Are chances to get into DCI without feeder near zero?
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Anonymous
They already do have a programmatic feeder pattern-- https://dcps.dc.gov/page/sy23-24-school-feeder-patterns This study was published in July 2022 and showed actual enrollment of 86,991 students for SY 21-22 (first page of Executive Summary doc). The audited enrollment numbers for SY 22-23, released by OSSE in April 2023, showed 91,288 (PK3-12, not counting Adult and Ungraded categories). So already, the projections in this study are significantly below actual enrollment. Also, where it says the overall population of DC declined by 20,043 from 2020 to 2021, the 2022 Vintage Census charter shows a decline of just over 2,000. Then it goes back up again, so the figure for 2022 is nearly 1,000 more people than 2020. And DC's fertility rate increased to 48.7. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/states/dc/DC1.htm So you can see that several key elements of this analysis are altered by an additional year of data. Try doing a little research before you make assertions. If you follow the footnotes in the study, you can update a lot of the data. |
Anonymous
Not sure what your agenda, might just be petty boosterism, who knows? In any case, you do young families a great disservice with your henny-pennying, but clearly you are getting off on it for some agenda. Gross. |
Anonymous
Wow, so rude. Sorry but the study's projections are not consistent with the updated data. I don't know why it would be harmful to any young family to state the facts. What's harmful is posting out of projections as if they are still reliable. |
Anonymous
That is just not true. There are plenty of families that try to lottery into feeders in the upper grades, for the three feeders that allow that. Some of those students already speak Spanish or French in their homes. |
Anonymous
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I would put another spin on this - as it becomes harder to get into BASIS, more families are staying with DCI as they do not have other options. I think you are mistaken. DCI is not seen as the "consolation prize" for those who did not get into BASIS. DCI is the preferred school for most of the families from our feeder school. |
Anonymous
Overall decreases won't make a dent in middle schools that feed from elementaries with long waitlists. Maybe the feeder waitlists may get smaller, but if there's still a waitlist, then there's still more demand than seats with room to spare. Mundo Verde excluded, of course. |
Anonymous
I think you are mistaken. DCI is not seen as the "consolation prize" for those who did not get into BASIS. DCI is the preferred school for most of the families from our feeder school. DP. I truly don’t understand why because DCI doesn’t seem to be performing well. I’m not at all saying Basis should be the preference, but why DCI would be preferred over other options is puzzling. |
Anonymous
DP. I truly don’t understand why because DCI doesn’t seem to be performing well. I’m not at all saying Basis should be the preference, but why DCI would be preferred over other options is puzzling. I've thought about this a lot. I think it's a more sophisticated form of marketing and sales tactics like the elementary schools do. It's not expeditionary learning and Montessori, it's IB and extracurriculars. But US families know so little about the IB program that they just listen to the marketing and aren't savvy enough to actually evaluate how the school is performing, so they compare it to their IB and equate better than with good. Parents from our feeder actually say things like, "I believe it's very hands on, Montessori like learning" and are shocked when I tell them every kid gets a Chromebook. They just don't know and don't care to go looking for problems. |
Anonymous
| /\ their in-bounds. Two uses of IB in one paragraph! |
Anonymous
The current guidance from DCI is yes. If a student from a feeder school is wait listed, they have feeder preference on that waitlist over students who do not come from a feeder school. |
Anonymous
I've thought about this a lot. I think it's a more sophisticated form of marketing and sales tactics like the elementary schools do. It's not expeditionary learning and Montessori, it's IB and extracurriculars. But US families know so little about the IB program that they just listen to the marketing and aren't savvy enough to actually evaluate how the school is performing, so they compare it to their IB and equate better than with good. Parents from our feeder actually say things like, "I believe it's very hands on, Montessori like learning" and are shocked when I tell them every kid gets a Chromebook. They just don't know and don't care to go looking for problems. We have a kid who did all of MS at DCI and just started HS. We (both parents) also work for