Lee Montessori for Black Children

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to put their money where their mouth is an hire African American Latinx etc lead teachers and administrators and a Cultural Competency person.
They need to learn how to reach kids of all colors and SES levels. No matter the color kids that have possible come from a very structured school or lack of free choice and self motivated learning situation will need extra help to adjust.

They have at least two African American leads on the Brookland campus, as well as a newly hired Director of Equity who I think came from LAMB?

Two out of how many leads in the classroom? 7 or 8?

I wonder if part of the challenge is finding a diverse pool of Montessori-trained educators. This could be a situation where a teaching fellows program like what IT and Appletree have would be useful.

Bingo!
You want diverse, trained and amazing educators no? A lot of POCs who would theoretically have the chops go straight into other fields. A school based program that lured them in and trained them (hopefully for free)is smart. You all know how low paid teaching starting salaries are ... you have to up the offer to find these amazing diverse teachers. Btw, everyone else is competing for them as well .
.

DCPS /DCPCS in general is horrible about this. They need to have high school programs that can connect to Community/College and Trade Programs. DC has a huge travel & tourism, housing, bus/metro tech, security, medical, education, plumber/electrical/ welding, government jobs... the list goes on. DC could set up training programs for students to have certifications and experience before graduation. There are still some very successful tech/trade school programs all over the country. Even those with college focus could gain real life skills that will help them pay there way or start their own business after. Obviously most of these are out side the scope of this thread. But they could have ECE, dedicated aides, coaches, before & aftercare, assistance teachers, office workers, computer techs, building maintenance all home educated and home grown. Instead of school to prison pipeline DC could start a huge the school to city employee pipeline.

UDC, the Infrastructure Academy, Project Empowerment and other programs in DC offer free trade schooling. But none of this has anything to do with Lee Montessori, so I'm not sure of the point of your post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly you have to be careful sending your black children to any public school. I have a child at an immersion school and it’s ok but some of the white parents can be weird acting. The conversations my wife and I hear are sometimes hilarious at best. Be careful, make sure that there is black representation in the school in leading roles. White parents can come off as talking to you if you’re poor just bc you’re black, which is once again hilarious to my wife and I. We’re the youngest parents in my child’s class so maybe it’s a generational thing. I will say other than the weird white parents who think if you’re not white you’re poor it’s cool. Just make sure you’re really involved in what is going on at the school and in the classrooms just in case you have “check” someone.


Peace!

You're crazy.

Not the poster above - but this happens at my school too. You have to laugh to keep from crying.

[Anonymous]

I’m a white parent (at Lee in fact!) and I’m terrible about making assumptions about black families! I’m inclined to think black families are poor and uneducated, that the moms are single parents and so on. And I’m embarrassed that it takes me a lot longer to learn to recognize black kids and parents than white ones! And a lot longer to feel comfortable talking to black families. This is all totally against my beliefs, but it lives deep in our brains. I do what I can to do better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a white parent (at Lee in fact!) and I’m terrible about making assumptions about black families! I’m inclined to think black families are poor and uneducated, that the moms are single parents and so on. And I’m embarrassed that it takes me a lot longer to learn to recognize black kids and parents than white ones! And a lot longer to feel comfortable talking to black families. This is all totally against my beliefs, but it lives deep in our brains. I do what I can to do better.

I get recognizing internal prejudice is a good thing, but so many of the black families at Lee are middle class that these assumptions feel out of whack. Are you new there? I read the PP's post and thought it was a combination of being young and black that caused the treatment because there are so many high ses black families at HRCS that facing those kind of assumptions would be odd unless there was another factor involved, like youth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly you have to be careful sending your black children to any public school. I have a child at an immersion school and it’s ok but some of the white parents can be weird acting. The conversations my wife and I hear are sometimes hilarious at best. Be careful, make sure that there is black representation in the school in leading roles. White parents can come off as talking to you if you’re poor just bc you’re black, which is once again hilarious to my wife and I. We’re the youngest parents in my child’s class so maybe it’s a generational thing. I will say other than the weird white parents who think if you’re not white you’re poor it’s cool. Just make sure you’re really involved in what is going on at the school and in the classrooms just in case you have “check” someone.


Peace!

You're crazy.

Not the poster above - but this happens at my school too. You have to laugh to keep from crying.

