Lee Montessori for Black Children

[Anonymous]

Highly concerned about Lee for my black children. Mission is to close the opportunity/achievement gap, website covered in faces of black students, PARCC scores show 0% black students as meeting expectations in Math. ZERO compared to almost 70% for their white counterpart. Only 13% for ELA compared to 50% for white students. They are also the driving force between the "Sojourner Truth School." Is this only scary to me? Are my children safe? Is this white saviorism at its most dangerous?

[Anonymous]

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.

[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.

Black staff are present and incredible, but not in guide roles. Mostly in assistant roles and specials. Leadership is concerning. New location with these results are concerning. Lots of talk of equity/diversity--- not visible in practice. PARCC scores were less concerning last year since the number of students was small. Now there are 3rd, 4th and 5th graders with a significant population of black students. Scary to know that NONE meet math expectations when many have attended since Primary.

[Anonymous]

Agreed that the school doesn't seem as good at educating kids of color as other schools in DC are...even other public montessori schools. I'd ask about the median growth percentiles--if AA kids are coming in at the 5th percentile and growing to the 25th in a single year, that's different than if they're coming in at the 15th percentile and staying there.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

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.

We are new to Lee as a pk3 family this year so I can't speak to broader issues with how they reach kids of color but my daughter's lead guide is African American and the school just hired a "director of equity and inclusion" who is latinx.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

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.

We are new to Lee as a pk3 family this year so I can't speak to broader issues with how they reach kids of color but my daughter's lead guide is African American and the school just hired a "director of equity and inclusion" who is latinx.

They have also hosted parent equity workshops and opened a school EOTR with the "continued mission" of closing the opportunity gap while also stating at the PCSB hearing that they anticipate serving the same population as their Brookland campus. I think its more a matter of checking off the DEI checkboxes.

[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?

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

If so, don’t expand.

[Anonymous]

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.

They have a fellowship to do just this.

[Anonymous]

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.

They have a fellowship to do just this.

Why not hold white teachers accountable for teaching all children instead of blaming this systemmic problem on not enough black Montessori teachers. Zero black children meeting expectations is INEXCUSABLE!

[Anonymous]

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.

Why aren’t the highly qualified, DEI trained white guides able to reach their black students the way they are obviously reaching white children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Highly concerned about Lee for my black children. Mission is to close the opportunity/achievement gap, website covered in faces of black students, PARCC scores show 0% black students as meeting expectations in Math. ZERO compared to almost 70% for their white counterpart. Only 13% for ELA compared to 50% for white students. They are also the driving force between the "Sojourner Truth School." Is this only scary to me? Are my children safe? Is this white saviorism at its most dangerous?

Yes, Lee seems to be a safe place. Will your child be well-educated? Perhaps. Much of that depends on the school but it also depends on you. Keep in mind that Lee is still a relatively new school. Their first school year was 2014-15. They don't seem to have figured out educating all students yet in a way that shows great results on PARCC. Lee's PARCC results for black children are below average but so is Lee's performance for white children. There are other reasons that parents choose Lee than test scores.