Anonymous
Post 08/30/2019 00:32     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
Anonymous wrote:Lee doesn’t spend any time on PARCC prep. They don’t aim the curriculum at the specific material on the test - which takes a particular approach to understanding math and language. It seems clear that they’re not reaching all the kids with some basics, but I think much of the reason for the low scores is that they aren’t putting efforts into PARCC-focused education.


But by “3rd grade” have the kids not taught themselves enough to be at Level 4 on PARCC. When do they expected to catch up to their traditionally taught peers?
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2019 22:39     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
Other schools teach to the test. Montessori is great for naturally very smart, motivated, self driven and curious kids. It will be a failure for others. My kids go to dcps schools that teach to the test. That’s also not ideal. See the parcel exams. Learning has become so rote. My kids get 5s on their part scores, but that’s the downside.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2019 22:20     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
Anonymous wrote:I’m a parent of (white) kids at Lee. It’s hard to reconcile the truly awful test scores with the well-run school I know.

I think it’s worth looking at the sample PARCC exams:

https://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/

to get an idea of what they’re asking and how they’re asking it.


The school is obviously not well-run with these results. The main mission of a school is to educate and Lee is failing black children miserably.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2019 22:16     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
Anonymous wrote:The DC Montessori school with the best PARCC scores is LAMB, and they’re only 55/36.


Well down from where they were. I think the staff shakeup affected things.

Anonymous
Post 08/29/2019 22:05     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
The DC Montessori school with the best PARCC scores is LAMB, and they’re only 55/36.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2019 22:04     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
Lee doesn’t spend any time on PARCC prep. They don’t aim the curriculum at the specific material on the test - which takes a particular approach to understanding math and language. It seems clear that they’re not reaching all the kids with some basics, but I think much of the reason for the low scores is that they aren’t putting efforts into PARCC-focused education.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2019 21:53     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
Anonymous wrote:I’m a parent of (white) kids at Lee. It’s hard to reconcile the truly awful test scores with the well-run school I know.

I think it’s worth looking at the sample PARCC exams:

https://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/

to get an idea of what they’re asking and how they’re asking it.


Sure and there might be some bad questions here and there, but plenty of schools do well and have decent scores.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2019 21:49     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
I’m a parent of (white) kids at Lee. It’s hard to reconcile the truly awful test scores with the well-run school I know.

I think it’s worth looking at the sample PARCC exams:

https://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/

to get an idea of what they’re asking and how they’re asking it.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2019 13:16     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Here's what is known about Lee's testing cohort (it is very small):

There were a total of 31 kids.
12 were white.
16 were black.
12 were students with disabilities (more than 1/3 - this is high).
15 were in 3rd grade.
16 were in 4th or 5th grade.

Third graders performed much worse than the other grades on ELA. (This is common if the kids haven't been taught to type or don't have much computer experience.)





THIS.
OP, if you really go to Lee, what are you actively doing besides handwringing on DCUM? Have you spoken to leadership? Asked for a meeting with your child's guide? Asked for a meeting with any of the staff hired to help? Are you working with your child at home? Practicing typing, reading, etc? They need to make improvements but it's also on every parent to be accountable to their child by asking questions NOT on DCUM and taking an active role in your DC education.


Also, there is no reason that students with disabilities shouldn't be expected to pass PARCC . Any student with significant medical, intellectual or developmental challenges doesn't take PARCC at all, but takes the MSAA. Last year Lee reported 17 students with Level 1 IEPs. That is the lowest level and is typically students who require some speech-language therapy. Students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities are usually level 2 (or the school is not providing sufficient services to remediate the disability).


Yep, my DC is level 1 IEP and just needs speech for articulation. No concerns whatsoever with him not doing well on PARCC.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2019 11:18     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Here's what is known about Lee's testing cohort (it is very small):

There were a total of 31 kids.
12 were white.
16 were black.
12 were students with disabilities (more than 1/3 - this is high).
15 were in 3rd grade.
16 were in 4th or 5th grade.

