Academic experience at Mundo Verde in the 1st-3rd grade years

[Anonymous]

Hi, would appreciate any insights parents of current and former Mundo Verde students can share as we consider a waitlist offer at the new campus. Given that it is a new campus, I want to get a feel for the academic rigor (or not) of their model given experience on P street.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

From what I hear it is only passable. I think so much of the school's time, energy, and funding goes into Spanish, there is not as much left for other things. The same could be said for the students' mental bandwidth and time. I know the parent group has a committee on the topic.

With DCI no longer a guarantee, I would expect higher attrition in upper elementary as people may seek to lock down a middle and high school path via Latin, Basis, Wilson feeders, or the burbs. So that would mean a smaller cohort or backfilling with kids who may be less academically prepared.

[Anonymous]

At the new campus I would be concerned about teacher quality. They have to find new Spanish-speaking teachers every year, and they can't move too many from P St without a negative impact there. MV already has a problem with teacher retention and Spanish speaking teachers have more labor market power. Also a lot of their teachers do not have MA, just a BA and not in teaching. So, I'm not a fan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the new campus I would be concerned about teacher quality. They have to find new Spanish-speaking teachers every year, and they can't move too many from P St without a negative impact there. MV already has a problem with teacher retention and Spanish speaking teachers have more labor market power. Also a lot of their teachers do not have MA, just a BA and not in teaching. So, I'm not a fan.

Where are you finding your data on teacher retention? According to the State Board of Education report on teacher attrition Mundo Verde does not have a problem with teacher retention. Three year averages for similar HRCS--
DCB-9%
Stokes-12%
LAMB--10%
TR--12%
ITS--21%
Mundo Verde--16%

Compared with all charter schools MV is actually doing well. DC charter schools in have trouble retaining teachers in general. I am a teacher in the suburbs and we have many former DC charter school teachers here because they want better benefits and a larger system of support.

[Anonymous]

We loved Mundo Verde, but I don’t have much good to say about the academic experience of grades 1-3. Spanish was great!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the new campus I would be concerned about teacher quality. They have to find new Spanish-speaking teachers every year, and they can't move too many from P St without a negative impact there. MV already has a problem with teacher retention and Spanish speaking teachers have more labor market power. Also a lot of their teachers do not have MA, just a BA and not in teaching. So, I'm not a fan.

Where are you finding your data on teacher retention? According to the State Board of Education report on teacher attrition Mundo Verde does not have a problem with teacher retention. Three year averages for similar HRCS--
DCB-9%
Stokes-12%
LAMB--10%
TR--12%
ITS--21%
Mundo Verde--16%

Compared with all charter schools MV is actually doing well. DC charter schools in have trouble retaining teachers in general. I am a teacher in the suburbs and we have many former DC charter school teachers here because they want better benefits and a larger system of support.

This is SY 2017 data, before things got unpleasant enough that the teachers chose to unionize. OP, a charter teacher union is exceedingly rare in DC. Makes me wonder why they felt it was necessary. So I would look at 16% as a floor, a more recent stat might be worse.

I suspect ITS looks high because of their teaching fellows, who stay for one year by design. MV is the highest turnover among DCI feeders except Yu Ying (27%, wow).

More charters: Lee 14%. CMI 31% (ouch!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the new campus I would be concerned about teacher quality. They have to find new Spanish-speaking teachers every year, and they can't move too many from P St without a negative impact there. MV already has a problem with teacher retention and Spanish speaking teachers have more labor market power. Also a lot of their teachers do not have MA, just a BA and not in teaching. So, I'm not a fan.

Where are you finding your data on teacher retention? According to the State Board of Education report on teacher attrition Mundo Verde does not have a problem with teacher retention. Three year averages for similar HRCS--
DCB-9%
Stokes-12%
LAMB--10%
TR--12%
ITS--21%
Mundo Verde--16%

Compared with all charter schools MV is actually doing well. DC charter schools in have trouble retaining teachers in general. I am a teacher in the suburbs and we have many former DC charter school teachers here because they want better benefits and a larger system of support.

This is SY 2017 data, before things got unpleasant enough that the teachers chose to unionize. OP, a charter teacher union is exceedingly rare in DC. Makes me wonder why they felt it was necessary. So I would look at 16% as a floor, a more recent stat might be worse.

I suspect ITS looks high because of their teaching fellows, who stay for one year by design. MV is the highest turnover among DCI feeders except Yu Ying (27%, wow).

More charters: Lee 14%. CMI 31% (ouch!).

Which years? Also I think Yu Ying is a bit by design also isn't it? For the Chinese teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the new campus I would be concerned about teacher quality. They have to find new Spanish-speaking teachers every year, and they can't move too many from P St without a negative impact there. MV already has a problem with teacher retention and Spanish speaking teachers have more labor market power. Also a lot of their teachers do not have MA, just a BA and not in teaching. So, I'm not a fan.

Where are you finding your data on teacher retention? According to the State Board of Education report on teacher attrition Mundo Verde does not have a problem with teacher retention. Three year averages for similar HRCS--
DCB-9%
Stokes-12%
LAMB--10%
TR--12%
ITS--21%
Mundo Verde--16%

Compared with all charter schools MV is actually doing well. DC charter schools in have trouble retaining teachers in general. I am a teacher in the suburbs and we have many former DC charter school teachers here because they want better benefits and a larger system of support.

