Anonymous wrote:Let's not forget that the Chinese families find Yu Ying's English component to be weak.

Has Yu Ying ever thought of upping it's game in terms of quality of instruction?

Maybe those stellar DCCAS scores will push them that way?

YY doesn't have to worry about quality of instruction. When the current 2nd grade (the first all-YY grade) takes the DC-CAS, they're going to be outstanding! And why not? It's arguably the best school in DC - in English, or any other language!

“If you have no critics you'll likely have no success.” Malcolm X

“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.” Ben Franklin

Anonymous wrote:Let's not forget that the Chinese families find Yu Ying's English component to be weak.

Has Yu Ying ever thought of upping it's game in terms of quality of instruction?

Maybe those stellar DCCAS scores will push them that way?

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt

Let's not forget that the Chinese families find Yu Ying's English component to be weak.

Has Yu Ying ever thought of upping it's game in terms of quality of instruction?

Maybe those stellar DCCAS scores will push them that way?

I love how many non Yu Ying families assume they've thought of questions or strategies that the Yu Ying community never explored. Really??
Extensive outreach efforts were made before and after the school was designed. There are very few local Chinese families, and those that live in DC often express the desire for their kids to learn English first and foremost. Also, Thompson ES is much closer to Chinatown and offers a bit of Chinese, but lots of English. Furthermore, the school has explored enrollment preference for Chinese speakers but has been stymied in this effort.
So before you assume that you have an original idea, check with the school first. Jeez.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand why YY doesn't have two lotteries, because its charter won't allow it. But what about LAMB? It has never been adequately explained to me why LAMB is allowed to have two lotteries and YY is not.

My understanding is that in 2011-12 entrance, LAMB had one lottery. Admitted the random group. And then, when they went to the wait list, essentially sorted the list into "spanish" and "english" dominan families, and accepted the language needed to get to 50/50. So number 200 a spanish dominant student was admitted, while number 20 an english dominant was not. I have gathered this from hearsay. I don't think it is legal. I think the only way to correct is if an english dominant family passed over takes it to the charter board.

This doesn't sound kosher. And even if there was officially only one lottery this past year, I know there has been two in the past.

This is exactly what Oyster does. It's a rather odd two-way immersion school without kids/families from both backgrounds. (Don't have a kid at either place)

Oyster is a DCPS magnet school. It can do whatever DCPS says it can do. Yu Ying is a charter school. It has to do exactly what the federal laws regarding charters say it can do. That means, it cannot sort language by preference.

I think it's a little facile in this day and age to assume that one has to be Chinese or of Chinese descent to have a strong connection to China. We're white, but I've lived in China for many years and speak Chinese fluently- much better in fact than any of my ABC friends. We don't speak Chinese at home much (or didn't, before my DC started at Yu Ying), but will support it fully with music, trips to China, etc. I know several other non-ethnic Chinese families at Yu Ying like us. After all, we all chose YY for a reason, and in a lot of cases it was a strong prior connection to China.

To me, it wouldn't seem fair to give any one group preference over another due to racial background. People are complex, more complex than they might look on the surface. Also many Chinese speaking families in DC actually speak Cantonese or a dialect- simply including them won't do much to boost the use of Mandarin at the school.

Finally I don't see anything wrong with families choosing YY because it's a better alternative than the crap local alternatives. We chose YY both bc of a commitment to Chinese and because our neighborhood school is very weak. Every day I thank my lucky stars- and the people and families who have worked so hard to make YY what it is- that YY exists and is an option for us. W/o YY we might be making plans to leave the city altogether. Is it perfect? No. Is there room for improvement? Sure. But my DC loves her teachers and is learning tons. We feel very fortunate to be part of the school.

"admission" should read "administration". Sorry.

