DCI or Deal

[Anonymous]

Why doesn't DCI offer advanced classes? What are they afraid of?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought this thread was helpful until everyone started bickering about whether people in upper NW are rich or merely UMC. Never change, DCUM.

I'm sorry that there are so many poor families in this city. But as somebody who grew up poor (FARMs through middle school, full Pell Grant for college), I don't we should be letting DCPS, the DCPCS Board and our city council members off the hook as UMC parents for failing to serve most families well across the city. We rejected DCI - the program articulates lofty academic goals but clearly hasn't been implemented with much administrative chutzpah, explaining lackluster demographics vs. those of the feeder schools.

Weak leadership and management of our public schools relative to some other US cities just isn't inspiring.

Lackluster demographics ?? What on earth are you talking about?

DCI students’ racial, ethnic and economic status reflects all its the feeders combined. LAMB and YY are filled with more affluent students (I assume that’s what you mean by ‘favorable’ demographics), the other feeders are not. This shouldn’t be a surprise.

Wow, lackluster demographics. Impressive euphemism there.

And...More than 85% of each feeder school goes to DCI; more than 90% of feeder school students overall.

Total BS. At least a third of YY families aren't bothering with DCI, same at LAMB. Almost everybody tries for Washington Latin and many go for BASIS.

What’s the percentage of Deal feeder students that go on to Deal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn't DCI offer advanced classes? What are they afraid of?

The usual. Super liberal admins fear classes that are mostly white and UMC. They also fear an achievement gap that widens because advanced students are pushed. Admins love to claim that the IB Middle Years Program curriculum doesn't support academic tracking and do their best to convince parents that this is true. Total BS. The international school I taught at in Asia recently, "a full IB Diploma school" (fail to earn the IBD means failure to graduate) tracks extensively for humanities, science, math and languages and has done so since the 1970s.

DCI does track for math because it's harder to resist doing so than for humanities. If a kid has already mastered the math being taught, they have a strong tendency to become disruptive in class, and parents are very likely to bitch to teachers and admins. DCI admins don't want to deal with thoroughly bored and disruptive math students, so they reluctantly track for math. They also track for language skills in the several target languages, because failing to do so would be totally unworkable in a school with lottery based admissions.

[Anonymous]

We’re happy it’s the final year at Deal. It has gone down hill very quickly this year. The teachers seem depressed, the head principal can not communicate, key staff have left mid-year, a lot of out of control kids. Its like a poorly run day care facility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’re happy it’s the final year at Deal. It has gone down hill very quickly this year. The teachers seem depressed, the head principal can not communicate, key staff have left mid-year, a lot of out of control kids. Its like a poorly run day care facility.

I kind of feel the same way. Why are the kids so out of control? I've heard so many crazy stories from my kids and their friends this year. Why does the school have such a great reputation? I don't get it. I feel like it's fairly mediocre and I'm not a picky parent!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’re happy it’s the final year at Deal. It has gone down hill very quickly this year. The teachers seem depressed, the head principal can not communicate, key staff have left mid-year, a lot of out of control kids. Its like a poorly run day care facility.

I kind of feel the same way. Why are the kids so out of control? I've heard so many crazy stories from my kids and their friends this year. Why does the school have such a great reputation? I don't get it. I feel like it's fairly mediocre and I'm not a picky parent!

Because its student body is the most proficient in the city.

[Anonymous]

1500 middle school students is a lot.

Pyle middle school in Bethesda is the same size, do they have the same issues?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+100. UMC families around the city pay plenty in DC tax and deserve schools that work well for their children, as do less affluent families.

Our city politicians sit on their hands even as DCPS pours crazy sums into school renovations without bothering to make the policy and programmatic changes that render most by-right schools attractive to most in-boundary residents. They used to do this for dramatically under-subscribed high schools like Dunbar. Now they do it for failing middle schools like Eliot-Hine (currently under renovation for around $80 million). System leaders pour vast resources into school buildings that sit mostly empty, and will stay that way once the work is done.

Meanwhile, Deal gets more trailers and DCI doesn't bother to appropriately track for humanities or sciences because they can attract droves of desperate DCPS families without doing this. Fantastic.

