If you like "differentiated instruction"
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Anonymous
| Also, are you absolutely certain they will "catch up" in 3-4 yrs? What if they don't and never become fully literate in English. Worth the risk? |
Anonymous
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Worth the risk?
Listen, if you don't believe in the philosophy, don't put your kid there!! You either have to believe in the research, the outcomes in other schools, and the philosophy or not. You can't have it both ways. A philosophy like immersion sets silly NCLB tests aside until 4th grade so you give it a chance to work. Is it worth the risk? Of course it is. If you want your child to be completely bilingual and that is your goal. If that wasn't your goal in the first place, there is no reason to be at a school like Yu Ying. |
Anonymous
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Right... The non-immersion track has how many, 12? out of the 35. Obviously, not all early immersion students lag behind.
12 were chosen based on some city-based standarized test score data, correct? Who decided the cut-off score? Who decided what failure means??? Come on now! Yes, ALL early immersion students lag behind but by the time they reach 6th grade, they begin to outperform monolingual peers expontentially. They do better on SATs. They are more worldly. Their memory is better and their cognitive abilities are better. But, you have to put in the time to get the benefits. You certainly can't make this decision in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade! |
Anonymous
LOL! Aren't the kids in the non-immersion track 4th graders who tested below grade level in the 3rd grade DC CAS? The rest of the class did fine and according to the DC CAS are on grade level or above, the same as the kids in monolingual or bilingual DCPS and charters so they are not behind their same grade peers in either type of program. So if you had a kid at YY in 3rd grade who was not reading at 3rd grade level in English, you would rather have him or her stick it out in immersion until 5th grade in hopes that they "catch up" in English when all the immersion benefits should come into full swing. OK  Well, it's great you put such faith in whatever articles you read and you're willing to take the risk for your child but Yu Ying is not so not a good "fit" for your family. I wouldn't send my child to a school that takes such risks with my child's literacy but hey, hope you can find a school that fits your philosophy. Good luck!
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Anonymous
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I'm glad you have such faith in the DC CAS in defining children!
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Anonymous
| Yes. In DC CAS and standardized test scores in general but I always did well in them. |
Anonymous
| DC CAS was only one small, very minor piece of the overall picture but testing hadn't even occurred when these students were initially recommended. The students in the program were foundering all along. How else would they have had over a year or two of tutoring, pull-out groups and extra academic services. |
Anonymous
No. 35 kids took the DC CAS, but the non-immersion track has both 3rd and 4th graders. So, it is less than 12, I believe. |
Anonymous
| If you really like "differentiated instruction" for your child AND you actually know what that means, you should send your child to a Montessori school or seriously consider home-schooling. If you want to discuss "tracking" you should start a new thread (but please do your research first) - they are not the same thing. |
Anonymous
As the parent of a very intelligent 8 y.o. boy with Asperger's, I can assure you that you have no idea what you're talking about. What you're saying is all very nice in theory. However when a child has difficulty with speech pragmatics in English, the solution is not to put him in a foreign language for ever other day. You people who think there's one model of schooling for everyone make me wish I could kick you in the teeth. That's probably what it would take for you to see enough stars to actually see the light. |
Anonymous
Not that I want to go around kicking people in the teeth, but PP has an excellent point. Take a look at the scientific research - Thomas and Collier, Tabors, Cummins, Clark (just to name a few). Most conclude that if a child does not have a sound academic base in his/her native language, ANY language acquisition will be challenging and flawed. Since language acquisition in Early Childhood (3 - 6 years old) is primarily auditory (with the exception of early readers), any child exposed to a second language before age 8 (when they really get into grammar and syntax and the academic study of language) will experience difficulty - especially if the second language is not supported in the home (which I assume is true for most YY families). This doesn't even take into account Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences regarding how each child's brain processes input differently and therefor NO ONE can learn the same/at the same rate in the same environment! Of course "one size fits all" is ridiculous for education, and NO, tracking is not the answer. Differentiated instruction starts to address the issue, but it's hard to truly achieve that when teaching in a dual-language immersion environment. Such a program inherently has other aims and priorities to its curriculum. It sounds like PP really knows her/his child and his unique strengths and needs. You can't rely on general ed. teachers to do the same for each student, regardless of experience - not enough hours in the day for that. Totally unrelated to differentiated instruction, but I have to ask... Why are parents pushing this bilingual education model on their young children?! Do you all read and speak to your children in the target language at home? It's one thing if you have systems in place to support your child's second language acquisition while he/she continues to master his/her primary tongue, but if after their school experience they do not have the opportunity to extend that learning and continually utilize the second language in an essential and functional manner, then why? |
Anonymous
12 out if 35 is a third of the class. Are you saying that a 33 percent failure rate in the targeted mission is acceptable. |
Anonymous
| People here are confused-there are 6 kids from the 4th and 6 kids from 3rd-12 kids out of 80 kids in top two grades. 15% of kids. |
Anonymous
| Also-CAS scores have nothing to do with it. 3rd graders went in this from 2nd grade class with no testing history on CAS. |
Anonymous
| Actually it is more like 12 out of 70. (last years 2/3 and 3/4 classes) I know at least 3 children are no longer at the school, and one child did not move up to the 3/4 class. |