LAMB Waitlist

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s totally out of the ordinary for people to leave Montessori in upper elementary, regardless of the school

+1

This! We are a family hoping to get into LAMB for PK but I have no illusions that we will stick with Montessori through 5th grade. Also a PP mentioned no PARCC prep which I actually think is a plus. I can’t stand the emphasis on standardized tests.

I felt exactly as you did. Until I started to worry that maybe my kids weren’t getting a solid base in every subject. I had little faith in my kids teacher who didn’t seem especially motivated to ensure my kiddo had an understanding of everything, especially in math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know many families that are leaving. They’re leaving because the lottery gave them options. They chose Latin for its small class size, or basis for its rigor. Or for some these schools were more conveniently located to their house than DCI. Lamb can certainly improve upper elementary but I don’t think you can conclude that those who left did so because they disliked lamb. For most it was a tough decision and if they would have had an option to defer until after 5th grade they likely would have.

This describes us. We are leaving, but absolutely would have stayed through 5th if we could have somehow deferred our spot for a year. Since that is (understandably) not an option, we are leaving, but even so it was a hard decision.

Why did you prefer your offer rather than DCI?

Much smaller classes (both the individual classes, but also the full class year are noticeably smaller and both of these will (I think) really improve the middle school/high school experience for my child) and a significantly better commute. Even so, we still almost turned down the offer (and accepted it in part because my child was on board with continuing spanish lessons outside of school time).

What do you think of upper el?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people think there will be more waitlist movement as we hit August? We've barely seen our number move at all at LAMB (pk3). Not sure if that's the usual pattern or if it feels like the waitlist is moving slower this year?

There was a big exodus from Upper El this year, although that doesn’t mean they will backfill for the younger grades.

Wow, why did that happen?

I'm sure there were some people that pulled Upper El kids because they were unhappy but most of the people I know who are leaving Upper El, are doing so because they got a spot at Latin or BASIS. For the families I am friends with, this was less about LAMB and more about Latin/BASIS.

It is absolutely a referendum on lamb to leave for basis or Latin. Neither has spanish (very telling- and many of the families who are leaving told me that their children’s spanish had deteriorated to the point where they decided to abandon spanish) and since dci at lamb is practically guaranteed, it is more of a question whether these kids want to waste 5th grade coloring and napping or if they want to go to a school that actually teaches math, for example.

Again I know many families happy with their teachers, but it should ring warning bells that so many upper el families left.

As a parent who is leaving, I agree with this. If LAMB was good in a good place, people wouldn't be leaving. There are reasons for the mass exodus. They may be individual reasons, but they all, at least in part, trace back to a school that is in decline despite good teachers.

I am in total agreement with you. Last year the upper el parents complained about many things, but mostly that upper el standards varied dramatically from classroom to classroom. I knew parents who had a very different experience than I did. While I generally think the school has the potential to be great, upper el is the weakest link. For a long time the complaints have fallen on deaf ears. I am not very optimistic that there will be any improvement based on the current temporary principal and ED. Perhaps the new ED (whenever they’re here?) will focus on upper el, but I am not optimistic with the current Board of Directors. Only one or two of them have any connection to Latin America, the Board chair seems hostile to parents, and as stated earlier on this thread, many board members pulled their kids out of upper el. This is remarkably telling in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people think there will be more waitlist movement as we hit August? We've barely seen our number move at all at LAMB (pk3). Not sure if that's the usual pattern or if it feels like the waitlist is moving slower this year?

There was a big exodus from Upper El this year, although that doesn’t mean they will backfill for the younger grades.

Wow, why did that happen?

I'm sure there were some people that pulled Upper El kids because they were unhappy but most of the people I know who are leaving Upper El, are doing so because they got a spot at Latin or BASIS. For the families I am friends with, this was less about LAMB and more about Latin/BASIS.

It is absolutely a referendum on lamb to leave for basis or Latin. Neither has spanish (very telling- and many of the families who are leaving told me that their children’s spanish had deteriorated to the point where they decided to abandon spanish) and since dci at lamb is practically guaranteed, it is more of a question whether these kids want to waste 5th grade coloring and napping or if they want to go to a school that actually teaches math, for example.

Again I know many families happy with their teachers, but it should ring warning bells that so many upper el families left.

As a parent who is leaving, I agree with this. If LAMB was good in a good place, people wouldn't be leaving. There are reasons for the mass exodus. They may be individual reasons, but they all, at least in part, trace back to a school that is in decline despite good teachers.

I am in total agreement with you. Last year the upper el parents complained about many things, but mostly that upper el standards varied dramatically from classroom to classroom. I knew parents who had a very different experience than I did. While I generally think the school has the potential to be great, upper el is the weakest link. For a long time the complaints have fallen on deaf ears. I am not very optimistic that there will be any improvement based on the current temporary principal and ED. Perhaps the new ED (whenever they’re here?) will focus on upper el, but I am not optimistic with the current Board of Directors. Only one or two of them have any connection to Latin America, the Board chair seems hostile to parents, and as stated earlier on this thread, many board members pulled their kids out of upper el. This is remarkably telling in my opinion.

