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Anonymous wrote:DCI has AP options in every nearly subject- English, African American history, science, and pre calc and calc. No foreign language AP for some reason. These are taken 9&10th grade and i believe placement is based on MAP test score. This is relatively new at DCI, I could be wrong.

11th and 12th grade it’s all IB.

This is for IB track. Not sure about career.

That is great to hear! I did not know this. So the high performing kids can not only take AP classes in 9th and 10th grade but also the AP tests. This will further strengthen their college applications with good AP scores to show mastery in addition to the IB courses, grades, and diploma.

It is commonly known that the IB language test is much, much harder than the AP language test so maybe if they have to take that then no need to do AP language.

Yes this is why our family did not opt to apply to Walls which seems like a good school but doesn’t offer the same level of rigorous curriculum as offered by DCI.

DCI is more rigorous than Walls? Haven’t really heard that before.

The highest track possibly so.

We can debate that forever but the fact is Walls is going downhill thanks to DCPS and DCI is on an upward trajectory by offering students more - more advance math, more AP courses earlier, more tracking and uses objective standardized testing for placement..

You can’t say that about Walls and they have taken away any objective testing.

Walls obviously doesn’t have tracks like DCI but the highest achieving kids at Walls take really challenging schedules- 5 APs junior and senior years, 2 or 3 APs sophomore year, dual enrollment classes, etc.

No interest in walls but dci has IB math AA and AI. The highest math track will take ap pre calculus and calculus as freshmen and sophomores. It also offers IB HL and SL in chemistry, biology, physics and environmental science. One of the reasons we felt walls was not a good fit was the lack of science offerings. Plus the related STEM clubs and extra curricular activities were not present at walls or not as popular. Walls won’t prepare children sufficiently for stem based careers.

Thanks for the response- of course you had to make an unfounded dig and claim in the last sentence, but otherwise an actually informative post. And don’t worry about those Walls kids, plenty go into stem based careers.

No one is saying Walks kids can’t go into STEM fields but it’s a well known fact that Walls is not strong in STEM and is more a humanities field.

Walls is not going to prepare kids as well who go into STEM. They don’t offer all AP STEM courses. They don’t offer anything past Calculus. They don’t have strong STEM clubs or robotics team, etc….

What classes do other schools offer past Calculus? Linear algebra is not a “past Calculus” course. You don’t need to take calculus to take that course. Are high schools offering differential equations or something?

Linear algebra is commonly taken after Calculus. This is the typical order because it is a more difficult course. Many schools require Calculus first even if not necessary.

The typical high schools in the burbs offer courses past Calculus such as linear Algebra, differential equations, and/or multivariable calculus. Some schools offer 1 of these, others 2, some all 3. This is your standard high schools.

Of course the magnets offer courses past Calculus.

It is not tecommeb

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Anonymous wrote:DCI has AP options in every nearly subject- English, African American history, science, and pre calc and calc. No foreign language AP for some reason. These are taken 9&10th grade and i believe placement is based on MAP test score. This is relatively new at DCI, I could be wrong.

11th and 12th grade it’s all IB.

This is for IB track. Not sure about career.

That is great to hear! I did not know this. So the high performing kids can not only take AP classes in 9th and 10th grade but also the AP tests. This will further strengthen their college applications with good AP scores to show mastery in addition to the IB courses, grades, and diploma.

It is commonly known that the IB language test is much, much harder than the AP language test so maybe if they have to take that then no need to do AP language.

Yes this is why our family did not opt to apply to Walls which seems like a good school but doesn’t offer the same level of rigorous curriculum as offered by DCI.

🤣😂🤣

Glad your child is grounded in reality. At least they will be bilingual.

Trilingual. You can take two languages at DCI.

Oh come on, few kids who take two languages at DCI are going to emerge truly bilingual. We're a bilingual home with a bunch of DCI/feeder families and DCI teenagers living nearby in the past 15 years. We know these families well. When I chat with their teens in one of the target languages (not Spanish), it's clear that they're not fully bilingual, not even close. They're certainly not trilingual either. As others have pointed out, you can't do true immersion without a large cohort of native speakers in a program. I'm told that DCI doesn't even run its own immersion summer camps and neither do its feeders. Sure, language study at DCI is going to be stronger than in DCPS but don't exaggerate.

