Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Montessori education is great, but Capitol Hill Montessori is not. Totally agree with PP. Look at LAMB's test scores. The problem is not Montessori but the weak leadership at CHM@L. The school is a mess. Glad you're leaving PP.

Capitol Hill Montessori Overall CAS Score: 64.88
LAMB Overall CAS Score: 76.15

The difference is significant but not huge.

Also, does LAMB actually have any official Montessori recognition? Just because a school has the word Montessori in the title doesn't mean it actually follows Montessori methods.

Respectfully, that difference is HUGE. With a capital "H". And with all due respect to the Montessori true believers, between official recognition and a track record of actually educating children, I'll take the latter.

Agreed. LAMB is also a truly bilingual school so they will always have slightly lower test scores in English. Please look at the test scores of African American students- they're in the 80s. CHM@L has a relatively low FARMS rate but dismal scores.

Really no dog in this fight, but I'm disappointed that a school (CHM@L) that is only a few short blocks from me is such a mess.

Anonymous wrote:If we're going to claim that Capitol Hill Montessori's test scores are "terrible" and suggest that it's not "actually educating children," then we need to say the same things about other elementary schools with similar overall CAS scores such as Inspired Teaching and E.L. Haynes. Fair enough?

I'm fine with that. I wouldn't send my kid to either one of those schools.

Anonymous wrote:If we're going to claim that Capitol Hill Montessori's test scores are "terrible" and suggest that it's not "actually educating children," then we need to say the same things about other elementary schools with similar overall CAS scores such as Inspired Teaching and E.L. Haynes. Fair enough?

+1. I feel like CHML always gets a weird amount of hate (most I am sure from people whose kids have never attended) on this board. No school is perfect but we are very happy there.

If we're going to claim that Capitol Hill Montessori's test scores are "terrible" and suggest that it's not "actually educating children," then we need to say the same things about other elementary schools with similar overall CAS scores such as Inspired Teaching and E.L. Haynes. Fair enough?

Anonymous wrote:There was a slight increase in scores in 2014, this is true. But overall it has terrible test scores.
Capitol Hill Montessori School at Logan is classified as a Focus school, which means:
The school needs targeted support to address large achievement gaps between specific groups of students.
The school is required to develop an intervention plan, set aside a portion of its federal funding and receive special quality monitoring and professional development.
The school remains in this category until it shows two consecutive years of increased performance.

http://www.learndc.org/schoolprofiles/view?s=0360#reportcard

I'm not a fan of Logan (I posted earlier that it was like the emperor's new clothes) but you misunderstand the focus rating. It's as much about all ships rising as it is the static test scores. If there's a huge achievement gap between groups and sub-groups that's going to be reflected. But if you're in one of the groups that achieves that's less of a concern. The test scores themselves, however, are a problem. Playtime is nice but the scores don't lie; apparently playtime and self directed learning doesn't teach math (and no one can teach science if the classrooms are not actually set up!)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Montessori education is great, but Capitol Hill Montessori is not. Totally agree with PP. Look at LAMB's test scores. The problem is not Montessori but the weak leadership at CHM@L. The school is a mess. Glad you're leaving PP.

Capitol Hill Montessori Overall CAS Score: 64.88
LAMB Overall CAS Score: 76.15

The difference is significant but not huge.

Also, does LAMB actually have any official Montessori recognition? Just because a school has the word Montessori in the title doesn't mean it actually follows Montessori methods.

Respectfully, that difference is HUGE. With a capital "H". And with all due respect to the Montessori true believers, between official recognition and a track record of actually educating children, I'll take the latter.

Anonymous wrote:There was a slight increase in scores in 2014, this is true. But overall it has terrible test scores.

There was actually a double-digit increase in the overall CAS from 2013 to 2014, which I wouldn't consider "small." In either case, I see no basis for the claim that there is a downward trend.

There was a slight increase in scores in 2014, this is true. But overall it has terrible test scores.
Capitol Hill Montessori School at Logan is classified as a Focus school, which means:
The school needs targeted support to address large achievement gaps between specific groups of students.
The school is required to develop an intervention plan, set aside a portion of its federal funding and receive special quality monitoring and professional development.
The school remains in this category until it shows two consecutive years of increased performance.

http://www.learndc.org/schoolprofiles/view?s=0360#reportcard

Anonymous wrote:Are you kidding? Our tour was nothing like that. We did not meet any students really, but only spoke to the vice principal. She kept talking about her science lab and how it was her baby but by November it had not even been set up. The boxes were there but they had not even bothered to set up the eye wash station. I mean seriously?!

I would not go to that school based on the downward trend of their test scores, but my tour was reason enough.

Based on what are you claiming there is a downward trend? The school's 2014 scores were significantly higher than its 2013 scores.