DCI or Deal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, it just isn't true that students can't apply to DCPS application high schools without PARCC scores, not now, not ever.

We've opted out since 3rd grade yet child was admitted to SWW this year. We submitted SAT scores instead of PARCC with Walls application. Child took SAT in fall of 7th grade to submit as required component of Johns Hopkins CTY summer camp and scored high enough (low 600s after some prep) to access the camp. You just explain that you opted out on the Walls application, with supporting documentation (e.g. letter to Deal admins stating that you are opting out, perhaps with a few lines about why).

Students coming in from other public school systems or privates routinely apply to DCPS application high schools WITHOUT PARCC SCORES, along with the small and growing number of applicants whose parents have opted them out of PARCC.

Thank you for sharing this. This is good to know.
Hopefully they will update the SWW application page with this info!

Seriously doubt they will change the application page info. Senior DCPS admins want parents to think that kids in DCPS have to take PARCC, for political reasons. Don't buy it, kids don't. Of course they don't - DCPS can't keep highly qualified home schooled students, kids in privates, kids moving to DC at random times from applying to SWW, and gaining access for that matter, without risking litigation of course.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You're missing the crux of the problem. No GT programs in traditional schools in this City, no law on GT education in the District, no focus on challenging the brightest kids.

The only real challenge in a public middle school can be found at BASIS, and their facilities are weak, their curriculum inflexible and their approach fairly brutal.

Outside BASIS, most of us pay to supplement, a lot.

all this talk of supplementing has me wondering:
- how do you know when/if you need to supplement
- are we talking tutors?
- how to find a good tutor that is worth the $$?

I have kids at Deal and supplement. I'm moving one to a Big3 school. Why do we supplement? 1) My kids get As at Deal with very little effort. "Little effort" this past year meaning that they had one standing assignment per week but otherwise did no homework outside of class. They never studied for a test or quiz at home. Rarely (I'd say once a month) did they do a math problem outside of school. 2) They always get 5's on the 2 PARCCs (math and ELA). They score in the 99% of the city and high 90s in their upper NW schools on the PARCC. 3) their writing (as learned in DCPS) is fairly abysmal.
So we supplement at home and during the summer with extra ELA work and writing and they take writing classes outside of school during the year and during the summer.
I know MANY Deal parents who are supplementing heavily this summer. Most don't advertise it (and others look at us like we have two heads) but there is a ton of summer supplementing going on. Many kids taking classes outside of Deal, doing work-books, working with tutors, etc. etc.

This … and then Deal teachers or any teachers at the west of the park schools were much of this goes on get credit, test scores on PARCC etc and the rest of the city (admin) look to copy what they are doing for the other schools, when in reality it is nothing, it is the parents. This is why this whole testing and comparing schools is ridiculous, it means neither low or high students get what they need and in reality it is all a farce, or as DC teachers like to say "smoke and mirrors". The involved parents know the real deal with DCPS.

Agreed that a big problem is lack of challenge and programs for kids working above PARCC level.

One way parents can help fix this: opt out of the PARCC. Take the focus away from testing.

How would that help?

Exactly how would this help? I would think that if more kids scored 5 on PARCC, it would support more rigorous curriculum or programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are supplementing heavily after 6th grade at Deal because my child (who just got 4 straight quarters worth of As at Deal after being a top student at a JKLM) can barely write and had ZERO idea what either an adverb or a preposition were.

That is strange. My kid did not get all As, writes very well (all taught in school), and can diagram a sentence correctly after being shown the concept because he knows all the parts of speech. He certainly knows what an adverb and preposition are, and I just looked in his class notebook from Deal and that is all in there. There were taught. How did your kid manage to get an A and not learn what my kid learned at Deal (especially since my kid did not get an A)? Were you a PITA parent demanding an A because your kid (who can't write and didn't learn what was taught in class) is a "top student"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, it just isn't true that students can't apply to DCPS application high schools without PARCC scores, not now, not ever.

We've opted out since 3rd grade yet child was admitted to SWW this year. We submitted SAT scores instead of PARCC with Walls application. Child took SAT in fall of 7th grade to submit as required component of Johns Hopkins CTY summer camp and scored high enough (low 600s after some prep) to access the camp. You just explain that you opted out on the Walls application, with supporting documentation (e.g. letter to Deal admins stating that you are opting out, perhaps with a few lines about why).

