Who do I write to to advocate that Yu Ying join the common lottery?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's one of the inherent problems with the system - people who aren't even interested in the mission and objectives of charters are signing up - for example people who sign up at Yu Ying but aren't actually interested in learning Mandarin.

Maybe part of the centralized lottery process should be that before you can click the button to select a charter, you have to first read through a description of their mission, culture and objectives.

Actually this was in place for MV for the MySchoolDC lottery this year. When you selected it you had to click and "I've read this" or "I understand" after a sentence of two indicated it was a language/cultural immersion program.

That should negate all of the bullshit and confusion when people decide the charter isn't for them and end up leaving for a different charter or other option. After all, they read, understood and accepted what the school was about. No more of this whining about people having been supposedly "counseled out" - not knowing what the school is about and not realizing it isn't a good fit is no longer a viable thing for people to gripe about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I agree and suspect strongly that YY will join the common lottery for these reasons. Too much risk of server crash, brawls among people camping on the sidewalk outside YY etc.

Think they considered this year but they didn't know if they would have Pk3 until too late in the process. And they also wanted to see how it went.

This. I'm a Yu Ying parent and when I asked the admin about the common lottery last year they did say they were actively considering it but needed to figure out if they were doing a PS3 class first which wasn't confirmed until after the common lottery happened. They also wanted to make sure the lottery went well- meaning no major glitches or snafus- but it was primarily about juggling the PS3 decision. I suspect they will join this year and the decision not to so far is hardly nefarious.

As far as improving your chances, if you are willing to stand in line you probably have a better shot with Yu Ying's time stamped wait list than with the common lottery, though I agree both approaches help address the concern of having truly committed families attend.

What do mean by truly committed? Parents willing to speak Chinese at home if they can? Willing and able to host Chinese au pairs through the J-1 visa program? Take regular family trips to Chinese-speaking swathes of the earth, and send kids to immerson summer camps? Invest in instructional software and DVD collections? Hire tutors and schlep kids to heritage schools in the burbs on weekends for extra instruction? These enrichment options are expensive and DC Charter mainly wants kids whose parents can't begin to afford them. You guys are losing the forest for the trees on what makes language immersion work into the teen years. A well-designed lottery process is the tip of the iceberg.

Wow, not the PP you're talking to, but you just took a loooooong stretch of reasoning there by assuming that's what PP meant by "truly committed"! Truth is, for SY13-14 there were 35 PK4 lottery slots and at least 12 people turned down the offer (no idea how far they went on the PK4 waitlist but I think I heard maybe as far as 16?). To me "truly committed" simply means "understands YY is a Mandarin bilingual school and is consciously choosing Mandarin as a language for their child". It doesn't have to be more than that. It can take way more than that for an individual child to be successful in learning Mandarin, but what "truly committed" mainly means to me is that the family has considered the options and specifically is choosing Mandarin and a Mandarin-focused, Chinese culture-focused school for their child.

That is a choice that families of all backgrounds and income levels can make, and it requires no money to make and hopefully for families that can't do all the additional supports and culture immersion and expensive summer camps, just the fact that their child will exit 5th or 6th grade (or go all the way through to 12th grade) even just proficient in Mandarin will open a lot of doors. It certainly cannot hurt, even if they won't win any "Best Tones Ever!!!!" awards or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I agree and suspect strongly that YY will join the common lottery for these reasons. Too much risk of server crash, brawls among people camping on the sidewalk outside YY etc.

Think they considered this year but they didn't know if they would have Pk3 until too late in the process. And they also wanted to see how it went.

This. I'm a Yu Ying parent and when I asked the admin about the common lottery last year they did say they were actively considering it but needed to figure out if they were doing a PS3 class first which wasn't confirmed until after the common lottery happened. They also wanted to make sure the lottery went well- meaning no major glitches or snafus- but it was primarily about juggling the PS3 decision. I suspect they will join this year and the decision not to so far is hardly nefarious.

As far as improving your chances, if you are willing to stand in line you probably have a better shot with Yu Ying's time stamped wait list than with the common lottery, though I agree both approaches help address the concern of having truly committed families attend.

