Anonymous wrote:Um, welcome to DC. I don't think you're going to find happiness here.

Anonymous wrote:Mandarin is taught for one hour total in the ECE CMI classes. It seems like a total waste to me and I wish they just had Spanish everyday

Anonymous wrote:Look, I agree that listing schools with no spots is really difficult on parents, but what exactly do you propose if not a lottery system?

I mean, DC could have all neighborhood schools, but then ZERO kids would be getting the language immersion you seem to think is paramount.

On your FB page, you are advertising for a charter school, so your issue isn't with charters and a desire for neighborhood schools - your issue is with your specific kid not being guaranteed full immersion in a city full of folks looking for language immersion.

OJH wrote:Hello to all!
Longtime lurker, first time writer, and first time player of the insane school lottery here in DC.
I have one point, and three questions:

1. My School DC website and customer service reps are committing fraud by regurgitating "Put your choices in order of which you want the most". There is no disclosure whatsoever, if a school has ZERO or less than 1% of slots available to those without sibling and/or boundary and/or other legal preference. The data does not lie, and it's absolutely unconscionable. There should be ONE list for where you would want to go if every program was immediately scalable (enabling schools to justify increased resources) and one for reality, where child's future is at stake. Lottery system for public education is in of itself unconstitutional, and I would happily join a class action lawsuit seeking policy change and NO resources diverted from education.

2. Other than Washington Yu Ying, which PK3/PK4/K immersion programs are taught entirely in the target language?

3. How many PK/K hours per day or week is Mandarin taught at Thomson? How many at Creative Minds? Do ANY other schools offer Mandarin on a regular basis? Are there any new Mandarin programs on the horizon?

4. I speak French fluently, and would love to network with homeschool parents creating alternative learning culture. Please add me on facebook.com/goldyard or instagram @cherry.brain if you are connected to these quiet folks.

Full disclosure: I am self-educated, low income single parent, who sacrificed a HECK OF A LOT for "DS" to hear 4 languages every weekday. We moved to DC for a family emergency, and I'm on a mission to build on that foundation.

Anonymous wrote:1) The DC lottery is quite transparent. On the data section of the My School website, you can find results from past years, and that should answer some of your questions about how many kids get in off of waitlists for each school.The DC lottery uses the Roth algorithm, which means that you should list your schools in order of your true preference. It doesn't help to.put a less desirable school first. You should of course have some safety schools, incase you get a poor lottery number. The DC lottery is the gold standard; in cities like chicago, you have to be more strategic.

2) Most immersion schools in DC are bilingual, not monolingual in the target language. They try to use a dual language model, as research suggests that this is most effective for language acquisition. Yu Ying can't do this because they don't have enough native speakers.

3) My French speaking friends use this program

http://www.saturday-schools.org/french