Anonymous wrote:Do Hill families actually commute to these immersion charters? Seems like a big headache. What is that like in PK3, first, later on? How do you manage it? I’ve always worked remotely but looking for a new job now. If that’s still remote, it’s still a long commute for drop off / pick up but at least I have flexibility. Suppose I get a job in NoVa or downtown…ooof.

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Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for all the feedback. Of course I agree with all the points about the commute to DCB or LAMB being probably untenable. And points taken re: Montessori at LAMB. But as a follow up, what I want to know is - why is DCB, at least (and possibly LAMB) viewed as “better”/ more sought after than MV? What makes it better?

LAMB is a very specific program and a lot of people want Montessori, so the waitlist is long. I don’t think there is much difference between MV and DCB, so not sure why DCB viewed at “better.” Maybe people assume the long waitlist means it is better? We are at DCB and the Spanish instruction is not strong. We are native speakers and work a lot at home. My kid in upper EL has classmates that barely speak Spanish. It is a very nice community and that’s why we stay, but have many friends at MV who are happy and it also seems like a nice community. I would not select DCB/ Lamb over MV from the hill for the commute.

Because MV went through a really difficult time in the past 5 or so years and DCB has been pretty steady.

Also DCB offers a DCI guarantee, MV only has a preference.

DCB is near DCI so it's possible to live really close to both. That's not really possible with MV.

DCB also expanded so the lower grades will not have the DCI guarantee.

Not only lower grades. Current Fourth grades don’t have a guarantee already.

Ok, wow, literally just yesterday had a DCB parent whose kid is younger tell me they chose it for the DCI guarantee. Looks like it's preference now? With 50 spots available.

As a parent of a middle schooler now, yes you definitely need to consider the middle schooler feed when looking at elementary. I did and absolutely no regrets. Middle school comes up real fast.

Here is what you don’t get and that is stats. Yes no guarantee for DCI but if you are in a feeder then that is by far your best chance for not only a good middle school but ALSO high school. Something like 60-70%. It’s probably higher.

Going to our IB middle was a non-starter. So 0 vs 70% is a huge difference.

Basis I think is prob around 40-50% currently.

Latin 20% or whatever.

Point is being at a feeder is your best shot for a decent middle school and that is DCI. Middle school feed was not our top criteria, it was immersion and Spanish but having the middle school feed was definitely a consideration in the rankings

PP here again. Forgot to add that every year it gets more competitive as more families need middle school so Basis and Latin percentages will decrease even more each year but DCI will not since no more expansions of the feeders.

But if BASIS and Latin chances decrease, doesn't that mean that fewer DCI feeder 4th graders will leave their DCI feeder, meaning larger cohorts of DCI feeder 5th graders lotterying for the same number of DCI 6th grade spots?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re DCI and children from its Spanish language feeder programs, have any kids not gotten off the DCI waitlist with an offer for admission?

My understanding is that some elementary schools have used all of their reserved seats, but all kids who wanted to have been offered a spot.

So far that has been the case. But sounds like that will eventually change with bigger class sizes in lower grades at some of the feeder schools.

Anonymous wrote:Re DCI and children from its Spanish language feeder programs, have any kids not gotten off the DCI waitlist with an offer for admission?

My understanding is that some elementary schools have used all of their reserved seats, but all kids who wanted to have been offered a spot.

Anonymous wrote:Re DCI and children from its Spanish language feeder programs, have any kids not gotten off the DCI waitlist with an offer for admission?

My understanding is that some elementary schools have used all of their reserved seats, but all kids who wanted to have been offered a spot.

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Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for all the feedback. Of course I agree with all the points about the commute to DCB or LAMB being probably untenable. And points taken re: Montessori at LAMB. But as a follow up, what I want to know is - why is DCB, at least (and possibly LAMB) viewed as “better”/ more sought after than MV? What makes it better?

LAMB is a very specific program and a lot of people want Montessori, so the waitlist is long. I don’t think there is much difference between MV and DCB, so not sure why DCB viewed at “better.” Maybe people assume the long waitlist means it is better? We are at DCB and the Spanish instruction is not strong. We are native speakers and work a lot at home. My kid in upper EL has classmates that barely speak Spanish. It is a very nice community and that’s why we stay, but have many friends at MV who are happy and it also seems like a nice community. I would not select DCB/ Lamb over MV from the hill for the commute.

Because MV went through a really difficult time in the past 5 or so years and DCB has been pretty steady.

Also DCB offers a DCI guarantee, MV only has a preference.

DCB is near DCI so it's possible to live really close to both. That's not really possible with MV.

DCB also expanded so the lower grades will not have the DCI guarantee.

Not only lower grades. Current Fourth grades don’t have a guarantee already.