My personal anecdotal experience is not relevant so I won’t share. For informational purposes, DCI does run language camps (I believe they might even be open to the public). They have numerous study abroad programs both on the shorter end and on the longer end (semester to year long). They also offer volunteer opportunities in the target languages and celebrate that, so at least anecdotally they were very popular in my home. I also encourage you to research what the language IB exam process looks like because it is very strong. Finally DCI is not an immersion school the way elementary schools are. But in middle school more advanced kids took social studies and other electives in their target languages which was great. Your mileage may vary but those are the facts. No AP spanish mandarin or French classes though which I always found odd.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI has AP options in every nearly subject- English, African American history, science, and pre calc and calc. No foreign language AP for some reason. These are taken 9&10th grade and i believe placement is based on MAP test score. This is relatively new at DCI, I could be wrong.

11th and 12th grade it’s all IB.

This is for IB track. Not sure about career.

That is great to hear! I did not know this. So the high performing kids can not only take AP classes in 9th and 10th grade but also the AP tests. This will further strengthen their college applications with good AP scores to show mastery in addition to the IB courses, grades, and diploma.

It is commonly known that the IB language test is much, much harder than the AP language test so maybe if they have to take that then no need to do AP language.

Yes this is why our family did not opt to apply to Walls which seems like a good school but doesn’t offer the same level of rigorous curriculum as offered by DCI.

🤣😂🤣

Glad your child is grounded in reality. At least they will be bilingual.

Trilingual. You can take two languages at DCI.

Oh come on, few kids who take two languages at DCI are going to emerge truly bilingual. We're a bilingual home with a bunch of DCI/feeder families and DCI teenagers living nearby in the past 15 years. We know these families well. When I chat with their teens in one of the target languages (not Spanish), it's clear that they're not fully bilingual, not even close. They're certainly not trilingual either. As others have pointed out, you can't do true immersion without a large cohort of native speakers in a program. I'm told that DCI doesn't even run its own immersion summer camps and neither do its feeders. Sure, language study at DCI is going to be stronger than in DCPS but don't exaggerate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI has AP options in every nearly subject- English, African American history, science, and pre calc and calc. No foreign language AP for some reason. These are taken 9&10th grade and i believe placement is based on MAP test score. This is relatively new at DCI, I could be wrong.

11th and 12th grade it’s all IB.

This is for IB track. Not sure about career.

That is great to hear! I did not know this. So the high performing kids can not only take AP classes in 9th and 10th grade but also the AP tests. This will further strengthen their college applications with good AP scores to show mastery in addition to the IB courses, grades, and diploma.

It is commonly known that the IB language test is much, much harder than the AP language test so maybe if they have to take that then no need to do AP language.

Yes this is why our family did not opt to apply to Walls which seems like a good school but doesn’t offer the same level of rigorous curriculum as offered by DCI.

🤣😂🤣

Glad your child is grounded in reality. At least they will be bilingual.

Trilingual. You can take two languages at DCI.

Anonymous wrote:Walls is definitely not a STEM focused school. On the other hand, the only science class I can think of that it doesn’t offer that one would expect is AP Chemistry. Kids can (and do) take multivariate in 12th grade. What else is missing /should be offered to meet DCUM STEM standards (for a non-TJ/BASIS type) school? I wouldn’t call walls a humanities school (so far as parent of a junior I have been very unimpressed by humanities offerings/teachers) I would call it a normal school (with a fantastic cohort).

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI has AP options in every nearly subject- English, African American history, science, and pre calc and calc. No foreign language AP for some reason. These are taken 9&10th grade and i believe placement is based on MAP test score. This is relatively new at DCI, I could be wrong.

11th and 12th grade it’s all IB.

This is for IB track. Not sure about career.

That is great to hear! I did not know this. So the high performing kids can not only take AP classes in 9th and 10th grade but also the AP tests. This will further strengthen their college applications with good AP scores to show mastery in addition to the IB courses, grades, and diploma.

