Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC is the best option for any academically minded kid.

I think the IB is a much more rigorous program than taking a bunch of AP tests. I think DCI offers much more in terms of sports, clubs, extracurricular, than Basis.

+1. Absolutely agree about IB and wanted to add that it focuses a lot on writing and critical analysis which I believe is very important. I say that as someone who is in a STEM field.

As to sports, clubs, and extracurriculars there is just no comparison. DCI blows Basis away.

Also, I want my child to have a good, happy well rounded middle and high school experience like I did, not some pressure cooker, AP focus at the expense of all else.

LOL. If these are the 16 or so clubs at DCI, I don't think the school blows anyone away:

https://dcinternationalschool.org/dci-life/clubs/q4-activities/

Seems pretty similar to BASIS DC except the latter doesn't have a dog walking club.

16 clubs and 8 sports for quarter 4. Other offerings in clubs and sports for quarters 1-3. So yes, totally blows Basis away.

Are you including the DCI Dog Walking Club?

You didn't cite any numbers for BASIS DC and you apparently know nothing about the school, so you obviously have no basis for your statement that DCI's clubs and sports "blow[] Basis away."

In fact, BASIS DC has over 100 clubs, teams, societies, and sports.

Come on, Basis does not have 100 active clubs, teams, sports, etc…. The school is lacking in extracurriculars, sports, and facilities. Many students go outside the school for this from neighbor.

So many threads on above about this.

I'm a very happy BASIS parent who frequently posts in defense of BASIS. PP is dead right on their assessment. BASIS is a great school and we are lucky to be there. It does a lot of things really well. Let's be honest, afterschool clubs, sports (non-e-sports anyway) and the like are not things at which it excels.

Agree with that. The point you missed is that DCI doesn't really offer anything better.

If you want high-level sports and lots of extracurriculars, head over to Deal or J-R.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC is the best option for any academically minded kid.

I think the IB is a much more rigorous program than taking a bunch of AP tests. I think DCI offers much more in terms of sports, clubs, extracurricular, than Basis.

I am sure that DCI does a good job teaching kids’ a second language but the IB “rigor” at DCI is a myth. Just compare PARCC scores between DCI and BASIS DC. Take proficiency scores for 8th grade, for example, after kids have been at each school for several years:

DCI:

ELA 48.73%
Math 33.05%

BASIS

ELA 85.22%
Math 73.3%

There's so much gaslighting on DCUM that I have to ask - are these scores accurate and real? I am unsurprised that BASIS has higher scores as the population is self selecting for kids who generally do well on tests But I'm floored by how poor the DCI scores are. The idea tha 65+% of the 8th grade is below grade level is kind of frightening to me.

Yes, they are correct. You can look on the OSSE website itself to verify.

https://osse.dc.gov/page/2021-22-parcc-and-msaa-results-and-resources

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC is the best option for any academically minded kid.

I think the IB is a much more rigorous program than taking a bunch of AP tests. I think DCI offers much more in terms of sports, clubs, extracurricular, than Basis.

+1. Absolutely agree about IB and wanted to add that it focuses a lot on writing and critical analysis which I believe is very important. I say that as someone who is in a STEM field.

As to sports, clubs, and extracurriculars there is just no comparison. DCI blows Basis away.

Also, I want my child to have a good, happy well rounded middle and high school experience like I did, not some pressure cooker, AP focus at the expense of all else.

LOL. If these are the 16 or so clubs at DCI, I don't think the school blows anyone away:

https://dcinternationalschool.org/dci-life/clubs/q4-activities/

Seems pretty similar to BASIS DC except the latter doesn't have a dog walking club.

16 clubs and 8 sports for quarter 4. Other offerings in clubs and sports for quarters 1-3. So yes, totally blows Basis away.

Are you including the DCI Dog Walking Club?

You didn't cite any numbers for BASIS DC and you apparently know nothing about the school, so you obviously have no basis for your statement that DCI's clubs and sports "blow[] Basis away."

In fact, BASIS DC has over 100 clubs, teams, societies, and sports.

