Lee Montessori - Brookland

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The test scores are appallingly bad. Like why isn't this school treated like other failing charters bad. The families seem mostly happy.

Can anyone slap on the Montessori name??

Because the way the DCPCSB scores schools, the test scores are only one part of it. Lee does well on a lot of other metrics such as attendance and re-enrollment and their QSRs are glowing. The bar for charter renewal is pretty low, and it's not controlled for demographics. Lee's test scores are appalling in light of its higher-income demographics, but they're not atrocious if you don't control for that. Also, Lee doesn't have very many students in the PARCC testing grades, so the numbers aren't that meaningful.

Having said that, Lee is up for review in school year 23-24 and we'll see how that goes. Most likely they'll be passed along with little discussion just like SSMA was. But the PCSB is changing the way that it scores schools, so maybe that will have some impact. In the meantime, parents beware.

Montessori accreditation is a separate thing.

Who does the Montessori accreditation?

https://www.leemontessori.org/news/2018/05/31/2018-lee-montessori-becomes-only-fully-recognized-public-montessori-school-in-dc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're not going to shut down Lee. They are really reluctant to shut down a school that's popular and has some good metrics. More likely they'd give a conditional continuance with a plan of improvement.

Cynically, school shutdowns are something we're only willing to do to low-income kids. High-income parents won't tolerate it, and they feel entitled to have the taxpayer give them a school with cr*p test scores if that's what they want.

How is it that no one considering the sample size of the students who were being tested and when the tests were administered, when using this metric for how *well* a school is meeting the needs of all populations? It is my understanding that the students who participated in PARCC were fewer than 50. In 2019.

What I want to see is every DCUM poster submit their ACT/SAT scores and how they did in college. What did your standardized tests predict about your future success?

Do not let the scores speak for themselves. Let the families and their children do that. And let the families of color speak loudest.

FWIW, I am a POC and unwilling to identify how I interact with the school.

I for one am not focused on whether an individual child's PARCC score says about that child. I agree with you that this is a terrible predictor for future success and I have zero interest in telling any child what they are or are not capable of based on PARCC. That's ridiculous.

But even with a small sample size, the scores indicate that Lee is not doing well in terms of preparing its students for MS. Is this the only, or best, metric for evaluating an elementary school? No, but it is an important one if your child will attend MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're not going to shut down Lee. They are really reluctant to shut down a school that's popular and has some good metrics. More likely they'd give a conditional continuance with a plan of improvement.

Cynically, school shutdowns are something we're only willing to do to low-income kids. High-income parents won't tolerate it, and they feel entitled to have the taxpayer give them a school with cr*p test scores if that's what they want.

How is it that no one considering the sample size of the students who were being tested and when the tests were administered, when using this metric for how *well* a school is meeting the needs of all populations? It is my understanding that the students who participated in PARCC were fewer than 50. In 2019.

What I want to see is every DCUM poster submit their ACT/SAT scores and how they did in college. What did your standardized tests predict about your future success?

Do not let the scores speak for themselves. Let the families and their children do that. And let the families of color speak loudest.

FWIW, I am a POC and unwilling to identify how I interact with the school.

Looks like it was 31 kinds in SY 18-19, yep that's a small sample size, nobody's debating that. Only 18 kids for SY 17-18. Less than 25 for SY 16-17 so no data. But what do SY 18-19 and SY 17-18 have in common? Bad test scores! Lots of 1s and 2s, not many 5s. Is it a coincidence, a statistical fluke? Maybe. Look, if you had a lot of kids scoring a 3 rather than a 4, this kind of rationale would be more persuasive. And yes, test scores aren't everything. But 90% of AA students were below grade level in math! That's bad!

[Anonymous]

One of the big issues with Montessori across the board and with Lee, in particular, is letting kids avoid whatever they want to avoid. It’s good to ignite a passion in kids in K and 1st by letting them self direct their learning; it’s bad to let 4th graders opt out of math. This is particularly true when there are strong societal pressures that affect which kids opt out of which subjects. I actually think if you broke down Lee’s results by gender, people would be even more horrified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the big issues with Montessori across the board and with Lee, in particular, is letting kids avoid whatever they want to avoid. It’s good to ignite a passion in kids in K and 1st by letting them self direct their learning; it’s bad to let 4th graders opt out of math. This is particularly true when there are strong societal pressures that affect which kids opt out of which subjects. I actually think if you broke down Lee’s results by gender, people would be even more horrified.

This is an interesting point. Why don’t they break out scores by gender? That actually seems as relevant as race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the big issues with Montessori across the board and with Lee, in particular, is letting kids avoid whatever they want to avoid. It’s good to ignite a passion in kids in K and 1st by letting them self direct their learning; it’s bad to let 4th graders opt out of math. This is particularly true when there are strong societal pressures that affect which kids opt out of which subjects. I actually think if you broke down Lee’s results by gender, people would be even more horrified.

This is an interesting point. Why don’t they break out scores by gender? That actually seems as relevant as race.

You can get that data on the OSSE PARCC spreadsheets.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like Lee is the new Creative Minds.

[Anonymous]

Meaning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meaning?

Meaning people are really catching on that the preschool is lovely but the upper elementary hasn't come together. The new-school buzz is wearing off and it's been enough time.

