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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Seriously, I doubt allowing[b] a few bilingual kids [/b]into YY when they are 4, 5, 6, etc. will make a lot of difference to the language acquisition of their peers not to mention the added logistical issue of testing to see how proficient they are in "Mandarin" they have to be to get such preference. [/quote]

So why just allow a few, why not have YY knock itself out to find, and keep, as many as it can below a 50% threshold of the student population, like Cleveland, Tyler SI, Oyster, MV and DC Bilingual?  Couldn't the logisitcal issue of testing Mandarin-speaking kids be overcome with a little political will.  Chinese-immersion schools elsewhere in the US (MN, MA, CA, UT) do it.

We know a (black) family who asked about switching from a MoCo ES immersion school to YY for 3rd grade.  They were told no, of course, although their concern about YY's Mandarin was that it wouldn't be challenging enough for kids used to speaking Chinese to many ethnic classmates and their parents.

At some point, doesn't common sense have to intervene with these policies?  Actively keeping a fully bilingual child out of the higher grades sounds like a poor way to serve the school, and [b]something small the PA could change if it wanted[/b].  Has it tried?
[/quote]
It's nothing small at all.  The lack of admission tests is part of the charter law, and it won't change in the next 25 years for two reasons:

*  allowing an admission test at charters and not at public schools would reinforce the perception that (some) charters are actually exclusive clubs operating on the taxpayer dime.  (Read any of the BASIS threads for examples of this fight.)
* DC's political class is terrified of setting children apart and calling them smarter than other kids.  That's why there are no programs for gifted kids, and why the only admission-based schools are high schools.

As an aside, several posters have invoked the PA as a group that should be changing things.  YY is run by its board and administrators appointed by the board.  The PA exists to support the school, which has sometimes included individual parents doing pro bono legal work regarding amendments to the school's charter, but the PA has no legal standing to change anything at the Charter Board (or any other) level.  [/quote]

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