Ward 6 and Miner ES: Grassroots Movement for Dual Language (Mandarin) Program

[warrenox]

Anonymous wrote:Minor is a bridge too far for us, way too far. How many high SES/white kids in K this past year - 2? How many in 1st-5th, zero? What percentage of the catchment area is high SES/white now - 60%? Simply put, the arrangement is criminal. DCPS could easily give the gentrifiers a fighting chance of using the school, or Payne. Mandarin immersion won't do the job, folks. Nice try.

Could you please quote statistics instead of guessing? I'm interested in debating and working out solutions, but we have to have a honest dialogue.

Did you see my post above where 30 parents of children inbound to Miner met about how to help Miner change into the neighborhood school we would all like to see? What brought this about? Conversations about immersion for Miner. There isn't a program there yet, but just talking about a immersion program has spurred some people into becoming engaged.

What will do the job for you?

[Gimbiya]

MEET OUR NEW ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL - Ms. Tiffany Torrence
Monday, August 10, 6:30pm @ Miner Library
Join us for an informal meet and greet where we can get to know the newest member of the Miner administration, ask questions, and get ready for school. Kids are welcome to join! RSVP to [e-mail] so we have an idea of attendance.

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About Ms. Torrence: Ms. Torrence has served over 16 years in K-12 education. She began her career as a 2nd grade teacher in one of the largest elementary schools in Jacksonville, Florida. After four years of teaching, she became an instructional coach, providing coaching support to K-5 teachers in all subject areas. In 2004, she was promoted to a middle school assistant principal. Ms. Torrence served eight years as an assistant principal in both middle and high schools and was promoted to a middle school principal in 2012. She was attracted to the groundbreaking work taking place in DC Public schools, which fueled her transition to the nation’s capital in 2014. During her first year, she served as an instructional coach at Payne ES and was promoted to assistant principal at Miner ES in June 2015. Ms. Torrence has a passion for providing a first-rate, equitable education that supports and fosters the safe human growth and development of the whole child.

[Anonymous]

warrenox wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Minor is a bridge too far for us, way too far. How many high SES/white kids in K this past year - 2? How many in 1st-5th, zero? What percentage of the catchment area is high SES/white now - 60%? Simply put, the arrangement is criminal. DCPS could easily give the gentrifiers a fighting chance of using the school, or Payne. Mandarin immersion won't do the job, folks. Nice try.

Could you please quote statistics instead of guessing? I'm interested in debating and working out solutions, but we have to have a honest dialogue.

Did you see my post above where 30 parents of children inbound to Miner met about how to help Miner change into the neighborhood school we would all like to see? What brought this about? Conversations about immersion for Miner. There isn't a program there yet, but just talking about a immersion program has spurred some people into becoming engaged.

What will do the job for you?

One can't come by official public school grade-by-grade demographic stats in this city because neither DCPS nor DCPC collects them. But you can always talk to parents with children in the school, and visit to peer into classroom windows. On my last visit to Miner, at a spring open house, I saw 2 white kids in one K class, and none in the other, or in any elementary class I got a look at. Does anybody have a different, more accurate head count to offer up?

DC could house a test-in GT ES program at Miner to help the school serve its catchment area, but won't so much as consider doing so.

If a Miner Mandarin program offered a Chinese dominant lottery, with speakers of dialects other than Mandarin (Cantonese, Hakka, Fujian) etc. eligible to enter it, at least the program would offer something Yu Ying doesn't, a path to dual/two-way immersion. Even with two lotteries, I'm not optimistic that parents would rush in, particularly Chinese speakers. As I said, a bridge too far for the great majority of gentrifiers living in the Miner District. I'd wager this will be the case for a decade or more. Good luck.

[warrenox]

Anonymous wrote:

warrenox wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Minor is a bridge too far for us, way too far. How many high SES/white kids in K this past year - 2? How many in 1st-5th, zero? What percentage of the catchment area is high SES/white now - 60%? Simply put, the arrangement is criminal. DCPS could easily give the gentrifiers a fighting chance of using the school, or Payne. Mandarin immersion won't do the job, folks. Nice try.

Could you please quote statistics instead of guessing? I'm interested in debating and working out solutions, but we have to have a honest dialogue.

Did you see my post above where 30 parents of children inbound to Miner met about how to help Miner change into the neighborhood school we would all like to see? What brought this about? Conversations about immersion for Miner. There isn't a program there yet, but just talking about a immersion program has spurred some people into becoming engaged.

What will do the job for you?

One can't come by official public school grade-by-grade demographic stats in this city because neither DCPS nor DCPC collects them. But you can always talk to parents with children in the school, and visit to peer into classroom windows. On my last visit to Miner, at a spring open house, I saw 2 white kids in one K class, and none in the other, or in any elementary class I got a look at. Does anybody have a different, more accurate head count to offer up?

