Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to sit and truly decide if immersion is what you want. TBH, I think that's the biggest decision PK3 parents make, lottery-wise.

PK is done well across the district, and being in an amazing school vs. a pretty crappy school for PK3 - they're basically the same. Truly. We're doing the lottery for 1st right now and have done a ton of open houses and the differences in upper elementary across schools are enormous. But, the tours are dominated by PK3 parents, so I've seen a lot of PK3 classrooms and heard all the questions and answers and guess what? They're all basically the same. And the parents are all pretty clueless about what will matter to them as their kid gets older. You just can't evaluate an elementary school when your oldest child is 2.5 in any real way, it's not reasonable.

So forget about all that and make the one decision that matters: Do you want to commit to immersion or not? Because it DOES matter if you start at 3 or 5 or 7 when it comes to immersion. But I also think immersion only works if you're going to lean in as a family. In language summer camps, lots of books in the target language, maybe the parents learn a little? The payoffs can be huge if you lean in.

If you decide immersion is for you - rank every immersion school you can reasonably get to in true order of preference and put your IB at the end of your list as backup. If you decide it's not for you - just put your IB as your #1 slot, leave the rest blank, and revisit the whole school decision thing for K or 1st once you've been doing the "school" thing a few years. Spending PK at your IB school is a fabulous experience. Meet all the neighborhood kids, walk to school, easy playdates nearby, get to know families, have people you can call in a pinch to pick up your kids (cannot overstate the value of this!).

This all tracks except for the scenario of ranking the IB school and leave the rest blank. Depends on the school. Some people are IB for schools that almost never have spots for PK3 unless you have sibling preference. You'll want backups.

Definitely this advice. I listened to people in my neighborhood who did not have recent experience with the PreK lottery, and ended up not matching ANYWHERE because I had a super short list. It ended up working out, but it was a serious panic for a few weeks. Look at SY25-26 WL data for your IB and the schools you're targeting and make sure you have at least 1-2 "safeties."

I'm the one who initially said to put your IB as your #1 slot and leave the rest blank and you folks are TOTALLY right. I mis-read "solid school" as "safe school" and thought she was talking about an IB that reliable takes all IB kids every year (as ours was).

You absolutely need to check the waitlist data and make sure you have a school that clears its waitlist for PK3 on your list if your IB isn't a guarantee. So sorry about being so misleading about that!

However - I think my point about immersion stands - that's the big decision you need to make. Comparing CAPE scores at Yu Ying and LT doesn't make any sense. Do you want immersion, Y/N? Other decisions fall from that.

your advice was otherwise spot on. start with the immersion and montessori questions and go from there.

Are you looking for immersion schools that will take your kid even if your number is so bad that you don't get into your IB? I would suggest Shining Stars and maybe Stokes East End.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to sit and truly decide if immersion is what you want. TBH, I think that's the biggest decision PK3 parents make, lottery-wise.

PK is done well across the district, and being in an amazing school vs. a pretty crappy school for PK3 - they're basically the same. Truly. We're doing the lottery for 1st right now and have done a ton of open houses and the differences in upper elementary across schools are enormous. But, the tours are dominated by PK3 parents, so I've seen a lot of PK3 classrooms and heard all the questions and answers and guess what? They're all basically the same. And the parents are all pretty clueless about what will matter to them as their kid gets older. You just can't evaluate an elementary school when your oldest child is 2.5 in any real way, it's not reasonable.

So forget about all that and make the one decision that matters: Do you want to commit to immersion or not? Because it DOES matter if you start at 3 or 5 or 7 when it comes to immersion. But I also think immersion only works if you're going to lean in as a family. In language summer camps, lots of books in the target language, maybe the parents learn a little? The payoffs can be huge if you lean in.

