New to DCI at middle school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCI is one of the very few public schools anywhere offering IB for ALL. I can't believe the entitlement that some parents are showing acting like it should be a private school for highly privileged students. It seeks to provide a world-class education to everyone! If your child really needs such a rarefied set of classes, why not send them to WIS?

THIS. I cannot believe the entitlement either. They expect a new program be ready for their child from the getgo to score high 30’s/40. They think that their special child will score this high when the majority of WIS students who come from wealthy, educated, and involved parents don’t even score this.

Please send your child to WIS. We don’t need your sense of entitlement here. DCI will do fine and continue to get better. More and more families are sending their kids there and staying (95% retention). I say this as an UMC parent in a spanish immersion feeder with a high performing student.

[Anonymous]

PP above, pipe down, spare us your knee-jerk name-calling.

Entitled parents who want....an IB Diploma program on a par with those found in other public school systems in this Metro area. That's just not a tall order. WIS doesn't offer the highest-performing program in the DC Metro area, not by a long shot. The best program is at Richard Montgomery in MoCo. Second best is probably Bethesda-Chevy Chase (not test-in), third best Washington-Liberty in Arlington (not test-in either).

Apparently, your kid hasn't even hit DCI but yet you're certain that parents pushing for a full-fledged IBD program are elitist jerks. Some of us at DCI would really just like to see a lot less teacher turnover, better leadership, serious prep for IB Diploma exams, and enough course offerings to make for a well-rounded program (for now, arts offerings are paltry). We also want teachers to get in the habit of providing students with "past exam papers" to study, the norm in IBD programs, leaving families serious about scoring high to scrounge for prep materials on the Internet. Not reasonable.

Please get a grip and a clue. Better yet, go away. IB Diploma for all is something of a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP above, pipe down, spare us your knee-jerk name-calling.

Entitled parents who want....an IB Diploma program on a par with those found in other public school systems in this Metro area. That's just not a tall order. WIS doesn't offer the highest-performing program in the DC Metro area, not by a long shot. The best program is at Richard Montgomery in MoCo. Second best is probably Bethesda-Chevy Chase (not test-in), third best Washington-Liberty in Arlington (not test-in either).

Apparently, your kid hasn't even hit DCI but yet you're certain that parents pushing for a full-fledged IBD program are elitist jerks. Some of us at DCI would really just like to see a lot less teacher turnover, better leadership, serious prep for IB Diploma exams, and enough course offerings to make for a well-rounded program (for now, arts offerings are paltry). We also want teachers to get in the habit of providing students with "past exam papers" to study, the norm in IBD programs, leaving families serious about scoring high to scrounge for prep materials on the Internet. Not reasonable.

Please get a grip and a clue. Better yet, go away. IB Diploma for all is something of a joke.

Go move your child to those school districts then. You are someone who is clueless about your privilege who doesn’t get it.

The 2 schools you listed above, which you seem delighted to say are not test in, are basically the equivalent of test in because the neighborhoods are expensive and only those with money can afford it.

Bethesda/CC I don’t need to say more, been around since 1926. Average median income at Liberty boundaries is 130k, graduated it’s 1st class in 1925 so been around about 75 years like B/CC. Good schools are intimately tied to higher priced neighborhoods where families can buy their way in. Those that can’t are priced out. You don’t need 40-50k to go there, just spend a cool 2- 3+ million for your house and go to either school that has had over 75 years to develop and improve.

Charters take everyone from all over the city. You also have no idea how difficult it is to develop a new IB program in general, let alone in both a middle and high school simultaneously. I suggest you go talk to the folks at B/CC and WL. Ask them how long it took them to attract and retain experienced teachers, their trials and tribulations, how long it took them to offer a full program of IB courses.

I grew up poor and am now UMC. You have no clue. I suggest you get a grip on your privilege and entitlement.

[Anonymous]

You're painting with too broad a brush, letting DCPC off the hook for running with a chaotic IB-for-all program at DCI. The approach has a lot in common with the much-maligned honors for all at Wilson. DCI offers too little challenge too late for the kids with the potential to score high on IB exams, mainly because there's no academic tracking for humanities or sciences in MS, and not nearly enough in HS. These are policy decisions that DC ed leaders could have made differently.

