Walter Reed transfer back on schedule for DCI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Problem is, their vision will turn off many, if not most, of the high SES parents in the feeder schools. Many will avoid DCI altogether. Plenty of others will use the MS as a stop on trains bound for Walls, Wilson, Banneker, the burbs and privates.

I've seen how IB courses get watered down when full Diploma studies aren't required. BASIS requires its students to pass comprehensive exams to advance from 6th to 8th grades, and HS students to pass AP tests (with 3s or better), to sidestep the watering down pitfall. The DC charter sector already has a model promoting real rigor at the HS level, because BASIS fought a long, hard political battle to build it. DCI could piggyback on BASIS' success (but they're losing most of the strongest 8th grade students to Walls anyway). At Walls, charter language immersion grads could take advanced classes in their languages, if not in the school, at George Washington Univ next door. Same with Howard U for Banneker. Wilson's AP Chinese program is coming along. DCI will have real trouble competing.

In a city where several big DCPS Taj Mahal high schools (loaded with under-used vocational training programs) sit half empty, we don't need more of the same.

It hasn't so far. And it's not like any of this is a secret -- are people at the feeders just not listening or doing their homework?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is in Chinese and he takes Chinese language daily, one elective in Chinese and Geography in Chinese.

What grade?

Not the PP but my child has the same schedule and is in the 6th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Problem is, their vision will turn off many, if not most, of the high SES parents in the feeder schools. Many will avoid DCI altogether. Plenty of others will use the MS as a stop on trains bound for Walls, Wilson, Banneker, the burbs and privates.

I've seen how IB courses get watered down when full Diploma studies aren't required. BASIS requires its students to pass comprehensive exams to advance from 6th to 8th grades, and HS students to pass AP tests (with 3s or better), to sidestep the watering down pitfall. The DC charter sector already has a model promoting real rigor at the HS level, because BASIS fought a long, hard political battle to build it. DCI could piggyback on BASIS' success (but they're losing most of the strongest 8th grade students to Walls anyway). At Walls, charter language immersion grads could take advanced classes in their languages, if not in the school, at George Washington Univ next door. Same with Howard U for Banneker. Wilson's AP Chinese program is coming along. DCI will have real trouble competing.

In a city where several big DCPS Taj Mahal high schools (loaded with under-used vocational training programs) sit half empty, we don't need more of the same.

It hasn't so far. And it's not like any of this is a secret -- are people at the feeders just not listening or doing their homework?

Come on, DCI doesn't even have a high school yet. BASIS and Latin both struggle to keep their strongest students after 8th grade. The concerns outlined above are valid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Problem is, their vision will turn off many, if not most, of the high SES parents in the feeder schools. Many will avoid DCI altogether. Plenty of others will use the MS as a stop on trains bound for Walls, Wilson, Banneker, the burbs and privates.

I've seen how IB courses get watered down when full Diploma studies aren't required. BASIS requires its students to pass comprehensive exams to advance from 6th to 8th grades, and HS students to pass AP tests (with 3s or better), to sidestep the watering down pitfall. The DC charter sector already has a model promoting real rigor at the HS level, because BASIS fought a long, hard political battle to build it. DCI could piggyback on BASIS' success (but they're losing most of the strongest 8th grade students to Walls anyway). At Walls, charter language immersion grads could take advanced classes in their languages, if not in the school, at George Washington Univ next door. Same with Howard U for Banneker. Wilson's AP Chinese program is coming along. DCI will have real trouble competing.

In a city where several big DCPS Taj Mahal high schools (loaded with under-used vocational training programs) sit half empty, we don't need more of the same.

It hasn't so far. And it's not like any of this is a secret -- are people at the feeders just not listening or doing their homework?

Come on, DCI doesn't even have a high school yet. BASIS and Latin both struggle to keep their strongest students after 8th grade. The concerns outlined above are valid.

DCI has 9th graders this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Problem is, their vision will turn off many, if not most, of the high SES parents in the feeder schools. Many will avoid DCI altogether. Plenty of others will use the MS as a stop on trains bound for Walls, Wilson, Banneker, the burbs and privates.

