A group of parents, including myself and my friend Mimi decided we would write the
Montgomery County Schools office of Consortia choice and Application programs (hereafter known as MCSCC&AP) and make our case as to why the kids from CentroNia should get guaranteed access to a County Schools Spanish immersion elementary program. In case this is teh first post you are reading I will fill you in quickly. We are arguing that since CentroNia is a county funded Spanish immersion preschool, not a private program, the children who attend there should have guaranteed access to a County Schools' Spanish Immersion program in order to ensure they aren't thrown off track with their bilingual education.
I can't tell you what other parents wrote, but below are my and Mimi's letters:
From: Allyson_Wilson
To: kathleen_l_pence@mcpsmd.org
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:45:17 -0500
Subject: Concerns about Montgomery County Schools immersion programs admissions process (CentroNia parent)
Kathleen:
Thanks for speaking with me today and Happy New Year! As I had mentioned when we spoke last year, I have some concerns about the admissions process for the elementary immersion programs, specifically as it regards children coming from Montgomery County supported CentroNia.
My child has been at CentroNia since the center opened. Consequently, he is completely fluent in Spanish. He speaks it with his friends at school and his teachers. He is graduating from the center in May and as you can imagine, we are beginning to explore elementary school opportunities for him. I understand that the process for any immersion program is a lottery but it does not seem fair, nor in the best interest of a child who is coming from a county supported immersion program to be in a position not to continue with that course of instruction.
I have spoken with many parents at CentroNia whose children are also graduating this year and we all think that since CentroNia is a county supported early learning center, the county school system should take a look at how to support these kids with a direct pipeline into an immersion elementary school.
Under the current admissions guidelines, CentroNia kids would be in viewed in the same admissions category with kids who have no foreign language skills at all and that doesn't seem fair. CentroNia kids are already on a firm path of bilingual education and should not be tossed off that course by an arbitrary admissions process to the county's immersion elementary schools.
Are there any further steps that you would suggest I/other CentroNia parents take to address this matter? We would be happy to meet with representatives from the county schools and CentroNia to see if there is anything we can do to effect change.
Best Regards,
Allyson Wilson
Here is Mimi's letter:
From: Mimi Diez
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 12:16 PM
To: Pence, Kathleen L.
Subject: Bilingual education in Montgomery County schools
Kathleen,
I writing to express my concern about the bilingual elementary schools in Montgomery County, and thank Allyson for getting the ball rolling.
We've raised our two children to be bilingual, and were relieved to find CentroNia where our daughter could embrace her culture and language, and still get great attention and support from teachers. CentroNia has been an excellent stepping stone for our daughter's education in progressing her knowledge, vocabulary and social skills. Many studies have proven that children who learn more than one language actually have a higher level of cognition, learning, and appreciation for other diverse cultures.
Like other parents at CentroNia, we also hoped to send our daughter to a bilingual immersion public school, and since we are out of bounds, our daughter's elementary school choices are limited or dependent on a lottery system: a fact that is frustrating and disappointing.
Therefore, what I'm asking for the Public Schools to review is how it can support families that enroll in organizations/schools like CentroNia, and how to best continue their bilingual education. If its in such high demand, why not create more immersion programs in other parts of Takoma Park or Silver Spring? Why not give children from schools like CentroNia the same type of entrance as those within the boundary?
This is a group effort, and I believe that schools are only as successful as the parents and teachers/staff that support it. I would be willing to continue this discussion and brainstorm for potential solutions. I would also be willing to volunteer my time if needed to support approved outcomes.
Thanks!
Mimi Diez
This is the response we got:
Ms. Wilson and Ms. Diez,
Good Morning!
We understand your concerns that you both have raised in your emails and have shared them with our department director. Exploration of changes to any admission policy for a Montgomery County Public School program requires a process so we have shared this with our department. The foreign language immersion programs were designed for students with no prior experience when entering kindergarten and first grades. Therefore, the instruction is designed for the new learner.
Prior experience for students entering Grades 2 - 5 is required and the students must pass a language assessment before entering the program. However, the immersion model is kindergarten through Grade 8 where students with no experience enter in kindergarten and stay in the program until Grade 8.
While foreign language is very important and many families have invested in the language development outside school, it is not an elementary content area requirement in Montgomery County Pubic Schools. It can be one of three different options for graduation.
Students new to the program and are interested in participating must participate in the immersion lottery. The form is targeted to be available on-line on February 1, 2010 with a deadline of April 23, 2010. If you continue to be interested, please visit the website at www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms
Thank you,
Karen Danco
Is it just me, or did she just tell us that because our kids were already in a Spanish immersion preschool, they weren't really qualified to go to a county Spanish immersion elementary school? Then she politely tells us our concerns have been duly noted and to please apply for the program if we'd like. So I followed up with this:
Ms. Danco:
Thanks for your reply. A few CentroNia parents attended the Rolling Terrace immersion program open house this morning and it reminded me that I needed to reply to you.
I appreciate you sharing our concerns with people in your department. I understand completely that the elementary school immersion program was designed for students with no prior experience when entering Kindergarten. When the program was designed, I'd venture to guess that Montgomery County had no county funded Spanish immersion preschools.
I was encouraged to learn today that, just like my son’s county/state funded pre-school, CentroNia, the Spanish language program at Rolling Terrace is curriculum based. The children absorb the language while being taught standard subjects in Spanish. The instruction is the best way for a "new learner" to absorb the Spanish, and if a new kindergartner were to come from a preschool with the exact same format-- that student would do well, in fact it would be just what they were accustomed to and it would keep them on track. And this is the core of our argument.
Today at the Rolling Terrace elementary open house, the program director, Georgiana Jimenez told us that when kids graduate Rolling Terrace’s immersion program they are automatically admitted to Silver Spring International School, should they choose to attend. Naturally, you would not want these students thrown off course from the 6 year investment in bilingual elementary education. What we are asking is no different. Many of the kids at CentroNia have been there since the school opened in 2007 and have been in a Spanish immersion early education (pre-k) program for 3 years. If the Montgomery County School System does not make provisions to see that kids in Montgomery County funded Spanish immersion preschools get guaranteed admission to Spanish immersion elementary programs, you are effectively throwing them off course.
In 2005, Maryland created a division of Early Childhood Development within the Maryland State Department of Education as an effort to create more quality pre-kindergarten programs and to have better coordination between early education initiatives and the state's school systems. Maryland has emerged as a leader in positioning early (pre kindergarten) child care as a central component of the state’s educational services.
That said, I think Montgomery County Schools has an opportunity to be a leader in exhibiting coordination with county/state supported early education (pre-k) programs. What better way to coordinate than to provide seamless transition of children from county funded bilingual preschools like CentroNia into the county schools' immersion elementary programs?
Considering that county/state funded CentroNia is such a new program to Takoma Park, again, only having opened in 2007, your office likely has not yet had time to examine its role or think about what becomes of the kids who graduate the Spanish immersion pre-k 4 program there each year.
I think this is as good a time as any to think about those kids. I look forward to hearing what your office thinks about this idea.
Best Regards,
Allyson Wilson
And that's where we were... until today. But I am stopping this post here for the sake of having a reasonable length and will start a fresh post to continue.
No comments:
Post a Comment