All of the students attending high-performing IB Diploma programs in the burbs aren't wealthy, not by a long shot. The programs at Washington-Liberty and Richard Montgomery (county-wide draw) are down to earth, with plenty of moderately priced condo housing within the catchment areas. What's different in the burbs is that admins and parents don't pretend that great socioeconomic and racial diversity is the key to strong IB Diploma prep. They grasp that 2-way language immersion and MS academic tracking are critical to success. What's happening at DCI is that most of the students taking higher level IBD language exams are bombing them, scoring 2s and 3s on a 1-7 grading scale.

I didn't grow up privileged either, earning the Diploma at one of the first public schools in the country to offer it and attending college on a Pell Grant.

[Anonymous]

"Entitled" is code for "ambitious" in the DC public charter and DCPS spheres = unwelcome.

Off to the burbs or a private, thanks, for wanting your tax dollars spent on providing suitable challenge for your high-achieving student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Entitled" is code for "ambitious" in the DC public charter and DCPS spheres = unwelcome.

Off to the burbs or a private, thanks, for wanting your tax dollars spent on providing suitable challenge for your high-achieving student.

+1. Seriously, Heaven forbid you expect the school system to challenge your child. It’s endemic in the DC school system, and no it’s not entitled to expect your public schools to provide an appropriate education for all students.

[Anonymous]

+100. It's also not entitled to want IB Diploma curriculum implemented as intended by the IB organization half a century ago. Diploma studies are supposed to serve students with an academic bent bound for competitive bachelors degree programs around the world, with particular emphasis on speaking and understanding second and third languages. The curriculum just wasn't created to serve every American capable of earning a HS diploma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+100. It's also not entitled to want IB Diploma curriculum implemented as intended by the IB organization half a century ago. Diploma studies are supposed to serve students with an academic bent bound for competitive bachelors degree programs around the world, with particular emphasis on speaking and understanding second and third languages. The curriculum just wasn't created to serve every American capable of earning a HS diploma.

This. DCI chose to implement an IB program when they could have implemented a more traditional high school (like Latin) with more enhanced immersion offerings and AP courses. IB for all is like AP for all, it forces programs that are designed to provide advanced level work to be watered down so that everyone can handle them. But not every kid SHOULD be in AP courses or an IB program, average and below average students should be in courses that are designed to challenge students at that level. That is what an appropriate public school education should do.

I truly think a school like DCI (and the feeders TBH) serves a very specific subset of parents best. Middle class parents with average students get a "elite" education with an acceptable SES cohort, but without the true rigor that would make it clear that their kids are actually average students. So they see their kids getting As in an IB program and are thrilled, whereas parents with above average kids see their kids coasting without having to put any work in and are frustrated. I know I personally don't have the patience to watch my very smart, but very lazy, kid coast in middle or high school (I coasted and it taught me so many bad work habits that I'm still struggling to unlearn), so unless DCI changes significantly in the next few years, we'll be one of those families moving or doing private.

[Anonymous]

It's confusing to throw the word entitled around. Wouldn't a higher bar help everyone if appropriate supports and supplementation are provided across the bar, to low- and high-achieving students. Neglecting the needs of high achieving families ultimately could weaken a school.

Of course, that means starting with the feeders, so admittedly the vision will take time to achieve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+100. It's also not entitled to want IB Diploma curriculum implemented as intended by the IB organization half a century ago. Diploma studies are supposed to serve students with an academic bent bound for competitive bachelors degree programs around the world, with particular emphasis on speaking and understanding second and third languages. The curriculum just wasn't created to serve every American capable of earning a HS diploma.

This. DCI chose to implement an IB program when they could have implemented a more traditional high school (like Latin) with more enhanced immersion offerings and AP courses. IB for all is like AP for all, it forces programs that are designed to provide advanced level work to be watered down so that everyone can handle them. But not every kid SHOULD be in AP courses or an IB program, average and below average students should be in courses that are designed to challenge students at that level. That is what an appropriate public school education should do.