What do mean by truly committed? Parents willing to speak Chinese at home if they can? Willing and able to host Chinese au pairs through the J-1 visa program? Take regular family trips to Chinese-speaking swathes of the earth, and send kids to immerson summer camps? Invest in instructional software and DVD collections? Hire tutors and schlep kids to heritage schools in the burbs on weekends for extra instruction? These enrichment options are expensive and DC Charter mainly wants kids whose parents can't begin to afford them. You guys are losing the forest for the trees on what makes language immersion work into the teen years. A well-designed lottery process is the tip of the iceberg.

Wow, not the PP you're talking to, but you just took a loooooong stretch of reasoning there by assuming that's what PP meant by "truly committed"! Truth is, for SY13-14 there were 35 PK4 lottery slots and at least 12 people turned down the offer (no idea how far they went on the PK4 waitlist but I think I heard maybe as far as 16?). To me "truly committed" simply means "understands YY is a Mandarin bilingual school and is consciously choosing Mandarin as a language for their child". It doesn't have to be more than that. It can take way more than that for an individual child to be successful in learning Mandarin, but what "truly committed" mainly means to me is that the family has considered the options and specifically is choosing Mandarin and a Mandarin-focused, Chinese culture-focused school for their child.

That is a choice that families of all backgrounds and income levels can make, and it requires no money to make and hopefully for families that can't do all the additional supports and culture immersion and expensive summer camps, just the fact that their child will exit 5th or 6th grade (or go all the way through to 12th grade) even just proficient in Mandarin will open a lot of doors. It certainly cannot hurt, even if they won't win any "Best Tones Ever!!!!" awards or whatever.

Reposted to add: But who knows, that same child who did none of the extras or couldn't afford the expensive supports might thrive and excel in Mandarin, so you really don't know. We're still too many years out from seeing how Yu Ying does with all children as they get to 5th and 6th grades in Mandarin. Isn't it just the founding classes that are reaching 5th and 6th grades now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I agree and suspect strongly that YY will join the common lottery for these reasons. Too much risk of server crash, brawls among people camping on the sidewalk outside YY etc.

Think they considered this year but they didn't know if they would have Pk3 until too late in the process. And they also wanted to see how it went.

This. I'm a Yu Ying parent and when I asked the admin about the common lottery last year they did say they were actively considering it but needed to figure out if they were doing a PS3 class first which wasn't confirmed until after the common lottery happened. They also wanted to make sure the lottery went well- meaning no major glitches or snafus- but it was primarily about juggling the PS3 decision. I suspect they will join this year and the decision not to so far is hardly nefarious.

As far as improving your chances, if you are willing to stand in line you probably have a better shot with Yu Ying's time stamped wait list than with the common lottery, though I agree both approaches help address the concern of having truly committed families attend.

What do mean by truly committed? Parents willing to speak Chinese at home if they can? Willing and able to host Chinese au pairs through the J-1 visa program? Take regular family trips to Chinese-speaking swathes of the earth, and send kids to immerson summer camps? Invest in instructional software and DVD collections? Hire tutors and schlep kids to heritage schools in the burbs on weekends for extra instruction? These enrichment options are expensive and DC Charter mainly wants kids whose parents can't begin to afford them. You guys are losing the forest for the trees on what makes language immersion work into the teen years. A well-designed lottery process is the tip of the iceberg.

Wow, not the PP you're talking to, but you just took a loooooong stretch of reasoning there by assuming that's what PP meant by "truly committed"! Truth is, for SY13-14 there were 35 PK4 lottery slots and at least 12 people turned down the offer (no idea how far they went on the PK4 waitlist but I think I heard maybe as far as 16?). To me "truly committed" simply means "understands YY is a Mandarin bilingual school and is consciously choosing Mandarin as a language for their child". It doesn't have to be more than that. It can take way more than that for an individual child to be successful in learning Mandarin, but what "truly committed" mainly means to me is that the family has considered the options and specifically is choosing Mandarin and a Mandarin-focused, Chinese culture-focused school for their child.

That is a choice that families of all backgrounds and income levels can make, and it requires no money to make and hopefully for families that can't do all the additional supports and culture immersion and expensive summer camps, just the fact that their child will exit 5th or 6th grade (or go all the way through to 12th grade) even just proficient in Mandarin will open a lot of doors. It certainly cannot hurt, even if they won't win any "Best Tones Ever!!!!" awards or whatever.

Reposted to add: But who knows, that same child who did none of the extras or couldn't afford the expensive supports might thrive and excel in Mandarin, so you really don't know. We're still too many years out from seeing how Yu Ying does with all children as they get to 5th and 6th grades in Mandarin. Isn't it just the founding classes that are reaching 5th and 6th grades now?