Come on, Basis does not have 100 active clubs, teams, sports, etc…. The school is lacking in extracurriculars, sports, and facilities. Many students go outside the school for this from neighbor.

So many threads on above about this.

I'm a very happy BASIS parent who frequently posts in defense of BASIS. PP is dead right on their assessment. BASIS is a great school and we are lucky to be there. It does a lot of things really well. Let's be honest, afterschool clubs, sports (non-e-sports anyway) and the like are not things at which it excels.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC is the best option for any academically minded kid.

I think the IB is a much more rigorous program than taking a bunch of AP tests. I think DCI offers much more in terms of sports, clubs, extracurricular, than Basis.

+1. Absolutely agree about IB and wanted to add that it focuses a lot on writing and critical analysis which I believe is very important. I say that as someone who is in a STEM field.

As to sports, clubs, and extracurriculars there is just no comparison. DCI blows Basis away.

Also, I want my child to have a good, happy well rounded middle and high school experience like I did, not some pressure cooker, AP focus at the expense of all else.

LOL. If these are the 16 or so clubs at DCI, I don't think the school blows anyone away:

https://dcinternationalschool.org/dci-life/clubs/q4-activities/

Seems pretty similar to BASIS DC except the latter doesn't have a dog walking club.

16 clubs and 8 sports for quarter 4. Other offerings in clubs and sports for quarters 1-3. So yes, totally blows Basis away.

Are you including the DCI Dog Walking Club?

You didn't cite any numbers for BASIS DC and you apparently know nothing about the school, so you obviously have no basis for your statement that DCI's clubs and sports "blow[] Basis away."

In fact, BASIS DC has over 100 clubs, teams, societies, and sports.

Come on, Basis does not have 100 active clubs, teams, sports, etc…. The school is lacking in extracurriculars, sports, and facilities. Many students go outside the school for this from neighbor.

So many threads on above about this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC is the best option for any academically minded kid.

I think the IB is a much more rigorous program than taking a bunch of AP tests. I think DCI offers much more in terms of sports, clubs, extracurricular, than Basis.

I am sure that DCI does a good job teaching kids’ a second language but the IB “rigor” at DCI is a myth. Just compare PARCC scores between DCI and BASIS DC. Take proficiency scores for 8th grade, for example, after kids have been at each school for several years:

DCI:

ELA 48.73%
Math 33.05%

BASIS

ELA 85.22%
Math 73.3%

There's so much gaslighting on DCUM that I have to ask - are these scores accurate and real? I am unsurprised that BASIS has higher scores as the population is self selecting for kids who generally do well on tests But I'm floored by how poor the DCI scores are. The idea tha 65+% of the 8th grade is below grade level is kind of frightening to me.

I am not the person who posted these scores, and can't verify, but I'm not surprised. DCI sent out an email warning parents about how dismal PARCC scores were, last year. Consider this: a bunch of mathy kids peel off for BASIS, a few more for Latin, some move away or go private. So, you have feeders that do an OK but not great job with educating these students, and then you deal with attrition, and many best students leave. (How many kids actually move on to DCI from Yu Ying, for example?)

This is why my seventh grader gets no homework, and the novel they are "reading" in class (because it cannot be assigned as homework, or kids won't read it at all, as the teacher explained) is actually listening to the audio book while having text projected onto the whiteboard. And this is a class that I actually think she is getting something out of. Several of her other classes have been hijacked by disruptive students, to the point that the teacher has given up on teaching.

Now, is the situation similarly dismal in many other middle schools? My bet is yes. Just take a look at the post about the dismal conditions in a well-regarded elementary school in MCPS, in the elementary school subsection. Probably if a school offers some differentiation, things are better.

This is the conclusion I'm coming to as well. The only solution for these "dismal conditions" is informal segregation of the disruptive kids through formal tracking. Not to say that advanced kids can't be disruptive, but from what I can tell from my friends in MCPS, they hold their breath until upper elementary tracking starts, then the behavior issues resolve themselves. Since that's not a thing in DC schools (aside from self-selecting schools like BASIS), I'm not sure what to do aside from grin and bear it.

