Whittle launched Avenues: The World School in New York a few years ago. It’s billed as having two programs, one Mandarin immersion and one Spanish immersion. I can’t speak to the Spanish immersion side, but I’ve heard from some parents that it’s debatable whether the Mandarin immersion side is, in fact, immersion. The website says that in K – 5 a full 50% of the curriculum is taught in Mandarin. But parents have told me that there’s less time spent actually in Mandarin than the school’s site would claim, or at least less push on the literacy side than they had expected and wanted.

I haven’t seen any data on what ACTFL proficiency levels students achieve by 5th grade and how they line up with programs we know to be strongly immersion. I would welcome any insight readers might have into what’s actually happening at Avenues. It might tell us what to expect at the new D.C.-based school.

By Nick Anderson February 7 at 7:00 PM Email the author

Education entrepreneur Chris Whittle shows a mock classroom inside a Connecticut Avenue building that will become home to the D.C. campus of a school with global ambition, opening next year with a sister campus in China. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

An education company backed by U.S. and Chinese investors is launching a global private school for students ages 3 to 18, with the first two campuses scheduled to open next year in Washington and the Chinese coastal city of Shenzhen.

Whittle School & Studios will offer foreign-language immersion — Chinese in the United States, English in China — with a curriculum centered on mastery of core academic subjects, ­student-driven projects and off-campus learning opportunities in major world cities.

On Thursday, veteran education entrepreneur Chris Whittle plans to announce the debut of the D.C. campus in fall 2019 at a prominent site near a cluster of embassies — the striking aluminum and glass edifice at 4000 Connecticut Ave. NW once known as the Intelsat building.

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