Reply to DC's School Report Cards are up. Any surprises?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have not heard good things about DCI. Their test scores are better than other public MS and HS in the city, but you would expect that based on demographics. From parents who actually have kids there, I have heard that there are staffing issues, the kids spend too much time on Chromebooks, and that beyond the language opportunities which of course are highly valued by families who attend DCI charters, people are not very impressed. There is a perception it is better than their IB MS and HS, but we are talking about families who live in Brookland, LeDroit Parks etc. -- they don't have good IB options for elementary school, much less MS and HS.

As for Capitol Hill families (of which we are one), the main advantage of DCI is the HS option, given how weak Eastern continues to be. However, for MS, DCI seems no better than Stuart-Hobson, beyond the language options. If you look at the "growth to proficiency" ratings on the report card site, S-H and DCI have similar scores. For us, S-H is much closer and offers my kids the option of attending school with neighbors, and participating in activities with kids they've known since they were in kindergarten. S-H has the clear edge.

Neither of these school is amazing, and there are both charter and DCPS options that are worse (I wouldn't send my kid to Two Rivers Young or to Wheatley Education Campus for middle, for instance).

You can find better test scores at upper NW schools though for white and students who are not economically disadvantaged, Deal and Hardy don't do much better -- they just have smaller percentages of students who are economically disadvantaged.

I don't say this to boost S-H -- we are looking at privates for MS and if we get into Latin for 5th we're going there (on the fence about BASIS, I think I'm leaning towards S-H but I don't know, it's a tough choice). Latin is appealing to me because I really like their HS program and like the overall educational approach which is academically challenging but not insanely intense, with good balance. But I don't look at DCI and wish we'd sent our kids to one of the immersion characters we did in fact get into for PK, which would have required long commutes and where I have some reluctance about foundational academics.

So from my perspective as a DC parent, charters have no real advantage over DCPS. There are some good charters but they aren't light years better than our DCPS option -- they are about the same for elementary and middle and then better for HS but not light years better.

I feel bad for the DCI families we know who live on the Hill IB for good elementaries and decent middles, who have spent the last 8 years commuting to Brookland or NW only to be disappointed in DCI. Their kids speak a second language, which is awesome and I know they value that, but it hasn't just solved education for them. All of the DCI families we know are looking at privates right now, just like we are. Which is too bad, honestly.

Public education in DC is hard.[/quote]

I don’t believe anyone is really looking at privates as it is just cheaper to move and/or get a tutor or Mathnesium/Kumon etc. From my experience, kids at dci can learn 3 languages, not just 2. Math and stem is very strong at DCI, and it offers a strong arts program as well. Plus it has a great feeder with IB Diploma. I don’t know a single family at dci who is “disappointed” but I’m sure they exist. I tutor a lot of kids around the city and the language program at dci is excellent. You can take multiple classes in a foreign language, not just language classes.  I do think dci caters to the top and bottom and ignores the middle.  In contrast, Latin is great for a middle of the road kid academically. Not too tough but good enough. I heard amazing things about what they can do for the kids at the bottom. They’re doing some great things. Basis is great academically not great for anything else IMHO.  I don’t know anything about Hill elementary schools really but I do know a ton about Hill middle schools sadly. I would not characterize them as decent. [b]Every family I tutor is (rightly) concerned that their child is not getting the education they need. If you’re worried about “foundational academics” i would be really worried about any of the Hill middle schools. Sorry.[/b] [/quote]

This is the sad truth for a lot of the middle of the road DCPS schools (it's obviously true for the worst ones). We also know parents who are just pushing through, kind of worried, and hoping for an application high school on the other side. and I talked to a teacher at one of these mediocre DCPS schools who said that her hands are tied for various reasons, and she knows they are sending kids to Walls and Banneker who are totally unprepared for rigorous work.

Parents and teachers seem to be on the same side of this (wanting more challening work from DCPS for the middle school students who can handle it) and for some reason central office is taking the opposite side.

How do we solve that problem?[/quote]

Very sadly I’ve heard this over and over as well. Lots of sadness relating to having smart kids held back due to administrative issues and those kids just getting bored of school over time. [/quote]

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