Thoughts on Sojourner Truth Montessori?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will LAMB feed into this school? How have other public school districts fared with Montessori at the middle/high school levels? I thought Montessori was best suited for children through age 10 or 11, but not so much after.

At this point, NO ONE FEEDS, or gets preference to this school. The school must get the Council to pass legislation to do that, and the mayor must sign.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will LAMB feed into this school? How have other public school districts fared with Montessori at the middle/high school levels? I thought Montessori was best suited for children through age 10 or 11, but not so much after.

At this point, NO ONE FEEDS, or gets preference to this school. The school must get the Council to pass legislation to do that, and the mayor must sign.

without feeder rights this is even more pointless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will LAMB feed into this school? How have other public school districts fared with Montessori at the middle/high school levels? I thought Montessori was best suited for children through age 10 or 11, but not so much after.

At this point, NO ONE FEEDS, or gets preference to this school. The school must get the Council to pass legislation to do that, and the mayor must sign.

without feeder rights this is even more pointless.

They are trying, but there's no guarantee. The Council has changed significantly since DCI was created, as has the support for charters among the city's leadership, tbh. The only one that's been approved since then is a preference for the school that will serve military families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will LAMB feed into this school? How have other public school districts fared with Montessori at the middle/high school levels? I thought Montessori was best suited for children through age 10 or 11, but not so much after.

At this point, NO ONE FEEDS, or gets preference to this school. The school must get the Council to pass legislation to do that, and the mayor must sign.

without feeder rights this is even more pointless.

I predict this school won't be in high demand and all Montessori families with eligible kids will all get in - remember how tiny the upper grades are at these schools.

IF the school is a success, it could be a problem, but it will clear it's waitlist for the next 4 years at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will LAMB feed into this school? How have other public school districts fared with Montessori at the middle/high school levels? I thought Montessori was best suited for children through age 10 or 11, but not so much after.

At this point, NO ONE FEEDS, or gets preference to this school. The school must get the Council to pass legislation to do that, and the mayor must sign.

without feeder rights this is even more pointless.

I predict this school won't be in high demand and all Montessori families with eligible kids will all get in - remember how tiny the upper grades are at these schools.

IF the school is a success, it could be a problem, but it will clear it's waitlist for the next 4 years at least.

The guaranteed feed is needed to keep people at the feeder schools through graduation, but also to ensure enough students with Montessori experience. Right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will LAMB feed into this school? How have other public school districts fared with Montessori at the middle/high school levels? I thought Montessori was best suited for children through age 10 or 11, but not so much after.

At this point, NO ONE FEEDS, or gets preference to this school. The school must get the Council to pass legislation to do that, and the mayor must sign.

without feeder rights this is even more pointless.

I predict this school won't be in high demand and all Montessori families with eligible kids will all get in - remember how tiny the upper grades are at these schools.

IF the school is a success, it could be a problem, but it will clear it's waitlist for the next 4 years at least.

The guaranteed feed is needed to keep people at the feeder schools through graduation, but also to ensure enough students with Montessori experience. Right?

Definitely. Usually Montessori middle/high schools are strict with entrance requirements. Either kids need to come from Montessori or they need to demonstrate that they'd do well in that environment. Montessori schools can be great at the middle/high school level, but having a cohort of well-behaved kids who get the Montessori method is important. Of course, a charter school can't do that in DC so they'll need feeders and will try to only take feeder kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is everyone just going to give up any hope of attending Walls, Banneker, McKinley Tech, if their kids have terrible PARCC scores? Or does "Truth" have a plan to improve test scores?

Montessori schools are traditionally designed for hands on learning, applied, learn to think, experiences. They are kind of the anti fill in the bubble memorize information testing.
I imagine the hands on self paced learning middle will work really well for kids that are below grade level if they have enough staff. That strikes me as the issue really. It would take a lot of time, class room management and extra staff to help older kids/teens adjust and learn how to function well in a Montessori environment. After all it was designed for preschool kid how are generally wired to be curious and learn. Teen are not necessarily wired that way, especially after years of miss matched or negative learning experiences.

I might’ve felt similarly but there is a whole movement for montessori middle and high schools. LAMB’s ED has experience in this and one comment she made is that they are free to focus in middle school on things kids are more wired for at middle school like social issues both interpersonal, small group, and in the wider society. That is something I found intriguing although it may not mean high test scores.

Lambs ED is not someone I particularly trust or respect, but you do you.

[Anonymous]

I'm a little floored by how much people on this board seem to hate this school before it's even taking students. Apparently it's doomed to be simultaneously unable to fill seats and overrun with privlidged kids. It feels like a lot of judgment for a school that's not yet open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little floored by how much people on this board seem to hate this school before it's even taking students. Apparently it's doomed to be simultaneously unable to fill seats and overrun with privlidged kids. It feels like a lot of judgment for a school that's not yet open.

Were you around when BASIS was trying to open?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little floored by how much people on this board seem to hate this school before it's even taking students. Apparently it's doomed to be simultaneously unable to fill seats and overrun with privlidged kids. It feels like a lot of judgment for a school that's not yet open.

Are you new here? It’s a cynical place... some may say realist but I guess time will tell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little floored by how much people on this board seem to hate this school before it's even taking students. Apparently it's doomed to be simultaneously unable to fill seats and overrun with privlidged kids. It feels like a lot of judgment for a school that's not yet open.

Are you new here? It’s a cynical place... some may say realist but I guess time will tell.

That is because those structural problems are baked in. If it succeeds, it will be mostly privileged kids (Sojourner Truth's #1 priority amirite?). If it fails, it will be because it doesn't have enough kids, total, to be financially sound, or because of bad test scores. Having mostly high income kids yet still a short waitlist, bad test scores and shaky finances is what you see at SSMA right now.