Totally agree with this--I'm an older white mother of a son at a HRCS and the microaggressions I witness from other white parents towards non-white kids/families is appalling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a white parent (at Lee in fact!) and I’m terrible about making assumptions about black families! I’m inclined to think black families are poor and uneducated, that the moms are single parents and so on. And I’m embarrassed that it takes me a lot longer to learn to recognize black kids and parents than white ones! And a lot longer to feel comfortable talking to black families. This is all totally against my beliefs, but it lives deep in our brains. I do what I can to do better.

Ouch.
Well, at least you're being honest I guess.

- young, black, educated, married, and middle class black mom who picks up on these assumptions and microaggressions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a white parent (at Lee in fact!) and I’m terrible about making assumptions about black families! I’m inclined to think black families are poor and uneducated, that the moms are single parents and so on. And I’m embarrassed that it takes me a lot longer to learn to recognize black kids and parents than white ones! And a lot longer to feel comfortable talking to black families. This is all totally against my beliefs, but it lives deep in our brains. I do what I can to do better.

Curious what doing what you can looks like? Because this work doesn’t happen unless we head on commit to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a white parent (at Lee in fact!) and I’m terrible about making assumptions about black families! I’m inclined to think black families are poor and uneducated, that the moms are single parents and so on. And I’m embarrassed that it takes me a lot longer to learn to recognize black kids and parents than white ones! And a lot longer to feel comfortable talking to black families. This is all totally against my beliefs, but it lives deep in our brains. I do what I can to do better.

I get recognizing internal prejudice is a good thing, but so many of the black families at Lee are middle class that these assumptions feel out of whack. Are you new there? I read the PP's post and thought it was a combination of being young and black that caused the treatment because there are so many high ses black families at HRCS that facing those kind of assumptions would be odd unless there was another factor involved, like youth.

Yeah, this is a little weird, I mean these HRCS have plenty of non-poor families of color, even mostly. I wouldn't ever assume this even based on age, which I don't think is much of a factor. I think Montessori schools - as discussed up the thread - also appeal more to middle and upper class.

Although I love the earlier black PP's comment and don't think they're crazy. I'm sure I miss microagressions a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a white parent (at Lee in fact!) and I’m terrible about making assumptions about black families! I’m inclined to think black families are poor and uneducated, that the moms are single parents and so on. And I’m embarrassed that it takes me a lot longer to learn to recognize black kids and parents than white ones! And a lot longer to feel comfortable talking to black families. This is all totally against my beliefs, but it lives deep in our brains. I do what I can to do better.

Please identify yourself so that me and my children can stay away from you and yours and I am sure you have passed your biases on to your children in your attempts to do what you can to do better, whatever that means. Is that even trying? Doing what you can doesn’t sound like pushing yourself out of your comfort zone to confront your ignorance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would definitely be concerned. What is the composition of the school faculty. Does your kid have any teachers of the same race? Do you hear about behavior issues? Do you see a progression of academic skills? How many black students are 3 or above on PARCC and how many are 1s and 2s.

Montessori doesn’t align that well to PARCC because there are no tests. Does Lee administer any MAP or other assessments to see if students are achieving grade level mastery?

Ask a ton of questions about how they intend to address this gap. And see if you, and parents of 3-6 grade black students are comfortable with it.

why is there a gap? Whose fault is it? Doesn’t anyone ever think it’s the parents fault when there is a gap?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to put their money where their mouth is an hire African American Latinx etc lead teachers and administrators and a Cultural Competency person.
They need to learn how to reach kids of all colors and SES levels. No matter the color kids that have possible come from a very structured school or lack of free choice and self motivated learning situation will need extra help to adjust.

They have at least two African American leads on the Brookland campus, as well as a newly hired Director of Equity who I think came from LAMB?

They have ZERO African american leads. ZERO

This is not true. Call the school and ask.

[Anonymous]

Lee parent here. The test scores don’t reflect the amazing work the kids are doing at this school, regardless of race. It’s also a very small testing cohort. VERY small esp in grades 4 and 5. There are many educated, professional, involved black parents at Lee (as with white parents) but less so in the upper grades. When you have less than ten kids taking a test and a couple of them have learning difficulties or special ed challenges AND the school does not teach to the test, the percentiles are meaningless. Lee parents can look at how engaged their kids are and what they are learning and how they are learning to gauge the success of the school.