DC could house a test-in GT ES program at Miner to help the school serve its catchment area, but won't so much as consider doing so.

If a Miner Mandarin program offered a Chinese dominant lottery, with speakers of dialects other than Mandarin (Cantonese, Hakka, Fujian) etc. eligible to enter it, at least the program would offer something Yu Ying doesn't, a path to dual/two-way immersion. Even with two lotteries, I'm not optimistic that parents would rush in, particularly Chinese speakers. As I said, a bridge too far for the great majority of gentrifiers living in the Miner District. I'd wager this will be the case for a decade or more. Good luck.

I don't know what bridge you are looking at that you can't see the other side, but I do know that Mandarin is spoken by 1/5th of the World's population, and is increasingly important in business as we see China becoming a even larger market that will someday take over the United States as the largest market in the World.

I've been involved with a large group of parent's that are eager to have a neighborhood school. So I'd take your wager; Miner will change in less than 3 years.

Thanks for the well wishes; I'll get you to buy in when you see changes taking shape.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, no chance. I'm a native Chinese speaker who's watched Yu Ying closely for years, so I know that they're still struggling on many levels. They can't do dual/two-way immersion in this city, and many of their teachers (both from China and the US) aren't very experienced. Few in the YY community want to hear it, but many of the students only speak and understand a little Chinese after years in the program. I can't imagine Miner doing a good job with Mandarin, not when the poor Tyler Spanish Immersion parents can't even get DCPS to set up a verticially integrated MS program. The outlays for Mandarin at Miner could be considerable, and the enthusiasm great, without much in the way of results. But the odd Miner kid with home Chinese inputs would still do fine. We're leaning toward MoCo in search of greener pastures.

[warrenox]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, no chance. I'm a native Chinese speaker who's watched Yu Ying closely for years, so I know that they're still struggling on many levels. They can't do dual/two-way immersion in this city, and many of their teachers (both from China and the US) aren't very experienced. Few in the YY community want to hear it, but many of the students only speak and understand a little Chinese after years in the program. I can't imagine Miner doing a good job with Mandarin, not when the poor Tyler Spanish Immersion parents can't even get DCPS to set up a verticially integrated MS program. The outlays for Mandarin at Miner could be considerable, and the enthusiasm great, without much in the way of results. But the odd Miner kid with home Chinese inputs would still do fine. We're leaning toward MoCo in search of greener pastures.

Reading your anonymous posting here, I'll take it that you didn't read anything above what you simply wrote.

Cliff note version: Immersion has great benefits that have nothing to do with whether you become fluent in a language.

You might read a thread before you post. Some people have already posted that a child at YY isn't going to be fluent unless there is a commitment at home as well. Moving to MoCo isn't what most people are looking to do when they are talking in the DC School Forum.

[Anonymous]

warrenox wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, no chance. I'm a native Chinese speaker who's watched Yu Ying closely for years, so I know that they're still struggling on many levels. They can't do dual/two-way immersion in this city, and many of their teachers (both from China and the US) aren't very experienced. Few in the YY community want to hear it, but many of the students only speak and understand a little Chinese after years in the program. I can't imagine Miner doing a good job with Mandarin, not when the poor Tyler Spanish Immersion parents can't even get DCPS to set up a verticially integrated MS program. The outlays for Mandarin at Miner could be considerable, and the enthusiasm great, without much in the way of results. But the odd Miner kid with home Chinese inputs would still do fine. We're leaning toward MoCo in search of greener pastures.

Reading your anonymous posting here, I'll take it that you didn't read anything above what you simply wrote.

Cliff note version: Immersion has great benefits that have nothing to do with whether you become fluent in a language.

You might read a thread before you post. Some people have already posted that a child at YY isn't going to be fluent unless there is a commitment at home as well. Moving to MoCo isn't what most people are looking to do when they are talking in the DC School Forum.

[Anonymous]

NP. Sure about that? In boundary for Miner and moving to MoCo for k this very week. Not alone either.

[Anonymous]

For all those expecting Mandarin to give your kid some unique skill - http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/25/china-us-obamas-one-million-students-chinese-language-mandarin/

Great, your kid and 999,999 other Americans will be speaking Chinese.

What isn't explained in this article or the State Dept. press releases announcing this harebrained program is how students are going to make use of their Chinese. Chinese students are studying English because it is useful to them but that doesn't make the reverse equally true.

[Anonymous]

Are moderate and low income White students and families welcome? No one ever mentions them and their role in schools. Not all Whites are high income. What constitutes high income? Schools can do well with people working together and people not thinking income automatically makes you smarter.

[Anonymous]

Is the PP from Washington, DC? There are very very few low income whites due to many factors.