If you decide immersion is for you - rank every immersion school you can reasonably get to in true order of preference and put your IB at the end of your list as backup. If you decide it's not for you - just put your IB as your #1 slot, leave the rest blank, and revisit the whole school decision thing for K or 1st once you've been doing the "school" thing a few years. Spending PK at your IB school is a fabulous experience. Meet all the neighborhood kids, walk to school, easy playdates nearby, get to know families, have people you can call in a pinch to pick up your kids (cannot overstate the value of this!).

This all tracks except for the scenario of ranking the IB school and leave the rest blank. Depends on the school. Some people are IB for schools that almost never have spots for PK3 unless you have sibling preference. You'll want backups.

Definitely this advice. I listened to people in my neighborhood who did not have recent experience with the PreK lottery, and ended up not matching ANYWHERE because I had a super short list. It ended up working out, but it was a serious panic for a few weeks. Look at SY25-26 WL data for your IB and the schools you're targeting and make sure you have at least 1-2 "safeties."

I'm the one who initially said to put your IB as your #1 slot and leave the rest blank and you folks are TOTALLY right. I mis-read "solid school" as "safe school" and thought she was talking about an IB that reliable takes all IB kids every year (as ours was).

You absolutely need to check the waitlist data and make sure you have a school that clears its waitlist for PK3 on your list if your IB isn't a guarantee. So sorry about being so misleading about that!

However - I think my point about immersion stands - that's the big decision you need to make. Comparing CAPE scores at Yu Ying and LT doesn't make any sense. Do you want immersion, Y/N? Other decisions fall from that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to sit and truly decide if immersion is what you want. TBH, I think that's the biggest decision PK3 parents make, lottery-wise.

PK is done well across the district, and being in an amazing school vs. a pretty crappy school for PK3 - they're basically the same. Truly. We're doing the lottery for 1st right now and have done a ton of open houses and the differences in upper elementary across schools are enormous. But, the tours are dominated by PK3 parents, so I've seen a lot of PK3 classrooms and heard all the questions and answers and guess what? They're all basically the same. And the parents are all pretty clueless about what will matter to them as their kid gets older. You just can't evaluate an elementary school when your oldest child is 2.5 in any real way, it's not reasonable.

So forget about all that and make the one decision that matters: Do you want to commit to immersion or not? Because it DOES matter if you start at 3 or 5 or 7 when it comes to immersion. But I also think immersion only works if you're going to lean in as a family. In language summer camps, lots of books in the target language, maybe the parents learn a little? The payoffs can be huge if you lean in.

If you decide immersion is for you - rank every immersion school you can reasonably get to in true order of preference and put your IB at the end of your list as backup. If you decide it's not for you - just put your IB as your #1 slot, leave the rest blank, and revisit the whole school decision thing for K or 1st once you've been doing the "school" thing a few years. Spending PK at your IB school is a fabulous experience. Meet all the neighborhood kids, walk to school, easy playdates nearby, get to know families, have people you can call in a pinch to pick up your kids (cannot overstate the value of this!).

This all tracks except for the scenario of ranking the IB school and leave the rest blank. Depends on the school. Some people are IB for schools that almost never have spots for PK3 unless you have sibling preference. You'll want backups.

Definitely this advice. I listened to people in my neighborhood who did not have recent experience with the PreK lottery, and ended up not matching ANYWHERE because I had a super short list. It ended up working out, but it was a serious panic for a few weeks. Look at SY25-26 WL data for your IB and the schools you're targeting and make sure you have at least 1-2 "safeties."

Only exceptions are if your inbound school is an early action school where you are guaranteed to get in unless you match with a school you ranked higher, or if you are ok doing private child care.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to sit and truly decide if immersion is what you want. TBH, I think that's the biggest decision PK3 parents make, lottery-wise.

PK is done well across the district, and being in an amazing school vs. a pretty crappy school for PK3 - they're basically the same. Truly. We're doing the lottery for 1st right now and have done a ton of open houses and the differences in upper elementary across schools are enormous. But, the tours are dominated by PK3 parents, so I've seen a lot of PK3 classrooms and heard all the questions and answers and guess what? They're all basically the same. And the parents are all pretty clueless about what will matter to them as their kid gets older. You just can't evaluate an elementary school when your oldest child is 2.5 in any real way, it's not reasonable.