It is commonly known that the IB language test is much, much harder than the AP language test so maybe if they have to take that then no need to do AP language.

Yes this is why our family did not opt to apply to Walls which seems like a good school but doesn’t offer the same level of rigorous curriculum as offered by DCI.

DCI is more rigorous than Walls? Haven’t really heard that before.

The highest track possibly so.

We can debate that forever but the fact is Walls is going downhill thanks to DCPS and DCI is on an upward trajectory by offering students more - more advance math, more AP courses earlier, more tracking and uses objective standardized testing for placement..

You can’t say that about Walls and they have taken away any objective testing.

Walls obviously doesn’t have tracks like DCI but the highest achieving kids at Walls take really challenging schedules- 5 APs junior and senior years, 2 or 3 APs sophomore year, dual enrollment classes, etc.

No interest in walls but dci has IB math AA and AI. The highest math track will take ap pre calculus and calculus as freshmen and sophomores. It also offers IB HL and SL in chemistry, biology, physics and environmental science. One of the reasons we felt walls was not a good fit was the lack of science offerings. Plus the related STEM clubs and extra curricular activities were not present at walls or not as popular. Walls won’t prepare children sufficiently for stem based careers.

It is not apple to apple comparison. Walls is not a stem HS. It is a humanities HS and they are clear about that. Not sure why people keep bringing up math and other stem classes.

Well there is one Walls parent on here in complete denial, who likely has a freshman saying otherwise that the school is as strong in STEM courses as humanities courses which we all know is not true.

Oh the naïveté of it all…..

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI has AP options in every nearly subject- English, African American history, science, and pre calc and calc. No foreign language AP for some reason. These are taken 9&10th grade and i believe placement is based on MAP test score. This is relatively new at DCI, I could be wrong.

11th and 12th grade it’s all IB.

This is for IB track. Not sure about career.

That is great to hear! I did not know this. So the high performing kids can not only take AP classes in 9th and 10th grade but also the AP tests. This will further strengthen their college applications with good AP scores to show mastery in addition to the IB courses, grades, and diploma.

It is commonly known that the IB language test is much, much harder than the AP language test so maybe if they have to take that then no need to do AP language.

Yes this is why our family did not opt to apply to Walls which seems like a good school but doesn’t offer the same level of rigorous curriculum as offered by DCI.

DCI is more rigorous than Walls? Haven’t really heard that before.

The highest track possibly so.

We can debate that forever but the fact is Walls is going downhill thanks to DCPS and DCI is on an upward trajectory by offering students more - more advance math, more AP courses earlier, more tracking and uses objective standardized testing for placement..

You can’t say that about Walls and they have taken away any objective testing.

Walls obviously doesn’t have tracks like DCI but the highest achieving kids at Walls take really challenging schedules- 5 APs junior and senior years, 2 or 3 APs sophomore year, dual enrollment classes, etc.

No interest in walls but dci has IB math AA and AI. The highest math track will take ap pre calculus and calculus as freshmen and sophomores. It also offers IB HL and SL in chemistry, biology, physics and environmental science. One of the reasons we felt walls was not a good fit was the lack of science offerings. Plus the related STEM clubs and extra curricular activities were not present at walls or not as popular. Walls won’t prepare children sufficiently for stem based careers.

It is not apple to apple comparison. Walls is not a stem HS. It is a humanities HS and they are clear about that. Not sure why people keep bringing up math and other stem classes.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:DCI has AP options in every nearly subject- English, African American history, science, and pre calc and calc. No foreign language AP for some reason. These are taken 9&10th grade and i believe placement is based on MAP test score. This is relatively new at DCI, I could be wrong.

11th and 12th grade it’s all IB.

This is for IB track. Not sure about career.

That is great to hear! I did not know this. So the high performing kids can not only take AP classes in 9th and 10th grade but also the AP tests. This will further strengthen their college applications with good AP scores to show mastery in addition to the IB courses, grades, and diploma.

It is commonly known that the IB language test is much, much harder than the AP language test so maybe if they have to take that then no need to do AP language.

Yes this is why our family did not opt to apply to Walls which seems like a good school but doesn’t offer the same level of rigorous curriculum as offered by DCI.

