YY is intentionally creating a class bkack kids to give them an inferior education - targeting AA kids. If true, this is terrible. But it also appears to be rank speculation, and without evidence of wrongdoing, I don't know that this type of allegation should be seriously entertained.

Of course it's not true. But it's Marion Barry-style political rhetoric that STILL goes over really, really well in this city. It's reflexive and axiomatic.

Anonymous wrote:Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! They are not "tracking" AAs. They are tracking under-achieving students! If you want to ask the real question, ask why is it that the "majority" of the under-achieving students are also AA.

This is rank speculation on my part, but the class has about 35% economically disadvantaged students in it. I'd bet that many of the students moved into the non-immersion class are also economically disadvantaged. And in DC, an unfortunate reality is that there's a good chance that virtually all of those students are also AA. Of course, this is based exclusively on looking at the yearly report card, without any personal knowledge of the school, so it might be completely wrong. I'm sure someone will tell me if it is.

I too am bothered by the tracking and have a child who is in one of the top two grades. I do believe kids are very aware of it--, ie, my child said some of her friends are in the class because, "they have a really hard time with Chinese."

The alternatives are not good however:

Social promotion when not reading or doing math at grade level?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! They are not "tracking" AAs. They are tracking under-achieving students! If you want to ask the real question, ask why is it that the "majority" of the under-achieving students are also AA.

The school should be asking this question, not parents. Are students better served by being seperated this way? Are students able to move between the groups? Have these kids improved over time? If school can't serve those who aren't achieving, how can they serve those that are advanced? The racial issue just adds another level to the ick factor. Good schools should serve all, not just a chosen few.

But isn't the non-immersion class an effort to serve the underachieving students, rather than allowign them to continue to under-achieve in the immersion class. This is what I don't get - people who think (i) the school should serve all, but (ii) cry foul when they try to. It's almost like the complainers are mortally offended that the school doesn't have a magic want to wave to make all students excel.

Anonymous wrote:They are tracking under-achieving students!

AND THIS IS WRONG!!!!!!! What part of this don't you get?!

Scenario - Of the 35 students in the 3rd grade class (21 of whom are AA) some are floundering in both English and Chinese. Rather than allow them to continue to flounder in the 50% immersion class, the school creates another class that is not immersion (although still teaches Mandarin). But all of the students in the class happen to be AA (although the immersion class is still majority AA, apparently). Some apparent concerns are:

1. YY is intentionally creating a class bkack kids to give them an inferior education - targeting AA kids. If true, this is terrible. But it also appears to be rank speculation, and without evidence of wrongdoing, I don't know that this type of allegation should be seriously entertained.
2. Creating a non-immersion class is OK, but not if all the students in it are AA. This strikes me a the silliest complaint. If a non-immersion class is OK in theory, why is it not OK if all the students who need it are AA?
3. Tracking under-achieving students (of any race) is wrong. That wasn't my first reaction, but I'm curious as to why you believe this. I'd prefer the underachieving students get a instruction they require, even if it means they are taken out of the immersion class.

They should classify a non-AA child as underachieving to be fair.

Anonymous wrote:Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! They are not "tracking" AAs. They are tracking under-achieving students! If you want to ask the real question, ask why is it that the "majority" of the under-achieving students are also AA.

The school should be asking this question, not parents. Are students better served by being seperated this way? Are students able to move between the groups? Have these kids improved over time? If school can't serve those who aren't achieving, how can they serve those that are advanced? The racial issue just adds another level to the ick factor. Good schools should serve all, not just a chosen few.

They are tracking under-achieving students!

AND THIS IS WRONG!!!!!!! What part of this don't you get?!

I am a parent at the school of one of the AA boys in the Chinese Immersion class. I am still very bothered by the DCC because no matter what anyone says this class sends a message to those AAs in the non immersion class - it also sends a message to the AAs class in the Chinese immersion class. My son has definitely commented on the fact that some his black friends are now in a different class. Do you honestly think that the children in that class don't realize it's all black? What message is that sending to their self image? On top of that - I know at least two black families - both with black sons - who left the school because their children were being placed in the class. That means you would have even more black children in that class if families hadn't left. Also children in the current 2nd grade class are being targeted right now to go into that class next year. All of the ones I know of are black.

You can justify all you want with data but the reality is you are saying there was not one child of a different race who fit into that class - really?

Great post, PP.

They want to follow the DCPS model where kids who cannot read at grade level in English get promoted to the next grade anyway and get to graduate illiterate.

The underachieving kids at YY are AA for the same reason the high achieving kids are AA. AA are the majority in those grades.

Anonymous wrote:....and I heard that the students in this track were placed on the floor beneath the chinese immersions students. In essence, they are in the basement!

Seriously, you really do not know what you are talking about. The DCC class is on the top floor. It is a beautiful classroom. It looks out over the trees. There are three teachers in the room (there is only one teacher in the regular classroom for 3rd and 4th grades -- although sometimes an assistant in the Chinese class).

In my child's first year at Yu Ying there was only one child who had two biological white parents in the class. I don't think race played a role in the decision to create the DCC class at all. There simply are not a lot of white kids in the top two grades at Yu Ying (racial mix is much different when you get to the lower grades). When you commit to sending your child to a new charter you do it 1) because you love the vision of the new school or 2) your other options are not working for your child. It makes sense that the top two classes (i.e. the classes where the kids were in other schools prior to coming to Yu Ying) would be the classes with a greater proportion of learning issues. I understand that this has been the experience of other charters as well.

It's funny how most parents on DCUM want differentiation but damn! not if the kids are underachievers.

There is no parking

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! They are not "tracking" AAs. They are tracking under-achieving students! If you want to ask the real question, ask why is it that the "majority" of the under-achieving students are also AA.