Anonymous wrote:DCI is having a problem attracting the strongest students from our feeder. The better speakers of the language of instruction in my child's 5th grade class, as well as the strongest math and English students, didn't make the jump. They went to BASIS, Latin, Deal the burbs and privates. Wish it weren't so.

Anonymous wrote:^ just remember that you're taking about kids here, please be respectful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI is having a problem attracting the strongest students from our feeder. The better speakers of the language of instruction in my child's 5th grade class, as well as the strongest math and English students, didn't make the jump. They went to BASIS, Latin, Deal the burbs and privates. Wish it weren't so.

Which feeder? And what percentage of the class opted out?

Anonymous wrote:DCI is having a problem attracting the strongest students from our feeder. The better speakers of the language of instruction in my child's 5th grade class, as well as the strongest math and English students, didn't make the jump. They went to BASIS, Latin, Deal the burbs and privates. Wish it weren't so.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Problem is, their vision will turn off many, if not most, of the high SES parents in the feeder schools. Many will avoid DCI altogether. Plenty of others will use the MS as a stop on trains bound for Walls, Wilson, Banneker, the burbs and privates.

I've seen how IB courses get watered down when full Diploma studies aren't required. BASIS requires its students to pass comprehensive exams to advance from 6th to 8th grades, and HS students to pass AP tests (with 3s or better), to sidestep the watering down pitfall. The DC charter sector already has a model promoting real rigor at the HS level, because BASIS fought a long, hard political battle to build it. DCI could piggyback on BASIS' success (but they're losing most of the strongest 8th grade students to Walls anyway). At Walls, charter language immersion grads could take advanced classes in their languages, if not in the school, at George Washington Univ next door. Same with Howard U for Banneker. Wilson's AP Chinese program is coming along. DCI will have real trouble competing.

In a city where several big DCPS Taj Mahal high schools (loaded with under-used vocational training programs) sit half empty, we don't need more of the same.

It hasn't so far. And it's not like any of this is a secret -- are people at the feeders just not listening or doing their homework?

Come on, DCI doesn't even have a high school yet. BASIS and Latin both struggle to keep their strongest students after 8th grade. The concerns outlined above are valid.

DCI has 9th graders this year.

How many left at the beginning of the year.? I am not a member of the DCI community, but I aam personally aware of two who left for a better HS experience. I imagine more than the two I know who departed. How many New students began in the ninth grade?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Problem is, their vision will turn off many, if not most, of the high SES parents in the feeder schools. Many will avoid DCI altogether. Plenty of others will use the MS as a stop on trains bound for Walls, Wilson, Banneker, the burbs and privates.

I've seen how IB courses get watered down when full Diploma studies aren't required. BASIS requires its students to pass comprehensive exams to advance from 6th to 8th grades, and HS students to pass AP tests (with 3s or better), to sidestep the watering down pitfall. The DC charter sector already has a model promoting real rigor at the HS level, because BASIS fought a long, hard political battle to build it. DCI could piggyback on BASIS' success (but they're losing most of the strongest 8th grade students to Walls anyway). At Walls, charter language immersion grads could take advanced classes in their languages, if not in the school, at George Washington Univ next door. Same with Howard U for Banneker. Wilson's AP Chinese program is coming along. DCI will have real trouble competing.

In a city where several big DCPS Taj Mahal high schools (loaded with under-used vocational training programs) sit half empty, we don't need more of the same.

It hasn't so far. And it's not like any of this is a secret -- are people at the feeders just not listening or doing their homework?

Come on, DCI doesn't even have a high school yet. BASIS and Latin both struggle to keep their strongest students after 8th grade. The concerns outlined above are valid.

DCI has 9th graders this year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the reputation of Silver Spring International Middle School? It also has an IB program.

Good reputation, certainly a rising school for IB Middle Years. There's no Chinese track there, but the Spanish and French immersion programs seem strong.

SSI is unusual in MoCo in that it tracks academically, without being a test-in program for the highly gifted (like the Eastern MS humanities program and Takoma Park math program). For example, it's very hard to find upper level English classes in open access MS programs in MoCo, but the school offers them.

However, the public HS situation after SSI is a concern. Kids either move on to IBD studies at Albert Einstein (open access, mostly Latino school, probably no stronger than DCI will be) or ditch IB and go on to Blair Montgomery. Blair probably isn't worth it unless a kid tests into one of the two super duper magnets admitting 10% of 8th graders. Downcounty Consortium 8th graders can also try to test into the super duper IBD program way over in Rockville at Richard Montgomery (long commute, 10% admitted, preference given to Mandarin track applicants).

Anonymous wrote:We are at a feeder. Although it was great when the kids were young, it seems more and more like they are ignoring the needs of children who are not outright failing.

Anonymous wrote:What is the reputation of Silver Spring International Middle School? It also has an IB program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Problem is, their vision will turn off many, if not most, of the high SES parents in the feeder schools. Many will avoid DCI altogether. Plenty of others will use the MS as a stop on trains bound for Walls, Wilson, Banneker, the burbs and privates.

I've seen how IB courses get watered down when full Diploma studies aren't required. BASIS requires its students to pass comprehensive exams to advance from 6th to 8th grades, and HS students to pass AP tests (with 3s or better), to sidestep the watering down pitfall. The DC charter sector already has a model promoting real rigor at the HS level, because BASIS fought a long, hard political battle to build it. DCI could piggyback on BASIS' success (but they're losing most of the strongest 8th grade students to Walls anyway). At Walls, charter language immersion grads could take advanced classes in their languages, if not in the school, at George Washington Univ next door. Same with Howard U for Banneker. Wilson's AP Chinese program is coming along. DCI will have real trouble competing.

In a city where several big DCPS Taj Mahal high schools (loaded with under-used vocational training programs) sit half empty, we don't need more of the same.

I agree. Thanks for posting.

And if you're the pp who posted the info about IB programs and the differences between the certificates, thanks for that, too.

My kids are young at a feeder, so I don't have the context of how DCI developed or if they had these conversations. I do hope they have looked at what made IB public schools fail or succeed elsewhere. The suburban example posted up thread seems important if data backs it up.