Anonymous wrote:But how do they determine dominant? Or is it enough to be fluent?

Anonymous wrote:But you can be fluent without being dominant…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw, I'm confident that the middle school will offer even more math differentiation under the new principal--she has stated that it's one of her priorities. She even hired a male AP who has an educational background/speciality in math.

You mean the AP for 4th and 5th? Meh. Nice guy, but not ready for administrator level in the sink-or-swim DC principal world. He doesn't teach math classes or tutor, that I know of, and he can barely handle recess discipline. I've never heard him described as a math specialist. That would be nice, but I wouldn't count on him as some kind of fix for those who are really into math at advanced levels.

There are many, many positives about the school, but it will take a while for the new (28 year old?) principal and the relatively new elementary PK-3 AP and the brand new 4th/5th AP and the MS AP (who is useless and has been there long enough to have fixed differentiation but didn't) and the MS Dean of Students to gel as a team. You read that right. THREE APs and a DoS for a MS of less than 180 kids. Meanwhile, at the Oyster building there is a part-time music teacher for roughly 300 kids.

Think of O-A more like a charter than a neighborhood school. Like PP also said, reality is somewhere between paradise and purgatory. The experience also depends on the individual child. Some kids end up tri-lingual stars at selective private and public high schools. Other kids in the same family end up switching to English-only DCPS programs, charters, or private schools before 4th grade. This happens across all demographics. It's not exactly Sophie's Choice, but it's hard to predict which student, let alone family, will stay or go in any given year. The new admin hasn't quite grasped this phenomenon. It will probably take a few years.

If you're looking for some degree of consistency, try any private school in DC. They're all about $35K and almost all the DC ones offer or require Spanish language starting in Kinder.

If your priority is diversity west of Rock Creek, then by all means go IB for O-A. Just make sure you have a plan B for each child.

Lol--it sounds as if you had to make Sophie's choice in your own family. You definitely sound a little bitter--I guess Spanish immersion didn't work out for one or more of your children--not sure if that's Oyster's fault though. For another perspective, our children (who come from an English speaking home) have thrived at Oyster--and they are not the exception. There are children who will struggle...at Oyster and any other immersion program. Dual immersion schools aren't for everyone folks. Oyster can't make every lump of coal a diamond. And please don't forget that WIS (and every other $35k plus/ year school) gets to screen their applicants via an IQ test, interviews and an extensive application (not to mention affluence). Oyster has to educate everyone who lives IB and/or wins a seat in the lottery.
Btw, Oyster doesn't have much in common with the charters I've toured (and I've toured every language immersion charter in DC). Among other things, there is definitely a neighborhood feel for those of us who live IB. We also have a library (Lamb), no non-immersion tracks (Yu Ying), relatively low poverty (DC Bilingual and Stokes), a useful target language (Sela), a nice affluent neighborhood (MV) and the highest test score of all immersion schools.
Look, I understand that Oyster is a target, but please stop perpetuating lies. It's not perfect, but it's a great school. If it's not for you, move on and open up a space for a more suitable student.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw, I'm confident that the middle school will offer even more math differentiation under the new principal--she has stated that it's one of her priorities. She even hired a male AP who has an educational background/speciality in math.

You mean the AP for 4th and 5th? Meh. Nice guy, but not ready for administrator level in the sink-or-swim DC principal world. He doesn't teach math classes or tutor, that I know of, and he can barely handle recess discipline. I've never heard him described as a math specialist. That would be nice, but I wouldn't count on him as some kind of fix for those who are really into math at advanced levels.

There are many, many positives about the school, but it will take a while for the new (28 year old?) principal and the relatively new elementary PK-3 AP and the brand new 4th/5th AP and the MS AP (who is useless and has been there long enough to have fixed differentiation but didn't) and the MS Dean of Students to gel as a team. You read that right. THREE APs and a DoS for a MS of less than 180 kids. Meanwhile, at the Oyster building there is a part-time music teacher for roughly 300 kids.

