The first week was absolutely DISASTER.

My kid didn't even receive his schedules for the first few days, leaving me fuming and questioning what on earth the school was up to during the entire summer break ?

To add insult to injury, for one class, my child was shoved into a classroom that looked like it had been squeezed out of a closet, crammed with 16 students. It's downright impossible and unsafe for them to even move around during class! This is beyond infuriating!

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how the first week is going, OP?

OP, you should also keep an eye out for the Voyager Program as you get to high school and you've had more French.

DCI runs these 2-3 week language exchange programs in Taiwan, France, Spain, and other Spanish-speaking countries at various times throughout the year. I've heard fantastic things about the program and am hoping our DCI kids participate when they can.

Also, I know several DCI families who have sent kids to Concordia College immersion camps in Minnesota over the summer. It's not cheap but you can get a summer camp experience combined with intense language instruction.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how the first week is going, OP?

Thanks for asking! It is going OK. I didn't realize since he had no French experience it would only be one French class. I thought it was 25%-50% immersion. So it is really just regular middle school with French I.

He should get more classes in French next year, after he has had a year of French. There are arts & music classes taught in the immersion language and a culture/history class as well. At least that is the way it is in the Spanish track.

In theory, OP. The arts and music classes and culture/history tend to include a certain amount of English at DCI, particularly for Chinese and French, because so many kids can't speak or understand well enough to cope with classes taught entirely in the immersion language. This is true not just in the MS but in the HS. If DCI would just push summer immersion study, raise the funds to help send kids to immersion camps and stop doling out good grades to kids who can barely speak the target languages, things would start to improve.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how the first week is going, OP?

Thanks for asking! It is going OK. I didn't realize since he had no French experience it would only be one French class. I thought it was 25%-50% immersion. So it is really just regular middle school with French I.

He should get more classes in French next year, after he has had a year of French. There are arts & music classes taught in the immersion language and a culture/history class as well. At least that is the way it is in the Spanish track.

Anonymous wrote:Wondering how the first week is going, OP?

Thanks for asking! It is going OK. I didn't realize since he had no French experience it would only be one French class. I thought it was 25%-50% immersion. So it is really just regular middle school with French I.

Wondering how the first week is going, OP?

OP should know that the commute to DCI is difficult for many of the kids. We know Capitol Hill families where kids commute for a little more than an hour each way to DCI on public transportation, sometimes alone. These families, who invariably struck out in the BASIS lottery, the original Latin lottery or both, tend to look for HS alternatives that aren't as difficult to reach.

Does DCI run a bus at all from the metro? If so which metro and how often in am and pm? If not, then how do the kids get to school from the metro?

There is no DCI bus but there is a parade of kids who walk to Takoma Metro after school, and there is also the 54 bus at 14th and Aspen that goes to the Metro. Be sure your student gets their "Kids Ride Free" card from the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math is, science, social studies and English not, a real drag. Language instruction has been good but DCI hasn't been nearly challenging enough for my kid in any subject but language. We're sticking it out for middle school, hoping for Walls for high school. We didn't get into any other charters.

The issue is that if your kid doesn’t come in from a feeder, your kid will not be in the high level language classes where the high performing kids are. Those classes are social studies and all electives in addition to Math which is tracked.

What you have left is science and English. English is weak across the board in DC but at least with the IB curriculum, there is alot of emphasis on writing as you go higher so forces kids to develop their writing skills. Writing is one of the strengths in IB.

That's not 100% correct. Students who do not come from feeders can test into the higher-level language classes. For example, a few kids from WIS tested in, as have students who already speak good enough French, Spanish, or Chinese.

In theory, but it seldom happens. DCI just doesn't attract too many new families who serious about raising bilingual kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No surprised there. Stokes doesn't offer real French immersion, there are hardly any natives speakers in the program and there's no real commitment to immersion on the part of admins or the parent community, and it shows at DCI.

Even the most advanced Stokes graduates tend to speak French poorly (I know this from having volunteered at DCI at several French events in recent years). If your kid didn't attend Stokes but has had real immersion experiences in French for any length of time, they vault to upper-level middle school classes easily enough.

I'm not quite sure where your information is coming from. Approximately half the students in my child's Stokes French class have some French spoken at home, or have spent time living in a French-speaking country.

Total BS. Many of the kids have parents who took a little high school French, that's about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math is, science, social studies and English not, a real drag. Language instruction has been good but DCI hasn't been nearly challenging enough for my kid in any subject but language. We're sticking it out for middle school, hoping for Walls for high school. We didn't get into any other charters.

The issue is that if your kid doesn’t come in from a feeder, your kid will not be in the high level language classes where the high performing kids are. Those classes are social studies and all electives in addition to Math which is tracked.

What you have left is science and English. English is weak across the board in DC but at least with the IB curriculum, there is alot of emphasis on writing as you go higher so forces kids to develop their writing skills. Writing is one of the strengths in IB.

That's not 100% correct. Students who do not come from feeders can test into the higher-level language classes. For example, a few kids from WIS tested in, as have students who already speak good enough French, Spanish, or Chinese.

Anonymous wrote:NP. Does DCI run a bus at all from the metro? If so which metro and how often in am and pm? If not, then how do the kids get to school from the metro?

As to after school clubs and sports, same question. Is there late bus between 5-6pm to metro?

It's a short walk to the Takoma Metro Station. I see lots of kids walking to school in the morning, and back to the Metro in the afternoon.

Anonymous wrote:No surprised there. Stokes doesn't offer real French immersion, there are hardly any natives speakers in the program and there's no real commitment to immersion on the part of admins or the parent community, and it shows at DCI.

Even the most advanced Stokes graduates tend to speak French poorly (I know this from having volunteered at DCI at several French events in recent years). If your kid didn't attend Stokes but has had real immersion experiences in French for any length of time, they vault to upper-level middle school classes easily enough.

I'm not quite sure where your information is coming from. Approximately half the students in my child's Stokes French class have some French spoken at home, or have spent time living in a French-speaking country.

Sounds like they’re a supporter of normal school districts where elected school boards craft and implement reasonable policies. These are places where high-performing comprehensive middle and high schools are commonplace.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wrong. Parents don’t complain about much at DC charter schools because there’s no point. You choose to check in your right to reasonable policies when you enroll your child. DCI’s refusal to track in core subjects, other than math, is as obtuse as BASIS’ insistence that all students study beginning languages and 7th grade algebra or even harder math. These aren’t good policies; they don’t represent best practices in middle school education in this country yet are immutable. Those with the means to leave public schools while staying in their District communities do.

I love when the WTU chimes in with this tired old line. As if DCPS schools allow parents to design their own curriculum. Go away.
We have school choice. Parents choose BASIS or DCI with full knowledge of what they offer. The idea that anyone who works in a DCPS school would preach about "best practices" in education is laughable.

The PP ended their comment by saying “Those with the means to leave public schools while staying in their District communities do.” They’re not a WTU supporter, they’re a private school supporter pointing out that despite early hopes within the movement, charters have not become competitive with privates.

You might want to work on your reading comprehension. Poster specifically made reference to Charter schools (as opposed to DCPS).

The PP used the phrase “public schools.”

Are DCPS schools not “public schools”?