Yu Ying - Do/Can Non-Native Kids Actually SPEAK Chinese?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YY has emerged with a study body that's not even 10% FARMs. There are several schools in Upper NW (Eaton, Stoddert, Hearst) with higher percentages of poor minority kids.

In 2017, comparisons between YY and government schools in affluent swathes of Western Europe, along with Singapore, are on the mark.

It's time to get more serious about immersion language studies in DC public, or the DCI IB Diploma program will emerge as just another Banneker or Eastern, programs barely scraping by with average pass point totals in the 20s. IB World Schools fed by partial immersion MS programs can't do the Diploma right without offering Higher Level language studies (which emphasize speaking skills).

I'm the PP who mentioned this comparison being apples and oranges. I didn't actually realize that the FARMS % was so low at YY. However, I'd submit that there are still likely SES differences between YY's students (e.g., working-class families a generation out of poverty, but who still have trouble making ends meet, providing enrichment and language support, etc.) and those in the other locations mentioned. I'm sure many families may not be very far above the FARMS cutoff, and therefore that data point shouldn't be the only factor to consider when determining what should be reasonable goals with YY's students.

The tracked number now is percentage of 'at-risk' students (not FARMS, because so many schools are now community eligibility schools where all get free lunch). At-risk is defined as students whose families receive nutrition assistance or TANF, or are homeless.

Here are the percentages of at-risk students in SY 2016-17 or a few schools that have been mentioned in this thread or that also have low percentages of at-risk students. The only charter with a lower at-risk percentage than YY last year is Washington Latin middle school.

YY - 4%
MV - 9%
LAMB - 10%
Stokes - 12%
DC Bilingual - 37%

Janney, Mann - can't calculate because fewer than 10 students

Washington Latin Middle School - 3%
DCI - 18%
Basis - 8%

What is Oyster's at-risk percentage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ABC community here views Yu Ying as cultural appropriation. The AA principal is the last straw; they just seethe. That's the dynamic you need to understand to make sense of the non-stop tsunami of seemingly pointless venom spewed in this thread and all the others about Yu Ying.

I'm not sure if you are kidding, but this would explain a lot.

100% serious.

I totally agree.

[Anonymous]

Let us guess, you can't hear the embarrassing "immersion" Mandarin at YY and DCI. I'd agree 100% if I couldn't hear it either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ABC community here views Yu Ying as cultural appropriation. The AA principal is the last straw; they just seethe. That's the dynamic you need to understand to make sense of the non-stop tsunami of seemingly pointless venom spewed in this thread and all the others about Yu Ying.

Nah, they have better things to do than seethe, like raising their bilingual kids to thrive in their connection to the rising China while making good use of JKLM, Brent, privates, MoCo programs etc. Give me a break, the AA principal isn't the issue - it's the HOS that doesn't speak the language of immersion for ten years now that's a joke. I bet they'd applaud her if she were fluent in Mandarin, have lived in Taiwan or China, and hired a Cantonese speaking admin to connect to the small DC immigrant community.

We're in Spanish immersion but I don't see pointless venom on immersion threads, I see a lot of fair points in a school system that's a whole lot better at pretending to promote excellence than actually doing it. Can't wait to see those IB Diploma scores for the many YY families with the million dollar houses on Cap Hill, in Brookland etc. Yea, some of them could attain Singapore IB Diploma heights if they bothered to put nose to the grindstone.

Well, you won't know until 2020 when the very first DCI class graduates, so I hope you're not holding your breath.

No problem waiting. As a parent who earned the IB Diploma, taught in an IB World School, and bailed on YY, I can say with confidence that DCI scores are going to hit high SES families hard for many years. BASIS isn't pretending in the same way, they're meticulously building their AP success. Their facilities are weak, but their planning prowess and work ethic merits a little respect. Washington Latin, too. Kids can't go on to score in the 30s and 40s on IB exams on the strength of DCI feeder and DCI academics unless perhaps parents supplement like mad for a lot of dough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ABC community here views Yu Ying as cultural appropriation. The AA principal is the last straw; they just seethe. That's the dynamic you need to understand to make sense of the non-stop tsunami of seemingly pointless venom spewed in this thread and all the others about Yu Ying.

Nah, they have better things to do than seethe, like raising their bilingual kids to thrive in their connection to the rising China while making good use of JKLM, Brent, privates, MoCo programs etc. Give me a break, the AA principal isn't the issue - it's the HOS that doesn't speak the language of immersion for ten years now that's a joke. I bet they'd applaud her if she were fluent in Mandarin, have lived in Taiwan or China, and hired a Cantonese speaking admin to connect to the small DC immigrant community.

We're in Spanish immersion but I don't see pointless venom on immersion threads, I see a lot of fair points in a school system that's a whole lot better at pretending to promote excellence than actually doing it. Can't wait to see those IB Diploma scores for the many YY families with the million dollar houses on Cap Hill, in Brookland etc. Yea, some of them could attain Singapore IB Diploma heights if they bothered to put nose to the grindstone.

If they bothered to tiger mom it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YY has emerged with a study body that's not even 10% FARMs. There a

What is Oyster's at-risk percentage?

