1st–5th at LAMB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

I just don’t understand the overemphasis and inflated importance of community that so many parents ascribe to in elementary schools in DC. What was so great about the community that it was worth having to supplement so heavily?

[Anonymous]

I would be incredibly disappointed with my child’s school if supplementation was expected just to meet the standard. Expect more from your schools!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be incredibly disappointed with my child’s school if supplementation was expected just to meet the standard. Expect more from your schools!

Agreed but worth it for the dci feed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be incredibly disappointed with my child’s school if supplementation was expected just to meet the standard. Expect more from your schools!

Take what you read here with a grain of salt. There's a lot of people commenting who have no connection to or knowledge about LAMB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be incredibly disappointed with my child’s school if supplementation was expected just to meet the standard. Expect more from your schools!

Agreed but worth it for the dci feed.

Is it though?

[Anonymous]

We went to a low performing charter school in ES with a supposedly great community. At the time, I thought the community aspect was somewhat worth it. But thankfully my son got into a good MS/HS path (for him) with much more rigorous academics. It was a rough transition and years of extra support to get him on grade level. We also grew away from that community because life is life and my son was leading his own social life.

Looking back, we should have never stayed at that school. We were foolish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

I just don’t understand the overemphasis and inflated importance of community that so many parents ascribe to in elementary schools in DC. What was so great about the community that it was worth having to supplement so heavily?

Yeah I don't get it. I remember making this realization when we were assessing our EOTP DCPS schools vs some of the DCI feeders, and I remember thinking "we can either supplement the soft perks or supplement academics." When faced with a choice I've also chosen schools with stronger academics and have never had regrets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be incredibly disappointed with my child’s school if supplementation was expected just to meet the standard. Expect more from your schools!

Agreed but worth it for the dci feed.

Is it though?

DCI is better than any dcps especially after ferebee ruined Walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

I just don’t understand the overemphasis and inflated importance of community that so many parents ascribe to in elementary schools in DC. What was so great about the community that it was worth having to supplement so heavily?

Yeah I don't get it. I remember making this realization when we were assessing our EOTP DCPS schools vs some of the DCI feeders, and I remember thinking "we can either supplement the soft perks or supplement academics." When faced with a choice I've also chosen schools with stronger academics and have never had regrets.

Former lamb parent here: your mileage may vary from teacher to teacher. That’s my biggest beef with lamb. That said I did not see any dcps with stronger academics than lamb. If anything I thought lamb was better for my high achieving kid. Before lamb wrecked their special ed program I thought they offered more and better special ed tutors than dcps and other dci feeders. My close friends had younger kids and were done with the commute and it was clear my kids were doing harder work at lamb than our excellent dcps. That said, it’s hard to decide at lamb since there is zero homework and the only assessment tool is NWEA MAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be incredibly disappointed with my child’s school if supplementation was expected just to meet the standard. Expect more from your schools!

Agreed but worth it for the dci feed.

Is it though?

DCI is better than any dcps especially after ferebee ruined Walls.

Really??? DCI seems like an administrative dumpster fire right now. And they are bleeding teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

I just don’t understand the overemphasis and inflated importance of community that so many parents ascribe to in elementary schools in DC. What was so great about the community that it was worth having to supplement so heavily?

Yeah I don't get it. I remember making this realization when we were assessing our EOTP DCPS schools vs some of the DCI feeders, and I remember thinking "we can either supplement the soft perks or supplement academics." When faced with a choice I've also chosen schools with stronger academics and have never had regrets.

Former lamb parent here: your mileage may vary from teacher to teacher. That’s my biggest beef with lamb. That said I did not see any dcps with stronger academics than lamb. If anything I thought lamb was better for my high achieving kid. Before lamb wrecked their special ed program I thought they offered more and better special ed tutors than dcps and other dci feeders. My close friends had younger kids and were done with the commute and it was clear my kids were doing harder work at lamb than our excellent dcps. That said, it’s hard to decide at lamb since there is zero homework and the only assessment tool is NWEA MAP.

It's not possible to compare a strong DCPS elementary with LAMB. There are pluses and minuses of each. One aspect of LAMB that you have to understand is that Montessori doesn't work for all students and there are kids who will do better in a traditional school format. Your kids may have been well-suited to LAMB but we also know people whose kids struggled with the curriculum and who wound up supplementing academics heavily to prepare for middle school. It just depends. But you can also never go back in time and see how your kids would have done at a DCPS. So you just don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

I just don’t understand the overemphasis and inflated importance of community that so many parents ascribe to in elementary schools in DC. What was so great about the community that it was worth having to supplement so heavily?

Yeah I don't get it. I remember making this realization when we were assessing our EOTP DCPS schools vs some of the DCI feeders, and I remember thinking "we can either supplement the soft perks or supplement academics." When faced with a choice I've also chosen schools with stronger academics and have never had regrets.

