Lottery Issue + Language Immersion Format + Homeschool/Co-Op Inquiry

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Telling people the odds is misleading. A lot can change from year to year and there is a certain element of randomness as well. It would not be reliable information and would only confuse people. The most I would do is flag schools that have gone several years without admitting any nonsiblings to preschool.

Even that could be misleading. Deal did not take OOB students for years, and then made 20+ offers from their waitlist for 17-18. What if someone had been dissuaded from listing it and got a great master number?

Or when Mundo Verde was cash strapped and needed to open more PreK classes to pay the bills.

Or when a school is granted an expansion after the lottery.

Lots of things happen - so you want to place your schools in your true priority.

But, if you have money re than 12 schools you would be willing to go to, just make sure a few are safeties or relative safeties.

and ...... you can change order / schools after the lottery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By law, charters cannot have separate lotteries to create a 50/50 language speaker environment. They would if they could, but they can't.

I think its effed up that DCPS can make separate lotteries. And its not even 505/50 at Bruce MOnroe, its 60/40 with preference for spanish for PK 3 and 4. Which means neighborhood families get shut out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By law, charters cannot have separate lotteries to create a 50/50 language speaker environment. They would if they could, but they can't.

I think its effed up that DCPS can make separate lotteries. And its not even 505/50 at Bruce MOnroe, its 60/40 with preference for spanish for PK 3 and 4. Which means neighborhood families get shut out.

They do it because it is the best way to achieve the desired academic outcome -- dual literacy for all children.

You can still go to Bruce Monroe if it's your IB at K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Telling people the odds is misleading. A lot can change from year to year and there is a certain element of randomness as well. It would not be reliable information and would only confuse people. The most I would do is flag schools that have gone several years without admitting any nonsiblings to preschool.

Even that could be misleading. Deal did not take OOB students for years, and then made 20+ offers from their waitlist for 17-18. What if someone had been dissuaded from listing it and got a great master number?

I had no clue that expansions could be granted post-lottery. Thanks for your specific example of what can happen, rather than just insulting my ignorance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By law, charters cannot have separate lotteries to create a 50/50 language speaker environment. They would if they could, but they can't.

I think its effed up that DCPS can make separate lotteries. And its not even 505/50 at Bruce MOnroe, its 60/40 with preference for spanish for PK 3 and 4. Which means neighborhood families get shut out.

I somewhat agree... While 50/50 native/non native is ideal according to research, so is a certain quantity of immersion hours (to achieve verbal fluency). Thanks to the DCUM&D's pointing out new school commitments to 100% spanish in PK3/PK4. Hopefully this leads to increased hours throughout elementary/middle/high school.

Schools love to point out how quickly English dominants in dual language catch up with monolingual program peers on standardized tests. Isn't the real measure of a program, how much they catch up to native speakers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By law, charters cannot have separate lotteries to create a 50/50 language speaker environment. They would if they could, but they can't.

I think its effed up that DCPS can make separate lotteries. And its not even 505/50 at Bruce MOnroe, its 60/40 with preference for spanish for PK 3 and 4. Which means neighborhood families get shut out.

You do realize it's nearly impossible to teach Immersion effectively without a good number of native language speakers, right? Or is it you just want out of your n'hood school and don't really care if the kids learn Spanish?

[Anonymous]

What's effed up is pretending that immersion language instruction works well without a sizeable cohort of native speakers. It doesn't. If you want immersion, you're better off not complaining that native speakers crowd out neighborhood families who aren't native speakers.

Signed
Native Speaker of Mandarin who recently volunteered at DCI and was shocked by how poorly their "advanced" Chinese track students speak Chinese after up to 10 years of immersion and partial immersion study in DCPC. YuYing's student body is roughly 2% native speakers, while DCI's is about 0%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By law, charters cannot have separate lotteries to create a 50/50 language speaker environment. They would if they could, but they can't.

I think its effed up that DCPS can make separate lotteries. And its not even 505/50 at Bruce MOnroe, its 60/40 with preference for spanish for PK 3 and 4. Which means neighborhood families get shut out.

You do realize it's nearly impossible to teach Immersion effectively without a good number of native language speakers, right? Or is it you just want out of your n'hood school and don't really care if the kids learn Spanish?

+100.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By law, charters cannot have separate lotteries to create a 50/50 language speaker environment. They would if they could, but they can't.

I think its effed up that DCPS can make separate lotteries. And its not even 505/50 at Bruce MOnroe, its 60/40 with preference for spanish for PK 3 and 4. Which means neighborhood families get shut out.

You do realize it's nearly impossible to teach Immersion effectively without a good number of native language speakers, right? Or is it you just want out of your n'hood school and don't really care if the kids learn Spanish?