All of this, but the bolded makes a good point. For most DCI families, their options are a poorly performing DCPS school, moving, or DCI. The first option is a non starter, and the second is only an option for parents who can afford it and are willing to sacrifice other things such as commute, savings, etc. DCI only has to be good enough to be better than their DCPS because many parents can't or won't move. Hence the admin's take it or leave it attitude.

Yes, exactly. But then Deal only has to be so good as well, in a city without any test-in public middle schools. Things are very different in Boston, Chicago and NYC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’re happy it’s the final year at Deal. It has gone down hill very quickly this year. The teachers seem depressed, the head principal can not communicate, key staff have left mid-year, a lot of out of control kids. Its like a poorly run day care facility.

I kind of feel the same way. Why are the kids so out of control? I've heard so many crazy stories from my kids and their friends this year. Why does the school have such a great reputation? I don't get it. I feel like it's fairly mediocre and I'm not a picky parent!

The building was designed to accommodate a student body only two-thirds the size of the current group. Without first-rate admins on top of discipline, which Deal lacks, it was an accident waiting to happen.

Something's gotta give.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’re happy it’s the final year at Deal. It has gone down hill very quickly this year. The teachers seem depressed, the head principal can not communicate, key staff have left mid-year, a lot of out of control kids. Its like a poorly run day care facility.

Our overall experience has been very different—and I haven’t heard these concerns from other parents outside of DCUM—but I suspect a lot of this varies depending on grade/team.

I’m really stumped about the communication comment, though; I think Ms. Neal is an incredibly effective communicator, so I’m interested to know what you’re seeing/not seeing on this front.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Deal, all Latino kids have to check white or black on their forms. All Middle Eastern kids have to check white or Asian. It’s more diverse than those flawed numbers suggest.

Not true. What forms could that be? Not the ones for enrollment.

If you look at the enrollment form, the only race options are American Indian, Asian, Hawaiian, White, and Black. https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/sites/dcpsenrollment/files/page_content/attachments/DCPS_Enrollment_Form_19-20_FINAL_1.pdf

When people talk about Deal’s supposed lack of diversity, they often don’t dig into the fact that the data doesn’t include Latinos or Middle Eastern kids separately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Deal, all Latino kids have to check white or black on their forms. All Middle Eastern kids have to check white or Asian. It’s more diverse than those flawed numbers suggest.

Not true. What forms could that be? Not the ones for enrollment.

If you look at the enrollment form, the only race options are American Indian, Asian, Hawaiian, White, and Black. https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/sites/dcpsenrollment/files/page_content/attachments/DCPS_Enrollment_Form_19-20_FINAL_1.pdf

When people talk about Deal’s supposed lack of diversity, they often don’t dig into the fact that the data doesn’t include Latinos or Middle Eastern kids separately.

These correspond to the Census race and ethnicity categories—it’s not specific to Deal. When I used to recruit participants for federally funded studies, we first ask about ethnicity (Latino or non-Latino), and then about race, same as is done here. This is because you can be Latino and be any race.

[Anonymous]

Yes, of course. But people don’t often include this info when they complain about Deal’s lack of diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, of course. But people don’t often include this info when they complain about Deal’s lack of diversity.

Except a PP poster included Latino numbers

Deal is 8% at-risk, 28% black, 16% Latino, 47% white. (Data from DC School Report Card.) 5% ELL, 10% students with disabilities.
DCI is 19% at-risk, 39% black, 38% Latino, 15% white. 8% ELL, 14% students with disabilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, of course. But people don’t often include this info when they complain about Deal’s lack of diversity.

Except a PP poster included Latino numbers

Deal is 8% at-risk, 28% black, 16% Latino, 47% white. (Data from DC School Report Card.) 5% ELL, 10% students with disabilities.
DCI is 19% at-risk, 39% black, 38% Latino, 15% white. 8% ELL, 14% students with disabilities.

No one said there was no diversity at DEAL. People have said that it’s the least diverse and becoming less diverse every year.
In terms of middle school in the city, DEAL is the richest and most white in the DCPS and charter system - so the least diverse in minorities and socioeconomic class.