Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a YuYing parent. Even so, I wasn't too impressed that only 15 DCI seniors (!) earned IB Diploma last year. I also wasn't wowed by how their average points pass total rate was in the 20s (ask admins).

When parents complain that too many DCI students can barely speak target languages they've studied since they were little kids, they're not crazy, they're stating a fact.

The low IBD pass rate and poor speaking skills are linked. This is a curriculum developed in Europe and Canada, where immersion is mostly taken more seriously than in this city.

8:45 here. I agree with both of these points. They're not popular in DC, but it's not crazy to expect higher standards from these programs. There are clearly very smart kids from all over the city that don't appear on paper to be challenged to perform to the best of their abilities. Getting an IB Diploma is great, but barely passing with the minimum score that is significantly below the average for the IB program is not wonderful. And achieving intermediate language skills after a decade of study in an immersion program is also not particularly noteworthy. I wish DC parents would demand better, but the win-lose nature of the lottery makes it very hard to look critically at your own school and be able to meaningfully lobby for change. That's DC for you, for better or worse.

+1000. As long as most families in immersion are primarily motivated to enroll by push factors--weak in-boundary schools--and there aren't lotteries for native speakers, where's the momentum for change going to come from? DCI feeder students get passed up the chain with good grades for speaking a language, since it's seen as unfair to punish those whose families can't afford to supplement, meaning that there's no wake-up call on lagging language skills.

If you disagree that parents are drawn to DCI feeders and DCI more by pull than push factors, ask yourself why so few Upper NW parents go for immersion. You could also ask yourself why hardly any native speakers of Chinese and French who raise their kids bilingual bother with Stokes and YY, or stay long if they get spots and enroll. Stakeholders don't seem to be asking these important questions. No need to bother because wait lists are long.

Average school IBD pass point totals internationally are in the 30s, while the several DC public IBD programs post scores in the 20s (Eastern, Banneker, DCI). Yet our ed leaders present these programs as first-rate. It's bunk.

Anonymous wrote:Why would DCI up its game on IB points or college acceptances? Because they're short of applicants? Hardly.

Take what you can get for your tax dollars, expect little, supplement as you can afford to (particularly for summer rigor/academic camps), hire a private college admissions coach, and things may work out if you're aiming high for college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI also asked to have its charter revised so that they wouldn’t be penalized by the DCPCSB for having low pass rates for IB exams. Without the revision, they would likely not retain tier 1 status for the high school. I’m not sure whether or not that request was approved.

At what point would the international IB organization revoke authorization? I can't imagine they don't have standards for pass rates?

Anonymous wrote:DCI also asked to have its charter revised so that they wouldn’t be penalized by the DCPCSB for having low pass rates for IB exams. Without the revision, they would likely not retain tier 1 status for the high school. I’m not sure whether or not that request was approved.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can likely afford to move to MoCo though, staying in DC is a choice for most of us on this site. If you’re happy, then this conversation doesn’t apply to you. But some of us are disappointed that DC publics continually settle for OK and can’t meet the needs of all students they serve.

The conversation is about DCI college acceptance. You changed it to justify your decisions.

Anonymous wrote:You can likely afford to move to MoCo though, staying in DC is a choice for most of us on this site. If you’re happy, then this conversation doesn’t apply to you. But some of us are disappointed that DC publics continually settle for OK and can’t meet the needs of all students they serve.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every one of the top DCI admits are first-generation URM (under represented minorities). Which is GREAT!

But makes these elite admits completely irrelevant to most of us on this site.
If you are white and your kid is at the top of the DCI class they'll be going to Pitt or Wisconsin or similar.

This is an excellent point. IB Diploma point totals in the 20s will mostly work for low-SES, first-generation URMs aiming high in college admissions.

Not the rest of us.

Are there stats on this or is that too identifiable for FERPA? Top schools require IB scores in the mid-30s. I'm really trying to reconcile such low pass rates with the college acceptances reported on this thread. I don't think they're lying, but as someone who went to state school for undergrad and an ivy for grad, I can attest your average MC white kid has to work their butt off and score REALLY high to get into a top college. An IB diploma alone is not going to cut it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's as terrible as you're saying, why are they getting into great colleges with scholarships?

Something not adding up here. I suspect DCI is being held to a standard that just isn't appropriate for DC right now. That of a magnet or private school in another state.

What's not adding up at DCI (and most of the feeders) is weak leadership/management.

What's not adding up from the Mayor's Office is the political for the city to run first-rate language immersion programs. The programs could be run as hybrid DCPS-charters, with lotteries for native speakers like Oyster. Few DCI parents know that DCI tried to include DCPS Spanish immersion program in their feeder pattern a decade back, but DCPS rejected the model.

What's the point of running IB Diploma programs that aren't competitive locally, regionally or internationally when the District already has the students to establish world-class programs? Are we short on students who could score in the 30s and 40s with the right inputs and push? No.

THIS. THANK YOU. We have the students. They're smart and motivated and could do SO much better. They've been in OK elementary schools and continue onto OK middle and high schools. Maybe they're happy continuing onto OK colleges and careers, which is fine, but they could do better if they were challenged. But if the actual parents at these schools don't push for more, then it's pointless to expect things to ever improve. Those of us that want more than OK will continue to go private or move, just like we've always done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every one of the top DCI admits are first-generation URM (under represented minorities). Which is GREAT!

But makes these elite admits completely irrelevant to most of us on this site.
If you are white and your kid is at the top of the DCI class they'll be going to Pitt or Wisconsin or similar.

This is an excellent point. IB Diploma point totals in the 20s will mostly work for low-SES, first-generation URMs aiming high in college admissions.

Not the rest of us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's as terrible as you're saying, why are they getting into great colleges with scholarships?

Something not adding up here. I suspect DCI is being held to a standard that just isn't appropriate for DC right now. That of a magnet or private school in another state.

What's not adding up at DCI (and most of the feeders) is weak leadership/management.

What's not adding up from the Mayor's Office is the political for the city to run first-rate language immersion programs. The programs could be run as hybrid DCPS-charters, with lotteries for native speakers like Oyster. Few DCI parents know that DCI tried to include DCPS Spanish immersion program in their feeder pattern a decade back, but DCPS rejected the model.

What's the point of running IB Diploma programs that aren't competitive locally, regionally or internationally when the District already has the students to establish world-class programs? Are we short on students who could score in the 30s and 40s with the right inputs and push? No.