Waitlist spot at Oyster Adams

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t know that oyster adams accept English dominant students after 1st grade.

Yep, if you are coming from another bilingual.

Even if you are English dominant?

I'm genuinely intrigued by this comment. The idea that a kid who has been at a dual-lingua school for 7 years might not be qualified to attend 5th grade because they don't speak Spanish at home seems...off. If the belief really is that kids an't be proficient after 7 years of immersion then what's the point of immersion.

For those at dual/immersion schools, is this type of judgment and classist approach representative?

I am the PP who made the comment. I had a hard time understanding why OP wrote English dominant, because I know that after 1st grade, there aren't separate English/Spanish dominant lotteries. I think OP has changed some details in her story and it doesn't make sense to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t know that oyster adams accept English dominant students after 1st grade.

Yep, if you are coming from another bilingual.

Even if you are English dominant?

I'm genuinely intrigued by this comment. The idea that a kid who has been at a dual-lingua school for 7 years might not be qualified to attend 5th grade because they don't speak Spanish at home seems...off. If the belief really is that kids an't be proficient after 7 years of immersion then what's the point of immersion.

For those at dual/immersion schools, is this type of judgment and classist approach representative?

I am the PP who made the comment. I had a hard time understanding why OP wrote English dominant, because I know that after 1st grade, there aren't separate English/Spanish dominant lotteries. I think OP has changed some details in her story and it doesn't make sense to me.

I think OP's info was a combination of not being precise/not being fully aware of the requirements of getting in. Her kid is going into 5th grade from a charter. So if the kid gets an offer, she'll need to pass a PROFICIENCY test (in theory - I don't know how that's been administered or if at all, IRL), regardless of dominance. I think OP is under the mistaken impression (or is giving the mistaken impression) that the child will have to pass a DOMINANCE test.

PROFICIENCY: Being able to keep up with grade-level schoolwork
DOMINANCE: One's best language, one's automatic go-to language most of the time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t know that oyster adams accept English dominant students after 1st grade.

Yep, if you are coming from another bilingual.

Even if you are English dominant?

I'm genuinely intrigued by this comment. The idea that a kid who has been at a dual-lingua school for 7 years might not be qualified to attend 5th grade because they don't speak Spanish at home seems...off. If the belief really is that kids an't be proficient after 7 years of immersion then what's the point of immersion.

For those at dual/immersion schools, is this type of judgment and classist approach representative?

My children are OA lifers (PK through 8th grade). According to my children, and a few Adams teachers I have spoken with, many of the students who join the school in 5th grade and later come with mediocre Spanish language skills (poor speaking/reading Spanish ability, terrible accents, comprehension issues, etc). Even students who come from Spanish speaking homes often need to take a Spanish support class at Adams in order to keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's aren't separate English/Spanish slots after a certain grade - 2nd? If they are coming from another DCPS bilingual, they don't have to prove proficiency. If they are coming from a charter, I think they have to take a proficiency test.

That said, 6 seems like a lot of spaces to move and they don't seems to admit many after school starts based on prior years' data (except for in Fall 2020- but that was a totally different scenario).

this is correct. After 1st grade, there aren't separate English/Spanish dominant lotteries. After that grade, if you lottery in from another Spanish immersion DCPS, you do not have to take a proficiency test. If you lottery in from a charter, like Mundo, you have to pass a proficiency (not dominance) test.

Why do they presume proficiency if the come from a DCPS dual language school? All the kids are actually proficient? I doubt it. Why not just test all new students?

[Anonymous]

They dont test if you come from a dcps bilgual. Mine did in 5th and are both excellent in Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's aren't separate English/Spanish slots after a certain grade - 2nd? If they are coming from another DCPS bilingual, they don't have to prove proficiency. If they are coming from a charter, I think they have to take a proficiency test.

That said, 6 seems like a lot of spaces to move and they don't seems to admit many after school starts based on prior years' data (except for in Fall 2020- but that was a totally different scenario).

this is correct. After 1st grade, there aren't separate English/Spanish dominant lotteries. After that grade, if you lottery in from another Spanish immersion DCPS, you do not have to take a proficiency test. If you lottery in from a charter, like Mundo, you have to pass a proficiency (not dominance) test.

Why do they presume proficiency if the come from a DCPS dual language school? All the kids are actually proficient? I doubt it. Why not just test all new students?

My guess is it's for political/optical reasons. The theory is that an education (including Spanish immersion education) at any DCPS is as good as any other DCPS, and it doesn't look good to suspect that it may not be true, then test the kids and (gasp) find out that it's not actually true. But just a wild guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's aren't separate English/Spanish slots after a certain grade - 2nd? If they are coming from another DCPS bilingual, they don't have to prove proficiency. If they are coming from a charter, I think they have to take a proficiency test.

That said, 6 seems like a lot of spaces to move and they don't seems to admit many after school starts based on prior years' data (except for in Fall 2020- but that was a totally different scenario).

this is correct. After 1st grade, there aren't separate English/Spanish dominant lotteries. After that grade, if you lottery in from another Spanish immersion DCPS, you do not have to take a proficiency test. If you lottery in from a charter, like Mundo, you have to pass a proficiency (not dominance) test.

Why do they presume proficiency if the come from a DCPS dual language school? All the kids are actually proficient? I doubt it. Why not just test all new students?

My guess is it's for political/optical reasons. The theory is that an education (including Spanish immersion education) at any DCPS is as good as any other DCPS, and it doesn't look good to suspect that it may not be true, then test the kids and (gasp) find out that it's not actually true. But just a wild guess.

