There are only two ways your DCPS/PCSB kid is fluent: (1) you have or more native speakers in the home, have had this since birth, and those native speakers communicate almost exclusively in that language, or (2) your kid spends summers or gap years in foreign countries speaking only that language. Full stop. There is no other way your kid is fluent.

Different PP. You sound like you're in La La Land about not supplementing, PP.

I speak Spanish at home to our MS-age kids and have always required them to mainly answer Spanish with Spanish. We've also hosted a series of Spanish-speaking au pairs. But I still wouldn't call them "fluent," at least not the way I was growing up. The standards for speaking and listening in DC public school Spanish immersion programs aren't high, other than maybe at Oyster-Adams, only program with a lottery for native speakers.

The only parents I know who are seriously impressed with standards for speaking Spanish at MV, Lamb, Tyler SI, DC Bilingual etc. don't speak Spanish. These programs generally don't bother with summer immersion camps or their students. When the kid(s) are teens, you won' be able to supplement with a tutor or something if you expect them to ace brutal IBD language exams. You're going to need to send them for weeks, even months, of true immersion study at Concordia or abroad to get good results. Period.

Anonymous wrote:This is the thinking of a parent with an ES kid talking. Map tests aren’t too serious. Wait for the test for IBD Higher Level Spanish. I highly doubt you will half as confident about not supplementing or seeking out dual-immersion environments 8 or 9 years hence.

PP here. Re-read my post. I said not as of yet. No need to supplement now, and in the future if we come to a point that we need to, we will.

MAP tests are serious in elementary and it’s adaptive to each child BTW so keeps asking harder questions until you get it wrong. It’s a hell of a lot better than PARCC.

It’s sad how you can’t even acknowledge the accomplishment of a child who is doing well with no supplementation. It can be done and that is my point. Why don’t you tell us what foreign language you or your kid spoke in elementary and how did you compare on national standards? What “serious” tests was it?

This is the thinking of a parent with an ES kid talking. Map tests aren’t too serious. Wait for the test for IBD Higher Level Spanish. I highly doubt you will half as confident about not supplementing or seeking out dual-immersion environments 8 or 9 years hence.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What? One kid from DCI gets into Yale a couple of years ago and you say, "Theyé sending kids to Yale"?

A kid from Eastern High School was accepted to Columbia two years ago.

I guess we need to say, "Wow. Eastern must be great--they are sending kids to the Ivy League!"

Multiple kids attending Ivy League Schools from DC, including 2 at yale now and a couple considering it this year, fwiw.
But it's not just Yale and Ivy League. DCI admissions were amazing for 2021, 2022 and the current class.

Too many overqualified kids applying to all the top schools and if you are an IB student who did really well, you stand out among the pack. This is especially true if you go to a school that takes all. Most of the kids who do well in IB in this country (small percentage compared to AP) are coming from private or test in programs.

If DCI has kids scoring high on IB, that is a big accomplishment.

Also if these kids are fluent in another language, they also stand out from the pack.

Fluent? Maybe some of the Spanish track students. If speak Chinese or French well and chat with DCI seniors on the advanced track in these languages you know that the kids are far from proficient, let alone fluent.

Of course we are talking Spanish. Everyone knows it’s not Chinese or French and DCUM has this obsession on focusing so much in these 2 languages when the overwhelming students at DCI are on the Spanish track with native speakers.

BTW, we are in a feeder with a strong Spanish program. We do not speak any Spanish or support at home. We do have programming in Spanish with movies, shows, etc., Anyway, DS rocked on the recent MAP test in 3rd grade. 94% nationally in Spanish. Some kids pick up languages more easily than others and being in a strong program with many native speakers helps. You don’t need to do extra supplementation and we are not planning on it as of yet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What? One kid from DCI gets into Yale a couple of years ago and you say, "Theyé sending kids to Yale"?

A kid from Eastern High School was accepted to Columbia two years ago.

I guess we need to say, "Wow. Eastern must be great--they are sending kids to the Ivy League!"

Multiple kids attending Ivy League Schools from DC, including 2 at yale now and a couple considering it this year, fwiw.
But it's not just Yale and Ivy League. DCI admissions were amazing for 2021, 2022 and the current class.

Too many overqualified kids applying to all the top schools and if you are an IB student who did really well, you stand out among the pack. This is especially true if you go to a school that takes all. Most of the kids who do well in IB in this country (small percentage compared to AP) are coming from private or test in programs.