This is SY 2017 data, before things got unpleasant enough that the teachers chose to unionize. OP, a charter teacher union is exceedingly rare in DC. Makes me wonder why they felt it was necessary. So I would look at 16% as a floor, a more recent stat might be worse.

I suspect ITS looks high because of their teaching fellows, who stay for one year by design. MV is the highest turnover among DCI feeders except Yu Ying (27%, wow).

More charters: Lee 14%. CMI 31% (ouch!).

Which years? Also I think Yu Ying is a bit by design also isn't it? For the Chinese teachers?

I'm not familiar with YY so sure, could be. The SBOE report is for 2015-2017, published a year ago.

[Anonymous]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/teachers-at-a-dc-charter-school-are-trying-to-unionize-in-a-rare-move/2019/04/23/3b1d9568-652c-11e9-a1b6-b29b90efa879_story.html?outputType=amp

Perry Stein says 27.9% attrition for SY 17-18. So a big uptick from 16%.

Most importantly for OP, how are they going to staff MV8 with experienced teachers from P St like they say they will, if so many are leaving?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the new campus I would be concerned about teacher quality. They have to find new Spanish-speaking teachers every year, and they can't move too many from P St without a negative impact there. MV already has a problem with teacher retention and Spanish speaking teachers have more labor market power. Also a lot of their teachers do not have MA, just a BA and not in teaching. So, I'm not a fan.

Where are you finding your data on teacher retention? According to the State Board of Education report on teacher attrition Mundo Verde does not have a problem with teacher retention. Three year averages for similar HRCS--
DCB-9%
Stokes-12%
LAMB--10%
TR--12%
ITS--21%
Mundo Verde--16%

Compared with all charter schools MV is actually doing well. DC charter schools in have trouble retaining teachers in general. I am a teacher in the suburbs and we have many former DC charter school teachers here because they want better benefits and a larger system of support.

This is SY 2017 data, before things got unpleasant enough that the teachers chose to unionize. OP, a charter teacher union is exceedingly rare in DC. Makes me wonder why they felt it was necessary. So I would look at 16% as a floor, a more recent stat might be worse.

I suspect ITS looks high because of their teaching fellows, who stay for one year by design. MV is the highest turnover among DCI feeders except Yu Ying (27%, wow).

More charters: Lee 14%. CMI 31% (ouch!).

I am not positive but I don’t think the fellows count in this data. Anyhow, MV has teaching fellows also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/teachers-at-a-dc-charter-school-are-trying-to-unionize-in-a-rare-move/2019/04/23/3b1d9568-652c-11e9-a1b6-b29b90efa879_story.html?outputType=amp

Perry Stein says 27.9% attrition for SY 17-18. So a big uptick from 16%.

Most importantly for OP, how are they going to staff MV8 with experienced teachers from P St like they say they will, if so many are leaving?

Wow, that is an alarming increase.

[Anonymous]

Back to the original question: parent of current MV student: the community is really wonderful, the values are great, my child has had good teachers, my child is happy to go to school. But the academics have not been strong in any area including Spanish -- there are minimal or non-existent expectations across the board; the kids just don't learn that much, with limited supports for struggling kids and no push for kids who can use extra challenge. I wish it were otherwise. I'm not sad my child is at the school, but it could be so much better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From what I hear it is only passable. I think so much of the school's time, energy, and funding goes into Spanish, there is not as much left for other things. The same could be said for the students' mental bandwidth and time. I know the parent group has a committee on the topic.

With DCI no longer a guarantee, I would expect higher attrition in upper elementary as people may seek to lock down a middle and high school path via Latin, Basis, Wilson feeders, or the burbs. So that would mean a smaller cohort or backfilling with kids who may be less academically prepared.

Don’t think so. Much, much better chance of getting in DCI than Latin, Basis, Wilson feeders OOB. And 0 chance of going to the IB middle and high school. We know many families who are not interested in moving WOTP take the long view with MV and DCI and know the odds unlike you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I hear it is only passable. I think so much of the school's time, energy, and funding goes into Spanish, there is not as much left for other things. The same could be said for the students' mental bandwidth and time. I know the parent group has a committee on the topic.

With DCI no longer a guarantee, I would expect higher attrition in upper elementary as people may seek to lock down a middle and high school path via Latin, Basis, Wilson feeders, or the burbs. So that would mean a smaller cohort or backfilling with kids who may be less academically prepared.

Don’t think so. Much, much better chance of getting in DCI than Latin, Basis, Wilson feeders OOB. And 0 chance of going to the IB middle and high school. We know many families who are not interested in moving WOTP take the long view with MV and DCI and know the odds unlike you.

Maybe not higher than Basis but families choose language immersion because of the language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I hear it is only passable. I think so much of the school's time, energy, and funding goes into Spanish, there is not as much left for other things. The same could be said for the students' mental bandwidth and time. I know the parent group has a committee on the topic.

With DCI no longer a guarantee, I would expect higher attrition in upper elementary as people may seek to lock down a middle and high school path via Latin, Basis, Wilson feeders, or the burbs. So that would mean a smaller cohort or backfilling with kids who may be less academically prepared.

Don’t think so. Much, much better chance of getting in DCI than Latin, Basis, Wilson feeders OOB. And 0 chance of going to the IB middle and high school. We know many families who are not interested in moving WOTP take the long view with MV and DCI and know the odds unlike you.

Right but you can't know about DCI until the 6th grade lottery. So why not see how you do in the 5th grade lottery? Also, some kids have siblings elsewhere.