Students coming in from other public school systems or privates routinely apply to DCPS application high schools WITHOUT PARCC SCORES, along with the small and growing number of applicants whose parents have opted them out of PARCC.

Thank you for sharing this. This is good to know.
Hopefully they will update the SWW application page with this info!

Seriously doubt they will change the application page info. Senior DCPS admins want parents to think that kids in DCPS have to take PARCC, for political reasons. Don't buy it, kids don't. Of course they don't - DCPS can't keep highly qualified home schooled students, kids in privates, kids moving to DC at random times from applying to SWW, and gaining access for that matter, without risking litigation of course.

But one must have some kind of standardized test scores, and yes they can require it. The PP just chose SAT over PARCC.

Also, your kid has a right to attend school in DC: you do not have a right to be admitted to a selective enrollment high school.

Unless you are being denied because you are in a protected class, DCPS cannot be sued for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to counter-balance: several Deal kids have transferred to DCI!

How are these kids coping with the language aspect of DCI? I thought DCI kids were all bilingual already or at least very advanced. Who would switch to an immersion school in MS?

DCI offers beginner language courses for those new to the language. Depending on your skill, you can take additional courses in whatever language. DCI is not an immersion school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are supplementing heavily after 6th grade at Deal because my child (who just got 4 straight quarters worth of As at Deal after being a top student at a JKLM) can barely write and had ZERO idea what either an adverb or a preposition were.

That is strange. My kid did not get all As, writes very well (all taught in school), and can diagram a sentence correctly after being shown the concept because he knows all the parts of speech. He certainly knows what an adverb and preposition are, and I just looked in his class notebook from Deal and that is all in there. There were taught. How did your kid manage to get an A and not learn what my kid learned at Deal (especially since my kid did not get an A)? Were you a PITA parent demanding an A because your kid (who can't write and didn't learn what was taught in class) is a "top student"?

Wow, sensitive much? Why are you such a jerk?
My kids got all As, including in ELA. I met some of their teachers once or twice (some never) and never emailed any of them about any grades. And my kids didn't have any "class notebooks" from their Deal ELA classes so I have no idea what you're talking about there. They didn't come home with any ELA paperwork at the end of the year. And they were never taught about adverbs or prepositions at Deal (or at our top rated DCPS).

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Who said there is widespread cheating at Deal? Those comments were about Wilson.

Also, I believe the categories are formatives, homework and summatives.

Don’t forget the 50% policy

What is the 50% policy?

The only one I know of is that "No more than 50% of a summative task may be completed outside of class for seventh and eighth grade students."

It's at HS. A student who makes even a basic attempt at an assignment or test (anything but leaving it blank) receives 50%.

The same policy is in effect in MCPS too; it is a trend in public high schools to reflect effort and attempts. Or, some say, to boost graduation rates.

Terrible policy. Just take it and even if I get only 1 question right, I’ll get a 50%. This is grade inflation. Then Ill cheat and can still pass without knowing anything. Then take that into the equation for DC ranking (graduation rates) from 1-5 for their schools.

That may be the policy in MCPS, but that is absolutely NOT a policy at Deal. My kids have the zeros on assignments to prove it, sadly.

Yest but the gradebook automatically counts zeros as 50%, there is no such thing as a zero. The kids know ask them...

This is inaccurate

+1 Just look at Aspen and you can see that is not true. A zero is a zero.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are supplementing heavily after 6th grade at Deal because my child (who just got 4 straight quarters worth of As at Deal after being a top student at a JKLM) can barely write and had ZERO idea what either an adverb or a preposition were.

That is strange. My kid did not get all As, writes very well (all taught in school), and can diagram a sentence correctly after being shown the concept because he knows all the parts of speech. He certainly knows what an adverb and preposition are, and I just looked in his class notebook from Deal and that is all in there. There were taught. How did your kid manage to get an A and not learn what my kid learned at Deal (especially since my kid did not get an A)? Were you a PITA parent demanding an A because your kid (who can't write and didn't learn what was taught in class) is a "top student"?

Wow, sensitive much? Why are you such a jerk?
My kids got all As, including in ELA. I met some of their teachers once or twice (some never) and never emailed any of them about any grades. And my kids didn't have any "class notebooks" from their Deal ELA classes so I have no idea what you're talking about there. They didn't come home with any ELA paperwork at the end of the year. And they were never taught about adverbs or prepositions at Deal (or at our top rated DCPS).

Well, then that is really odd. You should talk to the school because it sound like you had a dud of a teacher and they should know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, it just isn't true that students can't apply to DCPS application high schools without PARCC scores, not now, not ever.

