Best Charter High School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Latin is obviously the best hands down, unless your kid is a math whiz who isn't prone to claustrophobia, so can handle the bad BASIS building.

Problem is the odds of being admitted to Latin are bad in every grade. Without an older sibling to pull your kid in, your chances are miniscule.

This really speaks to me, bc I think both our kids may be math whizzes who are not prone to claustrophobia, and I think that means that we really need to consider BASIS. Is it crazy to consider it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rich families in DC send their kids to private school. Poor families move. Poor families who cannot afford to move need to take advantage of special programs within DC (usually targeted to black and brown families) to get a leg up. If you are somehow to poor to move but also white (a demographic that according to DCUM, doesn't really exist), you are doomed.

Such an odd claim. DS spent a lot of time at giant beach houses belonging to friends from JR when he was there. Our HHI is $500 K, and DS was the least well off of his immediate friend group.

If you have spent time in the private school world, you know that there is an entire level of wealth that does not exist in publics. At GDS, the median household income is $1 million per year, and there are many families that are well beyond that.

Past a certain threshold of wealth, families just dont do public. I mean, I'm happy that everyone feels successful and has beach houses. But there is another level out there.

-former private school teacher with kids in DCPS

Sure but wealth means more than the top .1% of families. Families in the top 10% in the DC are also wealthy.

I like the fact that my kid is not growing up in a bubble of ultra wealth, privilege, and entitlement in addition to a homogenous crowd.

We do fine without the above, don’t feel any need to keep up with the Jones. The sign that reveals we have some money is our travel plans which is a high priority for us. The beach house we keep on the down low.

I'm not dissing public schools! I love them and went through them myself. However it feels weird to take offense to the PPs statement that rich people send their kids to private school... They do. Note this recent thread in the Money forum about the difference in lifestyle going from an HHI of $500k to $1million... Most common answer was that private school tuition became a no brainer.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1181439.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Latin is obviously the best hands down, unless your kid is a math whiz who isn't prone to claustrophobia, so can handle the bad BASIS building.

Problem is the odds of being admitted to Latin are bad in every grade. Without an older sibling to pull your kid in, your chances are miniscule.

This really speaks to me, bc I think both our kids may be math whizzes who are not prone to claustrophobia, and I think that means that we really need to consider BASIS. Is it crazy to consider it?

If your kid is good at math you’d be crazy not to consider it.

Latin, DCI, and the like are terrible at teaching math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rich families in DC send their kids to private school. Poor families move. Poor families who cannot afford to move need to take advantage of special programs within DC (usually targeted to black and brown families) to get a leg up. If you are somehow to poor to move but also white (a demographic that according to DCUM, doesn't really exist), you are doomed.

Such an odd claim. DS spent a lot of time at giant beach houses belonging to friends from JR when he was there. Our HHI is $500 K, and DS was the least well off of his immediate friend group.

If you have spent time in the private school world, you know that there is an entire level of wealth that does not exist in publics. At GDS, the median household income is $1 million per year, and there are many families that are well beyond that.

Past a certain threshold of wealth, families just dont do public. I mean, I'm happy that everyone feels successful and has beach houses. But there is another level out there.

-former private school teacher with kids in DCPS

Sure but wealth means more than the top .1% of families. Families in the top 10% in the DC are also wealthy.

I like the fact that my kid is not growing up in a bubble of ultra wealth, privilege, and entitlement in addition to a homogenous crowd.

We do fine without the above, don’t feel any need to keep up with the Jones. The sign that reveals we have some money is our travel plans which is a high priority for us. The beach house we keep on the down low.

I'm not dissing public schools! I love them and went through them myself. However it feels weird to take offense to the PPs statement that rich people send their kids to private school... They do. Note this recent thread in the Money forum about the difference in lifestyle going from an HHI of $500k to $1million... Most common answer was that private school tuition became a no brainer.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1181439.page

PP here. I don’t take offense. My point is we are wealthy and don’t send our kid to private school. Not all wealthy people send their kids to private school and we are far from the only one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Latin is obviously the best hands down, unless your kid is a math whiz who isn't prone to claustrophobia, so can handle the bad BASIS building.

Problem is the odds of being admitted to Latin are bad in every grade. Without an older sibling to pull your kid in, your chances are miniscule.

This really speaks to me, bc I think both our kids may be math whizzes who are not prone to claustrophobia, and I think that means that we really need to consider BASIS. Is it crazy to consider it?

If your kid is good at math you’d be crazy not to consider it.

Latin, DCI, and the like are terrible at teaching math.

I would add that it helps if your kids do well with a more traditional teacher-run lectures while students take notes, and test taking that relies more on rote memorization. (No shade on BASIS, and I'm not saying it's *only* memorization, but some kids may struggle or be bored in that environment, others really thrive.)

[Anonymous]

Very happy at DCI. That being said, the Spanish program is by far the strongest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Latin is obviously the best hands down, unless your kid is a math whiz who isn't prone to claustrophobia, so can handle the bad BASIS building.

Problem is the odds of being admitted to Latin are bad in every grade. Without an older sibling to pull your kid in, your chances are miniscule.

This really speaks to me, bc I think both our kids may be math whizzes who are not prone to claustrophobia, and I think that means that we really need to consider BASIS. Is it crazy to consider it?

If your kid is good at math you’d be crazy not to consider it.

