Reply to Spanish Immersion / Bilingual / Majority Native Spanish Schools

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I know it can vary by grade, location, what you're looking for, etc., but just generally speaking, how would people rank the bilingual/immersion schools?  (I'm particularly interested in PS3).  Specifically, i'm talking about (in rough perceived order):  Mundo Verde, LAMB, Oyster, Stokes, DC Bilingual, Bancroft, Marie Reed, Powell, Bruce Monroe, Tyler, Cleveland, and Bethune. (Any I'm missing?)

[b]Also, in one of the other posts, I heard about HD Cooke, which is not technically immersion or bilingual, but apparently has a 70% native Spanish speaking population[/b], so the PK classes all have native Spanish-speaking aides.  Are there other schools in DCPS that have a similar set-up, e.g. a sort of bilingual-lite option for people who can't Wait List into a true immersion/bilingual program?  My son went to a Spanish speaking daycare and had Spanish speaking nanny, so would love to try and keep that going if possible through his preschool.

THANKS!

[/quote]

Depending on what is most important to you OP, this is something that I recommend you evaluate in all of the dual language schools.

For example, Bancroft, Powell, Bruce-Monroe all have between 70-80% latino population, so it's going to be a similar immersion experience to what you had with the daycare and nanny. Your child will default to Spanish during the day. Plus, Marie Reed has the separate language strands.

Oyster and Marie Reed are about 60%.

Whereas Cleveland for example is 30% latino and Tyler 10% so it's going to be different.

Of the charters, DC Bilingual is over 80% latino and Mundo Verde is 45%, LAMB is 55%.

[b]For us, having a majority of native speakers in the classroom is important[/b].

Note however that there is an inverse relationship between percentage of native Spanish speakers and DC-CAS test scores! Obvious point, but something people seem to overlook when comparing these schools.

Anyway as others have mentioned, these dual language DCPS schools are getting harder and harder to gain admission if you're not IB and don't have an older child there, so realistically you will have to choose one of those neighborhoods and move there, or else apply to the charters.

[/quote]

Don't assume that all Latino children at a school are native speakers.  Our child is "latino" but is not a native Spanish speaker.[/quote]

In the schools above in question, that's very rare, as you will see when you compare the ELL percentage to the latino percentage for any of the above schools. The reason for this is that in DC, unlike perhaps some other parts of the US, the vast majority of latinos are first generation immigrants. Many came here during the wars from Salvador and Guatemala. I think it's completely fair to generalize on that point based on the actual facts of DCPS bilingual school demographics, notwithstanding that there may be the occasional native-English latino and some native-Spanish African Americans and some native-Chinese white people.

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