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Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)
Chesterbrook Elementary in McLean
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Anonymous
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Hi,
We are considering moving from DC to NoVa for the better public school system. We are interested in Chesterbrook Elementary because of its Chinese language classes. Would like to hear from parents of students currently enroll in Chesterbrook. How is the school overall (class size, student-teacher ratio, test scores, out placement in high school)? How effective are the Chinese classes in teaching Chinese? How about the gifted program in Chesterbrook (as opposed to Churchill RD GT center)? My daughter is 4, and are currently bilingual in English and Chinese, and has a high WPSII score (superior range as it says and whatever it means for a kid this age). Would really like her to continue her Chinese after she starts school and would like the school to be challenging as well. Any comments are welcome, and thank you for your time and thoughts. |
Anonymous
| I didn't realize Chesterbrook had a Chinese program? I thought the only immersion school in Mclean was Kent Gardens (french). |
Anonymous
| You might want to make sure they don't get rid of the immersion programs in this year's budget before moving for it. When do they decide that - May or something??? I have neighbors who are quite invested and will be really bummed if they get rid of all the FLES. |
Anonymous
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Currently both immersion and FLES are contingent on getting additional state funding. I don't know that I would get my hopes too high.
http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=1350 http://www.fcps.edu/news/fy2011/advertisedbudget.pdf |
Anonymous
| Thanks for the information regarding budget. We can still wait for one more year since my daughter is not ready for Kindergarten until Fall 2011. Nevertheless would really appreciate some first hand impressions of the school and the Chinese language classes. Thanks!! |
Anonymous
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We have experience with the Chinese program at Shrevewood (a FLES program, similar to the one at Chesterbrook).
It starts in 1st grade and continues through 6th, but I have only seen the program through 2nd grade as my daughter switched to Haycock GT center for 3rd grade. They had Chinese twice a week and they learned songs, how to count up to 100, and a few other simple words. It was not a technical language education where they were learning various parts of speech and how to string words together. A few things I know about Chesterbrook...they still have half day Kindergarten (although the rest of the county might be following suit soon due to budget cuts), they do offer "Local Level IV" (the GT center programming for grades 3-6, for students found eligible) however there is currently also the option for students to attend Haycock for the GT program. Haycock is definitely an exceptional school with a great sense of community. |
Anonymous
| Thanks to poster 14:49. Shrevewood/Haycock students feed into which middle and high schools? I focus on McLean because of their high school, but am very concerned about committing to down town DC during rush hour. If Shrevewood school is located in a metro accessible (walking) area and they offer Chinese with good high school, then I will be extremely interested. |
Anonymous
Shrevewood is located on Shreve Road. It is close to metro. Falls Hill is a nice development within the Shrevewood boundaries that is walkable to metro. The only problem is that the Chinese program could be eliminated because of budget cuts. |
Anonymous
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Shrevewood feeds into Marshall High School (which has the IB program) and Haycock feeds into McLean High School (which has the AP program). Both programs are supposed to be great, and I believe Fairfax County currently considers transfer applications to a high school with a different program than the school one is assigned to.
Parts of both the Shrevewood and (moreso) Haycock attendance areas are walkable to the West Falls Church metro station. |
Anonymous
| Last I heard (and this may be admittedly dated info) the Chinese language classes aren't being taught by a native speaker. Just FYI if that's important to you, and the language isn't being taught in any sort of depth as it might be in a more intensive immersion program. |
Anonymous
| I don't know whether the chinese teacher is a native speaker, but the classes (2 x week) are supposed to be progressive grade to grade and correspond to what is being learned in the classroom at the time (i.e., the instruction is supposed to link to what the kids are learning elsewhere). It is not as good (in terms of speed with which/depth in which kids learn the language) as an immersion program but it is better than nothing and cool that every kid in the school gets this instruction. |
Anonymous
| I may be wrong, but I think you DC's Chinese teacher at Shrevewood is a native speaker. That said, DC hasn't seemed to have learned that much. |
Anonymous
Marshall also offers Chinese as part of its IB program, so that might be something to consider. |
Anonymous
| my husband and i went on a tour bc thinking of buying in the district. They were amazingly generous w their time esp given our kid not close to ready for k yet. I would recommend you do the same. I didn't get the sense the Chinese class was super serious in the way that would challenge a kid being raised bilingual but not a priority for us so i didn't press too much. I seem to remember something about them having a private grant for it so not sure impacted by budget but you should ask. We thought the school seemed like a nice place |
Anonymous
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Our school has a Chinese FLES program as well. Our son (now 2nd grade), has enjoyed it, but isn't exactly on the track towards fluency by any means. But, as his teacher has stated, he is getting a good foundation in the basics of the language, that will be beneficial for him should he want to pursue the language more seriously in the future.
On another note, my neighbor is the principal at Chesterbrook. Great guy. |