I cannot see any way that they'll be allowed to give preference to graduates of CHML (or Langdon or Nalle). DCPS doesn't want to give up its students, and I don't think the charter rules allow for giving preference to one school or type of school (for example, DCI couldn't give preference to Oyster grads!).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the idea that only kids who have been in Montessori charters will be able to attend or will kids from traditional schools also be able to attend?

And how will they afford to operate with such a limited applicant pool?

This. Basically kids from Lee, CHML, and private Montessoris or schools outside DC?

What about someone who graduated from, say, Langdon in 5th, went somewhere for 6th, and then wanted into "Truth" (Hate the name, btw) for 7th?

CHM@L answered some similar questions at its open house. Could kids who haven’t been in a Montessori school apply to its 6th grade? They said they would evaluate kids’ situations on a case-by-case basis, working their way down the waitlist. If kids had some Montessori in pre-K, and families were dedicated to the methods at home, they would be considered, etc. That’s just an example.

I think another thing to consider is that Maria Montessori didn’t really leave us with a workable 7-12 pedagogy. She had even more radical ideas that fall too far outside of the traditional system for modern schools to be strictly (or even semi-strictly) “Montessori.” So modern 7-12 educators are really forging new paths. At CHM@L, middle school isn’t so different from traditional middle schools. I’m curious to see what the Truth School comes up with in terms of instructional design and pedagogy. But I can imagine them working with kids who have been through non-Montessori programs.

Just thinking out loud....

I am extremely, extremely skeptical that the charter board would allow a school to assess family home environment in that manner. They're basically being allowed to cherry-pick the most motivated and, let's face it, higher-income parents. I think that would be an injustice and likely result in a lawsuit.

Fair point ????

If they're saying that a month out from the application deadline, they're pretty confused. Time to get real. It will be very, very hard to fill up a class at an untested middle school with entirely students with recent or significant Montessori experience. There just aren't that many of them and you'd have to compete with better-established schools. The 8th graders would be almost entirely students with no Montessori experience. But we're supposed to think that will work well enough that the very next year, they'll be ready to open and operate a high school? Who's going to go to this school?

Look at the experience of ITS, CMI, and Two Rivers. It's really, really hard to get a middle school off the ground, because the budget requires backfilling with new kids who haven't necessarily been well-served by their prior schools. Current families don't all stay, especially if they don't like what they're seeing in the middle school grades.

I haven't heard them say anything about assessing home environments. What I was told is they are well aware that the first few years they will have higher percentages of non-Montessori kids because many of the Montessori schools don't yet have full upper el classrooms (or any at all in the case of Breakthrough). But that the idea is that the Montessori kids will stay in their schools through 6th grade and start at Truth in 7th. And non-Montessori kids could have the opportunity to enter in 6th grade to get more acclimated to a Montessori environment.

Sounds like they have the application ready to submit next week and are collecting additional letters of support. The hearing will be in April with the PCSB. And they are working through how they'd advocate for a feeder system using the same argument DCI did (i.e. parents have invested this amount of time and effort in a specialized curriculum and should be allowed to continue it). Allegedly have support from Mendehlson and Grosso. Obviously tougher without Catania around.

Everyone asking about how the Sojourner Truth MS/HS needs to hold their horses and see how the actual application is prepared.

What they say want to do now may well be changed in their application after input from the PCSB staff. And remember that DCI had to get some specific legislation through the Council (championed by David Catania) to allow a feeder school preference.

And it could change again after the public comments are submitted and the board takes testimony.

Anonymous wrote:This thread was hijacked but back to lower and upper el classes I have a child in 2nd grade and we are so thrilled with the work that they do. It’s so much more expansive than what I see at typical schools.
They are also big on independence with going outs, reports on any subject, etc.
Also the method of how they teach math is very tactical and physical. So when I see parents complaining about common core and I look at the work it is actually similar to Montessori method (teaching in units, tens, thousands etc vs memorization.

I knew it was awesome when my 5 year old brought home a division problem in the millions and it was right (I used a calculator to check lol)

I would sincerely say to anyone wondering ask a parent in an upper grade, do an observation or see if the school offers any educational programs.

Thank you!

This thread was hijacked but back to lower and upper el classes I have a child in 2nd grade and we are so thrilled with the work that they do. It’s so much more expansive than what I see at typical schools.
They are also big on independence with going outs, reports on any subject, etc.
Also the method of how they teach math is very tactical and physical. So when I see parents complaining about common core and I look at the work it is actually similar to Montessori method (teaching in units, tens, thousands etc vs memorization.

