the DC International Public Charter School (DCI)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What would be the barriers to this?

No time in the day! They're kids... they need to play and sing and draw. They also need to learn math and science and reading. It's fine to do all that singing/ drawing/ reading etc in the "target" language, but I wouldn't want an additional subject (3rd language) crammed into the schedule, because it would probably be at the expense of music and art and recreation.

That said, my kids are in French at Stokes, and they pick up quite a bit of Spanish from their friends and their specials. And this pleases me. I just don't see how to shoehorn specific language instruction into an already packed day.

[Anonymous]

^^ Are you concerned about your kids' ability to have enough variety at DCI given he/she is in French. I'm trying to figure out how they'll handle this when it comes up- variety in content courses for french and chinese...

[Anonymous]

I'd rather not malign a charter I basically like by naming it, one that saved us from a crappy IB school. But I will acknowledge that the arrangement seems to slip a bit with every passing year. The problems are mundane, rooted in the achievement and opportunity gap between low-SES and high-SES kids widening as time goes on.

We've done summer camps abroad for the last two summers, as well as Johns Hopkins CTY this summer, and have had a target language speaking au pair at home since PreK. Hence, my kid is now so far ahead of most of the low-SES AA kids in the target language that he's getting bored, not just on immersion days but on English days. The warm school community no longer gives me much of a boost.

Two of his high-SES buddies left for privates last year, a real blow to him. It's as though we're holding a handful of sand, with grains slipping out as we go. If we're on a slight downward trajectory in the middle ES grades, yikes, where will be by 12th grade at DCI? I'm starting to eye WIS....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd rather not malign a charter I basically like by naming it, one that saved us from a crappy IB school. But I will acknowledge that the arrangement seems to slip a bit with every passing year. The problems are mundane, rooted in the achievement and opportunity gap between low-SES and high-SES kids widening as time goes on.

We've done summer camps abroad for the last two summers, as well as Johns Hopkins CTY this summer, and have had a target language speaking au pair at home since PreK. Hence, my kid is now so far ahead of most of the low-SES AA kids in the target language that he's getting bored, not just on immersion days but on English days. The warm school community no longer gives me much of a boost.

Two of his high-SES buddies left for privates last year, a real blow to him. It's as though we're holding a handful of sand, with grains slipping out as we go. If we're on a slight downward trajectory in the middle ES grades, yikes, where will be by 12th grade at DCI? I'm starting to eye WIS....


Bye.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd rather not malign a charter I basically like by naming it, one that saved us from a crappy IB school. But I will acknowledge that the arrangement seems to slip a bit with every passing year. The problems are mundane, rooted in the achievement and opportunity gap between low-SES and high-SES kids widening as time goes on.

We've done summer camps abroad for the last two summers, as well as Johns Hopkins CTY this summer, and have had a target language speaking au pair at home since PreK. Hence, my kid is now so far ahead of most of the low-SES AA kids in the target language that he's getting bored, not just on immersion days but on English days. The warm school community no longer gives me much of a boost.

Two of his high-SES buddies left for privates last year, a real blow to him. It's as though we're holding a handful of sand, with grains slipping out as we go. If we're on a slight downward trajectory in the middle ES grades, yikes, where will be by 12th grade at DCI? I'm starting to eye WIS....

Sounds like you have a super smart kid and maybe private is the way to go. I hope that we will see less of this attrition as parents of these bright and high-achieving kids choose public options.

[Anonymous]

Doesn't sound like it is about race or SES (as quite a lot of middle-high SES families cannot either afford (time and/or money) to do the summer camps, or employ the au pair (individual child care vs. school aftercare, etc.). Also doesn't sound like it is about intelligence but opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd rather not malign a charter I basically like by naming it, one that saved us from a crappy IB school. But I will acknowledge that the arrangement seems to slip a bit with every passing year. The problems are mundane, rooted in the achievement and opportunity gap between low-SES and high-SES kids widening as time goes on.

We've done summer camps abroad for the last two summers, as well as Johns Hopkins CTY this summer, and have had a target language speaking au pair at home since PreK. Hence, my kid is now so far ahead of most of the low-SES AA kids in the target language that he's getting bored, not just on immersion days but on English days. The warm school community no longer gives me much of a boost.

Two of his high-SES buddies left for privates last year, a real blow to him. It's as though we're holding a handful of sand, with grains slipping out as we go. If we're on a slight downward trajectory in the middle ES grades, yikes, where will be by 12th grade at DCI? I'm starting to eye WIS....

If you feel that the charter and DCI will not provide enough challenge than by all means go elsewhere but complaining about the achievement gap between high and low SES kids?!? Is this for real! It doesn't sound like your DS is suffering... Sooooo bored in elementary school, poor dear. So go private where there is little SES diversity. You belong there.

[Anonymous]

I hope at some point we'll see solutions from parents that complain about the achievement gap, rather then just DCUM mudslinging. I'm so excited about the DCI, the diversity (race and SES) and engaging with passionate parents. We're from all backgrounds- race, economic status, values, etc... And most of all our kids' education come first. Our numbers are what matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd rather not malign a charter I basically like by naming it, one that saved us from a crappy IB school. But I will acknowledge that the arrangement seems to slip a bit with every passing year. The problems are mundane, rooted in the achievement and opportunity gap between low-SES and high-SES kids widening as time goes on.

