DC International School Enrollment Information

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But a 52% FARMS rate is high. Diversity is good and the kids are coming from strong schools but a high FARMS rate could mean that the school uses its time and resources tackling issues of poverty. This focus could define the culture of the school detracting from the needs of all students.

So a real International School isn't for you.

Signed,

A Teacher At One Of the Bigger International Schools In Europe

PS--I've worked at three different European International Schools, and every one of them has a significant portion of low-income students. Yes, we have the Diplomats' kids, but they are hardly a majority. Many expat children (US, UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, etc.) come from families whose parents can't afford the tuition: these parents' employers pay the tuition. In addition, we have a hefty population of "local" kids on scholarship, and these kids come in from families more impoverished than you've ever seen, and with horrible English skills. An International School classroom is not like a traditional American school environment, even in the "big" International Schools of Europe (where the I.B. program was born). If you ever go through IB English assessment guides (especially the Examiner's guides for scoring the essential Paper 1 and Paper 2), you'll see that perfect English isn't a requirement for receiving a perfectly fine score, and there is a specific reminder to examiners that they can only penalize students in ONE category for imperfect English, as long as the paper is well-organized and argued, and the student's meaning is clear (unlike in AP English, in which poor grammar hurts students quite a lot on the exam compositions). This is because the program was formed to support a VERY diverse student population. There are plenty of positives in this environment, but if you don't agree, International Schools aren't for you (not that I'm convinced all of the "International Schools" in the US are truly International anyway: I think they are more International School Lite, watered down to appease the wealthy local parents who don't truly want an International School environment...but that's another rant).

This is The USA; not Europe. Apples and oranges. Thanks for your two cents though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But a 52% FARMS rate is high. Diversity is good and the kids are coming from strong schools but a high FARMS rate could mean that the school uses its time and resources tackling issues of poverty. This focus could define the culture of the school detracting from the needs of all students.

So a real International School isn't for you.

Signed,

A Teacher At One Of the Bigger International Schools In Europe

PS--I've worked at three different European International Schools, and every one of them has a significant portion of low-income students. Yes, we have the Diplomats' kids, but they are hardly a majority. Many expat children (US, UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, etc.) come from families whose parents can't afford the tuition: these parents' employers pay the tuition. In addition, we have a hefty population of "local" kids on scholarship, and these kids come in from families more impoverished than you've ever seen, and with horrible English skills. An International School classroom is not like a traditional American school environment, even in the "big" International Schools of Europe (where the I.B. program was born). If you ever go through IB English assessment guides (especially the Examiner's guides for scoring the essential Paper 1 and Paper 2), you'll see that perfect English isn't a requirement for receiving a perfectly fine score, and there is a specific reminder to examiners that they can only penalize students in ONE category for imperfect English, as long as the paper is well-organized and argued, and the student's meaning is clear (unlike in AP English, in which poor grammar hurts students quite a lot on the exam compositions). This is because the program was formed to support a VERY diverse student population. There are plenty of positives in this environment, but if you don't agree, International Schools aren't for you (not that I'm convinced all of the "International Schools" in the US are truly International anyway: I think they are more International School Lite, watered down to appease the wealthy local parents who don't truly want an International School environment...but that's another rant).

This is The USA; not Europe. Apples and oranges. Thanks for your two cents though.

No, an International School is an International School. An apple is an apple. I wouldn't hand you an orange and call it an apple, and that's what your "International School" in the US is doing. You are foolish for not researching this, and more foolish if you pay a hefty price for the golden-apple-that-is-actually-an-orange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The leading edge classes at Yu Ying are long gone. Most of the current 5th grade started at Yu Ying in prek4.

The leading class at YY was kept at YY for 6th grade because DCI was in the works. The 2 leading YY classes are now the 2 leading classes at DCI. They are not "long gone".

But he leading YY class is on 1/4 of the current DCI population. The remaining 3/4 are not leading classes for their schools. In addition, many in YY's leading two classes did not hang around for DCI. Some did, many did not.

