the DC International Public Charter School (DCI)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What would be the barriers to this?

As the parent of a MV student, I would be very hesitant if they started a third language in any great degree before third grade at least. The kids have a lot to do with becoming bilingual and biliterate, and the great focus in the school is on the expeditions. Adding a third language, in addition to all the specials, would divert focus. Despite the obvious advantages to early language acquisition, I would wait until these are solidified and the kids can all understand, speak, read and write in both languages before adding concentrated studies in another. On the other hand, I would want her to start the third language in the first year at DCI. But, hey, what do I know?

[Anonymous]

Mom of fully bilingual DC here. Would love to add the third now. Maybe encouraging already bilingual students to add that third now would help to balance the Spanish top heavy DCI.

[Anonymous]

Since your post is essentially irrelevant to the conversation, one must assume you are really here merely to brag, which assumes we care.

Personally, I don't, nor could I care less. Your 145 IQ freak isn't going to cure cancer, but he could make an unfortunate target.

Have fun in middle school and don't forget that anti-depressants are an optional for the suicidal.

Boredom in DCPC irrelevant? Give us a break. My kid has often been bored at one of the higher performing immersion charters. We're looking at privates for 4th grade, which we don't mention to DCI buzzed parents. Yea, mention your bored kid and you're a braggart by definition in DC public. Same old same old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Since your post is essentially irrelevant to the conversation, one must assume you are really here merely to brag, which assumes we care.

Personally, I don't, nor could I care less. Your 145 IQ freak isn't going to cure cancer, but he could make an unfortunate target.

Have fun in middle school and don't forget that anti-depressants are an optional for the suicidal.

Boredom in DCPC irrelevant? Give us a break. My kid has often been bored at one of the higher performing immersion charters. We're looking at privates for 4th grade, which we don't mention to DCI buzzed parents. Yea, mention your bored kid and you're a braggart by definition in DC public. Same old same old.

Wow, accidentally pour a carton of Jealous McNasty into your cheerios this morning?

[Anonymous]

Both you and that other poster suck! Get lives and bring the convo back to being relevant.

[Anonymous]

What's relevant to me is who actually shows up for DCI, and stays until 12th grade. Hate to say it, but probably not as many high-SES parents from the feeder schools as is generally assumed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's relevant to me is who actually shows up for DCI, and stays until 12th grade. Hate to say it, but probably not as many high-SES parents from the feeder schools as is generally assumed.

Why would you assume that? It's pretty clear, the choice for many would be between DCI or private or moving out of DC. We are at a DCI feeder and always thought we'll be going private for middle/high school but not sure at this point. An IB degree and not having to pay 40k+ tuition is pretty tempting not to mention the diversity, race, SES, which is hard to find and being essentially with the same kids since preK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's relevant to me is who actually shows up for DCI, and stays until 12th grade. Hate to say it, but probably not as many high-SES parents from the feeder schools as is generally assumed.

Why would you assume that? Your kid is probably not at a feeder, so you're hating. Don't worry- no one is dumb enough to give up their slot because of your naysaying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But if the third language is not started before that key period (before adolescence) it will not be easily learned by the kids and they won't achieve native fluency.

The school doesn't expect native fluency in the 3rd language, and I think it's too much to expect kids to learn a 3rd language while still learning grade level social studies and math etc. in the target language. Name some effective examples of specific schools that start 2 new languages in early elementary and have kids stay at grade level throughout high school and also achieve native fluency in 3 languages (incl English) by graduations from 12th grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's relevant to me is who actually shows up for DCI, and stays until 12th grade. Hate to say it, but probably not as many high-SES parents from the feeder schools as is generally assumed.

Why would you assume that? It's pretty clear, the choice for many would be between DCI or private or moving out of DC. We are at a DCI feeder and always thought we'll be going private for middle/high school but not sure at this point. An IB degree and not having to pay 40k+ tuition is pretty tempting not to mention the diversity, race, SES, which is hard to find and being essentially with the same kids since preK.