Ok, wow, literally just yesterday had a DCB parent whose kid is younger tell me they chose it for the DCI guarantee. Looks like it's preference now? With 50 spots available.

As a parent of a middle schooler now, yes you definitely need to consider the middle schooler feed when looking at elementary. I did and absolutely no regrets. Middle school comes up real fast.

Here is what you don’t get and that is stats. Yes no guarantee for DCI but if you are in a feeder then that is by far your best chance for not only a good middle school but ALSO high school. Something like 60-70%. It’s probably higher.

Going to our IB middle was a non-starter. So 0 vs 70% is a huge difference.

Basis I think is prob around 40-50% currently.

Latin 20% or whatever.

Point is being at a feeder is your best shot for a decent middle school and that is DCI. Middle school feed was not our top criteria, it was immersion and Spanish but having the middle school feed was definitely a consideration in the rankings

PP here again. Forgot to add that every year it gets more competitive as more families need middle school so Basis and Latin percentages will decrease even more each year but DCI will not since no more expansions of the feeders.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for all the feedback. Of course I agree with all the points about the commute to DCB or LAMB being probably untenable. And points taken re: Montessori at LAMB. But as a follow up, what I want to know is - why is DCB, at least (and possibly LAMB) viewed as “better”/ more sought after than MV? What makes it better?

LAMB is a very specific program and a lot of people want Montessori, so the waitlist is long. I don’t think there is much difference between MV and DCB, so not sure why DCB viewed at “better.” Maybe people assume the long waitlist means it is better? We are at DCB and the Spanish instruction is not strong. We are native speakers and work a lot at home. My kid in upper EL has classmates that barely speak Spanish. It is a very nice community and that’s why we stay, but have many friends at MV who are happy and it also seems like a nice community. I would not select DCB/ Lamb over MV from the hill for the commute.

Because MV went through a really difficult time in the past 5 or so years and DCB has been pretty steady.

Also DCB offers a DCI guarantee, MV only has a preference.

DCB is near DCI so it's possible to live really close to both. That's not really possible with MV.

DCB also expanded so the lower grades will not have the DCI guarantee.

Not only lower grades. Current Fourth grades don’t have a guarantee already.

Ok, wow, literally just yesterday had a DCB parent whose kid is younger tell me they chose it for the DCI guarantee. Looks like it's preference now? With 50 spots available.

As a parent of a middle schooler now, yes you definitely need to consider the middle schooler feed when looking at elementary. I did and absolutely no regrets. Middle school comes up real fast.

Here is what you don’t get and that is stats. Yes no guarantee for DCI but if you are in a feeder then that is by far your best chance for not only a good middle school but ALSO high school. Something like 60-70%. It’s probably higher.

Going to our IB middle was a non-starter. So 0 vs 70% is a huge difference.

Basis I think is prob around 40-50% currently.

Latin 20% or whatever.

Point is being at a feeder is your best shot for a decent middle school and that is DCI. Middle school feed was not our top criteria, it was immersion and Spanish but having the middle school feed was definitely a consideration in the rankings

PP here again. Forgot to add that every year it gets more competitive as more families need middle school so Basis and Latin percentages will decrease even more each year but DCI will not since no more expansions of the feeders.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for all the feedback. Of course I agree with all the points about the commute to DCB or LAMB being probably untenable. And points taken re: Montessori at LAMB. But as a follow up, what I want to know is - why is DCB, at least (and possibly LAMB) viewed as “better”/ more sought after than MV? What makes it better?

LAMB is a very specific program and a lot of people want Montessori, so the waitlist is long. I don’t think there is much difference between MV and DCB, so not sure why DCB viewed at “better.” Maybe people assume the long waitlist means it is better? We are at DCB and the Spanish instruction is not strong. We are native speakers and work a lot at home. My kid in upper EL has classmates that barely speak Spanish. It is a very nice community and that’s why we stay, but have many friends at MV who are happy and it also seems like a nice community. I would not select DCB/ Lamb over MV from the hill for the commute.

Because MV went through a really difficult time in the past 5 or so years and DCB has been pretty steady.

Also DCB offers a DCI guarantee, MV only has a preference.

DCB is near DCI so it's possible to live really close to both. That's not really possible with MV.

DCB also expanded so the lower grades will not have the DCI guarantee.

Not only lower grades. Current Fourth grades don’t have a guarantee already.

Ok, wow, literally just yesterday had a DCB parent whose kid is younger tell me they chose it for the DCI guarantee. Looks like it's preference now? With 50 spots available.

As a parent of a middle schooler now, yes you definitely need to consider the middle schooler feed when looking at elementary. I did and absolutely no regrets. Middle school comes up real fast.

