Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very interested in this as the superintendent has said that they will make changes to immersion and that he will split the Sligo Creek French program into two when he closes SSIMS.

I’m against the SSIMS closure but that’s not what I recall him saying. He said “we love these programs; if anything we need to expand these programs. We might end up having FI at both eastern I and Sligo.” I don’t trust him but he’s avoiding saying they’re scaling it back.

The superintendent says many things and then changes his mind. They are making it all up was they go along. Don't count on anything until they begin changing up the middle school programming next year.

Anonymous wrote:It seems a little odd to create this new language program at Whitman but no language pathway at the HS level for the hundreds kids doing Spanish in elementary and middle school.

What exactly are you looking for beyond AP Spanish Language and AP Spanish Literature?

Anonymous wrote:In Region 1 they are proposing an intensive Chinese program at Whitman for kids who have studied the language in middle school or otherwise have Chinese proficiency at some level.

It seems like an odd choice given from what I can tell there are zero Chinese immersion middle schools in the Whitman cluster, but there are three Spanish immersion middle schools including one that feeds into BCC and two that feed into Einstein. There are also zero language immersion elementary schools that feed into Whitman, but there is one Spanish immersion elementary that feeds into BCC, one that feeds into Einstein and one that feeds into Blair.

Are they telegraphing their intention to end middle school Spanish immersion programs in low income middle schools in favor of a brand new Chinese immersion program at Pyle?

Oh look. MCPS created a criteria-based program for which the vast majority of students in the region won’t qualify.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to find a way to redistribute the language immersion programs at the elementary level. Right now, a majority of these programs (and all 3 Spanish programs) are in silver spring/chevy chase and the farthest north (French) is in Rockville. Hopefully the regional model (eventually) helps with this.

I do not disagree although isn’t there also a lot more demand downcounty? To my understanding RCF and SCES get the most applications. They do not make this info particularly available though.

DP

In addition to the programs PP described above, there are six Two-Way Immersion (TWI) programs that do half the day in Spanish and half the day in English. They are not lottery-based programs - they are for the whole school. Three are in Gaithersburg, 2 are in Silver Spring and one is in Takoma Park. This model is considered more equitable, but requires families within those catchment areas that don't want this or for whom it doesn't work to COSA into a different ES, which isn't awesome for them.

Recently, the Office of Shared Accountability did an outcomes evaluation of the TWI model, finding that the implementation of TWI in MCPS is not aligned with the model they are supposed to be following (Biliteracy Unit Framework or BUF). Some of the issues cited include lack of appropriate materials and a disconnect between the MCPS curriculum and the BUF curriculum. They also found that TWI students underperformed matched peers in literacy and math. The report offers several recommendations for improving the program but also has some statements questioning the model entirely - e.g. "The data raises serious concerns about the TWI program's effectiveness, particularly for specific student populations. Students in non-TWI schools consistently outperformed their TWI peers* across multiple measures. Although initial EOL analysis suggested potential benefits for students at ELP Levels 3 and 4 in Grade 2 literacy and math, these apparent advantages did not withstand rigorous statistical scrutiny. When controlling for additional variables, the perceived benefits disappeared entirely, calling into question the fundamental premise and effectiveness of the TWI program for these student groups. The absence of statistically significant positive outcomes, combined with the pattern of lower performance for compared to non-TWI schools, suggests a critical need to reevaluate the program's approach and implementation."
* White TWI students outperformed their non-TWI peers in math and literacy, but all other TWI groups underperformed their matched non-TWI peers

Anonymous wrote:They need to find a way to redistribute the language immersion programs at the elementary level. Right now, a majority of these programs (and all 3 Spanish programs) are in silver spring/chevy chase and the farthest north (French) is in Rockville. Hopefully the regional model (eventually) helps with this.

I do not disagree although isn’t there also a lot more demand downcounty? To my understanding RCF and SCES get the most applications. They do not make this info particularly available though.

Anonymous wrote:They need to find a way to redistribute the language immersion programs at the elementary level. Right now, a majority of these programs (and all 3 Spanish programs) are in silver spring/chevy chase and the farthest north (French) is in Rockville. Hopefully the regional model (eventually) helps with this.

Redistribute or expand? I realize there are challenges to expansion. I know in French it seems like it would be hard to add more teachers to sustain another class at either school. Is it more possible with Spanish? I think few would complain if they were only able to add Spanish programs…. It seems like even adding 1-2 more classes in the county would go significantly further toward meeting the demand.

By class I mean kindergarten class that goes through the program, which of course is a lot of teachers.

Anonymous wrote:They need to find a way to redistribute the language immersion programs at the elementary level. Right now, a majority of these programs (and all 3 Spanish programs) are in silver spring/chevy chase and the farthest north (French) is in Rockville. Hopefully the regional model (eventually) helps with this.

OP here - I agree with this. My kid benefits from the current model, and I recognize it is unfair. If you live in Germantown or Gaithersburg anywhere other than Brown Station (which you can't lottery into) there really isn't a reasonable Spanish option. I grew up in Bethesda and would have really benefited from a Spanish immersion option there.

So if they are trying to fill an opportunity gap with the choice to place the language program at Whitman, I think that would be a great approach if they did it for other programs too. But it seems like except for the language program at Whitman, the focus on existing assets, which is just going to cement existing inequities (except for the language program).

They need to find a way to redistribute the language immersion programs at the elementary level. Right now, a majority of these programs (and all 3 Spanish programs) are in silver spring/chevy chase and the farthest north (French) is in Rockville. Hopefully the regional model (eventually) helps with this.

It seems a little odd to create this new language program at Whitman but no language pathway at the HS level for the hundreds kids doing Spanish in elementary and middle school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are they going to do any immersion in middle school anymore with the math changes that will probably take away an elective period?

Good question. Don’t see how any kid can take more than 6 classes which means it’s a choice between foreign language, arts, and music.

What an awful requirement.

Although I don’t think that means the kids can’t still have language and SS in the target language. Just no music or art.

Anonymous wrote:How are they going to do any immersion in middle school anymore with the math changes that will probably take away an elective period?

Good question. Don’t see how any kid can take more than 6 classes which means it’s a choice between foreign language, arts, and music.

What an awful requirement.

How are they going to do any immersion in middle school anymore with the math changes that will probably take away an elective period?

Anonymous wrote:Very interested in this as the superintendent has said that they will make changes to immersion and that he will split the Sligo Creek French program into two when he closes SSIMS.

I’m against the SSIMS closure but that’s not what I recall him saying. He said “we love these programs; if anything we need to expand these programs. We might end up having FI at both eastern I and Sligo.” I don’t trust him but he’s avoiding saying they’re scaling it back.

Very interested in this as the superintendent has said that they will make changes to immersion and that he will split the Sligo Creek French program into two when he closes SSIMS.

In Region 1 they are proposing an intensive Chinese program at Whitman for kids who have studied the language in middle school or otherwise have Chinese proficiency at some level.

It seems like an odd choice given from what I can tell there are zero Chinese immersion middle schools in the Whitman cluster, but there are three Spanish immersion middle schools including one that feeds into BCC and two that feed into Einstein. There are also zero language immersion elementary schools that feed into Whitman, but there is one Spanish immersion elementary that feeds into BCC, one that feeds into Einstein and one that feeds into Blair.

Are they telegraphing their intention to end middle school Spanish immersion programs in low income middle schools in favor of a brand new Chinese immersion program at Pyle?