Reply to Two Rivers elementary families -- what is your MS plan

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Does TR really do “expeditionary learning” in older grades? [/quote]

There are attempts in some classrooms. Its not a robust curriculum approach past kindergarten.[/quote]

The problem is that it is their official curriculum. So if it's not followed or not followed closely, what you get is a patchwork with no consistency. This is why they need to completely overhaul their curriculum. This is also one of the major reasons behind teacher attrition.

I think the reluctance to let go of EL is that [b]they view it as a differentiator from DCPS and other charters.[/b] Without it it's really unclear what TR is offering.

This is also often a problem with Montessori charters in upper grades (past 3rd or so) which is why they often see a lot of attrition at that point as parents want to acclimate kids to a traditional classroom. But none of the Montessori schools abandon their principal method in K! Also Montessori has some real support as a method in ECE grades where's EL is just some trendy approach TR latched onto for some reason.[/quote]

I'm sure that they do, but I've never really grasped what it is other than a bunch of field trips and like, projects about the field trips.

ITDS doesn't have any particular angle and [b]yet is successful[/b]. I think the main thing they're offering is a small middle school, which some people love and some people don't want, and a very high adult-child ratio due to all the student teachers. And of course a bunch of high-SES kids and decent test scores. I wouldn't say the differentiation is really that good, they just have a lot of kids who are smart.[/quote]

Your definition of "success" differs from my own. Also differs from what the word actually means. "Better than a lousy comparator" is not what that word means.[/quote]

The truth is that very few charters at the elementary level are actually better academically than the average DCPS. [b]If you adjust test scores by socioeconomic level, many charters are actually worse academically. [/b]

We are a former TR family now at a DCPS (and not one of the 3 on the Hill that gets talked about on here as "good") and I am not soured in charters completely. We will almost certainly try for charters for MS and HS. But I think at the elementary level charters that do not offer a significant differentiator from DCPS (like Montessori or immersion) should be held to very high standards academically.

Our DCPS experience has been really good and even though I don't regret going to TR for ECE I now realize that we would have better than okay at our IB DCPS for those years with the benefit of a short commute. We were overly swayed by people telling us it was a bad school.[/quote]

Bolded is an oft repeated statement of nonsense repeated by so many of you "deep thinkers". I don't send my kid to a school to an ES to get their test scores up. I send them to a school where there are enough kids with high test scores that my kid won't be bored or warehoused. By this dumb logic, you should send your kid to any school with a 1% proficiency rate since your kid will be fine. It is ES.

You people and your fortune cookie logic amuse me.  [/quote]

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