Nearly impossible? I am shocked, shocked that many of the kids coming into DCI from feeders can hardly speak the languages taught.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Telling people the odds is misleading. A lot can change from year to year and there is a certain element of randomness as well. It would not be reliable information and would only confuse people. The most I would do is flag schools that have gone several years without admitting any nonsiblings to preschool.

Even that could be misleading. Deal did not take OOB students for years, and then made 20+ offers from their waitlist for 17-18. What if someone had been dissuaded from listing it and got a great master number?

Or when Mundo Verde was cash strapped and needed to open more PreK classes to pay the bills.

Or when a school is granted an expansion after the lottery.

Lots of things happen - so you want to place your schools in your true priority.

So interesting. Thanks for this context. I guess the lottery knows what it is doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Telling people the odds is misleading. A lot can change from year to year and there is a certain element of randomness as well. It would not be reliable information and would only confuse people. The most I would do is flag schools that have gone several years without admitting any nonsiblings to preschool.

Even that could be misleading. Deal did not take OOB students for years, and then made 20+ offers from their waitlist for 17-18. What if someone had been dissuaded from listing it and got a great master number?

I had no clue that expansions could be granted post-lottery. Thanks for your specific example of what can happen, rather than just insulting my ignorance.

Offers can be made anytime, and while historical data is a solid reference point, suprising things do happen all the time. I would not have expected overcrowded Deal to pull from their waitlist. It is a balancing act for schools. Charters, too. A little low on 5th grade enrollment? You can still hit your enrollment target (and thus your budget) by accepting more PK3 students from your waitlist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's effed up is pretending that immersion language instruction works well without a sizeable cohort of native speakers. It doesn't. If you want immersion, you're better off not complaining that native speakers crowd out neighborhood families who aren't native speakers.

Signed
Native Speaker of Mandarin who recently volunteered at DCI and was shocked by how poorly their "advanced" Chinese track students speak Chinese after up to 10 years of immersion and partial immersion study in DCPC. YuYing's student body is roughly 2% native speakers, while DCI's is about 0%.

Are YY's teachers native Chinese speakers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Telling people the odds is misleading. A lot can change from year to year and there is a certain element of randomness as well. It would not be reliable information and would only confuse people. The most I would do is flag schools that have gone several years without admitting any nonsiblings to preschool.

Even that could be misleading. Deal did not take OOB students for years, and then made 20+ offers from their waitlist for 17-18. What if someone had been dissuaded from listing it and got a great master number?

I had no clue that expansions could be granted post-lottery. Thanks for your specific example of what can happen, rather than just insulting my ignorance.

Offers can be made anytime, and while historical data is a solid reference point, suprising things do happen all the time. I would not have expected overcrowded Deal to pull from their waitlist. It is a balancing act for schools. Charters, too. A little low on 5th grade enrollment? You can still hit your enrollment target (and thus your budget) by accepting more PK3 students from your waitlist.

I want to caution this example - PK3 and PK4 have caps in class size. You can not make up shortfalls in total school enrollment with a strategy of pulling in 3 and 4 YOs without expanding a complete class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's effed up is pretending that immersion language instruction works well without a sizeable cohort of native speakers. It doesn't. If you want immersion, you're better off not complaining that native speakers crowd out neighborhood families who aren't native speakers.

Signed
Native Speaker of Mandarin who recently volunteered at DCI and was shocked by how poorly their "advanced" Chinese track students speak Chinese after up to 10 years of immersion and partial immersion study in DCPC. YuYing's student body is roughly 2% native speakers, while DCI's is about 0%.

Are YY's teachers native Chinese speakers?

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Telling people the odds is misleading. A lot can change from year to year and there is a certain element of randomness as well. It would not be reliable information and would only confuse people. The most I would do is flag schools that have gone several years without admitting any nonsiblings to preschool.

Even that could be misleading. Deal did not take OOB students for years, and then made 20+ offers from their waitlist for 17-18. What if someone had been dissuaded from listing it and got a great master number?

I had no clue that expansions could be granted post-lottery. Thanks for your specific example of what can happen, rather than just insulting my ignorance.

Offers can be made anytime, and while historical data is a solid reference point, suprising things do happen all the time. I would not have expected overcrowded Deal to pull from their waitlist. It is a balancing act for schools. Charters, too. A little low on 5th grade enrollment? You can still hit your enrollment target (and thus your budget) by accepting more PK3 students from your waitlist.

I want to caution this example - PK3 and PK4 have caps in class size. You can not make up shortfalls in total school enrollment with a strategy of pulling in 3 and 4 YOs without expanding a complete class.

This is not true for charters: https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/article/20987453/different-regulations-govern-dcs-publicly-funded-prek-programs

There's nothing keeping a charter from having a 25-kid PK3 class.