DCI vs Latin Cooper
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
My DCI high schooler says their smallest class has been six students (an elective in their language) to about 22 max. Except PE which can run up to 25. Lots of smaller classes. Upper teens at most. |
Anonymous
If you are in Stokes French, then you are basically guaranteed a spot at DCI. Stokes French has 20 guaranteed spots at DCI. And DCI has an additional 30 French spots for 6th grade, which equals a total of 50 spots. Stokes families get first dibs on those extra 30 spots. If you do not get one of the 20 guaranteed spots at midnight on match day, DCI will usually clear the Stokes waitlist by noon the next day. Stay at Stokes, and go to DCI. |
Anonymous
Stats and Linear Algebra, sounds fantastic, like Bronx Science or TJ! But the inconvenient truth is that most of the highest-performing Latin students still leave for Walls, J-R, privates, the burbs etc., to join a much larger cohort of high-performing high school students. Latin's a fine school, but the high-performing cohort there still isn't big, just a dozen kids per cohort bound for highly competitive colleges (those admitting in the single digits and teens). At Walls, four or five times that many are in each cohort. DCI is still somewhat untested, with so few graduating classes to date. Neither school tracks much in middle school, meaning that preparation for subjects like stats and Linear Algebra really isn't there. Come on, hardly anybody takes math past AP Calc (let alone BC calc) in either program. |
Anonymous
| Neither DCI nor Latin Cooper has the recourses to be all that great. Six of one, half dozen of the other. |
Anonymous
| My DCI middle schooler has been in advanced math (+grade level) and knows a child allowed to attend +2 level. If kids are advanced, they can get more challenging courses. Kids who do well in their language track can start a second language in 7th too. |
Anonymous
|
Yes, but DCI is only so great. Teachers aren't paid or trained well, many leave each year. There isn't enough challenge in the middle school, IB exams aren't taken very seriously and kids aren't encouraged to double up on APs. ECs are mediocre.
|
Anonymous
What do you mean by "recourses"? I've never heard this word used in a similar context. If you say six of one, it's clear you don't have kids in one or both places. They are not at all similar, even if they are the decent middle school options available to many families living in the city. The difference in family engagement strategies, approaches to tech, etc. are just different. And better or worse depending on what you want. |
Anonymous
I figured it was a typo and PP meant to write resources. |
Anonymous
Yes there are differences, but similarities that don't inspire, too. Neither school tracks academically across core subjects in middle school, a problem for advanced learners. Weak English, science and social studies students are lumped together in all the same middle school classes as strong ones. Neither pays teachers well, due to shoe-string charter budgets. Both experience fairly high teacher turnover, with the odd teacher quitting mid-year. Neither offers outstanding ECs, like serious instrumental music instruction or ensembles, again due to more severe budget constraints in a traditional public school. Both primarily serve students who commute at least half an hour to reach them, even an hour, meaning that your kid is unlikely to be attending with neighborhood friends. Neither attracts native speakers to language classes outside Spanish. But if your expectations are modest and in line with reality, you may be satisfied at DCI or Latin Cooper. |
Anonymous
| +1 |
Anonymous
I would agree that the strongest schools in the burbs are better but for the city, they are the strongest EOTP. No school in the city tracks English, science, or social studies so there is that. But IB programs are very strong in ELA and writing esp if you go the IB diploma track which is a track and you have to do a required mini-thesis. DCI is going to be the closest to what is offered in the burbs with facilities and EC’s. They have a ton of EC’s. Sure no instruments or orchestra but outside of that a lot of offerings. Also in terms of facilities, they have bio and chem labs so kids actually get labs and lectures. It’s no secret that the spanish track is the way to go at DCI. Lots of native families, strongest track, and high performers basically grouped with other high performers to take more courses in the language. No official tracking but unofficially that is what it is. We can easily move to the burbs but immersion is a high priority for us. BTW if you want that in the burbs, it’s a lottery too and no well tracked progression from K-12th like here. It’s a hodgepodge of elementary schools by lottery, hard to get into, and they don’t feed into definitive middle or high schools at all. Lastly, lots of kids take metro rather than the school bus in the burbs. That’s a plus in my book because kids are more independent, get around on their own, etc…I guess if you live in CH by eastern market, it might be an hour commute but for lots of families who are north of that, it’s 1/2 hour or less. We are 3 minutes from the red line in NE so easy for our kid. Neighborhood friends only exist in ward 3 schools in middle and high school. EOTP kids go to all different schools. It’s not a big deal since they are so self sufficient with metro and public transportation. |
Anonymous
| You're making it sound like IBD at DCI is on a par with the best suburban programs in the DMV. Untrue. I have nieces and nephews in IB programs in MoCo so I know that you're incorrect in thinking that there's no well tracked progression from K-12 in the burbs for immersion. My siblings' kids did Chinese immersion at College Gardens before Robert Frost MS for partial immersion (automatic feed). They've had a good many native speakers (like our family) in their classes all along. It's not difficult to test into Richard Montgomery's IBD program for Chinese and BCC has IBD for all in-boundary students who meet prerequisites. In the better suburban programs, kids can't land in IBD classes if they haven't cleared established academic bars down the chain like they can at DCI. Same story in Arlington and Fairfax. IBD FOR ALL only works so well whatever sugarcoating you want to apply. I'm prepared to believe that Latin offers more HS rigor overall, and that Latin Cooper's future HS might, too. |
Anonymous
In Fairfax, Arlington & Loudoun kids don't need to test into GT programs to access middle school honors classes in core subjects or IB Diploma programs. Like in MoCo, students need to earn certain grades in pre-IB classes to access IB classes. In VA, teachers are paid and trained better than at DCI. OP, unless you're all fired up about Spanish immersion, I'd go with Latin Cooper. Latin has been around a lot longer than DCI and has a much better college admissions track record, which Latin Cooper can piggyback off of. But neither DCI nor Latin (let alone Latin Cooper) offers serious extra-curriculars as compared to the burbs. If you're aiming high in college admissions, you need to seek out your own ECs and pay for them in DC charter. You probably also need to pay for decent college counseling. That's how it works. |
Anonymous
Latin doesn't have great college admissions record. They lose many of the high performing kids after middle school. Also AP kids are a dime a dozen, even at the high performing schools in the burbs. You stand out much more and get noticed with IB if you do well. |
Anonymous
| Not buying it for applicants to the most highly competitive US colleges. I have 2 teens who earned IB Diplomas and one who followed the AP curriculum. I had the IBD students double up on AP exams for several subjects. Without the AP exam scores, they would have been applying to colleges mid senior year with scores for just the 2 Standard Level exams they could take after junior year. They couldn't take their several IBD Higher Level exams until 4-6 months AFTER they'd applied to college. My kid who followed the AP curriculum got into the best college of the three. I'm sure IB Diploma students stand out and get noticed at second tier colleges without many scores to submit. That doesn't seem to be true for top colleges. |