Actually the teaching on Spanish at the dcps my kids attended before oa was top notch, and there were many more native speakers in their classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's aren't separate English/Spanish slots after a certain grade - 2nd? If they are coming from another DCPS bilingual, they don't have to prove proficiency. If they are coming from a charter, I think they have to take a proficiency test.

That said, 6 seems like a lot of spaces to move and they don't seems to admit many after school starts based on prior years' data (except for in Fall 2020- but that was a totally different scenario).

this is correct. After 1st grade, there aren't separate English/Spanish dominant lotteries. After that grade, if you lottery in from another Spanish immersion DCPS, you do not have to take a proficiency test. If you lottery in from a charter, like Mundo, you have to pass a proficiency (not dominance) test.

Why do they presume proficiency if the come from a DCPS dual language school? All the kids are actually proficient? I doubt it. Why not just test all new students?

My guess is it's for political/optical reasons. The theory is that an education (including Spanish immersion education) at any DCPS is as good as any other DCPS, and it doesn't look good to suspect that it may not be true, then test the kids and (gasp) find out that it's not actually true. But just a wild guess.

Actually the teaching on Spanish at the dcps my kids attended before oa was top notch, and there were many more native speakers in their classes.

That's great. Not denigrating any one school relative to OA - it's just that, even if one kid failed, that somehow makes it look like that the other school's teaching isn't as good, regardless of reality, and no one wants that kind of optics. Theoretically, a kid exiting OA and going to another Spanish immersion DCPS would be subject to the proficiency test, so it goes both ways, even though that hardly ever happens in reality (because of the middle school feed as much as, if not more so than, the perceived quality of OA).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's aren't separate English/Spanish slots after a certain grade - 2nd? If they are coming from another DCPS bilingual, they don't have to prove proficiency. If they are coming from a charter, I think they have to take a proficiency test.

That said, 6 seems like a lot of spaces to move and they don't seems to admit many after school starts based on prior years' data (except for in Fall 2020- but that was a totally different scenario).

this is correct. After 1st grade, there aren't separate English/Spanish dominant lotteries. After that grade, if you lottery in from another Spanish immersion DCPS, you do not have to take a proficiency test. If you lottery in from a charter, like Mundo, you have to pass a proficiency (not dominance) test.

Why do they presume proficiency if the come from a DCPS dual language school? All the kids are actually proficient? I doubt it. Why not just test all new students?

My guess is it's for political/optical reasons. The theory is that an education (including Spanish immersion education) at any DCPS is as good as any other DCPS, and it doesn't look good to suspect that it may not be true, then test the kids and (gasp) find out that it's not actually true. But just a wild guess.

Actually the teaching on Spanish at the dcps my kids attended before oa was top notch, and there were many more native speakers in their classes.

That's great. Not denigrating any one school relative to OA - it's just that, even if one kid failed, that somehow makes it look like that the other school's teaching isn't as good, regardless of reality, and no one wants that kind of optics. Theoretically, a kid exiting OA and going to another Spanish immersion DCPS would be subject to the proficiency test, so it goes both ways, even though that hardly ever happens in reality (because of the middle school feed as much as, if not more so than, the perceived quality of OA).

I live IB for OA, and both of my children are graduates of the school. Even before Adams was added, I never heard of a child leaving Oyster to attend another DCPS Spanish immersion school. WIS or a monolingual private or public? Yes…but never another public immersion school. As a PP said, I’m sure that it has happened, but it is a rare occurrence indeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’ll be lucky to NOT get in. New principal does not like white people. Only Latinos. go somewhere else!!!

I’m fairly sure you mean Mayra and not the new principal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's aren't separate English/Spanish slots after a certain grade - 2nd? If they are coming from another DCPS bilingual, they don't have to prove proficiency. If they are coming from a charter, I think they have to take a proficiency test.

That said, 6 seems like a lot of spaces to move and they don't seems to admit many after school starts based on prior years' data (except for in Fall 2020- but that was a totally different scenario).

this is correct. After 1st grade, there aren't separate English/Spanish dominant lotteries. After that grade, if you lottery in from another Spanish immersion DCPS, you do not have to take a proficiency test. If you lottery in from a charter, like Mundo, you have to pass a proficiency (not dominance) test.

Why do they presume proficiency if the come from a DCPS dual language school? All the kids are actually proficient? I doubt it. Why not just test all new students?

My guess is it's for political/optical reasons. The theory is that an education (including Spanish immersion education) at any DCPS is as good as any other DCPS, and it doesn't look good to suspect that it may not be true, then test the kids and (gasp) find out that it's not actually true. But just a wild guess.

My guess is that because it is a DC public school they should accept DC public school students who were in similar programs. Adams is not a test in school and lower proficiency public school students should not be excluded.

[Anonymous]

our waistline # for Oyster Spanish track is 47. what are the chances of getting in ? My kid is a native Spanish speaker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:our waistline # for Oyster Spanish track is 47. what are the chances of getting in ? My kid is a native Spanish speaker.

No chance. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but it’s better you know now so you can make other plans. Have you considered other DCPS bilingual programs? If you’d consider the Hill, Chisholm cleared its Spanish-dominant waitlist for PreK3 last year (but it’s getting more popular - many English-dominant kids were left on the WL). In full disclosure I have a kid there now and we’ve loved the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:our waistline # for Oyster Spanish track is 47. what are the chances of getting in ? My kid is a native Spanish speaker.

For pre-k?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:our waistline # for Oyster Spanish track is 47. what are the chances of getting in ? My kid is a native Spanish speaker.

For pre-k?

Yes. PK4