Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
OP here. It seems like the biggest difference between CMI and ITS is that ITS teachers have several years more experience and also have masters degrees.

Teacher education and salary (from learndc.org and 2015-16 school annual reports http://www.dcpcsb.org/report/evaluating/charter-school-annual-reports)

ITS
Bachelors 26.3%
Masters 73.7%

Average salary 62,000
Minimum salary 42,000
Maximum salary 88,000

CMI
Bachelors 61%
Masters 38%

Average salary 46,700
Minimum salary 42,000
Maximum salary 56,542

As a CMI parent, this upsets me (not the BA/MA, but the salaries). CMI loses amazing teachers every singe year because the administration is overpaid and the teachers are underpaid. How is $46K (average!) going to allow a teacher to live in DC. Of course, they are going to leave.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good friends at CMI are heading out after 1st grade for this reason. Lovely community but not enough substance after early childhood education.

Where are they headed?

I would guess anyone leaving is heading to private or moving. I am sure they are not headed to any neighborhood schools like Barnard, Bruce Monroe or Powell.

Exactly, or they were in-bound for a JKLM school or for Oyster or another good school. Lots of families are in Mt. Pleasant and 16th Street Heights and feed into the elementary school that feed into Deal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a few 1st and 3rd grade families are leaving this year.

For us, we find the school to be good and we are giving it year by year. It's very heavy on drama, art and music and less so on math and science. Lots of upper middle class white parents with flexible jobs who can come to winter performances and exit points and dance parties. It's more about the events for the moms and less about caring about the curriculum.

Those who have left (or are leaving) do so because they move or the academics.

CMI parent here. I think it is unfair to generalize that parents do not care much about the curriculum.

True, but "care less than other schools" is accurate. The academics are not there at CMI and parents who care about that would not choose CMI.

Anonymous wrote:Another CMI parent here with a kid in an upper grade. Congrats to you, OP. Your DC will love school! As far as academics are concerned, it has become more rigorous in recent years. Remember there is still Common Core, so all kids have to learn the same basic things. Fractions, multiplication, and division are taught in all schools...CMI is no different. My child is challenged and loves school. Your child will too!

What grade? My child is in 3rd and bored and when we look at what our friends are doing in their schools, CMI is way behind. Of course, this year has been difficult.

You may not personally buy into academics or test scores, but CMI has deliver deliver decent results sooner or later (as measured by the MGP) or they will lose their charter. They are a public school that is supposed to be finding innovative ways to help kids achieve. That's what they are given taxpayer funding to do.

If you want less academics, check out Fairhaven or Washington Waldorf.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 kids at CMI. I know 2 1st grade families in 1st are moving away (1 out of the country) and a 3rd is house hunting. I know a 3rd grade family bought a house in Maryland.

I am laughing at the comments that CMI doesn't place a priority on academics. That's so not true. There are so many type A parents at the school (including me) who are obsessed with this issue. We would not be here if the academics were not up to par.

Many of us feel incredibly lucky to be at this school. OP if you decide to come, welcome and I look forward to meeting you!

Ps I take leave from my job to attend school performances, or make the time up later, like most parents in the US. I am extremely fortunate that I can do so, but PP your snarky comment about parents making time for their kids was unnecessary.

Such the typical rich CMI parent. No, most parents in the US can't take leave from their jobs to attend performances or make up the time later. Nice bubble you live in.

NP. CMI parent here. I do not consider ourselves rich by all means (middle class, maybe) but I am also lucky to work for a family-friendly company and are able to take off work to attend my kids' performances and make up time later. My husband and I take turns...we make it work. We value our jobs but more importantly, our kids are our priority. We make sure that one of us is there for school performances, etc. I understand not everybody have that work arrangement.

CMI does have a lot of "performances" but that is only if you are including IPC units, as well. It's the curriculum that drives those performances, and I do think that if you are a CMI parent, then you should be committed to understanding that you will be expected to attend your child's end unit show. If you do not want to see your child's presentation on what they learned in that IPC unit, you will have no idea what they are doing in school (CMI does not do as much academics in the traditional way and there are no grades) and then you will be on DCUM complaining. If you are not sold on IPC, there are tons of other schools that have a different curriculum structure.

And it is not a rich/poor thing. Lots of CMI families are barely making ends meet but make sure a parent, grandparent, babysitter, family friend are there every single time. And, they are taking time off work (often unpaid).

I just realized there are so many CMI parents chiming in because there is no school at CMI today! Has anyone else noticed that CMI seems to have twice as many teacher work days as any other school?

Not complaining -- just observing!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
OP here. It seems like the biggest difference between CMI and ITS is that ITS teachers have several years more experience and also have masters degrees.

More experience matters in that first (and to some degree second and third) year teachers have the least "value added" in terms of student learning but a master degree isn't correlated with any learning gains for students.

For whatever reason, we don't yet know what makes a good teacher a good teacher. Degrees don't seem to be meaningful yet (meaning, maybe if they taught the right things they would be).

Agreed. I believe the average lead/master teacher at ITS has 12-15 years experience.

Student performance is a far greater measure of teacher effectiveness than the teacher's degree attainment. This is well-established. (Duh.)

CMI students do not "perform" well (PARCC scores were very low) but some of us do not buy into academics as a measure of achievement. We are looking for future leaders and well-balanced children.

Happy CMI parent here.

I know families in 1st grade leaving and lots of families in 3rd and 5th leaving next year, some are taking younger siblings with them. I choose CMI because it was light on academics. Our prior school had homework for their 4-year olds and I knew it was a bad fit for our family. I bought into that idea that we focus too much on academics and not enough on being outside (CMI has a garden and great play space) and letting kids be kids.