Because parents are cagey. At our feeder, every spring certain parents swear up and down that they'll be back in the fall, but they aren't. Listen to what you say, we're not sure...we thought we'd go private, but we might not. Sounds like you will. There's no IB degree, it's a diploma, and scoring enough points to earn it is harder than many parents assume. The diversity, race, SES don't move me because so many of the low-SES kids at the feeders (too many at ours for the school to do a good job with the immersion) have a harder and harder time academically as they age. I mainly want a high-performing program for my kid, not another lottery-in grab bag of abilities and levels of preparation. So, like you, I remain on the fence, expecting many others to jump off to greener pastures along the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But if the third language is not started before that key period (before adolescence) it will not be easily learned by the kids and they won't achieve native fluency.

The school doesn't expect native fluency in the 3rd language, and I think it's too much to expect kids to learn a 3rd language while still learning grade level social studies and math etc. in the target language. Name some effective examples of specific schools that start 2 new languages in early elementary and have kids stay at grade level throughout high school and also achieve native fluency in 3 languages (incl English) by graduations from 12th grade?

That may be true for kids learning the second language, but for kids already bilingual (as many Spanish speakers already are) the third language would be their learning experience. Why can't this be accommodated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's relevant to me is who actually shows up for DCI, and stays until 12th grade. Hate to say it, but probably not as many high-SES parents from the feeder schools as is generally assumed.

Why would you assume that? It's pretty clear, the choice for many would be between DCI or private or moving out of DC. We are at a DCI feeder and always thought we'll be going private for middle/high school but not sure at this point. An IB degree and not having to pay 40k+ tuition is pretty tempting not to mention the diversity, race, SES, which is hard to find and being essentially with the same kids since preK.

Because parents are cagey. At our feeder, every spring certain parents swear up and down that they'll be back in the fall, but they aren't. Listen to what you say, we're not sure...we thought we'd go private, but we might not. Sounds like you will. There's no IB degree, it's a diploma, and scoring enough points to earn it is harder than many parents assume. The diversity, race, SES don't move me because so many of the low-SES kids at the feeders (too many at ours for the school to do a good job with the immersion) have a harder and harder time academically as they age. I mainly want a high-performing program for my kid, not another lottery-in grab bag of abilities and levels of preparation. So, like you, I remain on the fence, expecting many others to jump off to greener pastures along the way.

At our feeder, Yu Ying, parents are certainly excited about the possibility of DCI, especially since it would allow us to continue with the Mandarin. I know several high SES parents at Mundo Verde and Stokes who feel the same way. Having the DCI feed from Tier 1 schools like YY, Stokes, LAMB and presumably MV is the best way to retain families like yours who also want a high-performing program.

[Anonymous]

^Tier 1 means little more than at least 2/3 of the kids testing proficient on the DC-CAS. Low bar to clear. While I value and admire your optimism, I can't help but remain skeptical that DCI will be all that great. It surely won't be better than Latin because lottery admissions and social promotion will trump higher aspirations. Adding the IB curriculum certainly hasn't retooled our IB middle school, Eliot-Hine. We, and many other middle-class parents, want MoCo level academics, and immersion. If we find it, great, but my skepticism is deepening as a fraught election year approaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^Tier 1 means little more than at least 2/3 of the kids testing proficient on the DC-CAS. Low bar to clear. While I value and admire your optimism, I can't help but remain skeptical that DCI will be all that great. It surely won't be better than Latin because lottery admissions and social promotion will trump higher aspirations. Adding the IB curriculum certainly hasn't retooled our IB middle school, Eliot-Hine. We, and many other middle-class parents, want MoCo level academics, and immersion. If we find it, great, but my skepticism is deepening as a fraught election year approaches.

Yes, I hear you. Of course we're all going to wait and see, and for those of us whose kids are in K or below, we're in a great spot with a guaranteed feed to DCI if we want it and lots of time to see how things shake out. I don't think Eliot-Hine is a fair comparison.

[Anonymous]

We're at Yu Ying and very optimistic about DCI. Scores in the DC CAS improve every year and the school is aging well. Not sure why you're skeptical about a school that hasn't opened yet. It's lottery admission but at least for Yu Ying and LAMB mostly for 3/4 yr olds so the schools can't blame DCPS for not preparing their students. My kid will be at YY at least until high school and may stay for HS too. We love his classmates and it's nice that he can stay with friends since they were 4 yrs old. Even my DH who attended the same private school attended only from K-12.

Are you even at a feeder? I'm curious which immersion school your kids attend that you feel that it's not doing it's job.