Siena School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would agree with the wokeness stuff. It was too much. Our DC was there for four years.

Also, my kid arrived at Siena about a year below grade level in reading, and left there even worse off. This was confirmed on MCAP tests and by their own admission. Paying for it now in high school. Ymmv but I know several families in the same boat with us.

MCAP is not really a good measure of reading progress.
What other testing was used?

[Anonymous]

Agree 💯 that Siena has gone over the top woke liberal. Coming from a liberal democrat family, that’s saying a lot. They are too scared to offend anyone, so they let everything go .. the amount of misbehavior that goes without consequence is alarming, as is the encouragement of various woke philosophies.

[Anonymous]

^^ I posted here already, but I literally have no idea what you're talking about over on the Silver Spring campus. History in 5th was straight from the Maryland content; sixth is ancient civilizations; science is regular science-y stuff; books in English are consistent with what kids read in other schools. Most of the non-academic talk is about executive function, encouraging healthy internet habits, being kind. They celebrate various heritage months with posters and some assemblies, but that's about all.

As for "misbehavior that goes without consequence," first, you don't know the consequences that are being delivered for every infraction. Second, there's no direct connection between learning about identity and social justice and not addressing bad behavior.

I'm not saying the school is perfect, but I feel the need to defend it on this front!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ I posted here already, but I literally have no idea what you're talking about over on the Silver Spring campus. History in 5th was straight from the Maryland content; sixth is ancient civilizations; science is regular science-y stuff; books in English are consistent with what kids read in other schools. Most of the non-academic talk is about executive function, encouraging healthy internet habits, being kind. They celebrate various heritage months with posters and some assemblies, but that's about all.

As for "misbehavior that goes without consequence," first, you don't know the consequences that are being delivered for every infraction. Second, there's no direct connection between learning about identity and social justice and not addressing bad behavior.

I'm not saying the school is perfect, but I feel the need to defend it on this front!

+1 from another Siena parent following this thread. School isn’t perfect but it’s been a net positive for our child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ I posted here already, but I literally have no idea what you're talking about over on the Silver Spring campus. History in 5th was straight from the Maryland content; sixth is ancient civilizations; science is regular science-y stuff; books in English are consistent with what kids read in other schools. Most of the non-academic talk is about executive function, encouraging healthy internet habits, being kind. They celebrate various heritage months with posters and some assemblies, but that's about all.

As for "misbehavior that goes without consequence," first, you don't know the consequences that are being delivered for every infraction. Second, there's no direct connection between learning about identity and social justice and not addressing bad behavior.

I'm not saying the school is perfect, but I feel the need to defend it on this front!

+1 from another Siena parent following this thread. School isn’t perfect but it’s been a net positive for our child.

Also Silver Spring - alum parent. Siena was an overall positive for our kid, in fact, there was nothing negative. Was there very little homework? Yes. Would more homework have made a difference? Studies show that is unlikely. Did DC learn to read? Yes. Did he learn to read quickly and love reading? No, and that is probably not Siena's fault -- his neurology report shows clear difficulty with word retrieval, which is probably exacerbated by his ADHD. Reading is very effortful for him. Perhaps due to the late stage at which he got appropriate instruction - not until Siena in 4th grade. Had he learned in K or 1st would the malleability of his brain at that sensitive stage have been remediated? We'll never know. He will never be a fast, fluent reader, but Siena made him a functional reader, taught him tools for self-advocacy to get around reading and repaired his self image. In public school, he was a kid with a 138 IQ who was made to feel stupid, lazy, unmotivated and insubordinate. I would have lost my bright, funny, beautiful boy if I hadn't sent him to Siena.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would agree with the wokeness stuff. It was too much. Our DC was there for four years.

Also, my kid arrived at Siena about a year below grade level in reading, and left there even worse off. This was confirmed on MCAP tests and by their own admission. Paying for it now in high school. Ymmv but I know several families in the same boat with us.

Unfortunately this has also been our experience with Siena. I think the school must have been better previously? It is not good now .. most of the good teachers leave, DC has also not made progress after 4 years, and the wokeness is off the charts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ I posted here already, but I literally have no idea what you're talking about over on the Silver Spring campus. History in 5th was straight from the Maryland content; sixth is ancient civilizations; science is regular science-y stuff; books in English are consistent with what kids read in other schools. Most of the non-academic talk is about executive function, encouraging healthy internet habits, being kind. They celebrate various heritage months with posters and some assemblies, but that's about all.

As for "misbehavior that goes without consequence," first, you don't know the consequences that are being delivered for every infraction. Second, there's no direct connection between learning about identity and social justice and not addressing bad behavior.

I'm not saying the school is perfect, but I feel the need to defend it on this front!

+1 from another Siena parent following this thread. School isn’t perfect but it’s been a net positive for our child.

Also Silver Spring - alum parent. Siena was an overall positive for our kid, in fact, there was nothing negative. Was there very little homework? Yes. Would more homework have made a difference? Studies show that is unlikely. Did DC learn to read? Yes. Did he learn to read quickly and love reading? No, and that is probably not Siena's fault -- his neurology report shows clear difficulty with word retrieval, which is probably exacerbated by his ADHD. Reading is very effortful for him. Perhaps due to the late stage at which he got appropriate instruction - not until Siena in 4th grade. Had he learned in K or 1st would the malleability of his brain at that sensitive stage have been remediated? We'll never know. He will never be a fast, fluent reader, but Siena made him a functional reader, taught him tools for self-advocacy to get around reading and repaired his self image. In public school, he was a kid with a 138 IQ who was made to feel stupid, lazy, unmotivated and insubordinate. I would have lost my bright, funny, beautiful boy if I hadn't sent him to Siena.

It has always seemed strange to me that Siena didn’t start until 4th (now 3rd). As a school that specializes in dyslexia I would have thought they would be aware how important early intervention is and prioritize that over high school instruction. Why not start in K or 1st and go through 8th? Guessing it must be a business/profit related decision, as the school is private/for profit, but it doesn’t seem like a good one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ I posted here already, but I literally have no idea what you're talking about over on the Silver Spring campus. History in 5th was straight from the Maryland content; sixth is ancient civilizations; science is regular science-y stuff; books in English are consistent with what kids read in other schools. Most of the non-academic talk is about executive function, encouraging healthy internet habits, being kind. They celebrate various heritage months with posters and some assemblies, but that's about all.

As for "misbehavior that goes without consequence," first, you don't know the consequences that are being delivered for every infraction. Second, there's no direct connection between learning about identity and social justice and not addressing bad behavior.

I'm not saying the school is perfect, but I feel the need to defend it on this front!

+1 from another Siena parent following this thread. School isn’t perfect but it’s been a net positive for our child.

Also Silver Spring - alum parent. Siena was an overall positive for our kid, in fact, there was nothing negative. Was there very little homework? Yes. Would more homework have made a difference? Studies show that is unlikely. Did DC learn to read? Yes. Did he learn to read quickly and love reading? No, and that is probably not Siena's fault -- his neurology report shows clear difficulty with word retrieval, which is probably exacerbated by his ADHD. Reading is very effortful for him. Perhaps due to the late stage at which he got appropriate instruction - not until Siena in 4th grade. Had he learned in K or 1st would the malleability of his brain at that sensitive stage have been remediated? We'll never know. He will never be a fast, fluent reader, but Siena made him a functional reader, taught him tools for self-advocacy to get around reading and repaired his self image. In public school, he was a kid with a 138 IQ who was made to feel stupid, lazy, unmotivated and insubordinate. I would have lost my bright, funny, beautiful boy if I hadn't sent him to Siena.

It has always seemed strange to me that Siena didn’t start until 4th (now 3rd). As a school that specializes in dyslexia I would have thought they would be aware how important early intervention is and prioritize that over high school instruction. Why not start in K or 1st and go through 8th? Guessing it must be a business/profit related decision, as the school is private/for profit, but it doesn’t seem like a good one.

Unfortunately many kids with mild or moderate dyslexia are not diagnosed until 2nd or 3rd…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ I posted here already, but I literally have no idea what you're talking about over on the Silver Spring campus. History in 5th was straight from the Maryland content; sixth is ancient civilizations; science is regular science-y stuff; books in English are consistent with what kids read in other schools. Most of the non-academic talk is about executive function, encouraging healthy internet habits, being kind. They celebrate various heritage months with posters and some assemblies, but that's about all.

As for "misbehavior that goes without consequence," first, you don't know the consequences that are being delivered for every infraction. Second, there's no direct connection between learning about identity and social justice and not addressing bad behavior.

I'm not saying the school is perfect, but I feel the need to defend it on this front!

+1 from another Siena parent following this thread. School isn’t perfect but it’s been a net positive for our child.

Also Silver Spring - alum parent. Siena was an overall positive for our kid, in fact, there was nothing negative. Was there very little homework? Yes. Would more homework have made a difference? Studies show that is unlikely. Did DC learn to read? Yes. Did he learn to read quickly and love reading? No, and that is probably not Siena's fault -- his neurology report shows clear difficulty with word retrieval, which is probably exacerbated by his ADHD. Reading is very effortful for him. Perhaps due to the late stage at which he got appropriate instruction - not until Siena in 4th grade. Had he learned in K or 1st would the malleability of his brain at that sensitive stage have been remediated? We'll never know. He will never be a fast, fluent reader, but Siena made him a functional reader, taught him tools for self-advocacy to get around reading and repaired his self image. In public school, he was a kid with a 138 IQ who was made to feel stupid, lazy, unmotivated and insubordinate. I would have lost my bright, funny, beautiful boy if I hadn't sent him to Siena.

It has always seemed strange to me that Siena didn’t start until 4th (now 3rd). As a school that specializes in dyslexia I would have thought they would be aware how important early intervention is and prioritize that over high school instruction. Why not start in K or 1st and go through 8th? Guessing it must be a business/profit related decision, as the school is private/for profit, but it doesn’t seem like a good one.

I don't think it is a business/profit decision. The developmental window for reading and language is quite wide. IME, it isn't really until the end of 3rd grade that a school and/or parent will really clearly realize that the child isn't learning to read as normal. In first grade, we were constantly told, "everyone learns to read by 3rd grade". Our kid seemed OK in K and most of 1st - he wasn't progressing as fast as we would have thought, but he wasn't behind yet. In second grade, it was apparent he was a little behind but the school kept saying they would give him a bit of extra help. By 3rd grade, he was clearly behind by a full grade, and the school also clearly had no idea how to teach him, was refusing to identify him and was saying that he was lazy and not that smart and that I was an anxious parent who couldn't handle that her special snowflake wasn't that smart.

That's how we ended up in Siena by 4th.

The problem is that in K and !st grade, there are a lot of kids who aren't yet fluent readers but who will become fluent readers without much explicit instruction, particularly in sound/symbol relationships. And, it's hard to use a neuropsychological assessment to evaluate ability to read at an age when not all kids could be reasonably expected to be fluent readers. Just like it's hard to assess for the executive dysfunction of ADHD when a kid is 4 and the parent is still expected to be the one organizing everything.

So, it's clear, PP, that you don't like Siena, but I don't think that they only start in 3/4 out of some kind of profit motive. Also, while it is a for profit school, my DC got a quite significant amount of financial aid. (Like more than a3/4).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ I posted here already, but I literally have no idea what you're talking about over on the Silver Spring campus. History in 5th was straight from the Maryland content; sixth is ancient civilizations; science is regular science-y stuff; books in English are consistent with what kids read in other schools. Most of the non-academic talk is about executive function, encouraging healthy internet habits, being kind. They celebrate various heritage months with posters and some assemblies, but that's about all.

As for "misbehavior that goes without consequence," first, you don't know the consequences that are being delivered for every infraction. Second, there's no direct connection between learning about identity and social justice and not addressing bad behavior.

I'm not saying the school is perfect, but I feel the need to defend it on this front!

+1 from another Siena parent following this thread. School isn’t perfect but it’s been a net positive for our child.

Also Silver Spring - alum parent. Siena was an overall positive for our kid, in fact, there was nothing negative. Was there very little homework? Yes. Would more homework have made a difference? Studies show that is unlikely. Did DC learn to read? Yes. Did he learn to read quickly and love reading? No, and that is probably not Siena's fault -- his neurology report shows clear difficulty with word retrieval, which is probably exacerbated by his ADHD. Reading is very effortful for him. Perhaps due to the late stage at which he got appropriate instruction - not until Siena in 4th grade. Had he learned in K or 1st would the malleability of his brain at that sensitive stage have been remediated? We'll never know. He will never be a fast, fluent reader, but Siena made him a functional reader, taught him tools for self-advocacy to get around reading and repaired his self image. In public school, he was a kid with a 138 IQ who was made to feel stupid, lazy, unmotivated and insubordinate. I would have lost my bright, funny, beautiful boy if I hadn't sent him to Siena.

It has always seemed strange to me that Siena didn’t start until 4th (now 3rd). As a school that specializes in dyslexia I would have thought they would be aware how important early intervention is and prioritize that over high school instruction. Why not start in K or 1st and go through 8th? Guessing it must be a business/profit related decision, as the school is private/for profit, but it doesn’t seem like a good one.

I don't think it is a business/profit decision. The developmental window for reading and language is quite wide. IME, it isn't really until the end of 3rd grade that a school and/or parent will really clearly realize that the child isn't learning to read as normal. In first grade, we were constantly told, "everyone learns to read by 3rd grade". Our kid seemed OK in K and most of 1st - he wasn't progressing as fast as we would have thought, but he wasn't behind yet. In second grade, it was apparent he was a little behind but the school kept saying they would give him a bit of extra help. By 3rd grade, he was clearly behind by a full grade, and the school also clearly had no idea how to teach him, was refusing to identify him and was saying that he was lazy and not that smart and that I was an anxious parent who couldn't handle that her special snowflake wasn't that smart.

That's how we ended up in Siena by 4th.

The problem is that in K and !st grade, there are a lot of kids who aren't yet fluent readers but who will become fluent readers without much explicit instruction, particularly in sound/symbol relationships. And, it's hard to use a neuropsychological assessment to evaluate ability to read at an age when not all kids could be reasonably expected to be fluent readers. Just like it's hard to assess for the executive dysfunction of ADHD when a kid is 4 and the parent is still expected to be the one organizing everything.

So, it's clear, PP, that you don't like Siena, but I don't think that they only start in 3/4 out of some kind of profit motive. Also, while it is a for profit school, my DC got a quite significant amount of financial aid. (Like more than a3/4).

Everyone has different experiences and expectations. In our experience, our DC was clearly dyslexic and adhd in Kindergarten, diagnosed summer between K and 1st, so waiting 3 years to get the instruction when he could have been benefitting from it was not ideal, and we met many others in the same boat.

And re: financial aid, perhaps if we also got 3/4 aid we would have had slightly lower expectations from the school. Paying $10k/year instead of $40-50k is a huge difference. At $40-$50k a year we expected the school to be much better than it currently is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ I posted here already, but I literally have no idea what you're talking about over on the Silver Spring campus. History in 5th was straight from the Maryland content; sixth is ancient civilizations; science is regular science-y stuff; books in English are consistent with what kids read in other schools. Most of the non-academic talk is about executive function, encouraging healthy internet habits, being kind. They celebrate various heritage months with posters and some assemblies, but that's about all.

As for "misbehavior that goes without consequence," first, you don't know the consequences that are being delivered for every infraction. Second, there's no direct connection between learning about identity and social justice and not addressing bad behavior.

I'm not saying the school is perfect, but I feel the need to defend it on this front!

+1 from another Siena parent following this thread. School isn’t perfect but it’s been a net positive for our child.

Also Silver Spring - alum parent. Siena was an overall positive for our kid, in fact, there was nothing negative. Was there very little homework? Yes. Would more homework have made a difference? Studies show that is unlikely. Did DC learn to read? Yes. Did he learn to read quickly and love reading? No, and that is probably not Siena's fault -- his neurology report shows clear difficulty with word retrieval, which is probably exacerbated by his ADHD. Reading is very effortful for him. Perhaps due to the late stage at which he got appropriate instruction - not until Siena in 4th grade. Had he learned in K or 1st would the malleability of his brain at that sensitive stage have been remediated? We'll never know. He will never be a fast, fluent reader, but Siena made him a functional reader, taught him tools for self-advocacy to get around reading and repaired his self image. In public school, he was a kid with a 138 IQ who was made to feel stupid, lazy, unmotivated and insubordinate. I would have lost my bright, funny, beautiful boy if I hadn't sent him to Siena.

It has always seemed strange to me that Siena didn’t start until 4th (now 3rd). As a school that specializes in dyslexia I would have thought they would be aware how important early intervention is and prioritize that over high school instruction. Why not start in K or 1st and go through 8th? Guessing it must be a business/profit related decision, as the school is private/for profit, but it doesn’t seem like a good one.

I don't think it is a business/profit decision. The developmental window for reading and language is quite wide. IME, it isn't really until the end of 3rd grade that a school and/or parent will really clearly realize that the child isn't learning to read as normal. In first grade, we were constantly told, "everyone learns to read by 3rd grade". Our kid seemed OK in K and most of 1st - he wasn't progressing as fast as we would have thought, but he wasn't behind yet. In second grade, it was apparent he was a little behind but the school kept saying they would give him a bit of extra help. By 3rd grade, he was clearly behind by a full grade, and the school also clearly had no idea how to teach him, was refusing to identify him and was saying that he was lazy and not that smart and that I was an anxious parent who couldn't handle that her special snowflake wasn't that smart.

That's how we ended up in Siena by 4th.

The problem is that in K and !st grade, there are a lot of kids who aren't yet fluent readers but who will become fluent readers without much explicit instruction, particularly in sound/symbol relationships. And, it's hard to use a neuropsychological assessment to evaluate ability to read at an age when not all kids could be reasonably expected to be fluent readers. Just like it's hard to assess for the executive dysfunction of ADHD when a kid is 4 and the parent is still expected to be the one organizing everything.

So, it's clear, PP, that you don't like Siena, but I don't think that they only start in 3/4 out of some kind of profit motive. Also, while it is a for profit school, my DC got a quite significant amount of financial aid. (Like more than a3/4).

Everyone has different experiences and expectations. In our experience, our DC was clearly dyslexic and adhd in Kindergarten, diagnosed summer between K and 1st, so waiting 3 years to get the instruction when he could have been benefitting from it was not ideal, and we met many others in the same boat.

And re: financial aid, perhaps if we also got 3/4 aid we would have had slightly lower expectations from the school. Paying $10k/year instead of $40-50k is a huge difference. At $40-$50k a year we expected the school to be much better than it currently is.

Paying less doesn't mean my expectations were less.

Also, while I agree with you that identifying dyslexic and ADHD kids is possible in K, I am speaking to the practical reality of having enough identified kids to form a class cohort of kids that have parents that are willing to pull them from public school and pay for private. I can see how having those numbers -- numbers large enough to form even 1-2 classes is probably not viable until 3rd or 4th grade.

Again, I agree, that having kids wait until 3rd for appropriate instruction. But, it seems that between K-3, the practical way to deliver appropriate instruction is on a 1-1 basis or 1-similar small group basis in the home school. Currently, public schools are failing at this, although I think they are legally obliged to serve, and I wish it would happen this way.