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Reply to "Oyster relocating?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
I'm also an outside observer with no stake in this, but I see an argument with the above: most of the non-Spanish kids start Oyster in K. Only a handful get in during pre-K, and there is no PS program. So at most you would be giving the English-dominant kids one year of full immersion, with a few possibly getting two.[/quote]

That's a really good point.  Tough situation, with the demographics moving against you.[/quote]

Actually, quite a few of Oyster's IB English-dominant kids are bilingual (like my DC) from having attended a Spanish immersion preschool for years.  So when my child arrived in K, she had already received 4 years of Spanish instruction/immersion.  This fall’s PK class will have 25 Spanish-dom. kids (out of 35).  Oyster’s three K classes usually total 75 kids (25/classroom).  If you have 25 rising K Span-dom. kids (from the aforementioned PK class), plus 5 more added in K, then you have 30 Spanish-dom. kids out of 75 (that’s 40% Spanish-dom).  Included in that 75 K class will be at least 10 kids like mine (bilingual, but they come from an English speaking home).  So now, you have AT LEAST 40 Spanish-dom and bilingual kids—that’s 53% (better than 50/50) of the K class that speaks and understands the target language.  If you make Oyster full immersion for PK and K, that should be all you need to tip the scales.  Show me the will (on Oyster’s part), and I’ll show you the way.

My kid is already in so we’re fine either way.  I just think that moving the school is a bad idea for Oyster.  No other immersion school in DC (charter or DCPS) can touch Oyster’s test scores.  That fact is not unrelated to the predominately affluent, well-educated IB (both English and Spanish dom.) families who send their well-prepared children to Oyster.  If you eliminate that important (but often overlooked) ingredient, watch the test scores slide as well (to say nothing of the fundraising).  
[/quote]

Good post.  One question, how many of the 25 PK4 kids admitted in the Spanish lottery only (or predominantly) speak Spanish?  I think that's a big part of it to, as some other posters alluded to.  I think there are quite a few kids who would pass a Spanish language speaking test, but are still more comfortable speaking in English, so that's what they default to if they aren't forced to speak Spanish.  I say that because the other day I noticed a fully bilingual parent I know, speaking totally in Spanish to their child, who understood everything and responded solely in English.  This is a kid with one fully bilingual parent, and one parent who speaks pretty good English but probably speaks Spanish 90% of the time.  If a kid like that speaks English to their English-only peers, those kids won't get the Spanish they need.

A lot of this is related to income levels, as you said.  There are a number of truly bilingual adults in the OA area, who speak perfect English because of their educational background.  Their kids get into the PK4 Spanish lottery, and are fluent in Spanish, but don't really speak it to their peers.

Not trying to advocate one way or the other (earlier outsider poster), just trying to understand the dynamics at play.  From what I can see, it's really tough to match up an immersion model that relies on some control of admissions, with a "by right" neighborhood school.[/quote]

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