Hardy vs. DCI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suggest that all the unhappy former YY families start your own thread about YY. Or is it just 1 or 2 families who are vocal on DCUM and posting repeatedly?

If you don’t have a kid at DCI, then STFU.

Trust me, it's the same few posters over and over and over again. Interesting back stories to two of them, i.e., why they are so bitter......

[Anonymous]

If the IBD exams aren't graded until after kids have applied to college, do they have any impact on college admissions? For example, what is the value of getting an IB Diploma if you are already in college when it arrives? For example, I know families who want their kids to get the IB Diploma so they can attend college in Europe. Do kids have to wait a year before applying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the IBD exams aren't graded until after kids have applied to college, do they have any impact on college admissions? For example, what is the value of getting an IB Diploma if you are already in college when it arrives? For example, I know families who want their kids to get the IB Diploma so they can attend college in Europe. Do kids have to wait a year before applying?

You can get college credit or test out of courses just like with AP scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the IBD exams aren't graded until after kids have applied to college, do they have any impact on college admissions? For example, what is the value of getting an IB Diploma if you are already in college when it arrives? For example, I know families who want their kids to get the IB Diploma so they can attend college in Europe. Do kids have to wait a year before applying?

You can get college credit or test out of courses just like with AP scores.

+1. The IB diploma is more widely recognized in the world than just taking AP classes.

In addition, it’s a comprehensive and encompassing curriculum. See link below.

https://blog.prepscholar.com/ib-curriculum-ib-diploma-requirements

AP courses are a hodge podge of courses and students can take whatever AP course they want. There is no core AP course requirements and thus no AP “diploma”. In addition, an IB curriculum has a strong emphasis on writing because many of the tests are essay based.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal is hardly the gold standard for public middle schools in this Metro area. The school is over capacity by more than 130%, doesn't track academically outside of math and the campus is littered with classroom trailers. If we had public middle school offerings in this city that could compete with even middling echelon suburban schools, DCI admins would come under far more pressure to up their game.

This is hilarious. So troll says that no one leaves DCI because they have no other choice. The Deal families on here post they chose DCI over Deal. So now that the first statement has been proven false the DCI haters say Deal isn’t that good to begin with although it’s the best middle school in the city.

So now what? Let’s see everyone should move to the burbs? You mean in FCPS where there is massive grade inflation and 80% of the kids make honors society (fact)? Or MCPS where kids can retake tests multiple times, don’t have to hand in assignments on time and can later still get credit? Yes let’s do that.

At least in the IB diploma track, you can’t do grade inflation or dumb down the curriculum where everyone gets an A because it’s graded by 3rd parties.

I so enjoy all these posters who don’t have kids art Deal going around in circles.

What do you actually know about the IB Diploma curriculum? Their subject tests are graded by 3rd parties the summer AFTER the kids has graduated, as long as 9 months AFTER the kid has applied to college. Eastern HS on Cap Hill has offered IB Diploma for 10 years now, without much in the way of improvement. Most of their IBD students actually fail to achieve the diploma. It's possible to take one or two IB Diploma exams junior year--not the case until a decade back--but that's it.

Sounds like the point is that offerings are slim in the DC public middle schools aisle. Who could argue with that.

So your only goal I’m assuming is to get into a good college? I feel sorry for you.

Our goal for DC is to get a broad based education and the IB diploma curriculum is a good one. In addition, it develops strong writing skills which is sadly lacking in many public school’s curriculum. There is even a requirement for an in depth paper.

I went the AP route in high school, took a lot of courses, got college credit, etc... But we are very interested in the IB program and diploma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the IBD exams aren't graded until after kids have applied to college, do they have any impact on college admissions? For example, what is the value of getting an IB Diploma if you are already in college when it arrives? For example, I know families who want their kids to get the IB Diploma so they can attend college in Europe. Do kids have to wait a year before applying?

You can get college credit or test out of courses just like with AP scores.

+1. The IB diploma is more widely recognized in the world than just taking AP classes.

In addition, it’s a comprehensive and encompassing curriculum. See link below.

https://blog.prepscholar.com/ib-curriculum-ib-diploma-requirements

AP courses are a hodge podge of courses and students can take whatever AP course they want. There is no core AP course requirements and thus no AP “diploma”. In addition, an IB curriculum has a strong emphasis on writing because many of the tests are essay based.

American students don't need IB Diplomas to enroll in top European universities. AP works.

There's much to recommend IB Diploma studies, with their inter-disciplinary focus, but the timing of the exams vis a vis US college applications senior year definitely isn't one of them. As a result, IB Diploma students commonly double up on exams, taking a number of AP tests that correspond with IB subjects they've studied. I did that in high school and it's still done today.

These days, IBD students can petition their schools, and even IB Geneva, to take 2 or 3 IBD subject exams early, in the spring of junior year in HS. But IBD students usually apply to college by submitting "Predicted IBD Subject Exam" grades furnished by teachers. Not a great system, since the grades kids earn on IB exams tend to be a tad higher than predicted grades.

