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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DCI is taking around 25% of 6th grade applicants for French, 30% for Chinese and 0% for Spanish.

Meanwhile, BASIS takes around half of applicants for 5th grade. If you strike out at BASIS, or don't like BASIS and don't try, your odds of cracking DCI during the next lottery cycle simply aren't good.[/quote]

Yes odds are lower but better than nothing.

I[b]f you get in Basis, take it and then do lottery for 6th.  You don’t win if you don’t play.[/b]

OMG, don't do this unless your kid really wants to go to BASIS and knows what they are getting themselves into. And I say this as the parent of a happy BASIS student. When it's a bad fit, it's miserable. Save the spot for someone who will stay.

[/quote][/quote]
In our experience, BASIS isn't miserable for 5th graders. Very few of the kids mind 5th grade. Where it becomes miserable for some is 6th grade, and for even more in 7th.  And even some of the "good fit" kids who really want to go (good at math, diligent, consistently prepared to work hard) wind up disliking or hating the program. No family has any sort of obligation to "save the spot" for somebody who will stay. Who knows who will stay. I really thought that my v. industrious and focused eldest would. No.  [/quote]

Seriously, no one owes Basis anything.  Do what is best for your child.  Use 5th as a springboard at Basis if you want to try it out and then move on to better options if needed.

[/quote]

Ok. I guess that will keep happening.

But I have known a handful of kids who I'm 100 percent sure should have been happy, excellent BASIS students (bc we are there, I have one, and know the kids who also actually appreciate being taught something real, held to high standards, and for whom it's not an overwhelming amount of work) who were shut out of the lottery, and I see kids who are struggling and will not last, and it's painful. When a very high aptitude kids get a bad lottery score and live EOTP, the options are grim.[/quote]

This is unfortunate but it's not the fault of families. They don't have food choices. "Try DCI" isn't even. A choice for most families because if you aren't in a DCI feeder by 2nd grade, it is ridiculous to move to one (I'm sorry it is, the idea of moving to an immersion school in 3rd or later if you have not already been in immersion is silly and the fact that this is seem as a reasonable suggestion just to gain access to the DCI feed tells you everything you need to know about DC public schools). Going to DCI with no language background at all makes even less sense.

So if you don't think BASIS will be a good fit but your kid needs academic challenge and you know they would benefit from a strong peer group (without disruptive kids who have zero interest in academics) you're SOL. In which case, trying BASIS just in case it might work isn't the worst option. It may be the least bad if several bad options, who ch include: giving up, moving, or paying for a private school you may or may not be able to afford.[/quote]

Yes your chances are much higher getting into DCI if you are from a feeder. I also agree that it would be a disaster to try to get into a feeder in the upper grades with no language background.

But you are incorrect that getting into DCI with no language background doesn’t make sense.  They do have spots for non-feeder kids in certain language tracks.  Yes, your high performing kid will start beginner language and not be in that highest track. But it won’t mean it will not be challenging to learn another language with DCI high standards. Some kids really pick up languages easily and can move up levels in a few years.  It is fluid.  You can get to proficiency taking a language from 6-12th.

It also doesn’t mean they will not be in a higher track for other subjects.  DCI tests kids in languages, math, ELA, and science and uses those standardized scores to best place a kid.

Lastly, although IB curriculum is humanities focused and requires lots of writing, the school is also good in STEM.  Highest track math is AP Cal in 10th, good science teachers, fantastic robotics team and amazing robotics lab.  If you don’t want to do the IB diploma, there is also the computer science and engineering track in high school.[/quote]

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