Opening, Growing and Sustaining a Chinese immersion charter school

Education & Business

2 sides of starting & growing a successful Chinese

Immersion charter school

• (insert cute student pics - for overview)– (overview - say below)– great year coming up - new faces, new spaces– start with a little history about Yu Ying– learned – changes for this year

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Nurturing Excellence

• Our Model: International Baccalaureate with Chinese Immersion

• Our Goal: Provide DC (and our children) with a world class education

• PreK 4 - 4th grade growing to 8th grade

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• 2008-9130 Students, 28 Full time staff

• 2009-10198 Students, 35 Full time staff

• 2010-11240 Students, 40 Full time staffgreat 1st year testing results

• 2011-12365 Students, 55 Full time staff$6m+ budgetRenovated & purchased a 40,000 square foot building

4 Years of Rapid Growth

EconomicsINCOME• Marketing - get the students in: $3000 for facility & $9000

per student• Development (grants) - don’t leave any money on the

table: Startup grants, Title II, FLAP• Programs - Aftercare: develop programs that can make $

and supplement your budget.

EXPENSE: STAFF, Facility, StudentNET INCOME: savings for a building, rainy day, program improvements. 6

Structure

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Business Side:Marketing,Raising Money,Managing Money,Buying & Managing the Facility,Working with support organizations

Yu Ying Demographics

• Race: 47% African American, 30% Caucasian, 18% Asian, 5% Hispanic

• 23% FARMS• Children from all over the city but 50%

from adjacent wards• Accept students until 2nd Grade, 8%

attrition• 2012-13: 685 applications for 48 spots

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• insert pics

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Facilities Financing (millions)

Sources:$ 1 down payment$ 1 grant$10.275 construction loan -> Govt Bonds$ 2.7 gap financing from CSDC & OSSE$ .225m+ for other costs$15.2 total costs (approx)

Uses: 7.1 in purchase price. 8.1+ in renovation & development

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Community Support

• Staff & Students• Yu Ying Parent Association• Yu Ying Board• Public Charter School Board• OSSE• Building Hope & CSDC• Other organizations:

FOCUS, Association, OAPIA

Educational ModelCollins (2001) lists the following as steps organizations need to go through to turn from good to great

• Getting the Right People “on the bus”

• Confronting the brutal facts• Developed a Hedgehog Concept• Created a Stop Doing List

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Staffing

• Getting the right people on the bus• Passion• Knowledge• Flexibility• Hard working• Open to change• Creating a pipeline of excellent staff• Developing supportive school culture

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“Hedgehog Concept”

We developed our “1 big thing” by answering the following questions:

• What can we the best in the world at?

• What can we afford?• What do I/my staff care

passionately about?14

Critical Look

• When we ripped off the bandaid - what did we find?

• Wrong people• Staff needed training• Curriculum was in need of updating• School culture

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Education Summit

• Invite all staff members• Off site• Provide food• Make lots of lists

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Yu Ying 2012

We have developed the “magic momentum”• Staffing• Curriculum• Assessment• Culture• More great things to come!

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(insert pics - say great staff, amazing community & the resources to get stuff done!

What we have accomplished

• Built a school that is in its 4th year • Success in the CAS and growth school wide• The only Chinese / English Immersion School in DC• Standardization of Curriculum.• A great Program of Inquiry and history of

implementation• An amazing Aftercare program• A school that is well-resourced & financially secure• A permanent home with acres to explore & room to

expand• AN AMAZING TEAM!!• A really involved Community• Budding partnerships to continue to help support the

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• Planning & Collaboration! • Get the right staff in and keep them• 25/50 was a lot of students so now

12-18/36• Challenging Model!• Academic summer program• Standards, testing & alignment are

critical • Great interest in our program• Our program needs to be supported at

home• Save every penny for the building

What we have learned

Looking to the Future

• PreK 3 Full Immersion

• Creating a Joint Middle High School

• Opening a second Yu Ying in DC

• Sharing resources with other schools

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Thank you & Questions

Maquita AlexanderMary Shaffnerinfo@washingtonyuying.org202.635.1950

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