I'm a new PK parent and while it would be nice to have more Chinese families at Yu Ying, I can't help but feel a lot of the complaining comes from the fact the school is so hard to get in at this point and will only get harder. There are quite a few children with Chinese parents or one Chinese parent in my DC's PK class as is apparent if you look at the names on the roster. Of course, I'm not sure how many of these families actually are Mandarin speakers. I'm also Asian American and have many ABC friends who don't speak or only speak a little Chinese.

I agree it would be nice if Yu Ying could have more Mandarin speaking children but at the same time I love the idea of a charter school where everyone has equal opportunity for admission and I very much like the diversity in my child's class. Perhaps Yu Ying can keep the lottery as is for PK and K but have preferential admission for children with demonstrated knowledge of Mandarin to replace for attrition in the higher grades. I realize this is a new school with many things on it's plate but hope it only gets better.

Also, our family loves the school so far and have zero complaints. The other families, the teachers and admission are lovely and we are happy to be members.

There are Chinese speaking parents with kids currently at Yu Ying, as well as quite a few families with one parent who is Chinese and one who is not.

As for attracting more, I'd be all for it, but one has to understand the demographics of this area. I don't have stats offhand, but I'd say Rockville MD has become a chinese mecca moreso than the district.

Those tiger parents might want new Chinese speaking administrators so it won't happen any time soon.

Good to hear from another non-Chinese parent who see the value in having two lotteries. Perhaps Yu Ying could learn from the experience of public/charter Chinese immersion schools not just in the DC burbs but around the country-in Utah, Minnesota, California, Massachusetts and New York--in this regard. Stop by their web sites and get a feel for how hard they work to recruit Chinese-speaking kids and Chinese-speaking parent volunteers to advance their schools' goals. I'm not convinced that the DCPCSB or the City Council would object to amending the law in the near future to accomodate language immersion schools if IF Yu Ying's administration and PA made a strong case for doing so. But I can't see that happening because the administrators, and the great majority of the parents, seem comfortable with the concept of a Chinese immersion school in which only a tiny fraction of the students speak Chinese at home. Bringing in a lot of Chinese-speaking kids would be far beyond Yu Ying's comfort zone. Those tiger parents are not what we're used to, at least not en mass, or we wouldn't be calling them names here. At what point do we move beyond racial politics and into the realm of keeping up with our nimble public school competition at home and abroad?

This subject has been discussed, and the school basically advised parents that to change the lottery system would take changing the law--something that the school didn't have prioritized in its first years given the other minor things like, oh, finding a building or trying to build a 'Chinese program.
I am another parent who thinks the lottery can and should change--but I agree with the other posters who state that Yu Ying is doing it cautiously as it will be a minefield--first charter school to have two lotteries based on language which will be dicey because of DC's racial politics. I also appreciate the advice of the ABC families who have commented that Yu Ying is not for them because it is not Chinese enough. Of course the balance the school has to strike is working with the kids its got (and their parents) while striving to improve. That said, I would be happy in Yu Ying with more Chinese peers, but in other countries that start studying language early, that always doesn't happen either. My personal goal for my child at Yu Ying is to study as much as possible through the school and then spend time in China etc. as a high school or college student to actual get better fluency.

While I see the validity of what the more condescending and arrogant sounding folks are trying to communicate, I look at the school more in terms of what I like about it and the potential it has. Sure, there are problems. What school doesn't have them? I don't think the school is blind to them and I don't believe that every parent who raises an issue is shouted into submission. I never have been, anyway. I don't see the 2 tiered lottery working but hopefully outreach will continue. It's a pretty new school and is just now settling into a new location which also presents many challenges and opportunities. I sort of question the knowledge of folks who seem to believe that DC's Chinese community are all living in Chinatown. I'm not sure that DC demographics bear that out. I don't have a nifty slogan that can be put on a 2-sided T-shirt in English and Chinese but I would say apply to the school if you want an engaging educational environment for your DC. If you want the school to change for the better stay involved and work at it just like at any other school. If you want a perfect school where parents use words like "rigor" regularly then go private and voice your complaints on the "Private and Independent School" forum. People are much less opinionated and/or judgmental over there