I've seen how IB courses get watered down when full Diploma studies aren't required. BASIS requires its students to pass comprehensive exams to advance from 6th to 8th grades, and HS students to pass AP tests (with 3s or better), to sidestep the watering down pitfall. The DC charter sector already has a model promoting real rigor at the HS level, because BASIS fought a long, hard political battle to build it. DCI could piggyback on BASIS' success (but they're losing most of the strongest 8th grade students to Walls anyway). At Walls, charter language immersion grads could take advanced classes in their languages, if not in the school, at George Washington Univ next door. Same with Howard U for Banneker. Wilson's AP Chinese program is coming along. DCI will have real trouble competing.

In a city where several big DCPS Taj Mahal high schools (loaded with under-used vocational training programs) sit half empty, we don't need more of the same.

It hasn't so far. And it's not like any of this is a secret -- are people at the feeders just not listening or doing their homework?

Wilson is never going to offer what DCI does. It's AP coursework, not an IB Diploma and the Chinese is for beginners.

[Anonymous]

AP Chinese is for beginners? Wilson offers AP, with the program getting stronger as students who began Chinese at Deal, or in elementary school, come up through the pipeline each year.

DCI will offer Standard Level IBD Chinese, but probably not Higher Level, at least in the early years. Standard Level IB Diploma is on a par with AP Chinese. My oldest child has taken both; she reports that AP Chinese was harder for the written work and IB Diploma Standard Level harder for listening/speaking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Problem is, their vision will turn off many, if not most, of the high SES parents in the feeder schools. Many will avoid DCI altogether. Plenty of others will use the MS as a stop on trains bound for Walls, Wilson, Banneker, the burbs and privates.

I've seen how IB courses get watered down when full Diploma studies aren't required. BASIS requires its students to pass comprehensive exams to advance from 6th to 8th grades, and HS students to pass AP tests (with 3s or better), to sidestep the watering down pitfall. The DC charter sector already has a model promoting real rigor at the HS level, because BASIS fought a long, hard political battle to build it. DCI could piggyback on BASIS' success (but they're losing most of the strongest 8th grade students to Walls anyway). At Walls, charter language immersion grads could take advanced classes in their languages, if not in the school, at George Washington Univ next door. Same with Howard U for Banneker. Wilson's AP Chinese program is coming along. DCI will have real trouble competing.

In a city where several big DCPS Taj Mahal high schools (loaded with under-used vocational training programs) sit half empty, we don't need more of the same.

It hasn't so far. And it's not like any of this is a secret -- are people at the feeders just not listening or doing their homework?

Wilson is never going to offer what DCI does. It's AP coursework, not an IB Diploma and the Chinese is for beginners.

Most people at a DCI feeders are there because they care deeply about language immersion or they were simply looking for an alternative to their neighborhood school.

Aside from the YY families, few at DCI have much experience or familiarity with IB curriculum, and one diploma vs another. They simply wanted a safe, high quality school where their kids could continue advanced language studies because their in-bounds middle and high schools are sub-par.

I do think many of these families will look around at their options for 9th. Some will stick with DCI and others will go elsewhere - including DCPS application and private schools.

[Anonymous]

We would consider DCI or private, it remains to be seen how the school expands - but definitely not Wilson. I'd prefer if the school wasn't so heavily Spanish, particularly DC Bi, but other strong programs make up for it.

[Anonymous]

Not impressed with planning at DCI so far. Boosters dismiss concerns in knee jerk fashion, but the concerns are real. Weak institutional knowledge of how best to implement the IB Middle Years curriculum is already bogging the program down.

It wouldn't hurt for DCI to emerge as a rival to Walls, Wilson and Banneker, but that will take much better planning, a clearer vision, and stronger leadership.

[Anonymous]

Good article and schematic of the first wave of tenants for Walter Reed complex http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/housing-complex/blog/20835350/dc-aims-to-open-school-on-walter-reed-campus-in-2017

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We would consider DCI or private, it remains to be seen how the school expands - but definitely not Wilson. I'd prefer if the school wasn't so heavily Spanish, particularly DC Bi, but other strong programs make up for it.

Why particularly DC Bi?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Problem is, their vision will turn off many, if not most, of the high SES parents in the feeder schools. Many will avoid DCI altogether. Plenty of others will use the MS as a stop on trains bound for Walls, Wilson, Banneker, the burbs and privates.