The thing about having hardly any kids in the PARCC-testing grades is, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out how to educate such a small group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're not going to shut down Lee. They are really reluctant to shut down a school that's popular and has some good metrics. More likely they'd give a conditional continuance with a plan of improvement.

Cynically, school shutdowns are something we're only willing to do to low-income kids. High-income parents won't tolerate it, and they feel entitled to have the taxpayer give them a school with cr*p test scores if that's what they want.

How is it that no one considering the sample size of the students who were being tested and when the tests were administered, when using this metric for how *well* a school is meeting the needs of all populations? It is my understanding that the students who participated in PARCC were fewer than 50. In 2019.

What I want to see is every DCUM poster submit their ACT/SAT scores and how they did in college. What did your standardized tests predict about your future success?

Do not let the scores speak for themselves. Let the families and their children do that. And let the families of color speak loudest.

FWIW, I am a POC and unwilling to identify how I interact with the school.

What speaks loud to me is that a school almost 10 years in operation has so few older kids at all.

This test was when the school was 4 years old I think?

The test scores are old, but enrollment stats are available for each year. For SY 2021-22, there were 18 4th graders, 13 5th graders, and one 6th grader. Compared to numbers in the 30s and 40s for ECE and Primary.

https://stossepublicdocsprod.blob.core.windows.net/public-docs/dc-school-report-card/2020-21/profiles/177-0228(Lee%20Montessori%20PCS%20-%20Brookland).pdf

26, 14 and 4 actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meaning?

Meaning people are really catching on that the preschool is lovely but the upper elementary hasn't come together. The new-school buzz is wearing off and it's been enough time.

The thing about having hardly any kids in the PARCC-testing grades is, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out how to educate such a small group.

Or you could actually talk to people in the PARCC grades instead of to anonymous people on DCUM. And that's not just a Lee thing. Anyone looking at a school for their PK3 child should spend time asking about middle and upper elementary. Not about how to chaperone PK3 field trips and nap schedules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're not going to shut down Lee. They are really reluctant to shut down a school that's popular and has some good metrics. More likely they'd give a conditional continuance with a plan of improvement.

Cynically, school shutdowns are something we're only willing to do to low-income kids. High-income parents won't tolerate it, and they feel entitled to have the taxpayer give them a school with cr*p test scores if that's what they want.

How is it that no one considering the sample size of the students who were being tested and when the tests were administered, when using this metric for how *well* a school is meeting the needs of all populations? It is my understanding that the students who participated in PARCC were fewer than 50. In 2019.

What I want to see is every DCUM poster submit their ACT/SAT scores and how they did in college. What did your standardized tests predict about your future success?

Do not let the scores speak for themselves. Let the families and their children do that. And let the families of color speak loudest.

FWIW, I am a POC and unwilling to identify how I interact with the school.

What speaks loud to me is that a school almost 10 years in operation has so few older kids at all.

This test was when the school was 4 years old I think?

The test scores are old, but enrollment stats are available for each year. For SY 2021-22, there were 18 4th graders, 13 5th graders, and one 6th grader. Compared to numbers in the 30s and 40s for ECE and Primary.

https://stossepublicdocsprod.blob.core.windows.net/public-docs/dc-school-report-card/2020-21/profiles/177-0228(Lee%20Montessori%20PCS%20-%20Brookland).pdf

26, 14 and 4 actually.

The number of students enrolled is different from the number who take the PARCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meaning?

Meaning people are really catching on that the preschool is lovely but the upper elementary hasn't come together. The new-school buzz is wearing off and it's been enough time.

The thing about having hardly any kids in the PARCC-testing grades is, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out how to educate such a small group.

Or you could actually talk to people in the PARCC grades instead of to anonymous people on DCUM. And that's not just a Lee thing. Anyone looking at a school for their PK3 child should spend time asking about middle and upper elementary. Not about how to chaperone PK3 field trips and nap schedules.

Good advice. Ask people if they are okay with their school's terrible test scores and racial achievement gap. They'll definitely tell you the truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meaning?

Meaning people are really catching on that the preschool is lovely but the upper elementary hasn't come together. The new-school buzz is wearing off and it's been enough time.

The thing about having hardly any kids in the PARCC-testing grades is, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out how to educate such a small group.

There’s a big drop off before 5th and 6th grades is mostly because most families aren’t in bounds for a middle school they’re comfortable with, so they feel like they need to lottery into a middle school instead of staying through sixth. Most people we know who left after 4th would have liked to stay at Lee otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meaning?

Meaning people are really catching on that the preschool is lovely but the upper elementary hasn't come together. The new-school buzz is wearing off and it's been enough time.

The thing about having hardly any kids in the PARCC-testing grades is, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out how to educate such a small group.

There’s a big drop off before 5th and 6th grades is mostly because most families aren’t in bounds for a middle school they’re comfortable with, so they feel like they need to lottery into a middle school instead of staying through sixth. Most people we know who left after 4th would have liked to stay at Lee otherwise.

Oke doke, so why are the test scores so bad? And I thought there was Sojourner Truth for middle school (the racial achievement gap is going to be an awkward thing there too, no?)