DCI is more rigorous than Walls? Haven’t really heard that before.

The highest track possibly so.

We can debate that forever but the fact is Walls is going downhill thanks to DCPS and DCI is on an upward trajectory by offering students more - more advance math, more AP courses earlier, more tracking and uses objective standardized testing for placement..

You can’t say that about Walls and they have taken away any objective testing.

Walls obviously doesn’t have tracks like DCI but the highest achieving kids at Walls take really challenging schedules- 5 APs junior and senior years, 2 or 3 APs sophomore year, dual enrollment classes, etc.

No interest in walls but dci has IB math AA and AI. The highest math track will take ap pre calculus and calculus as freshmen and sophomores. It also offers IB HL and SL in chemistry, biology, physics and environmental science. One of the reasons we felt walls was not a good fit was the lack of science offerings. Plus the related STEM clubs and extra curricular activities were not present at walls or not as popular. Walls won’t prepare children sufficiently for stem based careers.

Thanks for the response- of course you had to make an unfounded dig and claim in the last sentence, but otherwise an actually informative post. And don’t worry about those Walls kids, plenty go into stem based careers.

No one is saying Walks kids can’t go into STEM fields but it’s a well known fact that Walls is not strong in STEM and is more a humanities field.

Walls is not going to prepare kids as well who go into STEM. They don’t offer all AP STEM courses. They don’t offer anything past Calculus. They don’t have strong STEM clubs or robotics team, etc….

What classes do other schools offer past Calculus? Linear algebra is not a “past Calculus” course. You don’t need to take calculus to take that course. Are high schools offering differential equations or something?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCI has AP options in every nearly subject- English, African American history, science, and pre calc and calc. No foreign language AP for some reason. These are taken 9&10th grade and i believe placement is based on MAP test score. This is relatively new at DCI, I could be wrong.

11th and 12th grade it’s all IB.

This is for IB track. Not sure about career.

That is great to hear! I did not know this. So the high performing kids can not only take AP classes in 9th and 10th grade but also the AP tests. This will further strengthen their college applications with good AP scores to show mastery in addition to the IB courses, grades, and diploma.

It is commonly known that the IB language test is much, much harder than the AP language test so maybe if they have to take that then no need to do AP language.

Yes this is why our family did not opt to apply to Walls which seems like a good school but doesn’t offer the same level of rigorous curriculum as offered by DCI.

DCI is more rigorous than Walls? Haven’t really heard that before.

The highest track possibly so.

We can debate that forever but the fact is Walls is going downhill thanks to DCPS and DCI is on an upward trajectory by offering students more - more advance math, more AP courses earlier, more tracking and uses objective standardized testing for placement..

You can’t say that about Walls and they have taken away any objective testing.

Walls obviously doesn’t have tracks like DCI but the highest achieving kids at Walls take really challenging schedules- 5 APs junior and senior years, 2 or 3 APs sophomore year, dual enrollment classes, etc.

No interest in walls but dci has IB math AA and AI. The highest math track will take ap pre calculus and calculus as freshmen and sophomores. It also offers IB HL and SL in chemistry, biology, physics and environmental science. One of the reasons we felt walls was not a good fit was the lack of science offerings. Plus the related STEM clubs and extra curricular activities were not present at walls or not as popular. Walls won’t prepare children sufficiently for stem based careers.

Thanks for the response- of course you had to make an unfounded dig and claim in the last sentence, but otherwise an actually informative post. And don’t worry about those Walls kids, plenty go into stem based careers.

No one is saying Walks kids can’t go into STEM fields but it’s a well known fact that Walls is not strong in STEM and is more a humanities field.

Walls is not going to prepare kids as well who go into STEM. They don’t offer all AP STEM courses. They don’t offer anything past Calculus. They don’t have strong STEM clubs or robotics team, etc….

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Anonymous wrote:I don't understand people going on about Walls not being the school for STEM.

What are the options?

McKinley has great facilities, but it is not as strong academically as Walls, and, like all schools in DC, it is not equally accessible from all geographies.

BASIS is not an option if you didn't start there early, and it has imbalances in its program. Just because a kid favors STEM doesn't mean they don't care about other subjects.

