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March 1, 2013

First Fridays, a monthly charter school tour event sponsored by CityBridge Foundation, FOCUS and Charter Board Partners, gives people in the DC metro area a chance to see some truly amazing schools at work. Today, our VP of Research, Alison Consoletti, with 25 other choice supporters, checked out Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School, an elementary Chinese language immersion school.

This school, opened in 2008, now serves 439 students in grades PreK-5. While walking through the school halls, the 5th grade student tour guide explained how all subjects – even Chemistry – are taught in both English and Chinese.

Our group got to sit in on a PreK class, where 100% of their school day is taught in Chinese. Students from all walks of life were singing and acting out songs in Chinese, while also learning what the characters meant. It was truly a sight to see.

Since Yu Ying has been open, the school has performed stellar academically, and today is rated Tier 1 Status, according to DCPCSB’s Performance Management Framework.

There were over 700 applications for just 70 spots this last year. And because demand for a challenging immersion program is so high, Yu Ying is working with other immersion charter schools in DC to create DC International, a middle and high-school that would offer International Baccalaureate and continued foreign language instruction.

We can’t wait to see what school First Fridays is going to take us to next!