Third graders performed much worse than the other grades on ELA. (This is common if the kids haven't been taught to type or don't have much computer experience.)





THIS.
OP, if you really go to Lee, what are you actively doing besides handwringing on DCUM? Have you spoken to leadership? Asked for a meeting with your child's guide? Asked for a meeting with any of the staff hired to help? Are you working with your child at home? Practicing typing, reading, etc? They need to make improvements but it's also on every parent to be accountable to their child by asking questions NOT on DCUM and taking an active role in your DC education.


Also, there is no reason that students with disabilities shouldn't be expected to pass PARCC . Any student with significant medical, intellectual or developmental challenges doesn't take PARCC at all, but takes the MSAA. Last year Lee reported 17 students with Level 1 IEPs. That is the lowest level and is typically students who require some speech-language therapy. Students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities are usually level 2 (or the school is not providing sufficient services to remediate the disability).
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2019 11:17     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
NP. OP might not be at Lee but considering it. These are valid questions that can be posted here on DCUM.
Anonymous
Post 08/29/2019 10:59     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Here's what is known about Lee's testing cohort (it is very small):

There were a total of 31 kids.
12 were white.
16 were black.
12 were students with disabilities (more than 1/3 - this is high).
15 were in 3rd grade.
16 were in 4th or 5th grade.

Third graders performed much worse than the other grades on ELA. (This is common if the kids haven't been taught to type or don't have much computer experience.)


OP needs to quit their histrionics. If they’re really at Lee ask some basic questions about how these results came to be. Wait till testing grades grow to judge.



THIS.
OP, if you really go to Lee, what are you actively doing besides handwringing on DCUM? Have you spoken to leadership? Asked for a meeting with your child's guide? Asked for a meeting with any of the staff hired to help? Are you working with your child at home? Practicing typing, reading, etc? They need to make improvements but it's also on every parent to be accountable to their child by asking questions NOT on DCUM and taking an active role in your DC education.
Anonymous
Post 08/28/2019 22:22     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
Anonymous wrote:Here's what is known about Lee's testing cohort (it is very small):

There were a total of 31 kids.
12 were white.
16 were black.
12 were students with disabilities (more than 1/3 - this is high).
15 were in 3rd grade.
16 were in 4th or 5th grade.

Third graders performed much worse than the other grades on ELA. (This is common if the kids haven't been taught to type or don't have much computer experience.)


OP needs to quit their histrionics. If they’re really at Lee ask some basic questions about how these results came to be. Wait till testing grades grow to judge.
Anonymous
Post 08/28/2019 22:06     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
Here's what is known about Lee's testing cohort (it is very small):

There were a total of 31 kids.
12 were white.
16 were black.
12 were students with disabilities (more than 1/3 - this is high).
15 were in 3rd grade.
16 were in 4th or 5th grade.

Third graders performed much worse than the other grades on ELA. (This is common if the kids haven't been taught to type or don't have much computer experience.)
Anonymous
Post 08/28/2019 21:57     Subject: Lee Montessori for Black Children
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:They need to put their money where their mouth is an hire African American Latinx etc lead teachers and administrators and a Cultural Competency person.
They need to learn how to reach kids of all colors and SES levels. No matter the color kids that have possible come from a very structured school or lack of free choice and self motivated learning situation will need extra help to adjust.


They have at least two African American leads on the Brookland campus, as well as a newly hired Director of Equity who I think came from LAMB?


Two out of how many leads in the classroom? 7 or 8?


I wonder if part of the challenge is finding a diverse pool of Montessori-trained educators. This could be a situation where a teaching fellows program like what IT and Appletree have would be useful.


They have a fellowship to do just this.


Why not hold white teachers accountable for teaching all children instead of blaming this systemmic problem on not enough black Montessori teachers. Zero black children meeting expectations is INEXCUSABLE!


Things we don’t know: how many black children tested, and how many are also at risk. Could also be a very small sample. It’s not great but might be somewhat less catastrophic. Also, testing isn’t big in Montessori. Indeed it’s against the entire philosophy.