Anonymous wrote:DCI bit off a lot when they opened, especially at the high school level.

To get their charter they put forward a plan to meet the needs of both college-bound students AND non-college bound students. In contrast, right or wrong, Latin and BASIS are only focused on college admissions for all.

"IB for all" means implementing both the IB career program and the IB diploma program. There are few other high schools in the US who are offering the career program, and certainly no other brand new charter schools doing it.

They are also struggling with teacher retention. Some of the teachers whose contracts were not renewed needed to go; others are leaving for greener pastures elsewhere.

While many of us think of DCI as new, this is its 6th year of operations. For comparison, this is BASIS' 7th year (opened with 5th-8th); and DCI's 6th.

What do you think makes the "greener pastures" greener? (no sarcasm, legitimately curious as a feeder parent)

^^ typo. DCI opened only with 6th graders

DCI bit off a lot when they opened, especially at the high school level.

To get their charter they put forward a plan to meet the needs of both college-bound students AND non-college bound students. In contrast, right or wrong, Latin and BASIS are only focused on college admissions for all.

"IB for all" means implementing both the IB career program and the IB diploma program. There are few other high schools in the US who are offering the career program, and certainly no other brand new charter schools doing it.

They are also struggling with teacher retention. Some of the teachers whose contracts were not renewed needed to go; others are leaving for greener pastures elsewhere.

While many of us think of DCI as new, this is its 6th year of operations. For comparison, this is BASIS' 7th year (opened with 5th-8th); and DCI's 6th.

Anonymous wrote:Silly, I agree, particularly for an outgoing kid who makes friends easily (I have two). Our children have old pals outside of school, on sports teams, in scouts, at church etc.

We're not messing around for high school. DCI's IB Diploma obviously won't be anywhere near as strong as those found in the stronger suburban programs in this Metro area. So not interested.

You probably should have decamped to the burbs when your kids were in elementary, if this is how you feel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An anecdote. We skipped DCI.

My friend’s kid did not, and is dismayed that each year her child’s PARCC score has dropped, and the 9th grade practice PSAT score they just got back was not great.

Friend jokes that DCI is making her kid dumber — btw the kid gets good grades.

So where did your kid end up?

And I'll add that I have deep gratitude for those families that are in the leading edge grades of a school as your friend's family must be with a 9th grader. By its very nature, each year the school only gets stronger as it gets more settled. In looking at BASIS and Washington Latin, it seems like it takes 5-10 years and also is driven by having a permanent location. DCI has the permanent location and is approaching that timeframe. I really wish that somebody was clever enough to make a graphic of the stages of development of a new MS/HS charter into one that is highly sought after.

It's true that it takes some time for a school to become strong, but just time alone doesn't guarantee that a school does become strong.

Anonymous wrote:Our kid earned top grades for almost everything at YY and in 6th grade at DCI. We switched to a private for 7th grade, where we were told that his Mandarin was weak and his math and ELA were mediocre. We scrambled to catch up with his new classmates, causing us all a lot of stress. So glad we've stopped drinking the Kool-Aid.

This doesn't surprise me. We're at YY now and oldest DC gets good grades in ELA but a 2 for ELA PARCC score. The teachers and admin dismissed my concerns, stating that PARCC scores don't mean anything. We're switching younger DC's to our IB DCPS in the Fall. No more koolaid for us either.

Thanks for the info re DCI. We're trying to decide between DCI and Deal for oldest DC. I'm also concerned that there will be a gap between DC and other Deal peers if we go this route and we would need to catch up.

Can I ask what you've been doing to catch up? Tutoring, online programs, etc.?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An anecdote. We skipped DCI.

My friend’s kid did not, and is dismayed that each year her child’s PARCC score has dropped, and the 9th grade practice PSAT score they just got back was not great.

Friend jokes that DCI is making her kid dumber — btw the kid gets good grades.

So where did your kid end up?

And I'll add that I have deep gratitude for those families that are in the leading edge grades of a school as your friend's family must be with a 9th grader. By its very nature, each year the school only gets stronger as it gets more settled. In looking at BASIS and Washington Latin, it seems like it takes 5-10 years and also is driven by having a permanent location. DCI has the permanent location and is approaching that timeframe. I really wish that somebody was clever enough to make a graphic of the stages of development of a new MS/HS charter into one that is highly sought after.

Latin; left feeder early to follow a sibling (DCI didn't exist when older sibling was in a feeder school). Friend now wishes they could have at least tried to lottery for something else, but at the time, doing so meant giving up the guaranteed seat at DCI.