Oysters at risk in 16-17 was 8.7%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YY has emerged with a study body that's not even 10% FARMs. There a

What is Oyster's at-risk percentage?

Oysters at risk in 16-17 was 8.7%

Thanks! It's about the same as MV's at-risk rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ABC community here views Yu Ying as cultural appropriation. The AA principal is the last straw; they just seethe. That's the dynamic you need to understand to make sense of the non-stop tsunami of seemingly pointless venom spewed in this thread and all the others about Yu Ying.

Nah, they have better things to do than seethe, like raising their bilingual kids to thrive in their connection to the rising China while making good use of JKLM, Brent, privates, MoCo programs etc. Give me a break, the AA principal isn't the issue - it's the HOS that doesn't speak the language of immersion for ten years now that's a joke. I bet they'd applaud her if she were fluent in Mandarin, have lived in Taiwan or China, and hired a Cantonese speaking admin to connect to the small DC immigrant community.

We're in Spanish immersion but I don't see pointless venom on immersion threads, I see a lot of fair points in a school system that's a whole lot better at pretending to promote excellence than actually doing it. Can't wait to see those IB Diploma scores for the many YY families with the million dollar houses on Cap Hill, in Brookland etc. Yea, some of them could attain Singapore IB Diploma heights if they bothered to put nose to the grindstone.

If they bothered to tiger mom it.

Of course, any student who could score high on a lot of IB diploma exams must have a tiger mom lashing them. Such an American view.

In Europe, we learn multiple languages, math, science etc. by working hard from a young age. We don't goof around bitching about immigrants who take their school work more seriously than we do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ABC community here views Yu Ying as cultural appropriation. The AA principal is the last straw; they just seethe. That's the dynamic you need to understand to make sense of the non-stop tsunami of seemingly pointless venom spewed in this thread and all the others about Yu Ying.

Nah, they have better things to do than seethe, like raising their bilingual kids to thrive in their connection to the rising China while making good use of JKLM, Brent, privates, MoCo programs etc. Give me a break, the AA principal isn't the issue - it's the HOS that doesn't speak the language of immersion for ten years now that's a joke. I bet they'd applaud her if she were fluent in Mandarin, have lived in Taiwan or China, and hired a Cantonese speaking admin to connect to the small DC immigrant community.

We're in Spanish immersion but I don't see pointless venom on immersion threads, I see a lot of fair points in a school system that's a whole lot better at pretending to promote excellence than actually doing it. Can't wait to see those IB Diploma scores for the many YY families with the million dollar houses on Cap Hill, in Brookland etc. Yea, some of them could attain Singapore IB Diploma heights if they bothered to put nose to the grindstone.

If they bothered to tiger mom it.

Of course, any student who could score high on a lot of IB diploma exams must have a tiger mom lashing them. Such an American view.

In Europe, we learn multiple languages, math, science etc. by working hard from a young age. We don't goof around bitching about immigrants who take their school work more seriously than we do.

Sorry, the only people bitching here are the ABC's who want preferential admission to Yu Ying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ABC community here views Yu Ying as cultural appropriation. The AA principal is the last straw; they just seethe. That's the dynamic you need to understand to make sense of the non-stop tsunami of seemingly pointless venom spewed in this thread and all the others about Yu Ying.

Nah, they have better things to do than seethe, like raising their bilingual kids to thrive in their connection to the rising China while making good use of JKLM, Brent, privates, MoCo programs etc. Give me a break, the AA principal isn't the issue - it's the HOS that doesn't speak the language of immersion for ten years now that's a joke. I bet they'd applaud her if she were fluent in Mandarin, have lived in Taiwan or China, and hired a Cantonese speaking admin to connect to the small DC immigrant community.

We're in Spanish immersion but I don't see pointless venom on immersion threads, I see a lot of fair points in a school system that's a whole lot better at pretending to promote excellence than actually doing it. Can't wait to see those IB Diploma scores for the many YY families with the million dollar houses on Cap Hill, in Brookland etc. Yea, some of them could attain Singapore IB Diploma heights if they bothered to put nose to the grindstone.

Well, you won't know until 2020 when the very first DCI class graduates, so I hope you're not holding your breath.

No problem waiting. As a parent who earned the IB Diploma, taught in an IB World School, and bailed on YY, I can say with confidence that DCI scores are going to hit high SES families hard for many years. BASIS isn't pretending in the same way, they're meticulously building their AP success. Their facilities are weak, but their planning prowess and work ethic merits a little respect. Washington Latin, too. Kids can't go on to score in the 30s and 40s on IB exams on the strength of DCI feeder and DCI academics unless perhaps parents supplement like mad for a lot of dough.

I truly don't think most high SES families currently enrolled at DCI care about the IB Diploma scores all that much. If they were the kinds of parents who did, they would not be in a start-up charter school to begin with; they would have bailed along the way for a more sure thing.

Now that may not be true for younger families whose students are in one of the feeder schools now. But the first few classes at any charter school are made up of people who are a little more risk tolerant. That can certainly be said of the parents of the oldest students at BASIS now and the first 2-3 years of Washington Latin high school graduates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Of course, any student who could score high on a lot of IB diploma exams must have a tiger mom lashing them. Such an American view.