Former lamb parent here: your mileage may vary from teacher to teacher. That’s my biggest beef with lamb. That said I did not see any dcps with stronger academics than lamb. If anything I thought lamb was better for my high achieving kid. Before lamb wrecked their special ed program I thought they offered more and better special ed tutors than dcps and other dci feeders. My close friends had younger kids and were done with the commute and it was clear my kids were doing harder work at lamb than our excellent dcps. That said, it’s hard to decide at lamb since there is zero homework and the only assessment tool is NWEA MAP.

It's not possible to compare a strong DCPS elementary with LAMB. There are pluses and minuses of each. One aspect of LAMB that you have to understand is that Montessori doesn't work for all students and there are kids who will do better in a traditional school format. Your kids may have been well-suited to LAMB but we also know people whose kids struggled with the curriculum and who wound up supplementing academics heavily to prepare for middle school. It just depends. But you can also never go back in time and see how your kids would have done at a DCPS. So you just don't know.

This resonates. You can’t know for sure and you really can’t go back. But if you’re all in on Montessori, LAMB seems like a great choice in the pool of current options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be incredibly disappointed with my child’s school if supplementation was expected just to meet the standard. Expect more from your schools!

Agreed but worth it for the dci feed.

Is it though?

DCI is better than any dcps especially after ferebee ruined Walls.

Really??? DCI seems like an administrative dumpster fire right now. And they are bleeding teachers.

Doesn’t sound like you have a kid there at all. I do. Teachers are not leaving but staff wants ED gone.

Reality is business as usual day to day and we have not felt any effects of it esp at middle school level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

I just don’t understand the overemphasis and inflated importance of community that so many parents ascribe to in elementary schools in DC. What was so great about the community that it was worth having to supplement so heavily?

Yeah I don't get it. I remember making this realization when we were assessing our EOTP DCPS schools vs some of the DCI feeders, and I remember thinking "we can either supplement the soft perks or supplement academics." When faced with a choice I've also chosen schools with stronger academics and have never had regrets.

Former lamb parent here: your mileage may vary from teacher to teacher. That’s my biggest beef with lamb. That said I did not see any dcps with stronger academics than lamb. If anything I thought lamb was better for my high achieving kid. Before lamb wrecked their special ed program I thought they offered more and better special ed tutors than dcps and other dci feeders. My close friends had younger kids and were done with the commute and it was clear my kids were doing harder work at lamb than our excellent dcps. That said, it’s hard to decide at lamb since there is zero homework and the only assessment tool is NWEA MAP.

It's not possible to compare a strong DCPS elementary with LAMB. There are pluses and minuses of each. One aspect of LAMB that you have to understand is that Montessori doesn't work for all students and there are kids who will do better in a traditional school format. Your kids may have been well-suited to LAMB but we also know people whose kids struggled with the curriculum and who wound up supplementing academics heavily to prepare for middle school. It just depends. But you can also never go back in time and see how your kids would have done at a DCPS. So you just don't know.

This feels true, and is the deal with school choice generally -- we have to make decisions based on limited information, and actually we have to make predictions about the future even though the school may change (leadership, curriculum, etc). Maybe that's why this forum is so angsty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former LAMB parent here with two kids now at DCI. I agree with others, we stayed for the community and because our kids were happy. But this came at a cost: math and English tutoring and homework so they actually learned the common core. We got the tutor recommendations from other LAMB parents and most of our friends there had tutors too. Meaning: the academic results are in great part thanks to the tutors and work at home rather than the teachers. We could afford it so this worked for us, otherwise we would have left earlier in search of better academic programs.

I just don’t understand the overemphasis and inflated importance of community that so many parents ascribe to in elementary schools in DC. What was so great about the community that it was worth having to supplement so heavily?

Yeah I don't get it. I remember making this realization when we were assessing our EOTP DCPS schools vs some of the DCI feeders, and I remember thinking "we can either supplement the soft perks or supplement academics." When faced with a choice I've also chosen schools with stronger academics and have never had regrets.

Former lamb parent here: your mileage may vary from teacher to teacher. That’s my biggest beef with lamb. That said I did not see any dcps with stronger academics than lamb. If anything I thought lamb was better for my high achieving kid. Before lamb wrecked their special ed program I thought they offered more and better special ed tutors than dcps and other dci feeders. My close friends had younger kids and were done with the commute and it was clear my kids were doing harder work at lamb than our excellent dcps. That said, it’s hard to decide at lamb since there is zero homework and the only assessment tool is NWEA MAP.

It's not possible to compare a strong DCPS elementary with LAMB. There are pluses and minuses of each. One aspect of LAMB that you have to understand is that Montessori doesn't work for all students and there are kids who will do better in a traditional school format. Your kids may have been well-suited to LAMB but we also know people whose kids struggled with the curriculum and who wound up supplementing academics heavily to prepare for middle school. It just depends. But you can also never go back in time and see how your kids would have done at a DCPS. So you just don't know.

This feels true, and is the deal with school choice generally -- we have to make decisions based on limited information, and actually we have to make predictions about the future even though the school may change (leadership, curriculum, etc). Maybe that's why this forum is so angsty.

We've had multiple children go through LAMB. The math is a problem but other than that, we thought it was pretty great. We heard very little about people supplementing outside school. I would not take any DCPS elementary school over LAMB.