People on both sides of the DCI debate probably have confirmation bias.

But back to the original premise of the thread, DCI isn’t expanding because they do not think their model is there yet.

And to their credit, they are trying to fix it, not waiting around for the school to be filled with affluent parents. Anyone enrolling now or next year must be comfortable sending your kid to a work in progress. Some of us are, others are not.

Anonymous wrote:An anecdote. We skipped DCI.

My friend’s kid did not, and is dismayed that each year her child’s PARCC score has dropped, and the 9th grade practice PSAT score they just got back was not great.

Friend jokes that DCI is making her kid dumber — btw the kid gets good grades.

So where did your kid end up?

And I'll add that I have deep gratitude for those families that are in the leading edge grades of a school as your friend's family must be with a 9th grader. By its very nature, each year the school only gets stronger as it gets more settled. In looking at BASIS and Washington Latin, it seems like it takes 5-10 years and also is driven by having a permanent location. DCI has the permanent location and is approaching that timeframe. I really wish that somebody was clever enough to make a graphic of the stages of development of a new MS/HS charter into one that is highly sought after.

Anonymous wrote:Our kid earned top grades for almost everything at YY and in 6th grade at DCI. We switched to a private for 7th grade, where we were told that his Mandarin was weak and his math and ELA were mediocre. We scrambled to catch up with his new classmates, causing us all a lot of stress. So glad we've stopped drinking the Kool-Aid.

This type of thing makes me a bit skeptical. Doesn't the private have an interest in making you feel like you made the right choice? Doesn't the private have an interest in holding themselves out as better (partly to justify their cost)?

I'm sure the private has more kids going to top colleges - some, if not most of it, has nothing to do with the private itself though; it has more to do with privilege and ability to supplement and cultivate than actual merit.

This is from a blog post about Silicon Valley, but it bears on so many aspects of life - here's the link to the full post https://medium.com/social-capital/techs-diversity-problem-february-24-2019-snippets-56d0fd2fa62e, and below is a blurb that seems most relevant.

Today, we’re going to talk about the dark side of this codified set of social rules: it is not equal-opportunity. It works for some people and not for others.

People in power have known for a long time that in a free society where you can’t simply use force to preserve your empire, the best tools for preserving power aren’t explicit, and they aren’t even economic; they’re social. If you leave it up to hard work and economics alone, your position at the top will erode quickly: talent, motivation and grit are distributed across the population in a way that most definitely does not favour the powerful. The world is full of people who are hungrier than you, more talented than you, will work harder than you, and want it more than you. So, naturally, we’ve evolved all kinds of institutions whose purpose is to make sure that the gates of opportunity will be favourably open for those who come from the right zip codes and who have the right parents. Institutions like elite schools and country clubs, other distinguishing factors like speech and accents, and even social graces like table manners play a real social role in making sure that “the right people” can always preserve a natural head start over the much larger (and, usually, more capable) group of people who do not have that advantage.

These days, it’s quite frowned upon to admit this openly; we like to talk about how we live in much more of a meritocracy. But a lot of the time, the “merit” that goes into that meritocracy is essentially a codified expression of existing advantage: think of elite universities that evaluate extracurricular activities in high school as admission criteria, for instance. Spending lavishly on piano lessons and educational vacations early in life, as a way of gaining admission into Swarthmore, then GSB, and then a coveted junior position on an elite career path is a fantastic way for power to buy itself another generation. Furthermore, the meritocracy perception only gets stronger, because among that peer set, the people who do the best are in fact the ones who are the most talented, work the hardest, and generally deserve it most. For the most part, among the modern elite, people look around at their peers and see a pretty good correlation between how well they’re doing and how hard they’re working. The trick is to make sure you’ve adjusted your blinders appropriately, so that the illusion remains vivid.

Our kid earned top grades for almost everything at YY and in 6th grade at DCI. We switched to a private for 7th grade, where we were told that his Mandarin was weak and his math and ELA were mediocre. We scrambled to catch up with his new classmates, causing us all a lot of stress. So glad we've stopped drinking the Kool-Aid.

An anecdote. We skipped DCI.

My friend’s kid did not, and is dismayed that each year her child’s PARCC score has dropped, and the 9th grade practice PSAT score they just got back was not great.

Friend jokes that DCI is making her kid dumber — btw the kid gets good grades.

Silly, I agree, particularly for an outgoing kid who makes friends easily (I have two). Our children have old pals outside of school, on sports teams, in scouts, at church etc.