In Europe, we learn multiple languages, math, science etc. by working hard from a young age. We don't goof around bitching about immigrants who take their school work more seriously than we do.

As an American who speaks 5 languages and worked all over Europe, I had to laugh at this. One of the things that most Americans admire about Europe is the fact that Europeans by and large work less than we do and value quality of life over career success much more than typical Americans.

Oh, and right wing nationalists all over Europe would beg to differ with your comments about immigrants.

[Anonymous]

I have a polite suggestion for YY parents who react defensively to any hint of the ABC threat.

Simple, if you don't like the beatings you take on these threads, head them off by wowing your critics.

Your ELA scores do not rock for any demographic. For the most part, your students' spoken Mandarin is a poor advertisement for your immersion program. The paucity of native speakers (including your HOS) in your program is downright embarrassing. There seems to be considerable scope for improvement despite your immutable limitations.

Make it happen with DC charter and your admins. Go on to DCI and ensure that your kids knock it out of the park on all manner of standardized tests and college acceptances. Only then will your detractors probably lose interest in poking fun at you.

[Anonymous]

My public high school did not have IB, somehow I managed to get 4s and 5s on a slew of AP tests which equaled a full year at the top public university, including (gasp! AP French despite my sad monolingual single mother home). These loser YY parents who don't care about IB scores - surely their children will amount to nothing because their parents don't ensure dialect speakers obtain preferential admissions. How will they ever recover from not exposing their clearly sloth-like selves to tiger moms and their suicide-inducing ambitions for children? Stereotypes intential and tongue in cheek.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ABC community here views Yu Ying as cultural appropriation. The AA principal is the last straw; they just seethe. That's the dynamic you need to understand to make sense of the non-stop tsunami of seemingly pointless venom spewed in this thread and all the others about Yu Ying.

Nah, they have better things to do than seethe, like raising their bilingual kids to thrive in their connection to the rising China while making good use of JKLM, Brent, privates, MoCo programs etc. Give me a break, the AA principal isn't the issue - it's the HOS that doesn't speak the language of immersion for ten years now that's a joke. I bet they'd applaud her if she were fluent in Mandarin, have lived in Taiwan or China, and hired a Cantonese speaking admin to connect to the small DC immigrant community.

We're in Spanish immersion but I don't see pointless venom on immersion threads, I see a lot of fair points in a school system that's a whole lot better at pretending to promote excellence than actually doing it. Can't wait to see those IB Diploma scores for the many YY families with the million dollar houses on Cap Hill, in Brookland etc. Yea, some of them could attain Singapore IB Diploma heights if they bothered to put nose to the grindstone.

Well, you won't know until 2020 when the very first DCI class graduates, so I hope you're not holding your breath.

No problem waiting. As a parent who earned the IB Diploma, taught in an IB World School, and bailed on YY, I can say with confidence that DCI scores are going to hit high SES families hard for many years. BASIS isn't pretending in the same way, they're meticulously building their AP success. Their facilities are weak, but their planning prowess and work ethic merits a little respect. Washington Latin, too. Kids can't go on to score in the 30s and 40s on IB exams on the strength of DCI feeder and DCI academics unless perhaps parents supplement like mad for a lot of dough.

I truly don't think most high SES families currently enrolled at DCI care about the IB Diploma scores all that much. If they were the kinds of parents who did, they would not be in a start-up charter school to begin with; they would have bailed along the way for a more sure thing.

Now that may not be true for younger families whose students are in one of the feeder schools now. But the first few classes at any charter school are made up of people who are a little more risk tolerant. That can certainly be said of the parents of the oldest students at BASIS now and the first 2-3 years of Washington Latin high school graduates.

I bet you're right, but demographics change fast in the DC public ed universe. Hundreds of high SES parents of little kids are getting on the DCI train for a path to 12th, never mind if the middle and high school kids can really speak the languages being taught in the feeders. Expectations seem much higher on the part of the early childhood and lower elementary grades crowd than the current DCI parents. Feeder and DCI admins would be smart to plan to manage expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My public high school did not have IB, somehow I managed to get 4s and 5s on a slew of AP tests which equaled a full year at the top public university, including (gasp! AP French despite my sad monolingual single mother home). These loser YY parents who don't care about IB scores - surely their children will amount to nothing because their parents don't ensure dialect speakers obtain preferential admissions. How will they ever recover from not exposing their clearly sloth-like selves to tiger moms and their suicide-inducing ambitions for children? Stereotypes intential and tongue in cheek.

I scored a 5 on AP Spanish but only a 3 (out of 7) on Standard Level IB Spanish. Hardly a top US college or university cares about 5s on AP anymore, beyond making appropriate class placements.

My niece scored a 7 on IB Higher Level Spanish in a public dual immersion high school program in NJ with great enthusiasm. She's a Latin American studies concentrator at an Ivy now, loving it. No suicide-inducing ambitions that I know of in the mix.

Will you never run out of excuses for comparatively weak academics in the high SES DC immersion charter universe?