And yes, PP, that is what the proficiency rates are actually. Take a look at the proficiency rates for the feeder schools, they're not better and often significantly worse. Why would middle school be better when many of the higher performers leave?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC is the best option for any academically minded kid.

I think the IB is a much more rigorous program than taking a bunch of AP tests. I think DCI offers much more in terms of sports, clubs, extracurricular, than Basis.

I am sure that DCI does a good job teaching kids’ a second language but the IB “rigor” at DCI is a myth. Just compare PARCC scores between DCI and BASIS DC. Take proficiency scores for 8th grade, for example, after kids have been at each school for several years:

DCI:

ELA 48.73%
Math 33.05%

BASIS

ELA 85.22%
Math 73.3%

There's so much gaslighting on DCUM that I have to ask - are these scores accurate and real? I am unsurprised that BASIS has higher scores as the population is self selecting for kids who generally do well on tests But I'm floored by how poor the DCI scores are. The idea tha 65+% of the 8th grade is below grade level is kind of frightening to me.

I am not the person who posted these scores, and can't verify, but I'm not surprised. DCI sent out an email warning parents about how dismal PARCC scores were, last year. Consider this: a bunch of mathy kids peel off for BASIS, a few more for Latin, some move away or go private. So, you have feeders that do an OK but not great job with educating these students, and then you deal with attrition, and many best students leave. (How many kids actually move on to DCI from Yu Ying, for example?)

This is why my seventh grader gets no homework, and the novel they are "reading" in class (because it cannot be assigned as homework, or kids won't read it at all, as the teacher explained) is actually listening to the audio book while having text projected onto the whiteboard. And this is a class that I actually think she is getting something out of. Several of her other classes have been hijacked by disruptive students, to the point that the teacher has given up on teaching.

Now, is the situation similarly dismal in many other middle schools? My bet is yes. Just take a look at the post about the dismal conditions in a well-regarded elementary school in MCPS, in the elementary school subsection. Probably if a school offers some differentiation, things are better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC is the best option for any academically minded kid.

I think the IB is a much more rigorous program than taking a bunch of AP tests. I think DCI offers much more in terms of sports, clubs, extracurricular, than Basis.

I am sure that DCI does a good job teaching kids’ a second language but the IB “rigor” at DCI is a myth. Just compare PARCC scores between DCI and BASIS DC. Take proficiency scores for 8th grade, for example, after kids have been at each school for several years:

DCI:

ELA 48.73%
Math 33.05%

BASIS

ELA 85.22%
Math 73.3%

There's so much gaslighting on DCUM that I have to ask - are these scores accurate and real? I am unsurprised that BASIS has higher scores as the population is self selecting for kids who generally do well on tests But I'm floored by how poor the DCI scores are. The idea tha 65+% of the 8th grade is below grade level is kind of frightening to me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC is the best option for any academically minded kid.

I think the IB is a much more rigorous program than taking a bunch of AP tests. I think DCI offers much more in terms of sports, clubs, extracurricular, than Basis.

+1. Absolutely agree about IB and wanted to add that it focuses a lot on writing and critical analysis which I believe is very important. I say that as someone who is in a STEM field.

As to sports, clubs, and extracurriculars there is just no comparison. DCI blows Basis away.

Also, I want my child to have a good, happy well rounded middle and high school experience like I did, not some pressure cooker, AP focus at the expense of all else.

LOL. If these are the 16 or so clubs at DCI, I don't think the school blows anyone away:

https://dcinternationalschool.org/dci-life/clubs/q4-activities/

Seems pretty similar to BASIS DC except the latter doesn't have a dog walking club.

16 clubs and 8 sports for quarter 4. Other offerings in clubs and sports for quarters 1-3. So yes, totally blows Basis away.

Are you including the DCI Dog Walking Club?

You didn't cite any numbers for BASIS DC and you apparently know nothing about the school, so you obviously have no basis for your statement that DCI's clubs and sports "blow[] Basis away."

In fact, BASIS DC has over 100 clubs, teams, societies, and sports.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC is the best option for any academically minded kid.

I think the IB is a much more rigorous program than taking a bunch of AP tests. I think DCI offers much more in terms of sports, clubs, extracurricular, than Basis.

