Getting into Arlington Dual Language in Mid and Upper Elementary

[Anonymous]

Kids are in mid and upper elementary next year. We are moving back to the area and want kids to do Spanish Immersion in Arlington. We are doing the lottery, but have to choose Claremont or Key and are not sure where we will live. First, how likely are they get into the Spanish immersion schools and 2nd is there one that would be easier to get into? (Claremont or Key)?? Kids are native Spanish speakers and should be able to pass proficiency test fine.

[Anonymous]

Are you foreign service or military? If so, check the FB groups for parents of FS kids. Many people who return to DC for an assignment are able to get placement in the immersion programs, particularly if the kids are already bilingual and this is done outside the lottery system. This is for language continuity. You can also have APS do language placement tests.
FWIW, Claremont seems like a really nice location.

[Anonymous]

I am the parent of two Claremont kids. Assuming they can pass the proficiency test and they are 2nd grade or up, I think you’ll be fine. Since you have to pass the test to get in, most of the time as spots open up in later grades, they don’t get filled. I’d check on the contents of the proficiency test — whether they need to know a lot of academic language (science and math vocabulary that they may not use in every day conversation, for example). I’m not sure if that’s part of it or not.

We really like Claremont although I also know people who really like key. If you plan to stick around thru middle school and high school, and would intend to stay in immersion, the Claremont neighborhoods are generally in better locations for Gunston and Wakefield. I understand more Key families drop out of immersion in middle school, in part because Gunston is so far away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you foreign service or military? If so, check the FB groups for parents of FS kids. Many people who return to DC for an assignment are able to get placement in the immersion programs, particularly if the kids are already bilingual and this is done outside the lottery system. This is for language continuity. You can also have APS do language placement tests.
FWIW, Claremont seems like a really nice location.

No - not foreign service (World Bank). I did see that APS asks foreign service/military to contact them directly. I wonder if it's worth it to try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the parent of two Claremont kids. Assuming they can pass the proficiency test and they are 2nd grade or up, I think you’ll be fine. Since you have to pass the test to get in, most of the time as spots open up in later grades, they don’t get filled. I’d check on the contents of the proficiency test — whether they need to know a lot of academic language (science and math vocabulary that they may not use in every day conversation, for example). I’m not sure if that’s part of it or not.

We really like Claremont although I also know people who really like key. If you plan to stick around thru middle school and high school, and would intend to stay in immersion, the Claremont neighborhoods are generally in better locations for Gunston and Wakefield. I understand more Key families drop out of immersion in middle school, in part because Gunston is so far away.

Thanks - that is really helpful. I have been leaning towards Claremont - just because the housing I am looking at seems to be mostly there. I have asked about the proficiency test as it's true, they are not used to doing academic subjects in Spanish in recent years. Hopefully, I can get a little more information and we can prep a bit. They both read a good amount in Spanish, but we might need to focus some academically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you foreign service or military? If so, check the FB groups for parents of FS kids. Many people who return to DC for an assignment are able to get placement in the immersion programs, particularly if the kids are already bilingual and this is done outside the lottery system. This is for language continuity. You can also have APS do language placement tests.
FWIW, Claremont seems like a really nice location.

No - not foreign service (World Bank). I did see that APS asks foreign service/military to contact them directly. I wonder if it's worth it to try.

Yes, it absolutely is worth trying because your career is a similar style of assignments with transfers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the parent of two Claremont kids. Assuming they can pass the proficiency test and they are 2nd grade or up, I think you’ll be fine. Since you have to pass the test to get in, most of the time as spots open up in later grades, they don’t get filled. I’d check on the contents of the proficiency test — whether they need to know a lot of academic language (science and math vocabulary that they may not use in every day conversation, for example). I’m not sure if that’s part of it or not.

We really like Claremont although I also know people who really like key. If you plan to stick around thru middle school and high school, and would intend to stay in immersion, the Claremont neighborhoods are generally in better locations for Gunston and Wakefield. I understand more Key families drop out of immersion in middle school, in part because Gunston is so far away.

Thanks - that is really helpful. I have been leaning towards Claremont - just because the housing I am looking at seems to be mostly there. I have asked about the proficiency test as it's true, they are not used to doing academic subjects in Spanish in recent years. Hopefully, I can get a little more information and we can prep a bit. They both read a good amount in Spanish, but we might need to focus some academically.

One PP here, I think you will be surprised. Our kid did not enter the immersion program when we returned from overseas, but kid did test out of two Spanish levels one after another in Freshman year after returning from small, competitive and high quality IB middle and elementary schools abroad. Surprisingly the high school non-native Spanish speakers at Freshman year are not as advanced as we assumed they would be.

[Anonymous]

If entering at a higher grade, you are likely to get a spot, since kids leave as time goes by. We were very happy with Key, but I’m sure Claremont is good, too.

[Anonymous]

We did this. We called the school (Key) and they walked us through the process. Essentially we identified an apartment building where we’d live for a year if we couldn’t find a house to buy, used that address for the lottery and then updated the address over the summer once we closed on our house. We preferred the Key neighborhoods (but this was several years ago so they were cheaper then!!) so found an apartment building in zoned for Key.

[Anonymous]

Thank you! They actually do let us do the lottery without an address - we just can only do the lottery for one of the schools.

What is the Spanish proficiency test like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you! They actually do let us do the lottery without an address - we just can only do the lottery for one of the schools.

What is the Spanish proficiency test like?

If you are the OP and a WB employee I encourage you to call the enrollment office and speak with them. I am telling you that families who enter APS with significant Spanish education backgrounds often skip the lottery and are placed in the program for continuity. You can ask them about the placement tests. We did it wrong and our kid took a placement test at high school by taking the final, year end Spanish 2 and 3 exams back to back to be placed in the appropriate level our first year back. If I had realized I would have done this before school began.

[Anonymous]

I would avoid Gunston, especially if your kids are native Spanish speakers. Key is great for elementary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would avoid Gunston, especially if your kids are native Spanish speakers. Key is great for elementary

Why?

[Anonymous]

I found this data from last year and there were no seats available in grades 2-5 at either school. The year before there was one spot available in two grades at Claremont. That is not very promising...

https://www.apsva.us/school-transfer-data/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found this data from last year and there were no seats available in grades 2-5 at either school. The year before there was one spot available in two grades at Claremont. That is not very promising...

https://www.apsva.us/school-transfer-data/

Kids leave midyear, especially around October after the first conferences. My school gets some every year.