We've opted out since 3rd grade yet child was admitted to SWW this year. We submitted SAT scores instead of PARCC with Walls application. Child took SAT in fall of 7th grade to submit as required component of Johns Hopkins CTY summer camp and scored high enough (low 600s after some prep) to access the camp. You just explain that you opted out on the Walls application, with supporting documentation (e.g. letter to Deal admins stating that you are opting out, perhaps with a few lines about why).

Students coming in from other public school systems or privates routinely apply to DCPS application high schools WITHOUT PARCC SCORES, along with the small and growing number of applicants whose parents have opted them out of PARCC.

Thank you for sharing this. This is good to know.
Hopefully they will update the SWW application page with this info!

Seriously doubt they will change the application page info. Senior DCPS admins want parents to think that kids in DCPS have to take PARCC, for political reasons. Don't buy it, kids don't. Of course they don't - DCPS can't keep highly qualified home schooled students, kids in privates, kids moving to DC at random times from applying to SWW, and gaining access for that matter, without risking litigation of course.

But one must have some kind of standardized test scores, and yes they can require it. The PP just chose SAT over PARCC.

Also, your kid has a right to attend school in DC: you do not have a right to be admitted to a selective enrollment high school.

Unless you are being denied because you are in a protected class, DCPS cannot be sued for this.

PP's point was that DCPS can't make you take the stupid 10-hour long PARCC to apply to Walls.

If they try to keep your kid our of Walls for failing to submit a PARCC score, they are risking litigation. They do allow alternative standardized test scores to be submitted, a variety including PSAT and SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to counter-balance: several Deal kids have transferred to DCI!

How are these kids coping with the language aspect of DCI? I thought DCI kids were all bilingual already or at least very advanced. Who would switch to an immersion school in MS?

DCI offers beginner language courses for those new to the language. Depending on your skill, you can take additional courses in whatever language. DCI is not an immersion school.

What is DCI shpiel then if it is not an immersion school?
Don't Hardy and DEal offer beginner language courses as well? And if you excel in one language, they also make you take an additional one.

[Anonymous]

It may be just me, but I think having my child take the SAT or other standardized test independently is more burdensome than just taking the PARCC.

I am not aware of anyone being apply to sit for the Walls test without a standardized test score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to counter-balance: several Deal kids have transferred to DCI!

How are these kids coping with the language aspect of DCI? I thought DCI kids were all bilingual already or at least very advanced. Who would switch to an immersion school in MS?

DCI offers a variety of levels in each track from absolute beginner to advanced. This is to meet the needs of kids who come from outside the feeder system, those who were less advanced within the feeder system, and for those students who wish to add an additional language as an elective option.

[Anonymous]

No booster wants to hear it, but advanced language classes at DCI aren't very advanced.

The biggest and most obvious problem is that kids can't learn to speak languages via one-way immersion, without native-speaking peers or ethnic communities involved. Few YuYing and Stokes graduates can speak Chinese and French passably let alone decently, and many of the graduates of the Spanish immersion feeders aren't a lot better. Also, so many of the immersion parents don't take the immersion seriously lower down the chain - they land in feeders mainly to avoid crappy DCPS by-right schools. As long as the push factors are stronger than the pull, the parents' collective commitment to immersion can only be so strong. Finally, the DCI feeders aren't well established. Most have only existed for a decade. They're still ironing out many kinks, particularly related to staff retention.

I speak fluent Mandarin, decent French and some Spanish. I recently volunteered at a series of events serving advanced students on all three advanced language tracks.

Sorry DCI parents, but I wasn't remotely impressed. My own bilingual children will go private after JKLM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to counter-balance: several Deal kids have transferred to DCI!

How are these kids coping with the language aspect of DCI? I thought DCI kids were all bilingual already or at least very advanced. Who would switch to an immersion school in MS?

DCI offers a variety of levels in each track from absolute beginner to advanced. This is to meet the needs of kids who come from outside the feeder system, those who were less advanced within the feeder system, and for those students who wish to add an additional language as an elective option.

Deal offers similar options for Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Spanish looks better at Deal than DCI.

Lack of flexibility on the part of admins and department heads can be a real problem for a variety of high-performers in DCPS, kids accomplished in languages, music, math, whatever.

System oozes paternalism on the part of system leaders who've grown too comfortable dictating to low SES families.

Too slowly changing.