Washington Yu Ying Charter Amendment Paves the Way for New Language Immersion High School Consortium

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The charter amendment will allow Washington Yu Ying to expand its current pre-K to eighth grade enrollment to serve grades 9 through 12. The charter amendment also allows Washington Yu Ying to enter into a contract with DCI also a newly-created non-profit charter management organization (CMO) that would operate the new combined middle/high school program to offer the International Baccalaureate Middle Years and Diploma Programmes. Along with Washington Yu Ying, DCI would be made up of three other bilingual elementary schools: Latin American Montessori Bilingual Public Charter School (Spanish), Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School (Spanish/French), and Mundo Verde Public Charter School (Spanish).

“This is a ground-breaking endeavor that solves a problem of where our bilingual students can continue their studies in Chinese, French and Spanish in middle and high school,” said Scott Pearson, PCSB Executive Director. “By joining resources, these four charter elementary schools are giving students the opportunity to have a bilingual education through middle and high school and the option to earn the prestigious IB Dual Language Diploma.” 

There are currently no dual language immersion public high schools in the District of Columbia, Pearson said. He also noted that DCI would be open to new applicants, who would not need language proficiency to gain admission. 

DCI would be overseen by a board that includes representatives from these four schools. The other three schools have all indicated their intent to request amendments to their charters to expand their grade levels through high school and to be part of the consortium. Each of the four elementary schools would enter into management contracts with DCI and would continue to operate independently although managed cooperatively in one location in which expenses would be shared.  Each student attending DCI would be enrolled in one of the four component schools of DCI, and that school would be accountable for that student’s results. 

Washington Yu Ying will locate its middle and high school campuses on the Walter Reed campus in Ward 4 beginning in the 2014-2015 school year. In approving the charter amendment, PCSB outlined several conditions that Washington Yu Ying will need to satisfy in order to receive full approval. Washington Yu Ying opened in August 2008 and is in its fifth year of operation.  It is a Tier 1 school on the PCSB’s 2012 Performance Management Framework, which evaluates a school’s academic performance. The school is in the process of seeking accreditation from the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) to become a Primary Years Programme World IB school.

About PCSB: The DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB) is setting a national model for creating quality public school options through its rigorous review of new charter applications and effective oversight of charter school performance that is leading the transformation of public education in Washington, DC. PCSB currently oversees 57 public charter schools 102 campuses serving 35,019 students living in every ward of the city. Learn more at www.dcpcsb.org.