Thanks PP for clarifying on my behalf. I am the OP and meant just what you said, "truly committed" parents that understand this is a Mandarin immersion school and know what they are getting themselves into (vs people who show up the first day and have no idea it is an immersion school). And for context, I was talking about the debate some on this board were having over which option, common lottery or time stamped wait list would result in more families who really, actively want a mandarin education for their child. If the school is concerned with this- which I find understanding- then I think the common lottery methodology is also a way to address this concern when admissions are otherwise random. And again, I suspect the school will choose this route.

FWIW, I think I am one of those "truly committed" parents yet don't do most of the things on the pp's long list of extras. Not sure what sparked that diatribe but it did make me laugh. Man, people on this board can get pretty cray-cray.

[Anonymous]

This comes up every once in a while, but the story of the student who turned up at YY without at least one parent/guardian knowing it was a Mandarin immersion school is clearly internet bullshit and wishful thinking by people who wanting to claim the mantle of the more committed parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I agree and suspect strongly that YY will join the common lottery for these reasons. Too much risk of server crash, brawls among people camping on the sidewalk outside YY etc.

Think they considered this year but they didn't know if they would have Pk3 until too late in the process. And they also wanted to see how it went.

This. I'm a Yu Ying parent and when I asked the admin about the common lottery last year they did say they were actively considering it but needed to figure out if they were doing a PS3 class first which wasn't confirmed until after the common lottery happened. They also wanted to make sure the lottery went well- meaning no major glitches or snafus- but it was primarily about juggling the PS3 decision. I suspect they will join this year and the decision not to so far is hardly nefarious.

As far as improving your chances, if you are willing to stand in line you probably have a better shot with Yu Ying's time stamped wait list than with the common lottery, though I agree both approaches help address the concern of having truly committed families attend.

What do mean by truly committed? Parents willing to speak Chinese at home if they can? Willing and able to host Chinese au pairs through the J-1 visa program? Take regular family trips to Chinese-speaking swathes of the earth, and send kids to immerson summer camps? Invest in instructional software and DVD collections? Hire tutors and schlep kids to heritage schools in the burbs on weekends for extra instruction? These enrichment options are expensive and DC Charter mainly wants kids whose parents can't begin to afford them. You guys are losing the forest for the trees on what makes language immersion work into the teen years. A well-designed lottery process is the tip of the iceberg.

Wow, not the PP you're talking to, but you just took a loooooong stretch of reasoning there by assuming that's what PP meant by "truly committed"! Truth is, for SY13-14 there were 35 PK4 lottery slots and at least 12 people turned down the offer (no idea how far they went on the PK4 waitlist but I think I heard maybe as far as 16?). To me "truly committed" simply means "understands YY is a Mandarin bilingual school and is consciously choosing Mandarin as a language for their child". It doesn't have to be more than that. It can take way more than that for an individual child to be successful in learning Mandarin, but what "truly committed" mainly means to me is that the family has considered the options and specifically is choosing Mandarin and a Mandarin-focused, Chinese culture-focused school for their child.

That is a choice that families of all backgrounds and income levels can make, and it requires no money to make and hopefully for families that can't do all the additional supports and culture immersion and expensive summer camps, just the fact that their child will exit 5th or 6th grade (or go all the way through to 12th grade) even just proficient in Mandarin will open a lot of doors. It certainly cannot hurt, even if they won't win any "Best Tones Ever!!!!" awards or whatever.

Reposted to add: But who knows, that same child who did none of the extras or couldn't afford the expensive supports might thrive and excel in Mandarin, so you really don't know. We're still too many years out from seeing how Yu Ying does with all children as they get to 5th and 6th grades in Mandarin. Isn't it just the founding classes that are reaching 5th and 6th grades now?

Thanks PP for clarifying on my behalf. I am the OP and meant just what you said, "truly committed" parents that understand this is a Mandarin immersion school and know what they are getting themselves into (vs people who show up the first day and have no idea it is an immersion school). And for context, I was talking about the debate some on this board were having over which option, common lottery or time stamped wait list would result in more families who really, actively want a mandarin education for their child. If the school is concerned with this- which I find understanding- then I think the common lottery methodology is also a way to address this concern when admissions are otherwise random. And again, I suspect the school will choose this route.

