Anonymous wrote:Would you go here over a good DCPS or private?

13:28. That's an good question to ask yourself. Yu Ying was the ONLY public school we applied to and was our first choice. We chose it over two private schools which were only in English. And my child was already reading and doing math in English before he entered YY.

Honestly, if you are not enthusiasic about Mandarin - choose another school.

Not OP, but you said to throw out a school - Putting aside the Mandarin component, any of the JKLM schools or Yu Ying? I am in for Yu Ying and on a wait list for my JKLM school - not sure what I will do if I get into my JKLM pre-K.

Also, if you start at Yu Ying and it's not a good fit and you move to DCPS in Kindergarden, will that child be at any kind of a disadvantage (i.e., in Yu Ying pre-k, are certain things not taught that woud otherwise be taught in DCPS since teaching is done in 100% Mandaring (one thing that comes right to my mind is English letter recognition, etc).

Anonymous wrote:Awesome if you won't care that very few parents speak Chinese at home. We thought it was a strange school, where only teachers on 1-year work visas and hired help provide cultural inputs, no grandparents, and very few parents or bilingual kids. Parents and admins claim they would love to change this, but since they try to do it without Chinese admins, it's an effort doomed to fail. Mention any of this and make yourself really unpopular (and stand accuse of speaking Cantonese) fast.

So you are not a YY parent and never had kids but still needs to put in your 2 cents about how "strange" the school, lack of Chinese admins, etc. whenever the topic of YY comes up. But you are of Chinese heritage and feel that makes you an authority on how a Chinese immersion school should be run.

You get accuse of speaking Cantonese b/c you want preferential admissions for Cantonese speakers.

Anonymous wrote:Awesome if you won't care that very few parents speak Chinese at home. We thought it was a strange school, where only teachers on 1-year work visas and hired help provide cultural inputs, no grandparents, and very few parents or bilingual kids. Parents and admins claim they would love to change this, but since they try to do it without Chinese admins, it's an effort doomed to fail. Mention any of this and make yourself really unpopular (and stand accuse of speaking Cantonese) fast.

This is an example of the misinformation that gets thrown about on this site. The teachers are not on one year visas. There are many teachers who have been at the school since it opened. I get its not a school for everyone, but why post inaccuracies for parents who are trying to make a choice.

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, thanks for the responses, and yes I have read much of what is out there on DCUM and take lots of it with a grain of salt. We are currently happy with our DCPS, but I am not sure that we will be above K or 1st. Honestly, I am not as psyched about Mandrin as I am about a really good education. DCI certainly weighs heavily as well. I suppose I feel like it may be a mistake to turn it down but that it may not be a good fit for us either. Its just so hard to know. I have been much happier than expected thus far at our current school, and unfortunately we can't test places out before we jump in!

Honestly, if you are happy where you are and not particularly focused on Mandarin, you should stay where you are and keep researching/apply next year for schools that represemt YOUR educational priorities.

See:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/297613.page#3396488

Would you go here over a good DCPS or private?

Awesome if you won't care that very few parents speak Chinese at home. We thought it was a strange school, where only teachers on 1-year work visas and hired help provide cultural inputs, no grandparents, and very few parents or bilingual kids. Parents and admins claim they would love to change this, but since they try to do it without Chinese admins, it's an effort doomed to fail. Mention any of this and make yourself really unpopular (and stand accuse of speaking Cantonese) fast.

This is OP, thanks for the responses, and yes I have read much of what is out there on DCUM and take lots of it with a grain of salt. We are currently happy with our DCPS, but I am not sure that we will be above K or 1st. Honestly, I am not as psyched about Mandrin as I am about a really good education. DCI certainly weighs heavily as well. I suppose I feel like it may be a mistake to turn it down but that it may not be a good fit for us either. Its just so hard to know. I have been much happier than expected thus far at our current school, and unfortunately we can't test places out before we jump in!

Parent of a 4th grader.

Things that are great:
-- facilities
-- Mandarin education
-- well rounded education in other subjects
-- aftercare (although quite expensive compared to other programs)

Things I dislike
-- play dates are all over the city
-- administration seems to distrust parents (a change from when the school opened)
-- many of the teachers very young and inexperienced (although if you are starting in k or pre-k this is unlikely to be as much of an issue)
-- report cards that give little feedback about the child's progress. Also dislike the child led conferences
-- too much focus on the standardized test
-- the way in which it is treated on DCUM.

Yeah, it really is that awesome. Also realize that they only moved into their (beautiful) new building in 2011 and only started having 100% Mandarin for prek entering in 2011. Our child is in K, rising first grader and couldn't be happier but we REALLY wanted Mandarin. And I think your level of happiness is mainly proportional to how important Mandarin is to your family. Yu Ying is first and foremost a Chinese immersion school.

What are your other choices? You may get more feedback if you say what other schools you're choosing between and which specific factors are most important to you re: your child's education.

The way you've asked this question isn't really helpful for getting feedback.

My child is getting a good to above average education. He just happens to be getting it in 2 languages at the same time.

There are wonderful components to the school and others that remain a challenge- just like any school. As PP said, you could exhaust yourself plowing through the hundreds of pages of anecdotes on DCUM.

Lots of anecdotal hateration on this website.

If you're looking for objective results, they take the tests, same as every other school (that has students in testing grades).

2012 DC CAS Results (I couldn't find detailed breakouts)
Reading: overall proficiency: 72.2% (vs. 62.9% for 2011)
Math: overapp proficiency: 62.5% (vs. 57.1% for 2011)

2011 DC CAS Results:
Grade 3: 35 students tested
Reading: 3 kids below basic, 10 at basic level, 21 proficient, 1 advanced.
Math: 4 kids below basic, 11 at basic level, 16 proficient, 4 advanced.

Expecting to get in and don't know what to do! Is it awesome mainly because of the Mandrin, or is it awesome overall? Parents, do you feel like your children are getting a well rounded education in areas other than Mandrin language and Chinese culture?

Thanks in advance for the input!