How is DC Measuring Up

DC compared to Redford Union: DC blows Redford Union out of the water. At Redford Union only two thirds of the students are proficient in core subjects. At DC way more than two thirds are proficient. This shows that DC is worth paying the extra money instead of going to a public school.

DC compared to a local school, Fordson:  Fordson also known as the tractors (their mascot) enrolls a lot of students every year. According to michigan.gov this year Fordson maintained over 2,400 students! 444 of them were seniors, but that is a ridiculous amount of students for a public high school. Dearborn Divine Child High School is a private school that has about 3x less than Fordson in student population numbers. One of the reasons being that Divine Child is a private Catholic school and also having tuition fees. That seems to be the only thing the Fordson tractors beat the mighty Divine Child falcons in though, is population. According to michigan.gov Fordson has had higher drop out rates as Divine Child has had little to none. The ACT scores are higher at Divine Child by quite a few number of points than Fordson. Michigan.gov reported that Divine Child’s average ACT score in 2011 was a 22.5, Fordson pulled in only at a 17. It seems to be that Divine Child pulls in more victories in sports than Fordson too. Even though, it is hard to compare as Fordson is a big public school placed into a different division. The low ACT scores, drop out rates, and population size do not necessarily make Fordson a bad school, but in the best of words, it is surely not as prestige as Divine Child. As Divine Child carries in excellence day in and day out.

DC compared to Annapolis High School:

In 2005, Annapolis High School was fully authorized by the International Baccalaureate (IB) to offer the IB Diploma Program (DP). The IB is a non-profit organization dedicated to the goal of creating a better world through education. IB world schools are recognized internationally for high standards of instruction, assessment, and pedagogical leadership. There are currently 2,236 schools in 139 countries authorized to teach the Diploma Program. Students who have earned the IB Diploma attend universities throughout the world and receive many benefits from American universities in the form of high admission rates, up to a year or more of college credit for IB coursework, and an exceptional level of preparation for college level research and writing. There are three high schools in AACPS currently authorized to teach the Diploma Program: Annapolis, Old Mill, and Meade. Students receive grades in DP subjects based on a combination of written examinations that are graded by international examiners and internal assessments (papers, projects, portfolios) which are scored by their IB authorized teachers at AHS and externally moderated by the IBO in order to maintain consistency and high standards at each IB school. To receive the IB Diploma, students must successfully take one course from each of six subject groups. Of these six subjects, three courses will be taken at Standard Level (one or two year courses) and three courses at Higher Level (two year courses). Students have a variety of options available to them to tailor their strengths and interests within this model while still ensuring that students are taking high level course work in all subjects. This requirement ensures a broad exposure across the liberal arts spectrum. DC does not have the IB program however, it does have AP classes. AP stands for advanced placement. After taking an AP class students take a test. If they score well on the test they can get college credit. At DC there are a total of 11 AP classes. You can start taking these classes Sophomore Year. It is incredible that at DC you can get college credit in your second year of high school!

DC compared to Catholic Central:

Catholic Central had about 336 students graduating in 2011. DC only has 211 students. This means DC has smaller classes. Smaller classes are better for learning. In September of 2011, there were nine national merit semifinalists and seven national letters of commendation.  DC only had three finalists and five commendations. However that is because DC has around two-thirds of the students CC has. CC’s average ACT composite score was a 25.9, DC’s average was 24.5 so we are lagging behind a little in our ACT scores. Out of the 2011 graduates 90% are attending 4-year colleges, 8% are attending 2-year colleges, 1% are going for sports, 1% are going to the military academy, 0% are undecided, and 20% are going out of state. DC has similar stats except we only have 10% going out of state. All together DC and CC are pretty even.

DC compared to Country Day:

Boston University, Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, Clemson University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Emory University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, John Hopkins University, Loyola University, MIT, New York University, University of Miami, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, University of Saint Andrews-Scotland, University of Southern California, Stanford University, UCLA, Vanderbilt University,Yale University

These are the colleges that 2011 graduates from Country Day are attending this year. Seven  of these schools are ivy league schools. At DC we only have one student going to an ivy league school. For high school its $26,600 plus $1,500 for deposit and as much as $2,700 for supplies, uniform and laptops. All together $30,800.Compared to DC’s much less 7,400 or 6,150 if your in the parish! DC is also only $300 for books and $200 for uniform you can have as low as 6,650. DC’s tuition is a significant amount less than Country Day’s. It is 22% of the cost of Country Day. But DC is sending no one of 2012 grads to Ivy league schools. But Country Day is only sending their students to 3 different Big Ten schools and DC is sending their to 5 different Big Ten schools. Of the schools there sending kids to only 2 are in the State of Michigan. Were sending kids to 13 different local colleges. Though there schools are smaller then the ones we will being going to, theirs are harder to get into. We also send more kids to 2 year colleges. So as a parent you have to decide do you want to pay to get your kids to a good college? One year at Country day is equivalent to more then 4 years at DC and a  grand total of $123,200 for college or $26,600 for 4 years at DC. Also with education we have more students going to colleges for athletic scholarships. Also with have 3 students going to colleges to go into service to fight for our country. So the real question is, is it worth the money to send your kid to a more expensive school if it might help them get into a better college? Comment on how you feel.