So forget about all that and make the one decision that matters: Do you want to commit to immersion or not? Because it DOES matter if you start at 3 or 5 or 7 when it comes to immersion. But I also think immersion only works if you're going to lean in as a family. In language summer camps, lots of books in the target language, maybe the parents learn a little? The payoffs can be huge if you lean in.

If you decide immersion is for you - rank every immersion school you can reasonably get to in true order of preference and put your IB at the end of your list as backup. If you decide it's not for you - just put your IB as your #1 slot, leave the rest blank, and revisit the whole school decision thing for K or 1st once you've been doing the "school" thing a few years. Spending PK at your IB school is a fabulous experience. Meet all the neighborhood kids, walk to school, easy playdates nearby, get to know families, have people you can call in a pinch to pick up your kids (cannot overstate the value of this!).

This all tracks except for the scenario of ranking the IB school and leave the rest blank. Depends on the school. Some people are IB for schools that almost never have spots for PK3 unless you have sibling preference. You'll want backups.

Definitely this advice. I listened to people in my neighborhood who did not have recent experience with the PreK lottery, and ended up not matching ANYWHERE because I had a super short list. It ended up working out, but it was a serious panic for a few weeks. Look at SY25-26 WL data for your IB and the schools you're targeting and make sure you have at least 1-2 "safeties."

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to sit and truly decide if immersion is what you want. TBH, I think that's the biggest decision PK3 parents make, lottery-wise.

PK is done well across the district, and being in an amazing school vs. a pretty crappy school for PK3 - they're basically the same. Truly. We're doing the lottery for 1st right now and have done a ton of open houses and the differences in upper elementary across schools are enormous. But, the tours are dominated by PK3 parents, so I've seen a lot of PK3 classrooms and heard all the questions and answers and guess what? They're all basically the same. And the parents are all pretty clueless about what will matter to them as their kid gets older. You just can't evaluate an elementary school when your oldest child is 2.5 in any real way, it's not reasonable.

So forget about all that and make the one decision that matters: Do you want to commit to immersion or not? Because it DOES matter if you start at 3 or 5 or 7 when it comes to immersion. But I also think immersion only works if you're going to lean in as a family. In language summer camps, lots of books in the target language, maybe the parents learn a little? The payoffs can be huge if you lean in.

If you decide immersion is for you - rank every immersion school you can reasonably get to in true order of preference and put your IB at the end of your list as backup. If you decide it's not for you - just put your IB as your #1 slot, leave the rest blank, and revisit the whole school decision thing for K or 1st once you've been doing the "school" thing a few years. Spending PK at your IB school is a fabulous experience. Meet all the neighborhood kids, walk to school, easy playdates nearby, get to know families, have people you can call in a pinch to pick up your kids (cannot overstate the value of this!).

This all tracks except for the scenario of ranking the IB school and leave the rest blank. Depends on the school. Some people are IB for schools that almost never have spots for PK3 unless you have sibling preference. You'll want backups.

Rank in order of preference. Weigh commute heavily in preference unless you are willing to move in the short term. Weigh feeder pattern heavily too, unless you are willing to move in the longer term.

OP here, thank you for the information. Its very helpful! We are trying to sort out the differences in the PK 3-5th programs at Ludlow vs YuYing, Lamb, DCB and Mundo Verde.

YuYing reviews here seem to suggest easier curriculum comparatively, but not exactly sure how this is calculated. The Cape scores all seem relatively similar.

The answer, for now and always, is to rank in your order of true preference.

I think you need to sit and truly decide if immersion is what you want. TBH, I think that's the biggest decision PK3 parents make, lottery-wise.