I am sure that DCI does a good job teaching kids’ a second language but the IB “rigor” at DCI is a myth. Just compare PARCC scores between DCI and BASIS DC. Take proficiency scores for 8th grade, for example, after kids have been at each school for several years:

DCI:

ELA 48.73%
Math 33.05%

BASIS

ELA 85.22%
Math 73.3%

Interesting. I guess IB at DCI doesn’t focus on reading and math?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC is the best option for any academically minded kid.

I think the IB is a much more rigorous program than taking a bunch of AP tests. I think DCI offers much more in terms of sports, clubs, extracurricular, than Basis.

+1. Absolutely agree about IB and wanted to add that it focuses a lot on writing and critical analysis which I believe is very important. I say that as someone who is in a STEM field.

As to sports, clubs, and extracurriculars there is just no comparison. DCI blows Basis away.

Also, I want my child to have a good, happy well rounded middle and high school experience like I did, not some pressure cooker, AP focus at the expense of all else.

LOL. If these are the 16 or so clubs at DCI, I don't think the school blows anyone away:

https://dcinternationalschool.org/dci-life/clubs/q4-activities/

Seems pretty similar to BASIS DC except the latter doesn't have a dog walking club.

16 clubs and 8 sports for quarter 4. Other offerings in clubs and sports for quarters 1-3. So yes, totally blows Basis away.

Actually, you have no idea what you are talking about.

Anonymous wrote:From a feeder and we cannot wait till DS gets to DCI so we don’t have to drive him everywhere after school for extracurriculars and sports.

It’s going to be a total game changer in regards to our quality of life. And when in upper middle school, looking forward to when DS can take metro to school too.

Yes, the metro and bus have lots of sixth graders too.

Anonymous wrote:My experience is 3 and 4 years old, so maybe not that useful, but in case it makes anyone feel better, a lot of people I know at feeders with my kids and others we know from activities played the lottery in 4th. A few got Basis. (Actually maybe more than a few got in at Basis, but only a few decided to make the move each year). A few got Latin. Most of those who switched are happy enough. A couple did switch back. Most of those that stayed for DCI are happy enough.

All in all there are some things to complain about at each school but most families ended up relatively content.

I think this is the right assessment. Our experience is also 3-4 years old with a HS student, but also just this last year with a MS student. It was the same experience you described in both years. People seem happy with their choices. DCI/Latin/BASIS are very different schools in many different ways (I can hardly think of anything similar about them) so you should be able to find one that fits your child. We stayed at DCI and we are happy. Latin & Basis did not offer what we wanted for our children and we did not try the lottery in 4th grade.

From a feeder and we cannot wait till DS gets to DCI so we don’t have to drive him everywhere after school for extracurriculars and sports.

It’s going to be a total game changer in regards to our quality of life. And when in upper middle school, looking forward to when DS can take metro to school too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BASIS DC is the best option for any academically minded kid.

I think the IB is a much more rigorous program than taking a bunch of AP tests. I think DCI offers much more in terms of sports, clubs, extracurricular, than Basis.

+1. Absolutely agree about IB and wanted to add that it focuses a lot on writing and critical analysis which I believe is very important. I say that as someone who is in a STEM field.

As to sports, clubs, and extracurriculars there is just no comparison. DCI blows Basis away.

Also, I want my child to have a good, happy well rounded middle and high school experience like I did, not some pressure cooker, AP focus at the expense of all else.

This is why we stuck with DCI too. Some kids thrive with intense academic work and are very happy at Basis. Others, even those who are "gifted," want to continue their language and learn in a different way and also have a broad choice of sports and clubs and a more traditional campus. I think one of my kids would have been okay at Basis but one would have been miserable, so DCI it is.

Anonymous wrote:DCI scores in the bottom half of the word in IB scores.

Not impressed.

There are schools in India in areas with a fraction of the income of the DMV that do better in IB.

Let me guess, these “schools” in India are private schools where the wealthy send their kids.

DCI does a great job with the students they have (no self selection, no test in) where their IB averages are close to the worldwide IB averages. If you know so much about international schools, you also know the overwhelming majority of them are private.