We've done summer camps abroad for the last two summers, as well as Johns Hopkins CTY this summer, and have had a target language speaking au pair at home since PreK. Hence, my kid is now so far ahead of most of the low-SES AA kids in the target language that he's getting bored, not just on immersion days but on English days. The warm school community no longer gives me much of a boost.

Two of his high-SES buddies left for privates last year, a real blow to him. It's as though we're holding a handful of sand, with grains slipping out as we go. If we're on a slight downward trajectory in the middle ES grades, yikes, where will be by 12th grade at DCI? I'm starting to eye WIS....

So why are you still there? Leave already. Sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd rather not malign a charter I basically like by naming it, one that saved us from a crappy IB school. But I will acknowledge that the arrangement seems to slip a bit with every passing year. The problems are mundane, rooted in the achievement and opportunity gap between low-SES and high-SES kids widening as time goes on.

We've done summer camps abroad for the last two summers, as well as Johns Hopkins CTY this summer, and have had a target language speaking au pair at home since PreK. Hence, my kid is now so far ahead of most of the low-SES AA kids in the target language that he's getting bored, not just on immersion days but on English days. The warm school community no longer gives me much of a boost.

Two of his high-SES buddies left for privates last year, a real blow to him. It's as though we're holding a handful of sand, with grains slipping out as we go. If we're on a slight downward trajectory in the middle ES grades, yikes, where will be by 12th grade at DCI? I'm starting to eye WIS....

So why are you still there? Leave already. Sigh.

Why do you have to say low-SES AA kids? Why can't they just be low-SES kids? You do realize that there are many black professionals in this city right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd rather not malign a charter I basically like by naming it, one that saved us from a crappy IB school. But I will acknowledge that the arrangement seems to slip a bit with every passing year. The problems are mundane, rooted in the achievement and opportunity gap between low-SES and high-SES kids widening as time goes on.

We've done summer camps abroad for the last two summers, as well as Johns Hopkins CTY this summer, and have had a target language speaking au pair at home since PreK. Hence, my kid is now so far ahead of most of the low-SES AA kids in the target language that he's getting bored, not just on immersion days but on English days. The warm school community no longer gives me much of a boost.

Two of his high-SES buddies left for privates last year, a real blow to him. It's as though we're holding a handful of sand, with grains slipping out as we go. If we're on a slight downward trajectory in the middle ES grades, yikes, where will be by 12th grade at DCI? I'm starting to eye WIS....

So why are you still there? Leave already. Sigh.

Why do you have to say low-SES AA kids? Why can't they just be low-SES kids? You do realize that there are many black professionals in this city right?

B/c this poster is a Troll who does not have a child at any immersion charter feeder to DCI and is making this shit up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Accommodate your already bilingual kids yourself. Get with other parents of already-bilingual kids at your school and start/hire an after school instructor in a 3rd language that everyone shares the cost of. Or group with parents and rally the school to provide it. But unless you can point to a school that's done the 3 languages successfully at elementary, along with the other basic skills/subjects, do not expect the feeder schools to risk their math and English scores just to satisfy the relatively small number of kids who enter elementary already truly bilingual. The later test scores for DC students who enter elementary fluent in Spanish do not indicate that the majority have such a breeze with English and other subjects that there is tons of classroom time to spare on serious study of a 3rd language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So why are you still there? Leave already. Sigh.

Why do you have to say low-SES AA kids? Why can't they just be low-SES kids? You do realize that there are many black professionals in this city right?

B/c this poster is a Troll who does not have a child at any immersion charter feeder to DCI and is making this shit up.


Don't encourage parents to leave. Encourage them to stay. The immersion charters struggle to keep some families through 5th for a variety of reasons, and middle school is a tough nut to crack in this city under the best circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Accommodate your already bilingual kids yourself. Get with other parents of already-bilingual kids at your school and start/hire an after school instructor in a 3rd language that everyone shares the cost of. Or group with parents and rally the school to provide it. But unless you can point to a school that's done the 3 languages successfully at elementary, along with the other basic skills/subjects, do not expect the feeder schools to risk their math and English scores just to satisfy the relatively small number of kids who enter elementary already truly bilingual. The later test scores for DC students who enter elementary fluent in Spanish do not indicate that the majority have such a breeze with English and other subjects that there is tons of classroom time to spare on serious study of a 3rd language.

How much would a language instructor cost?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Accommodate your already bilingual kids yourself. Get with other parents of already-bilingual kids at your school and start/hire an after school instructor in a 3rd language that everyone shares the cost of. Or group with parents and rally the school to provide it. But unless you can point to a school that's done the 3 languages successfully at elementary, along with the other basic skills/subjects, do not expect the feeder schools to risk their math and English scores just to satisfy the relatively small number of kids who enter elementary already truly bilingual. The later test scores for DC students who enter elementary fluent in Spanish do not indicate that the majority have such a breeze with English and other subjects that there is tons of classroom time to spare on serious study of a 3rd language.

And many Spanish-speaking kids are far from proficient in reading and writing Spanish, so they still have a lot of work to do before achieving mastery in their second language.