local school systems. We know a lot about all the DC schools (DCPS, charter, private & religious), and we checked out our options, including touring BASIS & Latin while DS was in 4th grade (and also, because we work in schools, sneaking into tours of DCI & a couple other schools with other prospective 6th graders though DS was going into 5th. Just to have an idea of what we'd be missing if we didn't go to DCI. And with all that research, we didn't even apply to BASIS or Latin, and though DCI is definitely not perfect by a long shot, we don't regret keeping DS there for MS at all. And so far his HS experience is much better than MS, which we weren't sure would be the case. Full disclosure we did apply to SWW and Banneker for HS, and DS got into Banneker but not SWW, and because Banneker's IB program is a sub-program and there's no guarantee that if you accept there you'll be in the IB track, we stayed with DCI. And so far so good. And now that DS is playing sports with older HS students and we're meeting the parents of those older students and talking to them about their high school experiences, we're also feeling good about the decision. DCI isn't for every student, but it's working well for ours and the vast majority of parents and students we meet/talk to. We're grateful to be there. |
Anonymous
I've thought about this a lot. I think it's a more sophisticated form of marketing and sales tactics like the elementary schools do. It's not expeditionary learning and Montessori, it's IB and extracurriculars. But US families know so little about the IB program that they just listen to the marketing and aren't savvy enough to actually evaluate how the school is performing, so they compare it to their IB and equate better than with good. Parents from our feeder actually say things like, "I believe it's very hands on, Montessori like learning" and are shocked when I tell them every kid gets a Chromebook. They just don't know and don't care to go looking for problems. Ooops, messed up the formatting; fixed here: We have a kid who did all of MS at DCI and just started HS. We (both parents) also work for local school systems. We know a lot about all the DC schools (DCPS, charter, private & religious), and we checked out our options, including touring BASIS & Latin while DS was in 4th grade (and also, because we work in schools, sneaking into tours of DCI & a couple other schools with other prospective 6th graders though DS was going into 5th. Just to have an idea of what we'd be missing if we didn't go to DCI. And with all that research, we didn't even apply to BASIS or Latin, and though DCI is definitely not perfect by a long shot, we don't regret keeping DS there for MS at all. And so far his HS experience is much better than MS, which we weren't sure would be the case. Full disclosure we did apply to SWW and Banneker for HS, and DS got into Banneker but not SWW, and because Banneker's IB program is a sub-program and there's no guarantee that if you accept there you'll be in the IB track, we stayed with DCI. And so far so good. And now that DS is playing sports with older HS students and we're meeting the parents of those older students and talking to them about their high school experiences, we're also feeling good about the decision. DCI isn't for every student, but it's working well for ours and the vast majority of parents and students we meet/talk to. We're grateful to be there. |
Anonymous
Ooops, messed up the formatting; fixed here: We have a kid who did all of MS at DCI and just started HS. We (both parents) also work for local school systems. We know a lot about all the DC schools (DCPS, charter, private & religious), and we checked out our options, including touring BASIS & Latin while DS was in 4th grade (and also, because we work in schools, sneaking into tours of DCI & a couple other schools with other prospective 6th graders though DS was going into 5th. Just to have an idea of what we'd be missing if we didn't go to DCI. And with all that research, we didn't even apply to BASIS or Latin, and though DCI is definitely not perfect by a long shot, we don't regret keeping DS there for MS at all. And so far his HS experience is much better than MS, which we weren't sure would be the case. Full disclosure we did apply to SWW and Banneker for HS, and DS got into Banneker but not SWW, and because Banneker's IB program is a sub-program and there's no guarantee that if you accept there you'll be in the IB track, we stayed with DCI. And so far so good. And now that DS is playing sports with older HS students and we're meeting the parents of those older students and talking to them about their high school experiences, we're also feeling good about the decision. DCI isn't for every student, but it's working well for ours and the vast majority of parents and students we meet/talk to. We're grateful to be there. |