If DCI has kids scoring high on IB, that is a big accomplishment.

Also if these kids are fluent in another language, they also stand out from the pack.

Fluent? Maybe some of the Spanish track students. If speak Chinese or French well and chat with DCI seniors on the advanced track in these languages you know that the kids are far from proficient, let alone fluent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What? One kid from DCI gets into Yale a couple of years ago and you say, "Theyé sending kids to Yale"?

A kid from Eastern High School was accepted to Columbia two years ago.

I guess we need to say, "Wow. Eastern must be great--they are sending kids to the Ivy League!"

Multiple kids attending Ivy League Schools from DC, including 2 at yale now and a couple considering it this year, fwiw.
But it's not just Yale and Ivy League. DCI admissions were amazing for 2021, 2022 and the current class.

Too many overqualified kids applying to all the top schools and if you are an IB student who did really well, you stand out among the pack. This is especially true if you go to a school that takes all. Most of the kids who do well in IB in this country (small percentage compared to AP) are coming from private or test in programs.

If DCI has kids scoring high on IB, that is a big accomplishment.

Come on. DCI students take their IB exams 4 or 5 months after applying to colleges. Guidance counselors don't encourage them to take two junior year (which Geneva permits) or to double up on AP exams for corresponding subjects either, common practices in strong IBD programs in the US. The kids who are cracking elite colleges from DCI are heavily URMs and low SES kids who get a break, possibly a big break, in admissions. Not buying the line about private or test-in programs. Where are you getting the data? The IB programs in the burbs in this metro area overwhelmingly public and not test-in. In fact, they mostly draw in self-selecting students who've met academic prerequisites (e.g. having done well in 8th grade algebra). You can look on the Fairfax and Arlington schools web sites if you doubt this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What? One kid from DCI gets into Yale a couple of years ago and you say, "Theyé sending kids to Yale"?

A kid from Eastern High School was accepted to Columbia two years ago.

I guess we need to say, "Wow. Eastern must be great--they are sending kids to the Ivy League!"

Multiple kids attending Ivy League Schools from DC, including 2 at yale now and a couple considering it this year, fwiw.
But it's not just Yale and Ivy League. DCI admissions were amazing for 2021, 2022 and the current class.

Too many overqualified kids applying to all the top schools and if you are an IB student who did really well, you stand out among the pack. This is especially true if you go to a school that takes all. Most of the kids who do well in IB in this country (small percentage compared to AP) are coming from private or test in programs.

If DCI has kids scoring high on IB, that is a big accomplishment.

Also if these kids are fluent in another language, they also stand out from the pack.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What? One kid from DCI gets into Yale a couple of years ago and you say, "Theyé sending kids to Yale"?

A kid from Eastern High School was accepted to Columbia two years ago.

I guess we need to say, "Wow. Eastern must be great--they are sending kids to the Ivy League!"

Multiple kids attending Ivy League Schools from DC, including 2 at yale now and a couple considering it this year, fwiw.
But it's not just Yale and Ivy League. DCI admissions were amazing for 2021, 2022 and the current class.

Too many overqualified kids applying to all the top schools and if you are an IB student who did really well, you stand out among the pack. This is especially true if you go to a school that takes all. Most of the kids who do well in IB in this country (small percentage compared to AP) are coming from private or test in programs.

If DCI has kids scoring high on IB, that is a big accomplishment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, the odd strong student gets into a top school, particularly if they're URM. DCI just isn't a powerhouse school sending lots of grads to elite colleges, not yet anyway.

Why don’t you tell me what public/charter high school that takes all kids regardless of SES (not test in/magnet and not by high SES neighborhood) that only just graduated it’s 3rd or 4th class sends lots of grads to elite colleges. You realize the high school is pretty new.

I heard they got a few Ivy admits last year and this year. That is impressive especially since it was not a big class.

Sorry, do you think any socioeconomically diverse public school gets mediocre students into top schools? Do you think Latin guarantees top 20 for all? Then you are delusional. IN any case, the strongest kids at DCI (Let's say top 20%) are doing really well at the "top schools" (let's say top 25 schools). Isn't that really the best any school could expect? In fact, DCI does a great job with its strong students. It may not seem that way to the new MS parent, who is out of touch with current trends in public education (discouraging tracking, among other), but DCI does a great job preparing these kids for college success. If you are underwhelmed as a MS parent, wait till your child gets to HS and try telling them they are not being pushed. I am sure they will disagree!