PK is done well across the district, and being in an amazing school vs. a pretty crappy school for PK3 - they're basically the same. Truly. We're doing the lottery for 1st right now and have done a ton of open houses and the differences in upper elementary across schools are enormous. But, the tours are dominated by PK3 parents, so I've seen a lot of PK3 classrooms and heard all the questions and answers and guess what? They're all basically the same. And the parents are all pretty clueless about what will matter to them as their kid gets older. You just can't evaluate an elementary school when your oldest child is 2.5 in any real way, it's not reasonable.

So forget about all that and make the one decision that matters: Do you want to commit to immersion or not? Because it DOES matter if you start at 3 or 5 or 7 when it comes to immersion. But I also think immersion only works if you're going to lean in as a family. In language summer camps, lots of books in the target language, maybe the parents learn a little? The payoffs can be huge if you lean in.

If you decide immersion is for you - rank every immersion school you can reasonably get to in true order of preference and put your IB at the end of your list as backup. If you decide it's not for you - just put your IB as your #1 slot, leave the rest blank, and revisit the whole school decision thing for K or 1st once you've been doing the "school" thing a few years. Spending PK at your IB school is a fabulous experience. Meet all the neighborhood kids, walk to school, easy playdates nearby, get to know families, have people you can call in a pinch to pick up your kids (cannot overstate the value of this!).

Anonymous wrote:If it’s your inbound school, you can always go there anytime. So rank it last and then see what other options you get in the lottery.

If they rank their inbound below an immersion/charter/OOB/other and get into the immersion, they will not get a spot (or a waitlist number even) at their IB for PK. Anything below the school you get into drops off your list. And you don’t have a IB right to a school until K. So, what you advise only works for PK3s that don’t fill (unlikely since OP called it solid) or K and up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it’s your inbound school, you can always go there anytime. So rank it last and then see what other options you get in the lottery.

This is not true for PK3. You don’t have a right to attend until K. Many people who are IB for popular PK3-4 schools don’t get spots without sibling preference.

OP, it depends on how hard your IB PK is to get into and how desirable the other schools are. Assumedly the ones you’d be ranking above your own would be harder for you to get into. This is true whether the school is OOB, is a city-wide school not zoned for a boundary or a charter.

Always rank by order of where you actually want to go. If your kid pulls a number good enough to go to a popular OOB school, the number would get them into your IB school. Once you get into a school, you don’t even get a waitlist spot for anything you’ve ranked below it. If you really prefer an OOB school and it’s a long shot you put above your IB, no harm. You’ll stay at #230 on the waitlist there even when you accept your spot, if offered, at your IB.

All this said, don’t rule out the importance of logistics and making neighborhood friends early. If your IB is good and has a strong feeder, does it actually make sense for you to go for a school where you’re in a car every day and friends are scattered?

PP here. I missed OP said immersion. Shouldn’t respond before coffee. Advice remains the same, rank in order that you actually want to go.

Anonymous wrote:If it’s your inbound school, you can always go there anytime. So rank it last and then see what other options you get in the lottery.

This is not true for PK3. You don’t have a right to attend until K. Many people who are IB for popular PK3-4 schools don’t get spots without sibling preference.

OP, it depends on how hard your IB PK is to get into and how desirable the other schools are. Assumedly the ones you’d be ranking above your own would be harder for you to get into. This is true whether the school is OOB, is a city-wide school not zoned for a boundary or a charter.

Always rank by order of where you actually want to go. If your kid pulls a number good enough to go to a popular OOB school, the number would get them into your IB school. Once you get into a school, you don’t even get a waitlist spot for anything you’ve ranked below it. If you really prefer an OOB school and it’s a long shot you put above your IB, no harm. You’ll stay at #230 on the waitlist there even when you accept your spot, if offered, at your IB.

All this said, don’t rule out the importance of logistics and making neighborhood friends early. If your IB is good and has a strong feeder, does it actually make sense for you to go for a school where you’re in a car every day and friends are scattered?

If it’s your inbound school, you can always go there anytime. So rank it last and then see what other options you get in the lottery.

If youre inbound for a popular school that you are interested in, but would also want to consider a few immersion options.. where would it be advised to rank the inbound school?