I've seen how IB courses get watered down when full Diploma studies aren't required. BASIS requires its students to pass comprehensive exams to advance from 6th to 8th grades, and HS students to pass AP tests (with 3s or better), to sidestep the watering down pitfall. The DC charter sector already has a model promoting real rigor at the HS level, because BASIS fought a long, hard political battle to build it. DCI could piggyback on BASIS' success (but they're losing most of the strongest 8th grade students to Walls anyway). At Walls, charter language immersion grads could take advanced classes in their languages, if not in the school, at George Washington Univ next door. Same with Howard U for Banneker. Wilson's AP Chinese program is coming along. DCI will have real trouble competing.

In a city where several big DCPS Taj Mahal high schools (loaded with under-used vocational training programs) sit half empty, we don't need more of the same.

I agree. Thanks for posting.

And if you're the pp who posted the info about IB programs and the differences between the certificates, thanks for that, too.

My kids are young at a feeder, so I don't have the context of how DCI developed or if they had these conversations. I do hope they have looked at what made IB public schools fail or succeed elsewhere. The suburban example posted up thread seems important if data backs it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Problem is, their vision will turn off many, if not most, of the high SES parents in the feeder schools. Many will avoid DCI altogether. Plenty of others will use the MS as a stop on trains bound for Walls, Wilson, Banneker, the burbs and privates.

I've seen how IB courses get watered down when full Diploma studies aren't required. BASIS requires its students to pass comprehensive exams to advance from 6th to 8th grades, and HS students to pass AP tests (with 3s or better), to sidestep the watering down pitfall. The DC charter sector already has a model promoting real rigor at the HS level, because BASIS fought a long, hard political battle to build it. DCI could piggyback on BASIS' success (but they're losing most of the strongest 8th grade students to Walls anyway). At Walls, charter language immersion grads could take advanced classes in their languages, if not in the school, at George Washington Univ next door. Same with Howard U for Banneker. Wilson's AP Chinese program is coming along. DCI will have real trouble competing.

In a city where several big DCPS Taj Mahal high schools (loaded with under-used vocational training programs) sit half empty, we don't need more of the same.

I agree. Thanks for posting.

And if you're the pp who posted the info about IB programs and the differences between the certificates, thanks for that, too.

My kids are young at a feeder, so I don't have the context of how DCI developed or if they had these conversations. I do hope they have looked at what made IB public schools fail or succeed elsewhere. The suburban example posted up thread seems important if data backs it up.

Go back and look at the documents from 2014 when the agreements were made between the feeder schools and DCI.

They did have those conversations, and to get their charter approved they had to come up with a model and curriculum that was a logical next step to all 5 member schools existing charters. That includes a commitment to serving all of the member school communities, and other DC students who would join DCI via the lottery. Counseling out or aiming to serve just the high SES families wasn't an option.

[Anonymous]

Yes and the PCSB may not have approved something that looked like there was a lot of counseling out. I know they asked a lot of hard questions about BASIS. PCSB wants to see charters, which are their own LEA (school district essentially) serve ALL learners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes and the PCSB may not have approved something that looked like there was a lot of counseling out. I know they asked a lot of hard questions about BASIS. PCSB wants to see charters, which are their own LEA (school district essentially) serve ALL learners.

OK, so serve ALL learners really well by requiring them to pursue the full IB Diploma. If students don't want to do that, they can vote with their feet. This happens in tried and tested public/state/government IB Diploma programs the world over.

You're not doing your weaker students (read mostly poor Latinos) any favors by offering them an empty "soft" IB vocational training option at a school without anywhere near the facilities to do it right. If you want to know what those facilities look like, visit Roosevelt, Coolidge or Dunbar.

Earning the 24 or 25 IB points to get the Diploma is hardly an insurmountable bar to clear for your hard-working, literate and numerate teenager. The challenge motivates most kids to rise to the occasion. Give me break, average points total at most of the suburban IBD programs in this Metro area are in the high 30s. The IB students at Eastern are earning the Diploma with totals in the mid 20s, and going on to elite public universities and liberal arts colleges as a result.

The tyranny of low expectations is alive and well in DCPS, and on this board. Nobody wins.