Thoughts on Oysters Changes to the bilingual program - opinions from parents in the school???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder what OP's purpose was in releasing this here, since I think this would make a better topic for internal discussion at this point. The more suspicious part of my nature is whispering to me that 19:57 and 22:27 might have been posted by Marta herself. I hope we're not still fighting that fight. My sense as a current parent has been that the air has cleared and we're now a parent-friendlier, better managed Oyster that puts students' interests first. I don't see how this proposed reorganization can hurt the children, and certainly, much of it will help.

Hear, hear! I'm getting such a "dirty laundry" vibe from this thread, it's disturbing.

It does not seem if this subject is ready for an open and transparent discussion amongst families. As a parent I find that the changes will be positive and at least an attempt to remedy the acheivement gap

ITA. (I'm the PP, btw). I'm just saying that as positively as I feel about both the changes and the motivations behind them, I nonetheless believe DCUM is an inappropriate forum for this discussion. And now I will take my basket of acronyms and STFU.

[Anonymous]

If Oyster adopts this, the school could eventually lose its two teachers per classroom funding, unless the second teacher is sponsored by outside sources. For years, the sole justification for having two teachers per classroom was linguistic. Whatever anyone thinks of that model, moving to this one would mean downsizing faculty -- unless the school could get funding from foundations or corporations. Is this clear in the community? Posters are talking about maximizing teacher:student ratio. That is not politic! Also, I see no harm in a thread on this. I'm sure the principal knew her letter would be disseminated and dissected as soon as she sent it out. If I were still a member of the community, this would be my first question: What is the argument for keeping two teachers in the classroom under this model? Good luck!

[Anonymous]

PP here: I meant to write "could mean downsizing ... "

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Oyster adopts this, the school could eventually lose its two teachers per classroom funding, unless the second teacher is sponsored by outside sources. For years, the sole justification for having two teachers per classroom was linguistic. Whatever anyone thinks of that model, moving to this one would mean downsizing faculty -- unless the school could get funding from foundations or corporations. Is this clear in the community? Posters are talking about maximizing teacher:student ratio. That is not politic! Also, I see no harm in a thread on this. I'm sure the principal knew her letter would be disseminated and dissected as soon as she sent it out. If I were still a member of the community, this would be my first question: What is the argument for keeping two teachers in the classroom under this model? Good luck!

Beyond whether the proposed plan is 'good' or 'bad' it is fundamentally, structurally grave. This will impact Oyster children every single day once implemented, for the entirety of their Oyster career, and compose the integrity of their bilingual experience. We can joke about worksheets, but where is the discussion of the actual impact of separate language domains in a school founded upon the principle of collaboration between its Spanish and English instruction and communities? Of what it means to have 4th graders lining up, collecting books and items, and switching classes (aka Middle School) many times a day? Why is there so much need for ELL and SSL support articulated by this principal? Oyster is a school where most children enter into a two-way immersion setting in the early grades. With this model, the need for ELL and SLL support should decrease over time--not increase sharply as she seems to indicate in Middle School. Perhaps she means pure remediation for L1 Spanish or L1 English speakers?

Of its merits, beyond "getting the teachers to work more" . How about its pedagogical merits? Will subject matter be taught for more depth than breadth? How will math instruction be impacted (traditonally split between the two languages...)? Will Social Studies and Science still be negotiated as a matter of teacher preference in terms of language of instruction, or will there be deliberate balanced exposure? In addition to the remediation built into the Middle School program, what is there for advanced students? Where is the Middle School design that will retain those who have the choice to seek other Middle School options? How much of the proposed change is research-based? Other successful schools implementing this model to point at?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pre-Kindergarten. The PK model would remain as is, with one bilingual classroom. Space limitations mean the school cannot support more than one PK class, so the new model cannot be applied. That said, we are considering strategies for increasing the percentage of Spanish in the PK year.

How much Spanish is used now if they need to increase it? Any comments from recent PreK parents? TIA

We're on waitlist but might pull out with all the changes.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand all the negative comments about this plan. My understanding is that all the research suggests that the best and most fluent speaker achievement comes in full immersion. Since Oyster has half Spanish half English students, both need to be fully immersed in class w/o the" life boat."

The new model Oyster proposes is much more in line with best practices in bilingual education. And in other schools using a similar model, English language achievement is usually commensurate w/ English language achievement in non-immersion schools.

I suspect this is why the old principal was fired -- Rhee understood immediately when her kids were in the school, that the immersion model being used was not "state of the art" resulting in the kids not really being fluent in either non-native language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand all the negative comments about this plan. My understanding is that all the research suggests that the best and most fluent speaker achievement comes in full immersion. Since Oyster has half Spanish half English students, both need to be fully immersed in class w/o the" life boat."

The new model Oyster proposes is much more in line with best practices in bilingual education. And in other schools using a similar model, English language achievement is usually commensurate w/ English language achievement in non-immersion schools.

I suspect this is why the old principal was fired -- Rhee understood immediately when her kids were in the school, that the immersion model being used was not "state of the art" resulting in the kids not really being fluent in either non-native language.

key elementary in arlington uses the class switch approach as well

[Anonymous]

How many teachers are there in each classroom at Key? TIA.

