Leaving immersion program mid-year in Kindergarten?

[Anonymous]

My child is in kindergarten at Oyster Adams which is 90% Spanish immersion. It has become clear that he has some significant learning challenges and isn't making academic progress. We have initiated the evaluation process - the school has been great so far with offering assistance. I expect we will have an IEP in place by mid-March. I think its pretty clear we will need to move him to a monolingual program - if our family spoke Spanish at home, it might be worth pushing through but I'm not going to make my child's life more complicated just for the principal of Spanish immersion.

Child is happy and enjoying school, actively participating in class. He has no objection to the instruction language being in Spanish - he goes with the flow. I'm not big on academics at this age, but I do wonder if we should move them to our in-boundary English only program (School without Walls at Francis Stevens) after the April break or just let them finish out the year. I think he would make faster progress in an English-only environment, given the challenges. It is almost 3 full months of instruction which feels like a lot at this age.

I will of course discuss with teachers, counselors, therapists, etc at both schools, but thought to get some random parents' opinions on what they would do!

[Anonymous]

What school will your child attend in the fall? Will you have to switch twice?

[Anonymous]

Spanish immersion turned out to be great for our dyslexic child, so maybe see what is recommended. If the child is happy there, I’d be inclined to wait. Don’t want a difficult mid-year change to turn him off from schooling.

[Anonymous]

OP - If we switch mid-year, we would stay at SWWFS next year and beyond. If we decide to push the decision and stay at OA for at least the rest of this year, I'll try to lottery into a couple of other schools that are better locations for us but I don't have any expectation of lottery success for first grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spanish immersion turned out to be great for our dyslexic child, so maybe see what is recommended. If the child is happy there, I’d be inclined to wait. Don’t want a difficult mid-year change to turn him off from schooling.

Us too. Reading in Spanish was so much easier for DS.

[Anonymous]

So how the heck did you get into OA out of boundary at K if your kid isn't a native speaker?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how the heck did you get into OA out of boundary at K if your kid isn't a native speaker?

Where does it say that OA is not their IB school?

[Anonymous]

I will leave him in OA until the end of this school year, since he is happy and he also probably has a lot
Of friend at school that he will leave mid year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - If we switch mid-year, we would stay at SWWFS next year and beyond. If we decide to push the decision and stay at OA for at least the rest of this year, I'll try to lottery into a couple of other schools that are better locations for us but I don't have any expectation of lottery success for first grade.

Why no expectation of success?

[Anonymous]

I guess it depends on how he’s doing socially and the odds of the other schools you’re lotterying into. If it’s long odds, then I’d say rip off the bandaid and move him now.

[Anonymous]

What is the timeline for the evaluation? Will it delay the process if you move?

[Anonymous]

I’m with PP on sticking with it. One of the big advantages of immersion programs is that their milestones are deferred. My kid is in French in MCPS and is showing signs of dyslexia. They don’t expect immersion kids to read until the end of 2nd grade. So he has all this extra time (he’s in first).

[Anonymous]

As a former teacher, the best learning months are October and January-spring break. The kids get a little towards the end of the year, and while they still learn, it’s not the fast pace of late winter/early spring. Ymmv.

[Anonymous]

If you have a helpful, supportive school, I would not leave until after the IEP is complete. Then you can evaluate if it's still not the right fit.

[Anonymous]

I think it would be hard to be the new kid in April. Part of his interest in learning and school in general is social. Kids with a positive association with school are more likely to try harder, etc. I would worry that a mid year switch combined with school already being difficult for him would result in a loss of interest in learning, which might translate into a negative association with school long term. Obviously you know your kid best though!