Language immersion in MoCo

[Anonymous]

I currently live in DC, and while I like the possible options for language immersion, I am at the whim of the lottery and I am not sold on the general academic experience in DCPS/charter.

Can anyone list off schools that have full immersion in DCPS? Do you move in bounds to go simply? Or are they lotteried into as well?

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I currently live in DC, and while I like the possible options for language immersion, I am at the whim of the lottery and I am not sold on the general academic experience in DCPS/charter.

Can anyone list off schools that have full immersion in DCPS? Do you move in bounds to go simply? Or are they lotteried into as well?

Many thanks!

OP here, I meant full immersion in MoCo, my sincere apologies for the typo!

[Anonymous]

MCPS offers full Spanish and French Immersion as well as partial Mandarin Immersion. All of these programs are lottery with pretty low chances of getting in.

[Anonymous]

Here's the MCPS web page for immersion programs
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/admissions/immersion.aspx

The list of the schools is here:
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/specialprograms/admissions/Immersion%20AT-A-Glance12-13.pdf

[Anonymous]

You are also at the whim of the lottery in MCPS

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks very much for all the response, and the links!

[Anonymous]

Quite a number of children in the French immersion program in Rockville are being tutored outside the school if the parents are not French speakers. The teachers are not the best. Several of my friends pulled their kids out of the program these past two years. The French school in Silver Spring is supposed to have the better teachers.

[Anonymous]

Your child will not speak a fluent language after going to the school for 6yrs. I guess for some who speak that language already, it would work but I too have heard it is not the best of the best. It is very hard to manage the driving, the homework and just the crap education system of MCPS right now. Plus all of them are in schools you wouldn't normally send them to and they interact with the other kids in lunch, recess, occasionally specials.

I know some love it, but I think you really need to speak to people that are currently in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your child will not speak a fluent language after going to the school for 6yrs. I guess for some who speak that language already, it would work but I too have heard it is not the best of the best. It is very hard to manage the driving, the homework and just the crap education system of MCPS right now. Plus all of them are in schools you wouldn't normally send them to and they interact with the other kids in lunch, recess, occasionally specials.

I know some love it, but I think you really need to speak to people that are currently in it.

Yes, it's really awful for the immersion kids to interact with kids in a school "you wouldn't normally send them to." In fact, just being in the same building as all those poor brown kids just lowers their IQs. Give me a f'in break!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your child will not speak a fluent language after going to the school for 6yrs. I guess for some who speak that language already, it would work but I too have heard it is not the best of the best. It is very hard to manage the driving, the homework and just the crap education system of MCPS right now. Plus all of them are in schools you wouldn't normally send them to and they interact with the other kids in lunch, recess, occasionally specials.

I know some love it, but I think you really need to speak to people that are currently in it.

I'm going to ignore the slams against Silver Spring schools and just say ... my child is indeed a fluent Spanish speaker after six years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child will not speak a fluent language after going to the school for 6yrs. I guess for some who speak that language already, it would work but I too have heard it is not the best of the best. It is very hard to manage the driving, the homework and just the crap education system of MCPS right now. Plus all of them are in schools you wouldn't normally send them to and they interact with the other kids in lunch, recess, occasionally specials.

I know some love it, but I think you really need to speak to people that are currently in it.

I'm going to ignore the slams against Silver Spring schools and just say ... my child is indeed a fluent Spanish speaker after six years.

+1

My French-speaking child speaks very fluently. His host family in France told us that his French was indistinguishable from that of a native speaker (but that his accent could not be placed geographically).

I am guessing that PP has no personal experience with these programs.

[Anonymous]

For MCPS you must live within Montgomery County to be eligible. For a guaranteed seat, you must live within the elementary school's boundary lines. If you are outside of those boundary lines and if there are extra seats available, you can then apply to the lottery to try to get one of the seats. The Winston Churchill HS (Potomac) pyramid, which is #1 both in Montgomery County & Maryland and is ranked pretty high nationally, has Chinese immersion in Potomac Elementary School. For Richard Montgomery (Rockville) there's full International Baccalaureate, including Spanish immersion, with College Gardens ES. Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS has Spanish immersion with Rock Creek. All are excellent schools, and if you have more than one child once the first child is accepted the other children are also able to attend. However, the lottery is just that - a lottery, and the odds are not in your favor. Also, due to overcrowding concerns at B-CC the PTA is currently talking about only allowing the kids that get in through the lottery to attend through middle school, requiring all high school students live within the physical school boundaries (this is not the current policy); not sure if this is also being discussed at the other schools. There are other programs in the county which you may want to look into depending on your child's interests, like CETA for the arts.

[Anonymous]

I think some schools may have preferences for in-bounds residents but not all. For example, I don't think RCF is purely lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For MCPS you must live within Montgomery County to be eligible. For a guaranteed seat, you must live within the elementary school's boundary lines. If you are outside of those boundary lines and if there are extra seats available, you can then apply to the lottery to try to get one of the seats. The Winston Churchill HS (Potomac) pyramid, which is #1 both in Montgomery County & Maryland and is ranked pretty high nationally, has Chinese immersion in Potomac Elementary School. For Richard Montgomery (Rockville) there's full International Baccalaureate, including Spanish immersion, with College Gardens ES. Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS has Spanish immersion with Rock Creek. All are excellent schools, and if you have more than one child once the first child is accepted the other children are also able to attend. However, the lottery is just that - a lottery, and the odds are not in your favor. Also, due to overcrowding concerns at B-CC the PTA is currently talking about only allowing the kids that get in through the lottery to attend through middle school, requiring all high school students live within the physical school boundaries (this is not the current policy); not sure if this is also being discussed at the other schools. There are other programs in the county which you may want to look into depending on your child's interests, like CETA for the arts.

College Gardens is Chinese (not Spanish) and I wouldn't recommend it. They are so overcrowded (6-7 K classes this year) and their middle school is just awful. They only teach in Chinese during "English time." Math, art, PE, music, outside specials are all English spoken. It is nowhere near a full immersion program. I agree with another poster. Unless you have a parent or a tutor who can speak the language it is very tough anyways

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think some schools may have preferences for in-bounds residents but not all. For example, I don't think RCF is purely lottery.

RCF is purely lottery. Kids who live in boundary for the school have no better chance than those who live outside of it.