Latin, DCI, and the like are terrible at teaching math.

I would add that it helps if your kids do well with a more traditional teacher-run lectures while students take notes, and test taking that relies more on rote memorization. (No shade on BASIS, and I'm not saying it's *only* memorization, but some kids may struggle or be bored in that environment, others really thrive.)

+1. Really look at the way your child learns, and then figure out if that way is the best fit for BASIS.

[Anonymous]

You don't have to be a math whiz. I have one child who's strong in math but no whiz (got 4s on PARCCs in elementary school) and still finds Basis math easy. This isn't DCPS, but it isn't Thomas Jefferson either - after all, it's open lottery. Even average students will be fine if they are willing to do the work.

[Anonymous]

Yep. I wish there were more high school charter options that didn’t have feeder preferences. We need more charter high schools.

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid looking for 9th grade options next year. Here's the thing about "good" charter high schools: it's close to impossible to access them as a 9th grader. And unlike DCPS (which offers a bunch of selective schools that begin in 9th), charters cannot establish any threshold criteria for admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep. I wish there were more high school charter options that didn’t have feeder preferences. We need more charter high schools.

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid looking for 9th grade options next year. Here's the thing about "good" charter high schools: it's close to impossible to access them as a 9th grader. And unlike DCPS (which offers a bunch of selective schools that begin in 9th), charters cannot establish any threshold criteria for admissions.

Do we? There are some decent high school only charters, such as WLA and Thurgood Marshall. But since they can’t operate selective admissions, they operate through aggressive attrition. Like the PP said, the problem is that it’s basically impossible to create a decent lottery-admissions high school. You need a boundary or feeders or selective admissions.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, maybe what I’m saying is we need some more quality HS options. Maybe the way to get there is more selective DCPS HS options. Would love to see Walls clone itself in a different part of the city like Ward 5 or 7.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, maybe what I’m saying is we need some more quality HS options. Maybe the way to get there is more selective DCPS HS options. Would love to see Walls clone itself in a different part of the city like Ward 5 or 7.

You mean like Bard (Ward 8) or the new Banneker building (Ward 2, but on the edge of Ward 5)?

I think DCPS is thinking the same way you are: create more quality high school seats by creating more seats in selective DCPS high schools and programs throughout the city. It’s just that it’s not that easy to stand up a new school, and even expansions can be tricky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI is pretty good

+1. IB program is rigorous. Great facilities, beautiful campus, lots of extracurriculars, clubs, sports - similar to your typical suburban school.

The issue is that it’s very difficult to get in.

Sort of. DCI has often been boring for my 8th grader, who excels at STEM and doesn't want to stay for HS. Admins insist on lumping kids who work years behind grade level into the same MS English, science and social studies classes as advanced students. The arrangement leads to many classroom disruptions. 8th grade has been better than 6th and 7th because social studies classes are taught in the target language and she's finally being allowed to take more challenging math. Most of the other families don't take language as seriously as we'd like, e.g. few of the high SES families paying for summer immersion camps, and we've had good teachers quit during the school year. The HS is getting better but isn't great. Their clueless college counselors don't seem to know the basics about IBD for Americans, like doubling up on AP tests that correspond to IB subjects so kids have standardized subject test scores to submit with college applications (IBD exams aren't taken until June of senior year).

Definitely not going to disagree with your experience, but if your child tests into accelerated math and language, you can take social studies in your target language starting in 6th. My kids were placed in 7th grade math in 6th grade, and dci did a good job IMO of ensuring that only high performers are kept in that class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI is pretty good

+1. IB program is rigorous. Great facilities, beautiful campus, lots of extracurriculars, clubs, sports - similar to your typical suburban school.

The issue is that it’s very difficult to get in.

Sort of. DCI has often been boring for my 8th grader, who excels at STEM and doesn't want to stay for HS. Admins insist on lumping kids who work years behind grade level into the same MS English, science and social studies classes as advanced students. The arrangement leads to many classroom disruptions. 8th grade has been better than 6th and 7th because social studies classes are taught in the target language and she's finally being allowed to take more challenging math. Most of the other families don't take language as seriously as we'd like, e.g. few of the high SES families paying for summer immersion camps, and we've had good teachers quit during the school year. The HS is getting better but isn't great. Their clueless college counselors don't seem to know the basics about IBD for Americans, like doubling up on AP tests that correspond to IB subjects so kids have standardized subject test scores to submit with college applications (IBD exams aren't taken until June of senior year).

Definitely not going to disagree with your experience, but if your child tests into accelerated math and language, you can take social studies in your target language starting in 6th. My kids were placed in 7th grade math in 6th grade, and dci did a good job IMO of ensuring that only high performers are kept in that class.

Where do all the low-performing 7th grade math students go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, maybe what I’m saying is we need some more quality HS options. Maybe the way to get there is more selective DCPS HS options. Would love to see Walls clone itself in a different part of the city like Ward 5 or 7.

You mean like Bard (Ward 8) or the new Banneker building (Ward 2, but on the edge of Ward 5)?

I think DCPS is thinking the same way you are: create more quality high school seats by creating more seats in selective DCPS high schools and programs throughout the city. It’s just that it’s not that easy to stand up a new school, and even expansions can be tricky.

Where would DCPS find teachers for all of these schools? It's hard enough to staff the schools they already have.