Unclear about your motives. over 85% of 3 classes of YY kids (its 6th, 5th, and 4th graders when DCI opened) attend DCI. Are you deliberately trying to spread misinformation or are you just a know-it-all who really doesn't???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The leading edge classes at Yu Ying are long gone. Most of the current 5th grade started at Yu Ying in prek4.

The leading class at YY was kept at YY for 6th grade because DCI was in the works. The 2 leading YY classes are now the 2 leading classes at DCI. They are not "long gone".

But he leading YY class is on 1/4 of the current DCI population. The remaining 3/4 are not leading classes for their schools. In addition, many in YY's leading two classes did not hang around for DCI. Some did, many did not.

Unclear about your motives. over 85% of 3 classes of YY kids (its 6th, 5th, and 4th graders when DCI opened) attend DCI. Are you deliberately trying to spread misinformation or are you just a know-it-all who really doesn't???

Not the PP talking about YY students middle school choices, but 2015-16 is only DCI's second year. No way could any kids who were in 4th when they opened be attending as it starts at 6th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The leading edge classes at Yu Ying are long gone. Most of the current 5th grade started at Yu Ying in prek4.

The leading class at YY was kept at YY for 6th grade because DCI was in the works. The 2 leading YY classes are now the 2 leading classes at DCI. They are not "long gone".

But he leading YY class is on 1/4 of the current DCI population. The remaining 3/4 are not leading classes for their schools. In addition, many in YY's leading two classes did not hang around for DCI. Some did, many did not.

Unclear about your motives. over 85% of 3 classes of YY kids (its 6th, 5th, and 4th graders when DCI opened) attend DCI. Are you deliberately trying to spread misinformation or are you just a know-it-all who really doesn't???

Not the PP talking about YY students middle school choices, but 2015-16 is only DCI's second year. No way could any kids who were in 4th when they opened be attending as it starts at 6th.

Kind of. Yu Ying held its fifth graders over for a year in sixth grade. Then those kids started DCI at seventh and are now eighth graders. Kids that were in fourth grade for that weird year are now sixth graders at DCI. So now there are three years of kids at DCI even though the school is only two years old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But a 52% FARMS rate is high. Diversity is good and the kids are coming from strong schools but a high FARMS rate could mean that the school uses its time and resources tackling issues of poverty. This focus could define the culture of the school detracting from the needs of all students.

So a real International School isn't for you.

Signed,

A Teacher At One Of the Bigger International Schools In Europe

PS--I've worked at three different European International Schools, and every one of them has a significant portion of low-income students. Yes, we have the Diplomats' kids, but they are hardly a majority. Many expat children (US, UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, etc.) come from families whose parents can't afford the tuition: these parents' employers pay the tuition. In addition, we have a hefty population of "local" kids on scholarship, and these kids come in from families more impoverished than you've ever seen, and with horrible English skills. An International School classroom is not like a traditional American school environment, even in the "big" International Schools of Europe (where the I.B. program was born). If you ever go through IB English assessment guides (especially the Examiner's guides for scoring the essential Paper 1 and Paper 2), you'll see that perfect English isn't a requirement for receiving a perfectly fine score, and there is a specific reminder to examiners that they can only penalize students in ONE category for imperfect English, as long as the paper is well-organized and argued, and the student's meaning is clear (unlike in AP English, in which poor grammar hurts students quite a lot on the exam compositions). This is because the program was formed to support a VERY diverse student population. There are plenty of positives in this environment, but if you don't agree, International Schools aren't for you (not that I'm convinced all of the "International Schools" in the US are truly International anyway: I think they are more International School Lite, watered down to appease the wealthy local parents who don't truly want an International School environment...but that's another rant).

This is The USA; not Europe. Apples and oranges. Thanks for your two cents though.

No, an International School is an International School. An apple is an apple. I wouldn't hand you an orange and call it an apple, and that's what your "International Schoolu " in the US is doing. You are foolish for not researching this, and more foolish if you pay a hefty price for the golden-apple-that-is-actually-an-orange.

Yawn--I'm simply not interested in debating this with you. I have no interest in your perspective of international schools in the US. Thanks for playing!