I'd like to understand more about this "discouraging tracking." Is that the case for both Latin and DCI?

From my obviously dated experience, getting into tracked classes where kids cared more about learning than pranking the teachers, bullying kids, and generally goofing off is what saved my school experience. I had a hard time being one of just a couple kids who wanted to learn in my mainsstream courses, so honors was a godsend, a whole class of kids who mostly liked school and weren't disruptive! A great mainstream teacher can handle a class of kids at different levels, but this kind of teacher is probably hard to find. I hope I'm wrong, but these are the things that keep me up at night when I hear about my middle schoolers' experiences.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, the odd strong student gets into a top school, particularly if they're URM. DCI just isn't a powerhouse school sending lots of grads to elite colleges, not yet anyway.

Why don’t you tell me what public/charter high school that takes all kids regardless of SES (not test in/magnet and not by high SES neighborhood) that only just graduated it’s 3rd or 4th class sends lots of grads to elite colleges. You realize the high school is pretty new.

I heard they got a few Ivy admits last year and this year. That is impressive especially since it was not a big class.

Sorry, do you think any socioeconomically diverse public school gets mediocre students into top schools? Do you think Latin guarantees top 20 for all? Then you are delusional. IN any case, the strongest kids at DCI (Let's say top 20%) are doing really well at the "top schools" (let's say top 25 schools). Isn't that really the best any school could expect? In fact, DCI does a great job with its strong students. It may not seem that way to the new MS parent, who is out of touch with current trends in public education (discouraging tracking, among other), but DCI does a great job preparing these kids for college success. If you are underwhelmed as a MS parent, wait till your child gets to HS and try telling them they are not being pushed. I am sure they will disagree!

I really hope you are right, because judging by middle school, things have been mediocre at best. At this point, my kid is not interested in staying on for high school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, the odd strong student gets into a top school, particularly if they're URM. DCI just isn't a powerhouse school sending lots of grads to elite colleges, not yet anyway.

Why don’t you tell me what public/charter high school that takes all kids regardless of SES (not test in/magnet and not by high SES neighborhood) that only just graduated it’s 3rd or 4th class sends lots of grads to elite colleges. You realize the high school is pretty new.

I heard they got a few Ivy admits last year and this year. That is impressive especially since it was not a big class.

Sorry, do you think any socioeconomically diverse public school gets mediocre students into top schools? Do you think Latin guarantees top 20 for all? Then you are delusional. IN any case, the strongest kids at DCI (Let's say top 20%) are doing really well at the "top schools" (let's say top 25 schools). Isn't that really the best any school could expect? In fact, DCI does a great job with its strong students. It may not seem that way to the new MS parent, who is out of touch with current trends in public education (discouraging tracking, among other), but DCI does a great job preparing these kids for college success. If you are underwhelmed as a MS parent, wait till your child gets to HS and try telling them they are not being pushed. I am sure they will disagree!

Anonymous wrote:What? One kid from DCI gets into Yale a couple of years ago and you say, "Theyé sending kids to Yale"?

A kid from Eastern High School was accepted to Columbia two years ago.

I guess we need to say, "Wow. Eastern must be great--they are sending kids to the Ivy League!"

Multiple kids attending Ivy League Schools from DC, including 2 at yale now and a couple considering it this year, fwiw.
But it's not just Yale and Ivy League. DCI admissions were amazing for 2021, 2022 and the current class.

Anonymous wrote:What? One kid from DCI gets into Yale a couple of years ago and you say, "Theyé sending kids to Yale"?

A kid from Eastern High School was accepted to Columbia two years ago.

I guess we need to say, "Wow. Eastern must be great--they are sending kids to the Ivy League!"

Smart post. If DCI would just start offering advanced middle school (at least for 8th grade) classes for science, social studies and English, things would improve much faster. Same for Latin Cooper.

Anonymous wrote:Right, the odd strong student gets into a top school, particularly if they're URM. DCI just isn't a powerhouse school sending lots of grads to elite colleges, not yet anyway.

Why don’t you tell me what public/charter high school that takes all kids regardless of SES (not test in/magnet and not by high SES neighborhood) that only just graduated it’s 3rd or 4th class sends lots of grads to elite colleges. You realize the high school is pretty new.

I heard they got a few Ivy admits last year and this year. That is impressive especially since it was not a big class.