We're not messing around for high school. DCI's IB Diploma obviously won't be anywhere near as strong as those found in the stronger suburban programs in this Metro area. So not interested.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ditto. DCI admins talk to the talk, but I'm not seeing the rigor we're looking for in any area.

We're super busy with full-time jobs and don't have the time or energy to supplement extensively. DCI is too far from our Cap Hill home to make the commute worth it. Looking Stuart Hobson (we're IB).

So you aren't there but know there isn't rigor? How. And the school not being convenient to your house isn't really anything about the school.

We've done our due diligence on rigor. We've not only attended open houses, we've sat in on several "advanced" middle school classes with the permission of admins. We've asked neighbors' children in these classes to show us all sorts of homework assignments, dug into test score data, and talked to admins. We've even volunteered at school events celebrating our culture/language (we speak the language well, if not completely fluently) where we've spoke to a bunch of the most advanced 8th and 9th grade students studying the language.

Sorry, we're not seeing like the rigor we're looking for. Not worth the long commute. Stuart Hobson looks more promising, with its honor classes. The school is across the street from our place. Enroll there and the parent with the most flexibility in their schedule buys time to tutor our children in the afternoons. Good luck to the rest of you.

You didn’t answer my high school question. I appreciate that you’re doing what’s best for your family so I’m sure you have thought about high school.

Hoping for SWW, fi aid at a private. Last resort, move to Arlington for higher octane IB Diploma program than DCI at Washington Lee for 5 years, then return to DC as empty nesters.

DP. This approach is interesting to me because it doesn't seem to place much of a priority on continuity of friendships/community. We're also IB for Stuart-Hobson and we opted for DCI because continuity of friendships/community was one of our priorities. In addition, we've been happy with the growth we've seen in our kid's PARCC scores and MAP scores (amongst many other reasons we're happy with DCI). We also have friends that are at Stuart-Hobson and are happy with their kid's education. Just like there are feeder families opting for SH, there are IB Stuart-Hobson, non-feeder families opting for DCI - hard to tell which is greater. At the end of the day, we're lucky we have options . . . . wish that was the case for all DC families.

And I want to add, we routinely see Latin kids leaving at the same time in the morning so I expect that the commute via public transportation to Latin must be similar to the commute to DCI for our part of Capital Hill. BASIS is the clear winner for shortest commute for a charter school from the Hill.

NP here. The bolded is a silly reason to select a school. Friendships frequently change in middle school, and that's quite a gamble to bank on them staying the same.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ditto. DCI admins talk to the talk, but I'm not seeing the rigor we're looking for in any area.

We're super busy with full-time jobs and don't have the time or energy to supplement extensively. DCI is too far from our Cap Hill home to make the commute worth it. Looking Stuart Hobson (we're IB).

So you aren't there but know there isn't rigor? How. And the school not being convenient to your house isn't really anything about the school.

We've done our due diligence on rigor. We've not only attended open houses, we've sat in on several "advanced" middle school classes with the permission of admins. We've asked neighbors' children in these classes to show us all sorts of homework assignments, dug into test score data, and talked to admins. We've even volunteered at school events celebrating our culture/language (we speak the language well, if not completely fluently) where we've spoke to a bunch of the most advanced 8th and 9th grade students studying the language.

Sorry, we're not seeing like the rigor we're looking for. Not worth the long commute. Stuart Hobson looks more promising, with its honor classes. The school is across the street from our place. Enroll there and the parent with the most flexibility in their schedule buys time to tutor our children in the afternoons. Good luck to the rest of you.

You didn’t answer my high school question. I appreciate that you’re doing what’s best for your family so I’m sure you have thought about high school.

Hoping for SWW, fi aid at a private. Last resort, move to Arlington for higher octane IB Diploma program than DCI at Washington Lee for 5 years, then return to DC as empty nesters.

DP. This approach is interesting to me because it doesn't seem to place much of a priority on continuity of friendships/community. We're also IB for Stuart-Hobson and we opted for DCI because continuity of friendships/community was one of our priorities. In addition, we've been happy with the growth we've seen in our kid's PARCC scores and MAP scores (amongst many other reasons we're happy with DCI). We also have friends that are at Stuart-Hobson and are happy with their kid's education. Just like there are feeder families opting for SH, there are IB Stuart-Hobson, non-feeder families opting for DCI - hard to tell which is greater. At the end of the day, we're lucky we have options . . . . wish that was the case for all DC families.

And I want to add, we routinely see Latin kids leaving at the same time in the morning so I expect that the commute via public transportation to Latin must be similar to the commute to DCI for our part of Capital Hill. BASIS is the clear winner for shortest commute for a charter school from the Hill.