I knew it was awesome when my 5 year old brought home a division problem in the millions and it was right (I used a calculator to check lol)

I would sincerely say to anyone wondering ask a parent in an upper grade, do an observation or see if the school offers any educational programs.

Are the middle grades at CHML going to move to become part of this new school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the idea that only kids who have been in Montessori charters will be able to attend or will kids from traditional schools also be able to attend?

And how will they afford to operate with such a limited applicant pool?

This. Basically kids from Lee, CHML, and private Montessoris or schools outside DC?

What about someone who graduated from, say, Langdon in 5th, went somewhere for 6th, and then wanted into "Truth" (Hate the name, btw) for 7th?

CHM@L answered some similar questions at its open house. Could kids who haven’t been in a Montessori school apply to its 6th grade? They said they would evaluate kids’ situations on a case-by-case basis, working their way down the waitlist. If kids had some Montessori in pre-K, and families were dedicated to the methods at home, they would be considered, etc. That’s just an example.

I think another thing to consider is that Maria Montessori didn’t really leave us with a workable 7-12 pedagogy. She had even more radical ideas that fall too far outside of the traditional system for modern schools to be strictly (or even semi-strictly) “Montessori.” So modern 7-12 educators are really forging new paths. At CHM@L, middle school isn’t so different from traditional middle schools. I’m curious to see what the Truth School comes up with in terms of instructional design and pedagogy. But I can imagine them working with kids who have been through non-Montessori programs.

Just thinking out loud....

I am extremely, extremely skeptical that the charter board would allow a school to assess family home environment in that manner. They're basically being allowed to cherry-pick the most motivated and, let's face it, higher-income parents. I think that would be an injustice and likely result in a lawsuit.

Fair point ????

If they're saying that a month out from the application deadline, they're pretty confused. Time to get real. It will be very, very hard to fill up a class at an untested middle school with entirely students with recent or significant Montessori experience. There just aren't that many of them and you'd have to compete with better-established schools. The 8th graders would be almost entirely students with no Montessori experience. But we're supposed to think that will work well enough that the very next year, they'll be ready to open and operate a high school? Who's going to go to this school?

Look at the experience of ITS, CMI, and Two Rivers. It's really, really hard to get a middle school off the ground, because the budget requires backfilling with new kids who haven't necessarily been well-served by their prior schools. Current families don't all stay, especially if they don't like what they're seeing in the middle school grades.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the idea that only kids who have been in Montessori charters will be able to attend or will kids from traditional schools also be able to attend?

And how will they afford to operate with such a limited applicant pool?

This. Basically kids from Lee, CHML, and private Montessoris or schools outside DC?

What about someone who graduated from, say, Langdon in 5th, went somewhere for 6th, and then wanted into "Truth" (Hate the name, btw) for 7th?

CHM@L answered some similar questions at its open house. Could kids who haven’t been in a Montessori school apply to its 6th grade? They said they would evaluate kids’ situations on a case-by-case basis, working their way down the waitlist. If kids had some Montessori in pre-K, and families were dedicated to the methods at home, they would be considered, etc. That’s just an example.

I think another thing to consider is that Maria Montessori didn’t really leave us with a workable 7-12 pedagogy. She had even more radical ideas that fall too far outside of the traditional system for modern schools to be strictly (or even semi-strictly) “Montessori.” So modern 7-12 educators are really forging new paths. At CHM@L, middle school isn’t so different from traditional middle schools. I’m curious to see what the Truth School comes up with in terms of instructional design and pedagogy. But I can imagine them working with kids who have been through non-Montessori programs.

Just thinking out loud....

The latest presentation on their website breaks down a lot of this. More than I have seen "publicly" when other schools are being chartered.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the idea that only kids who have been in Montessori charters will be able to attend or will kids from traditional schools also be able to attend?

And how will they afford to operate with such a limited applicant pool?

This. Basically kids from Lee, CHML, and private Montessoris or schools outside DC?

What about someone who graduated from, say, Langdon in 5th, went somewhere for 6th, and then wanted into "Truth" (Hate the name, btw) for 7th?