I’d also recommend looking at other measures. There are other tests the younger kids take and much more data. Are racial breakdowns available? If so, I’d wager they show a different picture. The PARCC is a flawed test that has been dropped in almost every other state. If you can’t type well and aren’t taught the tricks, you aren’t going to score as well as kids who are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lee parent here. The test scores don’t reflect the amazing work the kids are doing at this school, regardless of race. It’s also a very small testing cohort. VERY small esp in grades 4 and 5. There are many educated, professional, involved black parents at Lee (as with white parents) but less so in the upper grades. When you have less than ten kids taking a test and a couple of them have learning difficulties or special ed challenges AND the school does not teach to the test, the percentiles are meaningless. Lee parents can look at how engaged their kids are and what they are learning and how they are learning to gauge the success of the school.

I’d also recommend looking at other measures. There are other tests the younger kids take and much more data. Are racial breakdowns available? If so, I’d wager they show a different picture. The PARCC is a flawed test that has been dropped in almost every other state. If you can’t type well and aren’t taught the tricks, you aren’t going to score as well as kids who are.

Why so few kids in the cohort?

Lee made 61 first grade offers this year. Do you know why so many?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lee parent here. The test scores don’t reflect the amazing work the kids are doing at this school, regardless of race. It’s also a very small testing cohort. VERY small esp in grades 4 and 5. There are many educated, professional, involved black parents at Lee (as with white parents) but less so in the upper grades. When you have less than ten kids taking a test and a couple of them have learning difficulties or special ed challenges AND the school does not teach to the test, the percentiles are meaningless. Lee parents can look at how engaged their kids are and what they are learning and how they are learning to gauge the success of the school.

I’d also recommend looking at other measures. There are other tests the younger kids take and much more data. Are racial breakdowns available? If so, I’d wager they show a different picture. The PARCC is a flawed test that has been dropped in almost every other state. If you can’t type well and aren’t taught the tricks, you aren’t going to score as well as kids who are.

Why so few kids in the cohort?

Lee made 61 first grade offers this year. Do you know why so many?

They are the leading grades. The school started about five years ago with about 10 or so kids in each of K and 1st kids who were in 4th and 5th last year. They typically have not added kids lost due to moving away, though a couple of kids have joined in higher grades due to being staff member’s kids. Not sure about the numbers of third graders (now 4th) but only 15 took the test. The current third graders are the first cohort to have started at Lee in PK3 and been there all the way through primary and now in their last year in lower el, but they have yet to take PARCC.

For first grade, they opened a new lower el class this year so that might account for the number of offers. There are now 4 lower el classes. Plus if offers are made late in the game it can take several offers to get a taker, esp if people apply without much interest in Montessori or if they are largely happy where they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lee parent here. The test scores don’t reflect the amazing work the kids are doing at this school, regardless of race. It’s also a very small testing cohort. VERY small esp in grades 4 and 5. There are many educated, professional, involved black parents at Lee (as with white parents) but less so in the upper grades. When you have less than ten kids taking a test and a couple of them have learning difficulties or special ed challenges AND the school does not teach to the test, the percentiles are meaningless. Lee parents can look at how engaged their kids are and what they are learning and how they are learning to gauge the success of the school.

I’d also recommend looking at other measures. There are other tests the younger kids take and much more data. Are racial breakdowns available? If so, I’d wager they show a different picture. The PARCC is a flawed test that has been dropped in almost every other state. If you can’t type well and aren’t taught the tricks, you aren’t going to score as well as kids who are.

Why so few kids in the cohort?

Lee made 61 first grade offers this year. Do you know why so many?

They are the leading grades. The school started about five years ago with about 10 or so kids in each of K and 1st kids who were in 4th and 5th last year. They typically have not added kids lost due to moving away, though a couple of kids have joined in higher grades due to being staff member’s kids. Not sure about the numbers of third graders (now 4th) but only 15 took the test. The current third graders are the first cohort to have started at Lee in PK3 and been there all the way through primary and now in their last year in lower el, but they have yet to take PARCC.

For first grade, they opened a new lower el class this year so that might account for the number of offers. There are now 4 lower el classes. Plus if offers are made late in the game it can take several offers to get a taker, esp if people apply without much interest in Montessori or if they are largely happy where they are.

Oh wow. I bet a lot of SSMA kids came over.