Reply to Immersion ... pros and cons?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/going-beyond-intelligence/202309/second-language-immersion-is-not-always-best-school-choice

An alternative perspective on language immersion[/quote]

Oh that's interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Sounds like bottom line: if you're kid is already doing well AND expressed interest in languages, immersion may be fine but if you've got a SN kid, STEM kid, or kid otherwise very advanced, immersion may not be an ideal choice.

[b]I do think that around here, the immersion programs are just another way to hack the system and have your kid surrounded by other mostly UMC kids or kids whose parents care. Thusly, the immersion has fewer low level students, fewer FARMS students and therefore fewer disruptions. [/b]So in the end, if you're in a crummy pyramid, parents are still going to step on each other to gain these pots in Mcps. [/quote]

Any evidence to support this claim? Are families that enter the lottery for immersion programs disproportionately from high FARMS home schools?[/quote]

I don’t think we’re going to get access to this data but I would guess that yes, families from high FARMS schools are more interested but, no, this isn’t just a way to game the system.  [b]There are always going to be people looking for ways to escape public schools that don’t appear to be as high performing on paper.[/b]  I also think geographically the location of programs encourages more participation from some school clusters than others.  I also would guess there are reasons why people who live in more diverse areas of the country are likely to be some of the people most interested in foreign languages.

But I do disagree that the average immersion family is just trying to hack the system.[/quote]

True, have seen them heard them. when time for ES, they'll try to escape zoned cluster. Other families though simply want to continue their kid's preschool language skills and seek an immersion program for the language.[/quote]

When my kid was in the immersion program at RCF, I remember looking at the directory to test this hypothesis. Nearly every kid in the immersion class was from Silver Spring, the Wheaton part of Kensington or up county. I think 2 kids were from Bethesda. [/quote]

To be fair, though, RCF is adjacent to Silver Spring, and Silver Spring and Wheaton are both extremely densely populated. [/quote]

RCF is not close to most of Wheaton. The data doesn't lie. Love that pp tried the, BuT WhErE iS tHe DaTa? And it actually exists to support the claim, albeit a few years old. Would be willing to bet my life that still holds true.

Also it is correct that the lottery is closed after K registration. [/quote]

Wow, you really don't like people asking questions. Are you okay?

When you say there is data to support the claim, are you referring to the one poster saying they looked through an RCF directory. That's fine, I believe them. And based on that, we gather that the students in the RCF immersion program a few years ago were predominantly from Silver Spring, the "Wheaton" part of Kensington (LOL) or up county. This could mean:
1. Families are using the immersion program to "escape" their home schools
2. Low income families are being prioritized in the lottery or another prioritization that results in this imbalance
3. Latino families are applying in disproportionate numbers to the program to help their kids maintain their native language, and those families are less likely to live in Bethesda.

We also have anonymous posts saying the poster "heard" parents talking about using the immersion program to "escape" their home schools as well as a reference to a study saying the immersion process was changed in response to complaints that low income families were not being given the opportunity to apply.

I haven't seen data or anecdotes cited in this thread about the demographics or home schools of who currently applies to the RCF immersion lottery or why families apply to any of the six other OWI programs (besides RCF).[/quote]

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