Why is WYY considered a top charter school

[Anonymous]

When are they moving and where? Have been trying to find this out.

[Anonymous]

No-one knows yet. The Fenty administration hasn't exactly been forthcoming in handing over the keys to pubic school buildings which DCPS is not using. This perfectly exemplifies why charter schools end up buying buildings - because the DC Government would rather sell shuttered buildings to developers than give them to public school children who are not under the control of Michelle Rhee.

[Anonymous]

YY parent. The only thing I've heard the administration say is that they are looking at sites in wards 1, 2, 5, and 6. I'm uncertain if this is a policy decision (e.g., only ever in these four wards, if the perfect site came up in ward 3, 4, 7, or 8 we wouldn't consider it) or if this is a reflection of the current sites under consideration happen to be located in these wards. I suspect it's some of both. . . The stated goals for new space include metro accessible.

Yu Ying has a lease through the 2010-11 school year for its current space, which will be very crowded once another grade is added. Next year, having a 3rd grade will mean that classrooms used this year for PE and learning support will need to be used as full time classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:YY parent. The only thing I've heard the administration say is that they are looking at sites in wards 1, 2, 5, and 6. I'm uncertain if this is a policy decision (e.g., only ever in these four wards, if the perfect site came up in ward 3, 4, 7, or 8 we wouldn't consider it) or if this is a reflection of the current sites under consideration happen to be located in these wards. I suspect it's some of both. . . The stated goals for new space include metro accessible.

Yu Ying has a lease through the 2010-11 school year for its current space, which will be very crowded once another grade is added. Next year, having a 3rd grade will mean that classrooms used this year for PE and learning support will need to be used as full time classrooms.

Yu Ying's charter says that the school will locate in Wards 1, 2 or 6. The school is currently located in Ward 5. I believe that this is why these are the wards where the search is focused.

[Anonymous]

Here's an interesting article about a successful Mandarin Immersion program in Silicon Valley. Apparently they're succeeding in teaching Mandarin to children from mostly English-speaking households primarily by making the language fun and accessible. As a Yu Ying parent I'm encouraged because I know that play and interaction is an important component of what occurs in the Chinese classrooms.

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/square/index.php?i=3&d=&t=1278

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's an interesting article about a successful Mandarin Immersion program in Silicon Valley. Apparently they're succeeding in teaching Mandarin to children from mostly English-speaking households primarily by making the language fun and accessible. As a Yu Ying parent I'm encouraged because I know that play and interaction is an important component of what occurs in the Chinese classrooms.

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/square/index.php?i=3&d=&t=1278

Intriguing. I'll bite. But is it safe to assume that the creme-de-la-creme of DC can reproduce the rigorous results of the creme-de-la-creme of Silicon Valley?

[Anonymous]

Question to current parents: if my daughter begins language immersion at Yu Ying in kindergarten, is she already behind?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No-one knows yet. The Fenty administration hasn't exactly been forthcoming in handing over the keys to pubic school buildings which DCPS is not using. This perfectly exemplifies why charter schools end up buying buildings - because the DC Government would rather sell shuttered buildings to developers than give them to public school children who are not under the control of Michelle Rhee.

YUP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question to current parents: if my daughter begins language immersion at Yu Ying in kindergarten, is she already behind?

A little, but she would catch up pretty quickly. Think of it this way, at the Kindergarten level not all students are at the same place with their mastery of English - and yet they all manage to graduate from 8th grade, fluent in English. Yu Ying's policy is to allow new students up until grade 2 - after that the hurdle of catching up is considered too high to clear (unless the child has some Mandarin already, whether from home, time abroad, or a nanny, etc.). They have to participate in Yu Ying's summer Mandarin Immersion camp of course, but there were children who did that for K, 1st, and even 2nd this year that are assimilating into their classrooms. The biggest challenge is probably the lottery odds of getting in to K. Aside from the opening year, Pre-K is the "easiest" class to get into. Having said that, families move from time to time and there will be attrition, not everyone is going to be willing to try at the K level (and especially 1st or 2nd).

[Anonymous]

Current parent of a K student. My DC started in K this year. Yu Ying does a couple of things to bring along new entrants to the K, 1, and 2 classes. First, required summer camp for 2 weeks, all immersion Chinese, in August before school starts. Second, breakout sessions in a small group for 30 minutes each Chinese instructional day (think E.S.L. support, but for Chinese).

I asked my K student if she felt behind or all caught up, a few weeks into the school year. She said she was all caught up, because of the camp. So, her self perception (what matters most at this age, in my opinion) is that her Chinese is on par with her peers.

It is unknown how easy it will be to get in to the K class. This year's K has only 6 to 8 new to Yu Yingers reflecting a high retention of the first year's preK class. So, few spots for new kids. A couple of those new kids are siblings, who for various reasons were not in preK previous year.

There were about 70 kids in the lottery for K (I think). I would imagine a similar attrition rate from this year's PreK class. You're basically hoping that some of this year's PreK move out of town, drop out because the commute is too far, only did it for a year waiting for their inboundary school to open up in K, got into another charter, didn't end up liking the Chinese instruction, or whatever.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I think parents who are sending their kids to YY are kind of hoping that other parents who are willing to put their kids through the rigors of a bilingual education are going to be a bit more committed and interested in their kids progress than your average public school community or even some other charter schools. There are many folks I've met that would easily be sending their kids to private schools or moving to the suburbs if YY wasn't an option. I think folks are hoping that a committed family in YY will lead to stronger academics overall.