Reply to Lee Montessori open slots for 1st and 2nd

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Reply to "Lee Montessori open slots for 1st and 2nd"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Lee has had some truly amazing staff, but unfortunately, many of them left over the last few years. As a result of this and other changes, there have been several recent challenges there.

It seems like all of the DC charter schools that expanded to a second campus have become stretched too thin with growing pains and lost some of their previously wonderful environment.[/quote]

I would respectfully suggest that what they lost by expanding was the concentration of UMC families enrolled. That, in turn, exposed them to some of the same behavioral and learning challenges that was the reason many families fled from DCPS schools. That has created behavioral issues in upper ES grades and lowered test scores. That combination of factors may be creating a feedback loop. Add to that the fact that UMC families are leaving DC and the school system and there are now fewer UMC families for an expanding number of seats. My view is that this is going to separate out the schools that excelled because of preferred demographics from those whose outcomes were not wholly dependent on those UMC advantages.  [/quote]

A lot of speculation in here.

I agree that it's important to look at demographics when comparing charters to DCPS because charters have a more self-selecting population of families and often the difference in test scores is simply a reflection of student demographics.

But is there evidence Lee has "diluted" its concentration of UMC families? My understanding is that Brookland is still mostly UMC families. Not sure about East End -- I think they do get a handful of Hill families for PK if they can't get into their IB or have a bad IB, but my understanding is that Lee EE is mostly families EotR, from neighborhoods like Hillcrest where there are plenty of UMC families who might be interested in Montessori. EE is more of a wild card anyway because they haven't taken PARCC yet as they are still building up their upper grades.

My sense is that Lee still has a predominantly UMC family base. Which means that if the school's test scores lag similarly situated schools (they do) and there is a steady list of longtime and talented staff departing, the issue is not simply that they expanded too quickly. It's that there may be something fundamentally off about their approach.[/quote]

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