HB Woodlawn and ATS
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Anonymous
Well they are basically equivalent. Point well taken though. And as PP stated it’s in poor taste to attack Montessori and therefore in poor taste to attack ATS. |
Anonymous
Again you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. How is ATS like a private school? It has very large class sizes and there are 4 or 5 classes per grade. |
Anonymous
Montessori in Arlington is not a low-income program. Arlington Montessori people like to use that as a shield and to prop itself up with great virtue. VPI is a low-income program. Montessori was developed to benefit disadvantaged children, yes; but let's stop pretending APS' Montessori program's focus and support is directed to low-income kids just because it has more low-income kids than our great white northern schools. Carlin Springs, Randolph, Barcroft, Drew are our "low income programs." |
Anonymous
Nonsense. If you're basing rationale for bashing on FRM rates, then people should stop bashing our Title I schools and equivalent (40%+ middle and high schools). |
Anonymous
A majority of the slots in the pre-K montessori program are set aside for low-income students--if they can fill them--but the elementary program is just a lottery and, unlike the other lottery programs (ATS and H-B), has different planning factors that allow it more resources for an equivalent number of students in the elementary grades. Plus busing, its own building, etc. etc. |
Anonymous
| I wonder what “private school experience” means to PP other than the fact that her kids weren’t able to get in. Private schools range from progressive (Sidwell, Potomac, Georgetown Day etc.) to traditional (e.g. catholic schools) and many many schools in between. Some are speciality schools such as Montessori schools, bilingual/immersion schools teaching a specific language. There is no one “private school experience.” There are three things that most private schools have in common though: (1) you have to apply to get in (2) most students pay tuition and (3) the school tends to have low student-teacher ratios and small class sizes. (2) and (3) don’t apply to ATS. ATS has large classroom sizes, a high student teacher ratio and very large grade level cohorts. This begs the question what is ATS doing right that enables it to achieve such high results with such large classroom sizes? It is motivated parents, a specific teaching methodology or both? ATS is an example of public education gone right. Low student teacher ratios are just not workable for public schools so we need to figure out how to teach effectively with larger classroom sizes. It is obviously still worth aiming for the lowest student ratio possible. For what it’s worth my kids go to Jamestown, which has a more “private school” vibe than ATS since it is much smaller. |
Anonymous
You are responding to me. I’m not basing the rationale for bashing on farm rates. The PP who said it is in poor taste to attack a low income program is. PP is using that to explain why it’s not ok to bash the Montessori program but ok to bash ATS. However PP’s logic is flawed. Both schools have similar farms rates. So based on PPs flawed logic both schools should be treated the same. |
Anonymous
For me private school means that parents take the initiative to place the child and have capacity and competency to navigate that process, and a school that will not be overcrowded. Overcrowding is really what a causing all the ire at HB; they enjoy a capped school size in a brand new $$$ building (oh and I know they wanted to stay in their old building on its enormous acreage, same difference), while the rest of the county contemplates remote school and night classes. |
Anonymous
Thanks for sharing. I don’t know much about HB because my kids are young, so I was just responding to the ire directed at ATS. We never applied because (a) Jamestown is a great school and (b) ATS is too large for my very shy kids. That being said they must be doing something right. They are getting the same results as Jamestown but have a much larger student-teacher ratio and a higher population of socio-economically disadvantaged students |
Anonymous
Sorry if you don't get that "remote learning" and "night school" are things people say to get parents riled up to get elected officials to spend more money expanding school capacity, and not things that will actually happen in ultra-wealthy Arlington Virginia. |
Anonymous
"Private" today also means "acdemic rigor" that is lacking more and more each year in public. To that end, many parents seek ATS to escape their neighborhood schools that have high needs populations and many other parents seek ATS because it has high performance and reputation. What does ATS do that other schools don't? It sets higher expectations from its students and its parents and holds them all accountable. People have joked about ATS' stricter policies (ie, shirts must be tucked in); but the bottom line is that structure and high expectations work. ATS has also been faulted/accused of not tolerating higher needs kids and either holding them back or pushing them out by way of not wanting to remain. Nevertheless, ATS does now have a significant % FRL students and seems to be serving them well. A better question would be what our other neighborhood schools are doing that is not as successful as ATS. Answer would include things such as abandoning things like phonics while ATS continued with instructional methods that have proven to be effective. And, yes, discipline has a positive impact on performance, too. Summer reading challenges/expectations at our south Arlington elementary school many years ago was 10 books; whereas ATS' was 50 (per classmates who transferred to ATS in late elementary years). And, a lot of it is self-selection. Families more pro-active or demanding about their kids' school environment and seeking these things are going to apply. |
Anonymous
And a fair # of preK do not continue on to 1-5. Montessori preK's are scattered across the county. |
Anonymous
What expanded school capacity? We still don’t have 4th high school. |
Anonymous
Really? huh. Regardless of initial disastrous effort, seems to be a serious desire to establish our own virtual learning program. |
Anonymous
PP's point is they want to expand capacity by providing alternative options - not by building more physical space. |