Think of O-A more like a charter than a neighborhood school. Like PP also said, reality is somewhere between paradise and purgatory. The experience also depends on the individual child. Some kids end up tri-lingual stars at selective private and public high schools. Other kids in the same family end up switching to English-only DCPS programs, charters, or private schools before 4th grade. This happens across all demographics. It's not exactly Sophie's Choice, but it's hard to predict which student, let alone family, will stay or go in any given year. The new admin hasn't quite grasped this phenomenon. It will probably take a few years.

If you're looking for some degree of consistency, try any private school in DC. They're all about $35K and almost all the DC ones offer or require Spanish language starting in Kinder.

If your priority is diversity west of Rock Creek, then by all means go IB for O-A. Just make sure you have a plan B for each child.

Anonymous wrote:Btw, I'm confident that the middle school will offer even more math differentiation under the new principal--she has stated that it's one of her priorities. She even hired a male AP who has an educational background/speciality in math.

Anonymous wrote:Being completely fluent in Mandarin by 8th when starting at Grade 6 is a a bit of a stretch. I wouldn't choose OA for the Mandarin program, but it has other things going for it. Small community, small school feel, bilingualism. There are drawbacks as well, common to many DCPS elementary schools, like mediocre standards, big classes, overworked teachers who do their best but have way too many students to keep track. I would also say that Spanish grammar is not a focus, so the program leaves kids with high fluency but with deficits in writing. It's fixable once the kids start taking grammar classes in high school, but I just wanted to point out that fluency and grammar are not on balance.

OA and WIS are almost incomparable. The community is different, the class sizes are different, and the instruction is different. Both offer a bilingual education, but go about it differently.


To the OP, in between the OA cheerleaders and the haters is the reality. Visit for yourself, do some due-diligence, and realize every school isn't perfect on every level but still can get the job done.

OP, we love the school and the neighorhood. Our plan is for our kids to do both elementary and middle at Oyster-Adams (assuming the Adams campus continues making good progress), and probably WIS for high school since bilingual ed is a priority for us.

WIS is great at the high school level but does not offer bilingual instruction. Advanced Spanish classes are available and fluency can be maintained and increased, but not through bilingual classrooms. It's bilingual through 8th grade.

Anonymous wrote:Being completely fluent in Mandarin by 8th when starting at Grade 6 is a a bit of a stretch. I wouldn't choose OA for the Mandarin program, but it has other things going for it. Small community, small school feel, bilingualism. There are drawbacks as well, common to many DCPS elementary schools, like mediocre standards, big classes, overworked teachers who do their best but have way too many students to keep track. I would also say that Spanish grammar is not a focus, so the program leaves kids with high fluency but with deficits in writing. It's fixable once the kids start taking grammar classes in high school, but I just wanted to point out that fluency and grammar are not on balance.

OA and WIS are almost incomparable. The community is different, the class sizes are different, and the instruction is different. Both offer a bilingual education, but go about it differently.


To the OP, in between the OA cheerleaders and the haters is the reality. Visit for yourself, do some due-diligence, and realize every school isn't perfect on every level but still can get the job done.

OP, we love the school and the neighorhood. Our plan is for our kids to do both elementary and middle at Oyster-Adams (assuming the Adams campus continues making good progress), and probably WIS for high school since bilingual ed is a priority for us.

WIS is great at the high school level but does not offer bilingual instruction. Advanced Spanish classes are available and fluency can be maintained and increased, but not through bilingual classrooms. It's bilingual through 8th grade.

OP, we love the school and the neighorhood. Our plan is for our kids to do both elementary and middle at Oyster-Adams (assuming the Adams campus continues making good progress), and probably WIS for high school since bilingual ed is a priority for us.

Anonymous wrote:We currently live on Capitol Hill and love it and don't mind our IB school for the preschool years, but probably need a bigger house and a better long-term school trajectory. DH is interested in immersion and I don't care as much but am not adverse to it. Getting into an immersion charter seems like a long-shot. DH also thinks we should consider applying to WIS. I would rather stay with public schools at the elementary level, but we could afford private for our two kids and a pretty nice house IB for Oyster-Adams. For those of you at Oyster-Adams, what do you think of the quality of education at the elementary school level? Besides the Spanish curriculum, is the English/Math/Science, etc. curriculum as strong as you would like? Do people switch to private at middle school or do people stick with the O-A middle school and then go to Wilson? Do you like living in the neighborhood?