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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here is my take on why is it so widely desired in DC..

All parents want a good education for their children.  [b]May affordable neighborhoods in DC do not have good schools.  Language immersion has been a means to draw potentially high performing students (children from high SES families) into schools in transitioning neighborhoods and charters schools. [/b] Parents like it because they see a way that their children will be challenged even if the broad population in a particular school is somewhat unknown.  It is a means to self-select your children's peers.

More broadly in the DC region it is a multi-cultural area, many people have travelled broadly and they see the benefit of being bilingual and want that for their kids.

My kids did not go to a dual language elementary school, I tried in the lottery but was not successful and ultimately we had a strong school path for them so I did not lose any sleep about it..  They started a foreign language in 6th grade (at Deal).  One chose Spanish and one chose French.  We let them choose what interests them, I do not burden my children with what I think will give them a corporate advantage later in life.  My children have been exposed to many international families as their peers in school and friends and they see the value of speaking multiple languages.

My advice to OP.  No need to overthink it.  Also, wait a while to have kids, you are very young to be married already, do not rush things.[/quote]

This. The language immersion charters offer a better peer group than the crappy DCPS schools in gentrifying neighborhoods, and the brain development research gives the parents a "legitimate reason" for choosing the school instead of just fleeing their IB DCPS. There are a few exceptions, but that's the reason for 99% of families at the language immersion schools if they're being honest.

That's why these language immersion charters get so few students from the strong WOTP school boundaries.

OP, one thing to look at with your fiancee is what you give up at each school to get the language. At our HRC DCI feeder, the ELA is really suffering. They also do a terrible job with special needs and advanced kids. If you don't have an average neurotypical kid, then I recommend to stay away from charters. It's been a disaster for our advanced SN kids (this is more common than you might think). Charters also have very little oversight. There are layers of oversight for DCPS schools, but the charter school board has been clear that they don't get involved with any issues unless there's fraud (embezzlement etc) so there's no help there.

The parent association basically does fund raising and a little bit of infomercial type stuff. They're [b]shills for the admin and don't really advocate for parents.[/b] I think most charters are this way. It's very different from the strong WOTP DCPS schools that have a strong parent group to advocate. After being in both systems, I strongly recommend moving in boundary for good schools for ES, MS, and HS (DC or suburbs). The families will stay for the schools and you'll have a strong community. [/quote]

Charter parent associations who advocate for families are generally told by admins to shut up. Our DCI feeder didn't even bother to send any materials home in the target language.  Not tough to guess which school.  When we complained to the parent association and admins and were told by both that producing materials for families in the target language wasn't a priority and wasn't necessary.  Meanwhile, at our house, my mother, who provides most of our childcare and homework supervision, although her spoken and written English is weak, struggled to deal with school materials.  It was time to go.  [/quote]

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