do better by synth, ambitious students. No shortage who can and would take advantage of a strong, competitive IBD program in the public system if such a program existed.