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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’m new to the area. Can someone help?

DCI?
Latin?
Basis?
ITS?

Can you give me the general gist if these schools?

Thank you. [/quote]

Lol, I hope this is a joke, but here:

DCI: Dual language with tracks in Spanish, French, and Chinese. You will not get in unless your child attends one of the feeder elementaries, especially if you are Spanish track, as feeders get preference in the lottery (lots of Spanish feeders, only one Chinese and a couple French). Most of those are hard to get into via the lottery, especially for PK. So this may come down to your willingness to send your kid to immersion in 1st or 2nd grade. YMMV.

Latin: People seem to like it ok. Better option than Eastern for sure. Two campuses, the newer one (Cooper) is closer to the Hill, though a temporary space that isn't that great. They have an IB diploma program. You have to lottery for this and there are no feeders, and lots of people don't get spots.

BASIS: Very math/science focused, very testing focused. Lots of stuff on the Basis approach online, go look it up. People who really care about high math scores like Basis a lot because that can be hard to find in DC. Campus is in Chinatown, reasonable commute from the Hill. But not a great fit if you really care about things like having access to arts, athletics, foreign language at school (many BASIS families do those, but outside school). It's kind of a love it or hate it situation. Also incredibly hard to get into via the lottery.

ITS: This is a fairly progressive charter with emphasis on social justice and socio-emotional learning, though they have decent test scores. Elementary feeds to middle, if you don't get into ITS in PK there are opportunities to lottery in during middle elementary or even just for middle school, and you don't have the immersion issue if you do. MS is very small, which is not for everyone (limits activities and certain course offerings as well). Like BASIS, this school is either a good fit for you or it's really not a good fit for you. Know yourself.

Five years ago, most people would have put every one of these schools above the Ward 6 middle schools. Now, there are more people who would argue the proximity, size, and offerings of Stuart Hobson, Eliot-Hine, and Jefferson Academy make them better options for many students. They all have better IB buy-in than they used to, and it will likely increase as competition for spots at charters gets harder.

However, pretty much everyone still prefers any of these over Eastern High School (save ITS, which only goes through middle), so even people who are open minded about the DCPS middle schools will lottery for spots at these schools in order to have a more concrete HS path.[/quote]

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