AP students can now take enough exams to earn various awards AP Capstone, AP Scholars, AP Certificate, something of a AP diploma system.

https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/awards-recognitions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal is hardly the gold standard for public middle schools in this Metro area. The school is over capacity by more than 130%, doesn't track academically outside of math and the campus is littered with classroom trailers. If we had public middle school offerings in this city that could compete with even middling echelon suburban schools, DCI admins would come under far more pressure to up their game.

This is hilarious. So troll says that no one leaves DCI because they have no other choice. The Deal families on here post they chose DCI over Deal. So now that the first statement has been proven false the DCI haters say Deal isn’t that good to begin with although it’s the best middle school in the city.

So now what? Let’s see everyone should move to the burbs? You mean in FCPS where there is massive grade inflation and 80% of the kids make honors society (fact)? Or MCPS where kids can retake tests multiple times, don’t have to hand in assignments on time and can later still get credit? Yes let’s do that.

At least in the IB diploma track, you can’t do grade inflation or dumb down the curriculum where everyone gets an A because it’s graded by 3rd parties.

I so enjoy all these posters who don’t have kids art Deal going around in circles.

What do you actually know about the IB Diploma curriculum? Their subject tests are graded by 3rd parties the summer AFTER the kids has graduated, as long as 9 months AFTER the kid has applied to college. Eastern HS on Cap Hill has offered IB Diploma for 10 years now, without much in the way of improvement. Most of their IBD students actually fail to achieve the diploma. It's possible to take one or two IB Diploma exams junior year--not the case until a decade back--but that's it.

Sounds like the point is that offerings are slim in the DC public middle schools aisle. Who could argue with that.

So your only goal I’m assuming is to get into a good college? I feel sorry for you.

Our goal for DC is to get a broad based education and the IB diploma curriculum is a good one. In addition, it develops strong writing skills which is sadly lacking in many public school’s curriculum. There is even a requirement for an in depth paper.

I went the AP route in high school, took a lot of courses, got college credit, etc... But we are very interested in the IB program and diploma.

You might want to attend an open house at a Metro area school with an IBD program that started 25 or 30 years ago, e.g. Richard Montgomery HS in Rockville or Washington-Liberty in Arlington. DCI hasn't employed seasoned IDD admins, so you want to take what theirs tell you about IBD with a grain of salt. They don't know some basics or elite college admissions tricks specific to IBD. You can always contact Geneva HQ directly with questions.

Strong writing skills can be difficult to develop with a cohort of middle school kids who mostly work behind grade level in your kid's humanities classes. Teachers focus on helping those kids test proficient on PARCC ELA. It's not uncommon for high SES DCI middle school families to hire writing tutors. Some team up to do this privately. That's what we did in 6th grade, with another family, before leaving DCI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal is hardly the gold standard for public middle schools in this Metro area. The school is over capacity by more than 130%, doesn't track academically outside of math and the campus is littered with classroom trailers. If we had public middle school offerings in this city that could compete with even middling echelon suburban schools, DCI admins would come under far more pressure to up their game.

This is hilarious. So troll says that no one leaves DCI because they have no other choice. The Deal families on here post they chose DCI over Deal. So now that the first statement has been proven false the DCI haters say Deal isn’t that good to begin with although it’s the best middle school in the city.

So now what? Let’s see everyone should move to the burbs? You mean in FCPS where there is massive grade inflation and 80% of the kids make honors society (fact)? Or MCPS where kids can retake tests multiple times, don’t have to hand in assignments on time and can later still get credit? Yes let’s do that.

At least in the IB diploma track, you can’t do grade inflation or dumb down the curriculum where everyone gets an A because it’s graded by 3rd parties.

I so enjoy all these posters who don’t have kids art Deal going around in circles.

What do you actually know about the IB Diploma curriculum? Their subject tests are graded by 3rd parties the summer AFTER the kids has graduated, as long as 9 months AFTER the kid has applied to college. Eastern HS on Cap Hill has offered IB Diploma for 10 years now, without much in the way of improvement. Most of their IBD students actually fail to achieve the diploma. It's possible to take one or two IB Diploma exams junior year--not the case until a decade back--but that's it.

Sounds like the point is that offerings are slim in the DC public middle schools aisle. Who could argue with that.

So your only goal I’m assuming is to get into a good college? I feel sorry for you.

Our goal for DC is to get a broad based education and the IB diploma curriculum is a good one. In addition, it develops strong writing skills which is sadly lacking in many public school’s curriculum. There is even a requirement for an in depth paper.

I went the AP route in high school, took a lot of courses, got college credit, etc... But we are very interested in the IB program and diploma.

You might want to attend an open house at a Metro area school with an IBD program that started 25 or 30 years ago, e.g. Richard Montgomery HS in Rockville or Washington-Liberty in Arlington. DCI hasn't employed seasoned IDD admins, so you want to take what theirs tell you about IBD with a grain of salt. They don't know some basics or elite college admissions tricks specific to IBD. You can always contact Geneva HQ directly with questions.

Strong writing skills can be difficult to develop with a cohort of middle school kids who mostly work behind grade level in your kid's humanities classes. Teachers focus on helping those kids test proficient on PARCC ELA. It's not uncommon for high SES DCI middle school families to hire writing tutors. Some team up to do this privately. That's what we did in 6th grade, with another family, before leaving DCI.

Lots of Deal and Wilson families also have tutors. Writing is very weak to nonexistent in DCPS.

[Anonymous]

IB diploma sounds great at DCI, on paper. You need strong oversight for a strong diploma program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deal is hardly the gold standard for public middle schools in this Metro area. The school is over capacity by more than 130%, doesn't track academically outside of math and the campus is littered with classroom trailers. If we had public middle school offerings in this city that could compete with even middling echelon suburban schools, DCI admins would come under far more pressure to up their game.

This is hilarious. So troll says that no one leaves DCI because they have no other choice. The Deal families on here post they chose DCI over Deal. So now that the first statement has been proven false the DCI haters say Deal isn’t that good to begin with although it’s the best middle school in the city.

So now what? Let’s see everyone should move to the burbs? You mean in FCPS where there is massive grade inflation and 80% of the kids make honors society (fact)? Or MCPS where kids can retake tests multiple times, don’t have to hand in assignments on time and can later still get credit? Yes let’s do that.

At least in the IB diploma track, you can’t do grade inflation or dumb down the curriculum where everyone gets an A because it’s graded by 3rd parties.

I so enjoy all these posters who don’t have kids art Deal going around in circles.

What do you actually know about the IB Diploma curriculum? Their subject tests are graded by 3rd parties the summer AFTER the kids has graduated, as long as 9 months AFTER the kid has applied to college. Eastern HS on Cap Hill has offered IB Diploma for 10 years now, without much in the way of improvement. Most of their IBD students actually fail to achieve the diploma. It's possible to take one or two IB Diploma exams junior year--not the case until a decade back--but that's it.

Sounds like the point is that offerings are slim in the DC public middle schools aisle. Who could argue with that.

So your only goal I’m assuming is to get into a good college? I feel sorry for you.

Our goal for DC is to get a broad based education and the IB diploma curriculum is a good one. In addition, it develops strong writing skills which is sadly lacking in many public school’s curriculum. There is even a requirement for an in depth paper.

I went the AP route in high school, took a lot of courses, got college credit, etc... But we are very interested in the IB program and diploma.

You might want to attend an open house at a Metro area school with an IBD program that started 25 or 30 years ago, e.g. Richard Montgomery HS in Rockville or Washington-Liberty in Arlington. DCI hasn't employed seasoned IDD admins, so you want to take what theirs tell you about IBD with a grain of salt. They don't know some basics or elite college admissions tricks specific to IBD. You can always contact Geneva HQ directly with questions.

Strong writing skills can be difficult to develop with a cohort of middle school kids who mostly work behind grade level in your kid's humanities classes. Teachers focus on helping those kids test proficient on PARCC ELA. It's not uncommon for high SES DCI middle school families to hire writing tutors. Some team up to do this privately. That's what we did in 6th grade, with another family, before leaving DCI.

Lots of Deal and Wilson families also have tutors. Writing is very weak to nonexistent in DCPS.

True. You hear these stories all over. Washington Latin is probably ahead of the curve. BASIS doesn't seem to do a good job with writing instruction either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the IBD exams aren't graded until after kids have applied to college, do they have any impact on college admissions? For example, what is the value of getting an IB Diploma if you are already in college when it arrives? For example, I know families who want their kids to get the IB Diploma so they can attend college in Europe. Do kids have to wait a year before applying?

They need a high school diploma to attend schools in Europe and some money. Europe doesn't care for this AP, AAP, CAAP, IB or any other B or P. Some colleges might give an entrance exam, most want the student and/or their money. Same with Europeans coming here. I don't think they ever opened the high school diploma. They just needed it for INS. MC didn't even ask for one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the IBD exams aren't graded until after kids have applied to college, do they have any impact on college admissions? For example, what is the value of getting an IB Diploma if you are already in college when it arrives? For example, I know families who want their kids to get the IB Diploma so they can attend college in Europe. Do kids have to wait a year before applying?

They need a high school diploma to attend schools in Europe and some money. Europe doesn't care for this AP, AAP, CAAP, IB or any other B or P. Some colleges might give an entrance exam, most want the student and/or their money. Same with Europeans coming here. I don't think they ever opened the high school diploma. They just needed it for INS. MC didn't even ask for one.

Maybe for second or third tier European programs. Top programs will want a raft of strong AP test scores of 4-5 or an IBD pass points total in the high 30s or 40s. Nobody's waltzing into the Sorbonne or Oxford without the scores.

[Anonymous]

Was comparing notes with a friend who has a child at Hardy and our child is at DCI about Back to School Nights. No comparison. My friend was amazed at what DCIs looked like!

[Anonymous]

OK, but....

DCI's teacher turnover rate is more than double Hardy's.

Hardy has a dynamic and sharp principal while DCI's seems disorganized, overwhelmed, unrealistic and none too energetic.

[Anonymous]

Unclear how you know this and where you got these statistics. Do you have a child at DCI?