Meanwhile, my STEM kid is having a great experience at Walls. Some of the science and math teachers are excellent, and there is a cohort of kids with strong interests in STEM. DC also pursues some interests outside of school.

I get Walls doens't have the scientific equipment that McKinley has, but there is more to being a successful STEM education that just having equipment. And the DCPS idea of slotting everyone into STEM or Humanities or--more specifically--an academy is fine for the people who want it. But kids heading to liberal arts colleges or top technical universities, the best preparation is strong general education -- critical thinking, logic, writing, etc.

The idea that no STEM kid should choose Walls is dumb.

No one said STEM kids can’t go to Walls but sorry, you are deluding yourself if you think that your kid is going to get the same STEM exposure and opportunities as other schools with better programs.

That is the reality.

And you know this because...?

Are you seriously trying to advocate that Walls is a STEM school and that it is strong in STEM???

Even Walls parents on here admit it is not. Guess you didn’t know that it is more a humanities school when your kid applied…….

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand people going on about Walls not being the school for STEM.

What are the options?

McKinley has great facilities, but it is not as strong academically as Walls, and, like all schools in DC, it is not equally accessible from all geographies.

BASIS is not an option if you didn't start there early, and it has imbalances in its program. Just because a kid favors STEM doesn't mean they don't care about other subjects.

Meanwhile, my STEM kid is having a great experience at Walls. Some of the science and math teachers are excellent, and there is a cohort of kids with strong interests in STEM. DC also pursues some interests outside of school.

I get Walls doens't have the scientific equipment that McKinley has, but there is more to being a successful STEM education that just having equipment. And the DCPS idea of slotting everyone into STEM or Humanities or--more specifically--an academy is fine for the people who want it. But kids heading to liberal arts colleges or top technical universities, the best preparation is strong general education -- critical thinking, logic, writing, etc.

The idea that no STEM kid should choose Walls is dumb.

No one said STEM kids can’t go to Walls but sorry, you are deluding yourself if you think that your kid is going to get the same STEM exposure and opportunities as other schools with better programs.

That is the reality.

And you know this because...?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand people going on about Walls not being the school for STEM.

What are the options?

McKinley has great facilities, but it is not as strong academically as Walls, and, like all schools in DC, it is not equally accessible from all geographies.

BASIS is not an option if you didn't start there early, and it has imbalances in its program. Just because a kid favors STEM doesn't mean they don't care about other subjects.

Meanwhile, my STEM kid is having a great experience at Walls. Some of the science and math teachers are excellent, and there is a cohort of kids with strong interests in STEM. DC also pursues some interests outside of school.

I get Walls doens't have the scientific equipment that McKinley has, but there is more to being a successful STEM education that just having equipment. And the DCPS idea of slotting everyone into STEM or Humanities or--more specifically--an academy is fine for the people who want it. But kids heading to liberal arts colleges or top technical universities, the best preparation is strong general education -- critical thinking, logic, writing, etc.

The idea that no STEM kid should choose Walls is dumb.

No one said STEM kids can’t go to Walls but sorry, you are deluding yourself if you think that your kid is going to get the same STEM exposure and opportunities as other schools with better programs.

That is the reality.

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand people going on about Walls not being the school for STEM.

What are the options?

McKinley has great facilities, but it is not as strong academically as Walls, and, like all schools in DC, it is not equally accessible from all geographies.

BASIS is not an option if you didn't start there early, and it has imbalances in its program. Just because a kid favors STEM doesn't mean they don't care about other subjects.

Meanwhile, my STEM kid is having a great experience at Walls. Some of the science and math teachers are excellent, and there is a cohort of kids with strong interests in STEM. DC also pursues some interests outside of school.

I get Walls doens't have the scientific equipment that McKinley has, but there is more to being a successful STEM education that just having equipment. And the DCPS idea of slotting everyone into STEM or Humanities or--more specifically--an academy is fine for the people who want it. But kids heading to liberal arts colleges or top technical universities, the best preparation is strong general education -- critical thinking, logic, writing, etc.

The idea that no STEM kid should choose Walls is dumb.