Excluding the italicized this is all 100% applicable to TR as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://edscape.dc.gov/page/student-enrollment-pathways

You can look at data on where students come from and where they go, if you scroll down to the second display. For last year, it shows that 49 4th graders stayed at LAMB for 5th, others went to BASIS, Latin, and CMI. After 5th, only 18 matriculated to DCI (!), others to Truth, Paul, and out of the DC public school system.

Yes this is absolutely accurate. But I’m talking about rising 4th and 5th graders. I know at least 16 kids who are leaving,

From 3rd to 4th SY21-22 to 21-23 kids went from LAMB to:
LAMB (53)
Oyster (<10)
School Without Walls @SF (<10)
CMI (<10)

From 4th to 5th LAMB kids went to:
LAMB (49)
Latin (<10)
BASIS (<10)
CMI (<10)

After 5th at LAMB:
DCI (18)
Paul PCS (<10)
Sojourner (<10)

Sorry, typo in years (fixed above)

My DC was one of the 18 5th graders in SY 21-22 that went to DCI in SY 22-23. That was a very small class (not more than 22-24 total) but the great majority went on to DCI (only one went to Sojourner, for instance). But if I am reading this correctly, I can't actually tell how many of this particular class departed from year to year, right? I wish we could see that because comparing 4th to 5th departures is meaningless to use as a measure of the quality of LAMB. We do know that for the class behind, 4th-5th, <10 went each to Latin, Basis & CMI. As PP stated this is (almost) entirely families who don't want to move on to DCI, and this is the year you have to leave to get into Latin, Basis, etc. The departures from 3rd to 4th are a better indicator for measuring the quality of LAMB. I am not going to cheerlead for UE at LAMB because it has been hit or miss. But you can't combine the 16 4th & 5th grade departures as PP stated as a measure of LAMB quality. People leave at each of those grade transitions for different reasons.

I agree that the usefulness of the data is limited because we can't track the YoY departures as a class moves along. Hopefully the data will continue to be released. (And hopefully someone with better Tableau skills than me will be able to manipulate it so i don't have to play with Excel).

If this data were crosswalked to the OSSE enrollment audit spreadsheets it would be very interesting.

Imagine that and also include the boundary enrollment data. We'd get an unbiased view of what schools are generating and retaining engagement and whether trend lines change.

The thing is, every time they re-do the boundaries it makes the data complicated. There's no way to account for kids who are OOB right now, but at the time they enrolled in the school they were IB.

You must not live here. The boundary reviews are infrequent and the only changes they make nibble around the edges. The number of kids and schools in the situation you are describing is a rounding error.

I certainly do live here, and if you consider the follow-on effect of people having sibling preference because their oldest child got in as IB, it isn't that small. It can be a lot in certain areas even if it isn't that much citywide. The boundary review is happening now, so it will skew the data for the next few years. And then there's the effect of newly opened schools, which is happening lately as well.

Were you thinking that if you bloviated about sibling preference we wouldn't notice that the premise of your post (that boundary reviews make changes across the board) is fiction? Also, please name the new schools? Besides MacArthur.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://edscape.dc.gov/page/student-enrollment-pathways

You can look at data on where students come from and where they go, if you scroll down to the second display. For last year, it shows that 49 4th graders stayed at LAMB for 5th, others went to BASIS, Latin, and CMI. After 5th, only 18 matriculated to DCI (!), others to Truth, Paul, and out of the DC public school system.

Yes this is absolutely accurate. But I’m talking about rising 4th and 5th graders. I know at least 16 kids who are leaving,

From 3rd to 4th SY21-22 to 21-23 kids went from LAMB to:
LAMB (53)
Oyster (<10)
School Without Walls @SF (<10)
CMI (<10)

From 4th to 5th LAMB kids went to:
LAMB (49)
Latin (<10)
BASIS (<10)
CMI (<10)

After 5th at LAMB:
DCI (18)
Paul PCS (<10)
Sojourner (<10)

Sorry, typo in years (fixed above)

My DC was one of the 18 5th graders in SY 21-22 that went to DCI in SY 22-23. That was a very small class (not more than 22-24 total) but the great majority went on to DCI (only one went to Sojourner, for instance). But if I am reading this correctly, I can't actually tell how many of this particular class departed from year to year, right? I wish we could see that because comparing 4th to 5th departures is meaningless to use as a measure of the quality of LAMB. We do know that for the class behind, 4th-5th, <10 went each to Latin, Basis & CMI. As PP stated this is (almost) entirely families who don't want to move on to DCI, and this is the year you have to leave to get into Latin, Basis, etc. The departures from 3rd to 4th are a better indicator for measuring the quality of LAMB. I am not going to cheerlead for UE at LAMB because it has been hit or miss. But you can't combine the 16 4th & 5th grade departures as PP stated as a measure of LAMB quality. People leave at each of those grade transitions for different reasons.

I agree that the usefulness of the data is limited because we can't track the YoY departures as a class moves along. Hopefully the data will continue to be released. (And hopefully someone with better Tableau skills than me will be able to manipulate it so i don't have to play with Excel).

