College Park Elementary School

We have been at the school for four years now and we have seen the many changes to the school - both in the curriculum and the surroundings (still in progress). College Park is the only public school with a Mandarin language program in the north Peninsula (between SF and Palo Alto). Unlike say Cupertino program which I hear comprises over 50% heritage speakers, College Park's language program is geared to non-native speakers and so the curriculum and work is not too challenging for even kids with no prior exposure. There are parents who want more differentiation in the classroom and the school tries to satisfy the varying language abilities through the use of teaching assistants. The time spent on Mandarin is about 30-35% of the day, which is okay for now, but I would like to see much more to reinforce actual language usage (speaking, hearing). The language arts instruction is very good. I am concerned about the math program - it's an area that I feel gets brushed over by the administration and so parents like myself have to supplement at home.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughter spent two years in the Mandrin immerstion program at College Park. She likes to read Mandarin boooks, and enjoys listening to Mandarin stories, She is not shy to talk to people in Chinese. We feel that the immerstion program at College Park has helped her to learn Chinese language by providing a daily learning enviroment. Unlike other types of after schools and sunday schools, the immersion program seams to make kids like to learn this difficult language. For the past two years, we have seen many good things happening at College Park and the new campus is nearly complete. More and more grograms are now available at the school with the principle's support. Many parents organize the music program, art program, and many after school enrichment program on campus.
--Submitted by a parent

We've been here long enough to *not* believe everything that the principal has promised. We came here mainly for the mandarin immersion exposure (definitely not for the academics or the physical surroundings) and was promised that the kids with higher mandarin fluency would be on a different track than others with no mandarin exposure. Made sense to us. And it worked the first year too. Now the kids are no longer in differentiated classes and they come from different levels. My child is no longer challenged because there are kids in the class that do not have any mandarin background. As a result, I have had to spend money to hire a chinese tutor to teach after school. Kind of defeats the whole purpose of going to a "mandarin immersion" school. Yes the principal is nice and all, but I wish the administration would not over promise and under deliver. Parents need to know exactly what can and cannot be offered so that we don't have any false expectations.
--Submitted by a parent

We feel fortunate to have a Mandarin Immersion school nearby that's led by a principal with strong leadership. It's great to see a growing community, more parent involvement and better academic performance. I do agree that the school needs to increase its Mandarin instruction to make it a real immersion experience. It will be great to have more teachers who specialize in Mandarin, and not try to make Mandarin teachers teach English. I also believe differentiation in Mandarin is beneficial for all students. In a class with mixed Mandarin levels, if teachers teach to the highest level, the novice Mandarin students would get lost. If the teachers teach to the novice level, kids that are fluent could get bored quickly. Unfortunately, the distribution of Mandarin proficiency is not a bell curve. Having said that, I could see that the principal was put on a tough spot with Mandarin differentiation which was misconstrued as school assigning students by their last names (see earlier comment by one prospective parent), which obviously was not true. Overall, we love the school, and would love to see it getting better.
--Submitted by a parent

I totally agree with the previous emails regarding issues relating Mandarin program. One of the teachers pronounced xiao yu as in light rain instead of little fish. Not only that, they can't write Chinese characters correctly. I wish that the school can hire teachers with proficient in Mandarin speaking and writing so that our kids can learn to speak and write correctly. I am thinking of transfering my kid to our neighbor school and hire a Chinese tutor to teach my kid Chinese at home. Definitely, there are good Mandarin teachers at the school but those are for lucky ones.
--Submitted by a parent

We attend CP for the Mandarin program. We have had some great teachers but also a not so good one so far. I also think the school really needs to focus on making a great Mandarin program, by increasing Mandarin teaching hours and hiring high quality new Mandarin teachers. As the enrollment increases this will become more and more important. Students mix matter a lot too. In the past they used to put students of different Mandarin fluency in different tracks. I believe that works better than the current mixed model. What I really like about the school is parent involvement and teacher/principle approachability. It's especially encouraging to see many Dads super active in the PTA, creating enrichment programs, etc. The principle and teachers are super accessible and are willing to answer questions big and small, all the time. Lastly, I believe the test scores will keep the upward trajectory. I predict it'll be rated 8 by great schools next year, then 9 the year after. :)
--Submitted by a parent

This school needs to focus on its priority being a bilingual school. It needs to stop touting that some of the children are trilingual: test results show otherwise. Many children are fluent in Spanish, conversational in English, and have rudimentary Mandarin. There are not enough hours in the public school day for most children to learn 2 second languages to proficiency. This needs to be made clear to families before they enroll. CP is also doing a disservice to those who are committed to being bilingual in Mandarin/English. Many kids at CP enter 1st grade already having had 3 or 4 years of Mandarin, or speak at home. When the teacher is instructing these children in 1st and 2nd grade on their colors and numbers because other students have zero Mandarin, it is a slap in the face to families who have worked hard to give their children Mandarin through preschool, after school, library visits, and tutors. College Park cannot be all things to all children it needs to focus on high quality bilingual education and honor the commitment it has made to parents to offer English and Mandarin, or it will experience a brain drain and fall into mediocrity.
--Submitted by a parent

We send our child to College Park for the Mandarin language program. It's a traditional-pedagogy school that has added a second language to it's curriculum. Mandarin instruction is 105 minutes out of the day - about a third, which I don't think is enough to qualify as being truly "immersion." I give the principal kudos for building this ambitious program that welcomes all types of children from around the northern Peninsula; but it really needs to increase it's Mandarin teaching time. Other immersion public immersion schools on the Peninsula (either Spanish or Mandarin) offer the second language at least 50% (and even up to 80%) of the day - I hope College Park is able to offer a similar immersive environment in the near future.
--Submitted by a parent

In response to the Aug. 10 review, I would like to state for the record that Principal Hallock does not speak or understand more than three words of Mandarin, so what you described is impossible. "One thing that really bothers me" is an untruthful review, because if your facts are wrong, the credibility of the whole review is in question.
--Submitted by a teacher

I just finished writing the last review but for some reason i was cut off. One thing that really bothers me in general is hypocrisy. One time my child told me that the kids get in trouble for speaking spanish in class. Btw neither my child nor i speak spanish so we arent taking this personal. The only reason for that in a setting that is said to promote diversity in language would be that it is rude to do so in front of others. ok so if that was the case i am wondering why the teachers and principal don't take there own advice? i recently had a conference with one of the teachers and the principal and at the end of our session when i admitted my child picked up a certain bad habit from home the teacher kinda chuckled and leaned over to Mrs. Hallock, who had just sat down again after walking out of the room for a moment, and said something to her in mandarin after which they both had a laugh. How rude is that? Like i said i HATE HYPOCRISY! The school program itself is great, the parents are really great, its just unfortunate certain faculty members, and i mean members because i have had more than just the one bad experience i mentioned here, have to make the school look bad.
--Submitted by a parent