[Anonymous]

It's hard to imagine a real adult saying, "Thanks for playing," in real life. Do you go through life saying this to people out loud? Not even my very-mouthy 8 year old does this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The leading edge classes at Yu Ying are long gone. Most of the current 5th grade started at Yu Ying in prek4.

The leading class at YY was kept at YY for 6th grade because DCI was in the works. The 2 leading YY classes are now the 2 leading classes at DCI. They are not "long gone".

But he leading YY class is on 1/4 of the current DCI population. The remaining 3/4 are not leading classes for their schools. In addition, many in YY's leading two classes did not hang around for DCI. Some did, many did not.

Unclear about your motives. over 85% of 3 classes of YY kids (its 6th, 5th, and 4th graders when DCI opened) attend DCI. Are you deliberately trying to spread misinformation or are you just a know-it-all who really doesn't???

Not the PP talking about YY students middle school choices, but 2015-16 is only DCI's second year. No way could any kids who were in 4th when they opened be attending as it starts at 6th.

Kind of. Yu Ying held its fifth graders over for a year in sixth grade. Then those kids started DCI at seventh and are now eighth graders. Kids that were in fourth grade for that weird year are now sixth graders at DCI. So now there are three years of kids at DCI even though the school is only two years old.

That weird year wasn't the first year of DCI though. It was an 'extra' year of YY for those kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's hard to imagine a real adult saying, "Thanks for playing," in real life. Do you go through life saying this to people out loud? Not even my very-mouthy 8 year old does this.

Wow--your retorts are so...stinging!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's hard to imagine a real adult saying, "Thanks for playing," in real life. Do you go through life saying this to people out loud? Not even my very-mouthy 8 year old does this.

Wow--your retorts are so...stinging!

Wow--your ire is so... awkward!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's hard to imagine a real adult saying, "Thanks for playing," in real life. Do you go through life saying this to people out loud? Not even my very-mouthy 8 year old does this.

Wow--your retorts are so...stinging!

Wow--your ire is so... awkward!

Lol!

[Anonymous]

I am pretty sure the DCI hater is a prospective pk3 kid trying to make people less interested in Yu Ying and other feeders. None of the trash talk makes any sense really either.

Also kids in DCI feeders grew up together. They had amazing elementary educations. In our feeder, I can see that there are farm kids, but by the very nature of an immersion school, these parents are very, very dedicated and the school is close-knit and wonderful.

Remember that you can't trust people's motives on DCUM. I don't care whether you attend DCI or not, but we are excited and happy at the prospect of sending out kids there soon!

[Anonymous]

I don't see any haters on this thread. Discussing the demographics of the school - and whether or not that may pose some challenges to the school is a fair question.

I think some of the PPs were genuinely surprised that the FARMs rate is as high as it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's hard to imagine a real adult saying, "Thanks for playing," in real life. Do you go through life saying this to people out loud? Not even my very-mouthy 8 year old does this.

Wow--your retorts are so...stinging!

Wow--your ire is so... awkward!

Lol!

NP here. This is the saddest thing I've ever seen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see any haters on this thread. Discussing the demographics of the school - and whether or not that may pose some challenges to the school is a fair question.

I think some of the PPs were genuinely surprised that the FARMs rate is as high as it is.

It's not really surprising, nor will it be surprising when it goes down. I believe DCB is the largest source of kids right now. MV is not there at all.

DCB and Stokes have high FARMs numbers. YY's are low, but were higher in the initial classes and those kids are now at DCI. Also those initial YY classes (now at DCI, mostly) were small, like 18-30 kids, total. They had combined classes for the leading grade for a while. Stokes moved to Brookland in 2008 and that is when it first got some mention on this board, as Brookland parents got interested. Its FARM numbers are much lower in the lower grades. And YY has huge numbers in the 4th and below, 4 classes per grade in most cases, with 6 classes in the current 3rd grade.

So, it stands to reason --because Stokes FARM % is going down in younger grades, because MV will start to send, and because YY younger grades are big and low FARM, that FARM rate will go down at DCI.

I know less about DCB and LAMB, but these schools are older and I would think they would have more stable FARM rates from year to year. MV too as it was 'hot' from the beginning.