Here is what you don’t get and that is stats. Yes no guarantee for DCI but if you are in a feeder then that is by far your best chance for not only a good middle school but ALSO high school. Something like 60-70%. It’s probably higher.

Going to our IB middle was a non-starter. So 0 vs 70% is a huge difference.

Basis I think is prob around 40-50% currently.

Latin 20% or whatever.

Point is being at a feeder is your best shot for a decent middle school and that is DCI. Middle school feed was not our top criteria, it was immersion and Spanish but having the middle school feed was definitely a consideration in the rankings

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for all the feedback. Of course I agree with all the points about the commute to DCB or LAMB being probably untenable. And points taken re: Montessori at LAMB. But as a follow up, what I want to know is - why is DCB, at least (and possibly LAMB) viewed as “better”/ more sought after than MV? What makes it better?

LAMB is a very specific program and a lot of people want Montessori, so the waitlist is long. I don’t think there is much difference between MV and DCB, so not sure why DCB viewed at “better.” Maybe people assume the long waitlist means it is better? We are at DCB and the Spanish instruction is not strong. We are native speakers and work a lot at home. My kid in upper EL has classmates that barely speak Spanish. It is a very nice community and that’s why we stay, but have many friends at MV who are happy and it also seems like a nice community. I would not select DCB/ Lamb over MV from the hill for the commute.

Because MV went through a really difficult time in the past 5 or so years and DCB has been pretty steady.

Also DCB offers a DCI guarantee, MV only has a preference.

DCB is near DCI so it's possible to live really close to both. That's not really possible with MV.

DCB also expanded so the lower grades will not have the DCI guarantee.

Not only lower grades. Current Fourth grades don’t have a guarantee already.

Ok, wow, literally just yesterday had a DCB parent whose kid is younger tell me they chose it for the DCI guarantee. Looks like it's preference now? With 50 spots available.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for all the feedback. Of course I agree with all the points about the commute to DCB or LAMB being probably untenable. And points taken re: Montessori at LAMB. But as a follow up, what I want to know is - why is DCB, at least (and possibly LAMB) viewed as “better”/ more sought after than MV? What makes it better?

LAMB is a very specific program and a lot of people want Montessori, so the waitlist is long. I don’t think there is much difference between MV and DCB, so not sure why DCB viewed at “better.” Maybe people assume the long waitlist means it is better? We are at DCB and the Spanish instruction is not strong. We are native speakers and work a lot at home. My kid in upper EL has classmates that barely speak Spanish. It is a very nice community and that’s why we stay, but have many friends at MV who are happy and it also seems like a nice community. I would not select DCB/ Lamb over MV from the hill for the commute.

Because MV went through a really difficult time in the past 5 or so years and DCB has been pretty steady.

Also DCB offers a DCI guarantee, MV only has a preference.

DCB is near DCI so it's possible to live really close to both. That's not really possible with MV.

DCB also expanded so the lower grades will not have the DCI guarantee.

Not only lower grades. Current Fourth grades don’t have a guarantee already.

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:MV8
MV Cook
DCB because it's farther but a good school
Stokes Brookland if you don't mind the poor math stats
LAMB because parents honestly aren't that happy with it, but stay for the DCI feed
Chisholm because closer to you
Global Citizens but mind the new location
Stokes EE because it's far and has low stats

You could look into Houston DCPS

Mundo Verde comes with a lot of drama

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1058201.page

Stokes Brookland also has better ELA scores than both MV locations and better math scores than MV Cook. PP booster has an axe to grind with Stokes for some reason.

NP. I don’t think so. It’s a well known fact that math is weak at Stokes and their scores were low in the past. Maybe that has gotten better.

But spanish at Stokes is weak compared to some other charters. This is 1st hand info from family we know at Stokes.

This is NOT a well known fact. Please cite your source. Spanish instruction is fine and as a native speaker, I would know. We have first hand info as a Stokes family. Your second hand info should be disregarded.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MV8
MV Cook
DCB because it's farther but a good school
Stokes Brookland if you don't mind the poor math stats
LAMB because parents honestly aren't that happy with it, but stay for the DCI feed
Chisholm because closer to you
Global Citizens but mind the new location
Stokes EE because it's far and has low stats

You could look into Houston DCPS

Mundo Verde comes with a lot of drama

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1058201.page

Stokes Brookland also has better ELA scores than both MV locations and better math scores than MV Cook. PP booster has an axe to grind with Stokes for some reason.

NP. I don’t think so. It’s a well known fact that math is weak at Stokes and their scores were low in the past. Maybe that has gotten better.

But spanish at Stokes is weak compared to some other charters. This is 1st hand info from family we know at Stokes.