I truly think a school like DCI (and the feeders TBH) serves a very specific subset of parents best. Middle class parents with average students get a "elite" education with an acceptable SES cohort, but without the true rigor that would make it clear that their kids are actually average students. So they see their kids getting As in an IB program and are thrilled, whereas parents with above average kids see their kids coasting without having to put any work in and are frustrated. I know I personally don't have the patience to watch my very smart, but very lazy, kid coast in middle or high school (I coasted and it taught me so many bad work habits that I'm still struggling to unlearn), so unless DCI changes significantly in the next few years, we'll be one of those families moving or doing private.

Same here. IB for all makes me nervous for my bilingual and somewhat lazy kid. We passed on our DCI spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's confusing to throw the word entitled around. Wouldn't a higher bar help everyone if appropriate supports and supplementation are provided across the bar, to low- and high-achieving students. Neglecting the needs of high achieving families ultimately could weaken a school.

Of course, that means starting with the feeders, so admittedly the vision will take time to achieve.

The problem is that "appropriate supports and supplementation" to support IB Diploma Higher Level worthy language acquisition cost a bomb over the years, way beyond what any American public school system can and will support. The problem can't be solved with time absent the requisite inputs. There are some feeder and DCI families willing and able to provide the right inputs, but a small minority. I'd wager 10-15%. This is why most of the DCI students who take HL IBD language exams get low scores.

The right inputs for HL IBD language exam scores come in several forms, or a combination of them, all out of reach for the majority of feeder and DCI families.

Form #1: Adults in the family mainly speak the language at home and require the student to do the same.

Form #2: Family hosts au pairs who speak the target language to the student for many years, and requires him/her to consistently answer in the target language.

Form #3: Student attends bona fide immersion summer sleep-away programs for years.

Form #4: Student enjoys long visits to countries where the target language is spoken and communicates in the language for hours daily.

[Anonymous]

DCI admins, teachers and counselors don't care if seniors take HL language exams. Counselors steer kids to more manageable subjects for HL (kids need to take 3-4 HL exams to earn teh diploma), e.g. history and math. The school's fine with kids scoring 2s-5s on SL language exams.

Prep for HL language exams does add up. DCI doesn't sponsor high fliers who can't afford immersion summer camps, doesn't fundraise for camp support. It's a shame.

[Anonymous]

DCI is an amazing school and we are thrilled that our child will enjoy another year there. I wonder what the point of all the vitriol is—-don’t like it? Don’t go there.

[Anonymous]

Vitriol? Come on, PPs are merely explaining how International Baccalaureate studies work at DCI to a new family. Fact is, DCI doesn't have a strong public IBD program yet when it could. Our tax dollars pay for chronically weak IBD programs at Banneker and Eastern and a middling program at DCI. When we don't care for how our tax dollars are spent, we can say so (little good though it may do us).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's confusing to throw the word entitled around. Wouldn't a higher bar help everyone if appropriate supports and supplementation are provided across the bar, to low- and high-achieving students. Neglecting the needs of high achieving families ultimately could weaken a school.

Of course, that means starting with the feeders, so admittedly the vision will take time to achieve.

The problem is that "appropriate supports and supplementation" to support IB Diploma Higher Level worthy language acquisition cost a bomb over the years, way beyond what any American public school system can and will support. The problem can't be solved with time absent the requisite inputs. There are some feeder and DCI families willing and able to provide the right inputs, but a small minority. I'd wager 10-15%. This is why most of the DCI students who take HL IBD language exams get low scores.

The right inputs for HL IBD language exam scores come in several forms, or a combination of them, all out of reach for the majority of feeder and DCI families.

Form #1: Adults in the family mainly speak the language at home and require the student to do the same.

Form #2: Family hosts au pairs who speak the target language to the student for many years, and requires him/her to consistently answer in the target language.

Form #3: Student attends bona fide immersion summer sleep-away programs for years.

Form #4: Student enjoys long visits to countries where the target language is spoken and communicates in the language for hours daily.

This. No point pretending that DCI students can score high on HL diploma exams without any of these inputs in their backgrounds. I'm tired of the charade perpetrated by admins and other parents.