[Anonymous]

I believe Key has one teacher per 'subject'. Key also has the ESOL HILT program--Arlington's excellent track for language support for ELL's that children phase out of (totally different from an 'extra teacher' in the class providing ELL support.) And Key is on a School Improvement Plan -- like MANY excellent schools in Arlington, Key is held to an impractical standard by NCLB in terms of the testing out of the ELL students ( Key description and improvement plan: http://www.apsva.us/154010222195122410/lib/154010222195122410/Key-SIP.pdf). Sometimes testing (and remember testing is what is being cited in Oyster's rationale for program change) is deceptive.

Key has all this stuff too:

Montessori
Montessori at Key is for 3 year old to 5 year old children. The entry age is three year olds. Applications may be obtained from Mr. Tony DiIorio or the main office at Key School. Children who enter Montessori are expected to stay in Montessori through their kindergarten year. They may then continue at Key in the immersion program at the first grade year.

Gifted Talented Services Teacher
Key School/Escuela Key has a part time gifted resource teachers working directly with gifted students to ensure these students are receiving the challenging assignments and learning tracks appropriate to their abilities. Gifted teachers also work in larger class \room settings to spot potentially gifted students and provide gifted instruction to the larger population.

ESOL/HILT
English for Speakers of Other Languages/High Intensity Language Training is for English Language Learners (ELL) who are enrolled at Key School. These teachers serve ELL children during the language arts guided reading period of the day in English and may push in or pull out to work in small groups with children based on their education and language needs.

Music and Art
Key School~Escuela Key has enrichment and regular art and music programs, including a Chorus and Band with fully dedicated instructors. We have an art facility with a wide range of art supplies and mediums and a music room for band and orchestra practice. Depending on grade level, students attend music and art 1 to 3 times a week. Key School/Escuela Key partners with local humanities and arts groups to offer visiting artists, art assemblies, and enrichment programs. In addition, there is an annual Key School Arts Festival.

Chorus & Instrumental Music
All children at Key School take 45-60 minutes a week of Vocal or General Music. Fourth and Fifth grades have the option to sign up for instrumental music that operates as a "pull-out" program and meets by like instruments.

Physical Education
Students have physical education (PE) classes two or three times each week. They should wear comfortable clothing and white rubber-soled athletic shoes for PE. The State of Virginia recommends that each kindergartner have 20 minutes of physical education three times a week. At Key depending on the schedule, this may be two sessions of 30 minutes or 45 minutes. We have two full-time teachers and one part-time PE teacher. Generally speaking two classes will have PE at the same time.

[Anonymous]

http://books.google.com/books?id=B4Aw038aah4C&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=statistics+closing+the+achievement+gap+america&source=bl&ots=U-4qHMLqxH&sig=wzar3K5gzFXNiRYgUDsTt_m3B68&hl=en&ei=vKbBSaeICdvG-QbI8NDwBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA13,M1

Interesting online article on "closing the achievement gap"; this is a national challenge that experts have been trying to solve for the past two decades. Is this the correct focus of Oyster resources, or should Oyster focus on being the best two-way bilingual immersion program it can be, and then seek specialists to support outlying students? Maybe that accords with this new model, and maybe it does not. I did not hear that goal articulated. I heard, test scores are falling and we are going to remediate. How about really examining the best practices in the core program?

[Anonymous]

A decrease in language fluency for our Spanish Language Learners

On what is this assessment based? The school has not been tracking or releasing Aprenda results a few years now (the Spanish language equivalent of the DC-CAS), ever since the NCLB mandate shifted everyone's attention to English language high stakes testing. How do we know there has been a decrease in language fluency for SLL's? Will the principal introduce an accurate assessment to track Spanish language outcomes from year to year, as a companion to the new model?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pre-Kindergarten. The PK model would remain as is, with one bilingual classroom. Space limitations mean the school cannot support more than one PK class, so the new model cannot be applied. That said, we are considering strategies for increasing the percentage of Spanish in the PK year.

How much Spanish is used now if they need to increase it? Any comments from recent PreK parents? TIA

We're on waitlist but might pull out with all the changes.

If your DC is on the waitlist as an English speaker, you should make other plans, regardless.

[Anonymous]

FYI in case it adds anything to this discussion: starting in first grade, Washington International School uses a setup similar to the one Oyster is adopting. Children in preK (1-2 years depending on when the child starts) and K use the target language (Spanish or French) the entire day. Then, starting in grade 1, half of the Spanish first graders spend the morning with their English teacher, and half spend it with their Spanish teacher; in the afternoon, the two classes switch places. (It's a little more complicated, but that's the gist of it.)

Children have homework every night in both languages, and are expected to read in both languages every night, as well.

WIS differs from Oyster in many ways, of course: most importantly for this example, the school population is not split equally between native English and native Spanish speakers.

[Anonymous]

An important difference is that WIS does full immersion in K. I've long wondered whether full immersion for a year or two in Spanish and English (two separate classes depending on dominant language) at Oyster would improve target-language acquisition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An important difference is that WIS does full immersion in K. I've long wondered whether full immersion for a year or two in Spanish and English (two separate classes depending on dominant language) at Oyster would improve target-language acquisition.

What Oyster is adopting is the standard for bilingual education. Oyster was looked at several times in the past and has not been successfully replicated, and no one really knew why it worked for Oyster as all the research seemed to indicate that this other method was better.