Reply to Oyster Adams versus DCI

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "Oyster Adams versus DCI"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am a DCI parent with a child in middle school.  My kid's PARCC scores for last year were 5s (and were 4s in elementary) so I feel like my kid is learning.  The IB diploma program is, by all accounts, very difficult and many students opt not to take it (they can do a career track diploma program).  I think it was very hard for kids in the pandemic (and their teachers) so I think the results over the next few years will be very telling.  But unlike WIS, DCI has a very diverse set of kids from all backgrounds so it isn't fair to compare them to one another. [/quote]

It isn't fair to keep the top kids at DCI back either.  It's not uncommon for strong students to be bored in the program.  Kids hardly get any home work in middle school, even in 7th and 8th grades. Ambition is not DCI's strong suit. Happy talk is.  It's not uncommon for families of top students on the French and Chinese tracks to supplement on weekends (in heritage programs with actual native speakers). Some DCI parents pay for pricey summer immersion camps because the language instruction isn't that great outside Spanish.  [b]Families of the best students often don't stay for HS[/b]. The results over the next few years will be entirely predictable, vs. very telling. DCI's average IB points will climb into the low 30s over time. Meanwhile, the best suburban programs post average scores in the high 30s, even the low 40s. [/quote]

I want to respond directly to the bolded statement above. Perhaps this was true initially, but it is not the case with the current 9th graders.  All of the 8 salutatorians and valedictorians from the 8th-grade class stayed this year (or at least almost all of them - I didn't hear about any of them leaving but maybe one did that I didn't hear about).  And many other top students stayed.  There were some students that applied to Walls, and were accepted, but decided not to take the spot.  [/quote]

Responding to this only to clarify: Of the 8 kids who were honored for saluatorian/valedictorian status (there were GPA ties) at least 4 of them left. I know this firsthand. One went to a traditional public high school and 3 went to Walls. Beyond this cohort, several kids left for privates and other options, like Ellington. And at least 2 other top students turned down Walls to stay at DCI (while I think about 6 in total left for Walls). There are definitely DCI fans who put the language and IB offering above all else. I was impressed so many kids had more than one good option and found the path best for them.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics