New Elementary School Opening near the National Cathedral

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it intriguing that they want teachers who will "evaluate and define" the "existing curriculum." As a teacher, I'd run like hell from a description like this. To me it seems like code for "We will control you 99%, but if things don't go right, it's your fault for implementing our curriculum poorly."

http://www.actondc.org/jobs/

This notice says the curriculum is set but then why no description of the curriculum on the website?

[Anonymous]

"Political, economic and religious freedom" plus "heroic journey" sounds like Ayn Rand to me.

Me, too.

[Anonymous]

It's a school that is going to follow a progressive approach. Not exactly like they are reinventing the wheel though they might like you to think they are.

As far as no homework,no benefit in elementary really in terms of learning but my guess is they will cave on that pretty quickly and have to give into parent demands.

There is nothing progressive about a Libertarian.

[Anonymous]

I'd consider myself a Libertarian except on national defense. I may take a look at the school, though hopefully they will hold an open house as I'm not taking the time to answer such detailed questions before we even step foot in the place.

I have several concerns based on the website. The teachers are called "guides". They don't answer questions until the child goes through 3 steps. No grades. Critical thinking at the expense of memorization.

Don't think it's for us and not sure to whom they will appeal.

[Anonymous]

Hate to say it, but for $10,000 they might get some takers but it may be a hard sell for $20,000. I'm sure costs are higher by far in DC than Austin so it's not a knock on the pricing, just an observation that the price point is high enough to possibly dissuade those willing to explore a new option. But who knows, it is still less expensive than the existing schools.

[Anonymous]

Can't wait for the additional traffic - they are in St. Sophia's.

Do they need to go through any zoning? Traffic in that area is already a nightmare - and the St. Alban's families are going to go nuts when they can't use that space for pick-up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

"Political, economic and religious freedom" plus "heroic journey" sounds like Ayn Rand to me.

Me, too.

Me, three. John Oliver's take on her:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9mJpVf4dkc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In your mission statement, it says that children will learn to value "political, economic, and religious freedom." This feels like a euphemism for something -- what exactly does it mean? Are you religiously or politically affiliated with something?

I was thrown by this as well. It sounds like an agenda. How do you teach kids in lower elementary to value economic freedom?

I was also thrown by the statement that they don't take kids with SN who need any kind of accommodation. There is no school that I'm aware of that says this. Even the big 3 will support kids with mild learning differences who need minor accommodations like extra time. Of course every school has its limits, and those limits will vary from school to school. But to say nope, not at all? I look at that, statements of preparing children for their "heroic journey" to create "profound change" and "value political, economic and religious freedom" and it sounds like they are trying to create ubermen.

I noticed that too... nice (not).

Why? At least they are honest up front.

Exactly. No getting counseled out. I have two children with LD's, and I don't see a problem with a private school not being able to serve the entire range of abilities and needs of every child. FAPE does NOT apply to private schools. If every school tries to serve every child, we are left with the mess we have now.

[Anonymous]

I think though that kids really need that pen-to-paper experience to write the information in their brains. I don't know if all on-line learning will cut it.

[Anonymous]

well, there ARE people who think public schools are inferior and private schools overly liberal, and also wish to avoid catholic schools, so I'm interested to see how this pans out

[Anonymous]

love all the stock photos of children who all look alike

[Anonymous]

nicolspen wrote:To clarify, these figures are for middle school children: Students who have been at Acton Academy in Austin through elementary school (and are now in middle school there) are on average 5.7 grade levels above age in reading and 5.6 grade levels above age in math.

http://www.actondc.org/faq/#tests

On the Stanford, not a particularly well regarded test.

Are you saying that your middle schoolers did as well as students 5.6 - 5.7 grades above on their grade level test (e.g. 7th graders did as well as 12th graders on the 7th grade test) or that they took a test designed for students 5.6 grades above, and scored at/above the 50th percentile? The former isn't a valid way to interpret test result, and I'm not sure how the latter would be possible on that particular test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In your mission statement, it says that children will learn to value "political, economic, and religious freedom." This feels like a euphemism for something -- what exactly does it mean? Are you religiously or politically affiliated with something?

I was thrown by this as well. It sounds like an agenda. How do you teach kids in lower elementary to value economic freedom?

I was also thrown by the statement that they don't take kids with SN who need any kind of accommodation. There is no school that I'm aware of that says this. Even the big 3 will support kids with mild learning differences who need minor accommodations like extra time. Of course every school has its limits, and those limits will vary from school to school. But to say nope, not at all? I look at that, statements of preparing children for their "heroic journey" to create "profound change" and "value political, economic and religious freedom" and it sounds like they are trying to create ubermen.

I noticed that too... nice (not).

Why? At least they are honest up front.

Exactly. No getting counseled out. I have two children with LD's, and I don't see a problem with a private school not being able to serve the entire range of abilities and needs of every child. FAPE does NOT apply to private schools. If every school tries to serve every child, we are left with the mess we have now.

I'm PP and I was very careful to write that not all schools can serve all children. But there are children who can go to any school as long as they have extra time for tests or can keyboard or something easy like that. There is no school that will refuse a child solely because of those minor accommodations, except this one. I have a DC with SN as well and agree that schools need to be up front about what they can and can't do. But I have never seen a school say it can't do anything.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if this is a for profit school......nothing on the website for Acton DC or Austin has any info about fundraising or being a not for profit entity. I don't think I would be ok with a for profit school.

[Anonymous]

Well, at least the founders have really extensive backgrounds in education. That bodes well … wait ...