FWIW, I think I am one of those "truly committed" parents yet don't do most of the things on the pp's long list of extras. Not sure what sparked that diatribe but it did make me laugh. Man, people on this board can get pretty cray-cray.

Same. Not one. Kid " thrives and excels" just the same. Exhausting just reading the list of things "truly committed" parents are suppose to do.

[Anonymous]

You folks aren't used to being around MoCo Tiger parents. I've seen them do the stuff on the "committed" list, and more, cheerfully and as a matter of course. There are YY families with Chinese babysitters coming through the US Au Pair Program- most use GoAuPair, out of Utah.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You folks aren't used to being around MoCo Tiger parents. I've seen them do the stuff on the "committed" list, and more, cheerfully and as a matter of course. There are YY families with Chinese babysitters coming through the US Au Pair Program- most use GoAuPair, out of Utah.

That's fine. I prefer my 7 yr old to be a 7 yr old... and he does just fine without any extra help.

If the kid needs THAT much help in early elementary school to keep up, the school's not a "good fit".

If the family just wants the "extras" b/c they want the "extras", more power to them!

But no one should feel that just b/c they have their kid in an immersion school, all the extras on that list is mandatory or even necessary for their kid to do well especially in elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You folks aren't used to being around MoCo Tiger parents. I've seen them do the stuff on the "committed" list, and more, cheerfully and as a matter of course. There are YY families with Chinese babysitters coming through the US Au Pair Program- most use GoAuPair, out of Utah.

I'm another YY parent and honestly, why do you think anyone really cares what anyone else is doing in another county/state? Not that we can't learn from other parents whose kids are also learning Mandarin (or already speak it), but you and someone else in this thread keep raising what the MoCo kids are doing as if it's all a giant competition between MoCo and YY. Who really cares or sees this as a competition with MoCo, other than you?

[Anonymous]

You mean in general, or just where learning Mandarin and about Chinese culture is concerned? We've lost a bunch of neighbors to MoCo in the course of the last decade over public school quality issues.

It's actually not a bad idea for YY parents to get to open houses at the Rockville Chinese immersion programs (College Gardens and Potomoc for elementary, as well as the MS program at Robert Frost). If you're open to learning, you can pick up ideas on how to step up your game in a way that's fun for your YY student(s). Attrition is much lower at those programs, so most of the kids who enter in K are still in immerion classes in 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

That should negate all of the bullshit and confusion when people decide the charter isn't for them and end up leaving for a different charter or other option. After all, they read, understood and accepted what the school was about. No more of this whining about people having been supposedly "counseled out" - not knowing what the school is about and not realizing it isn't a good fit is no longer a viable thing for people to gripe about.

Counseled out doesn't mean what you think it means.

[Anonymous]

^ No, "counseled out" means asked to leave, unless you are here trying to use your own bullshit terminology saying whenever people leave for any reason whatsoever, they are being "counseled out".

[Anonymous]

"counseled out" is nothing but an artificial concept being thrown out there by people with an agenda. Schools aren't telling students to go elsewhere. It's up to parents, students and families to find what works best for them.

A better fit elsewhere is a better fit elsewhere. There's no "counseling out".

Not every kid is a perfect fit with every school. Every student is a little different from the next. And every school is a little different than the next. And that goes whether YY, DCPS, private, or every other school in DC.

[Anonymous]

Yawn. It amazes me that these Yu Ying threads are so common. Same old sh*t. Nothing new. People get over it! Move on!

I know, I know, if I'm not interested then just don't read the posts. Whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You mean in general, or just where learning Mandarin and about Chinese culture is concerned? We've lost a bunch of neighbors to MoCo in the course of the last decade over public school quality issues.

It's actually not a bad idea for YY parents to get to open houses at the Rockville Chinese immersion programs (College Gardens and Potomoc for elementary, as well as the MS program at Robert Frost). If you're open to learning, you can pick up ideas on how to step up your game in a way that's fun for your YY student(s). Attrition is much lower at those programs, so most of the kids who enter in K are still in immerion classes in 8th grade.

Since there is no chance of us moving to MoCo, there is no reason to go "see". If you want the Chinese immersion program in MD, move there so you can have the real thing. Attrition is really low at YY, thanks. It's the only game in town unlike MoCo where many kids leave for AAP in third and fourth grades.