If this data were crosswalked to the OSSE enrollment audit spreadsheets it would be very interesting.

Imagine that and also include the boundary enrollment data. We'd get an unbiased view of what schools are generating and retaining engagement and whether trend lines change.

The thing is, every time they re-do the boundaries it makes the data complicated. There's no way to account for kids who are OOB right now, but at the time they enrolled in the school they were IB.

You must not live here. The boundary reviews are infrequent and the only changes they make nibble around the edges. The number of kids and schools in the situation you are describing is a rounding error.

I certainly do live here, and if you consider the follow-on effect of people having sibling preference because their oldest child got in as IB, it isn't that small. It can be a lot in certain areas even if it isn't that much citywide. The boundary review is happening now, so it will skew the data for the next few years. And then there's the effect of newly opened schools, which is happening lately as well.

Were you thinking that if you bloviated about sibling preference we wouldn't notice that the premise of your post (that boundary reviews make changes across the board) is fiction? Also, please name the new schools? Besides MacArthur.

Foxhall and new Shaw Middle. Wells. Longer ago, DCPS took over Excel. Formed Langley out of Share and Emery. Yes it's rare, as it should be, but it happens.

Boundary reviews make changes to some schools and not others, yes. I don't know what your point is there.

[Anonymous]

Waitlist numbers were updated on myschooldc and it says LAMB only made 2 offers by August this year for PK3!

Last year’s data shows 16 waitlist offers by August at Kingsbury and 14 at SD. Not feeling so optimistic despite people saying the waitlist was going to a move a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people think there will be more waitlist movement as we hit August? We've barely seen our number move at all at LAMB (pk3). Not sure if that's the usual pattern or if it feels like the waitlist is moving slower this year?

There was a big exodus from Upper El this year, although that doesn’t mean they will backfill for the younger grades.

Wow, why did that happen?

I'm sure there were some people that pulled Upper El kids because they were unhappy but most of the people I know who are leaving Upper El, are doing so because they got a spot at Latin or BASIS. For the families I am friends with, this was less about LAMB and more about Latin/BASIS.

It is absolutely a referendum on lamb to leave for basis or Latin. Neither has spanish (very telling- and many of the families who are leaving told me that their children’s spanish had deteriorated to the point where they decided to abandon spanish) and since dci at lamb is practically guaranteed, it is more of a question whether these kids want to waste 5th grade coloring and napping or if they want to go to a school that actually teaches math, for example.

Again I know many families happy with their teachers, but it should ring warning bells that so many upper el families left.

As a parent who is leaving, I agree with this. If LAMB was good in a good place, people wouldn't be leaving. There are reasons for the mass exodus. They may be individual reasons, but they all, at least in part, trace back to a school that is in decline despite good teachers.

I am in total agreement with you. Last year the upper el parents complained about many things, but mostly that upper el standards varied dramatically from classroom to classroom. I knew parents who had a very different experience than I did. While I generally think the school has the potential to be great, upper el is the weakest link. For a long time the complaints have fallen on deaf ears. I am not very optimistic that there will be any improvement based on the current temporary principal and ED. Perhaps the new ED (whenever they’re here?) will focus on upper el, but I am not optimistic with the current Board of Directors. Only one or two of them have any connection to Latin America, the Board chair seems hostile to parents, and as stated earlier on this thread, many board members pulled their kids out of upper el. This is remarkably telling in my opinion.

Excluding the italicized this is all 100% applicable to TR as well.

I think TR is in much, much dire shape than Lamb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Waitlist numbers were updated on myschooldc and it says LAMB only made 2 offers by August this year for PK3!

Last year’s data shows 16 waitlist offers by August at Kingsbury and 14 at SD. Not feeling so optimistic despite people saying the waitlist was going to a move a lot.

Do people still think there will be some movement in late August / September like years prior? Single digit (prek 3) so still keeping fingers crossed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Waitlist numbers were updated on myschooldc and it says LAMB only made 2 offers by August this year for PK3!

Last year’s data shows 16 waitlist offers by August at Kingsbury and 14 at SD. Not feeling so optimistic despite people saying the waitlist was going to a move a lot.

Do people still think there will be some movement in late August / September like years prior? Single digit (prek 3) so still keeping fingers crossed.

Searching through old DCUM posts, it looks like this year's August data was published about two weeks earlier than last year (someone posted that it was updated August 31, 2022). I wonder if that accounts for some of the numbers seeming so different this year? Fingers crossed you see your number move!

[Anonymous]

I wonder what they are doing about aftercare this year. If they haven’t expanded, that could lead to some last minute PK movement. Then again, maybe everyone is assuming they can’t get in this year and there will be less surprises

[Anonymous]

Our number for PK3 moved a couple spots this week (I think 3), so still a little movement happening

[Anonymous]

Is there any LAMB waitlist movement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any LAMB waitlist movement?

We moved two spots this week

[Anonymous]

Any thoughts as to whether we'll see more waitlist movement over the next two weeks? I know it's probably just a crapshoot at this point.