CHM@L answered some similar questions at its open house. Could kids who haven’t been in a Montessori school apply to its 6th grade? They said they would evaluate kids’ situations on a case-by-case basis, working their way down the waitlist. If kids had some Montessori in pre-K, and families were dedicated to the methods at home, they would be considered, etc. That’s just an example.

I think another thing to consider is that Maria Montessori didn’t really leave us with a workable 7-12 pedagogy. She had even more radical ideas that fall too far outside of the traditional system for modern schools to be strictly (or even semi-strictly) “Montessori.” So modern 7-12 educators are really forging new paths. At CHM@L, middle school isn’t so different from traditional middle schools. I’m curious to see what the Truth School comes up with in terms of instructional design and pedagogy. But I can imagine them working with kids who have been through non-Montessori programs.

Just thinking out loud....

I am extremely, extremely skeptical that the charter board would allow a school to assess family home environment in that manner. They're basically being allowed to cherry-pick the most motivated and, let's face it, higher-income parents. I think that would be an injustice and likely result in a lawsuit.

Fair point ????

Ok, I'm sorry but I think it's so ridiculous to call a school "Truth". I'm all for learning about Sojourner Truth, but don't you see how pretentious this sounds?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the idea that only kids who have been in Montessori charters will be able to attend or will kids from traditional schools also be able to attend?

And how will they afford to operate with such a limited applicant pool?

This. Basically kids from Lee, CHML, and private Montessoris or schools outside DC?

What about someone who graduated from, say, Langdon in 5th, went somewhere for 6th, and then wanted into "Truth" (Hate the name, btw) for 7th?

CHM@L answered some similar questions at its open house. Could kids who haven’t been in a Montessori school apply to its 6th grade? They said they would evaluate kids’ situations on a case-by-case basis, working their way down the waitlist. If kids had some Montessori in pre-K, and families were dedicated to the methods at home, they would be considered, etc. That’s just an example.

I think another thing to consider is that Maria Montessori didn’t really leave us with a workable 7-12 pedagogy. She had even more radical ideas that fall too far outside of the traditional system for modern schools to be strictly (or even semi-strictly) “Montessori.” So modern 7-12 educators are really forging new paths. At CHM@L, middle school isn’t so different from traditional middle schools. I’m curious to see what the Truth School comes up with in terms of instructional design and pedagogy. But I can imagine them working with kids who have been through non-Montessori programs.

Just thinking out loud....

I am extremely, extremely skeptical that the charter board would allow a school to assess family home environment in that manner. They're basically being allowed to cherry-pick the most motivated and, let's face it, higher-income parents. I think that would be an injustice and likely result in a lawsuit.

I went to an information session and my impression was that students will be able to lottery in, but that students in the feeder Montessori schools will have a seat. This if they manage to structure the school as jointly operated, like DCI.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the idea that only kids who have been in Montessori charters will be able to attend or will kids from traditional schools also be able to attend?

And how will they afford to operate with such a limited applicant pool?

This. Basically kids from Lee, CHML, and private Montessoris or schools outside DC?

What about someone who graduated from, say, Langdon in 5th, went somewhere for 6th, and then wanted into "Truth" (Hate the name, btw) for 7th?

CHM@L answered some similar questions at its open house. Could kids who haven’t been in a Montessori school apply to its 6th grade? They said they would evaluate kids’ situations on a case-by-case basis, working their way down the waitlist. If kids had some Montessori in pre-K, and families were dedicated to the methods at home, they would be considered, etc. That’s just an example.

I think another thing to consider is that Maria Montessori didn’t really leave us with a workable 7-12 pedagogy. She had even more radical ideas that fall too far outside of the traditional system for modern schools to be strictly (or even semi-strictly) “Montessori.” So modern 7-12 educators are really forging new paths. At CHM@L, middle school isn’t so different from traditional middle schools. I’m curious to see what the Truth School comes up with in terms of instructional design and pedagogy. But I can imagine them working with kids who have been through non-Montessori programs.

Just thinking out loud....

How are they going to have enough kids to start a high school after kust one year? There are so few Montessori middle schools existing at all. How does the math work out?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the idea that only kids who have been in Montessori charters will be able to attend or will kids from traditional schools also be able to attend?

And how will they afford to operate with such a limited applicant pool?

This. Basically kids from Lee, CHML, and private Montessoris or schools outside DC?

What about someone who graduated from, say, Langdon in 5th, went somewhere for 6th, and then wanted into "Truth" (Hate the name, btw) for 7th?

The Sojournor Truth school