Maybe my kids are bored in class? I never asked but they do seem to have lots of fun with their friends and teachers, which I care about. They like going to school. I wish there was less academics (CMI's weakness anyway) and a place to escape from a traditional school. CMI is never going to complete with the JKLM schools anyway on that level.

My only issue with CMI is the behavioral issues. I'm not sure how that became a part of CMI's culture, but I have seen behavioral issues get worse in various classes over the years, and whenever I bring them up to the administration, they ignore them. Kids are consistently being physically hurt (including requiring emergency vehicles) and they do not seem to have any system to stop it. There are no consequences and students literally learn that it is acceptable in that school. Again, I think the answer is less academics (CMI's weakness) and more activities where these kids can be outside, running around, getting out excess energy. I also noticed that the families that leave are the families whose kids do not have any behavioral issues, and that each year, new kids join and there seems to be more issues, not less. I am a very happy CMI parent, but if the behavioral issues do not improve this year, it will sadly be our last with CMI.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 kids at CMI. I know 2 1st grade families in 1st are moving away (1 out of the country) and a 3rd is house hunting. I know a 3rd grade family bought a house in Maryland.

I am laughing at the comments that CMI doesn't place a priority on academics. That's so not true. There are so many type A parents at the school (including me) who are obsessed with this issue. We would not be here if the academics were not up to par.

Many of us feel incredibly lucky to be at this school. OP if you decide to come, welcome and I look forward to meeting you!

Ps I take leave from my job to attend school performances, or make the time up later, like most parents in the US. I am extremely fortunate that I can do so, but PP your snarky comment about parents making time for their kids was unnecessary.

Such the typical rich CMI parent. No, most parents in the US can't take leave from their jobs to attend performances or make up the time later. Nice bubble you live in.

NP. CMI parent here. I do not consider ourselves rich by all means (middle class, maybe) but I am also lucky to work for a family-friendly company and are able to take off work to attend my kids' performances and make up time later. My husband and I take turns...we make it work. We value our jobs but more importantly, our kids are our priority. We make sure that one of us is there for school performances, etc. I understand not everybody have that work arrangement.

How many daytime performances are we talking, here?

3 this month.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 kids at CMI. I know 2 1st grade families in 1st are moving away (1 out of the country) and a 3rd is house hunting. I know a 3rd grade family bought a house in Maryland.

I am laughing at the comments that CMI doesn't place a priority on academics. That's so not true. There are so many type A parents at the school (including me) who are obsessed with this issue. We would not be here if the academics were not up to par.

Many of us feel incredibly lucky to be at this school. OP if you decide to come, welcome and I look forward to meeting you!

Ps I take leave from my job to attend school performances, or make the time up later, like most parents in the US. I am extremely fortunate that I can do so, but PP your snarky comment about parents making time for their kids was unnecessary.

Such the typical rich CMI parent. No, most parents in the US can't take leave from their jobs to attend performances or make up the time later. Nice bubble you live in.

NP. CMI parent here. I do not consider ourselves rich by all means (middle class, maybe) but I am also lucky to work for a family-friendly company and are able to take off work to attend my kids' performances and make up time later. My husband and I take turns...we make it work. We value our jobs but more importantly, our kids are our priority. We make sure that one of us is there for school performances, etc. I understand not everybody have that work arrangement.

CMI parent, so if I can't make it, my kids aren't my priority?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 kids at CMI. I know 2 1st grade families in 1st are moving away (1 out of the country) and a 3rd is house hunting. I know a 3rd grade family bought a house in Maryland.

I am laughing at the comments that CMI doesn't place a priority on academics. That's so not true. There are so many type A parents at the school (including me) who are obsessed with this issue. We would not be here if the academics were not up to par.

Many of us feel incredibly lucky to be at this school. OP if you decide to come, welcome and I look forward to meeting you!

Ps I take leave from my job to attend school performances, or make the time up later, like most parents in the US. I am extremely fortunate that I can do so, but PP your snarky comment about parents making time for their kids was unnecessary.

Such the typical rich CMI parent. No, most parents in the US can't take leave from their jobs to attend performances or make up the time later. Nice bubble you live in.

NP. CMI parent here. I do not consider ourselves rich by all means (middle class, maybe) but I am also lucky to work for a family-friendly company and are able to take off work to attend my kids' performances and make up time later. My husband and I take turns...we make it work. We value our jobs but more importantly, our kids are our priority. We make sure that one of us is there for school performances, etc. I understand not everybody have that work arrangement.

How many daytime performances are we talking, here?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 kids at CMI. I know 2 1st grade families in 1st are moving away (1 out of the country) and a 3rd is house hunting. I know a 3rd grade family bought a house in Maryland.

I am laughing at the comments that CMI doesn't place a priority on academics. That's so not true. There are so many type A parents at the school (including me) who are obsessed with this issue. We would not be here if the academics were not up to par.

Many of us feel incredibly lucky to be at this school. OP if you decide to come, welcome and I look forward to meeting you!

Ps I take leave from my job to attend school performances, or make the time up later, like most parents in the US. I am extremely fortunate that I can do so, but PP your snarky comment about parents making time for their kids was unnecessary.

Such the typical rich CMI parent. No, most parents in the US can't take leave from their jobs to attend performances or make up the time later. Nice bubble you live in.

NP. CMI parent here. I do not consider ourselves rich by all means (middle class, maybe) but I am also lucky to work for a family-friendly company and are able to take off work to attend my kids' performances and make up time later. My husband and I take turns...we make it work. We value our jobs but more importantly, our kids are our priority. We make sure that one of us is there for school performances, etc. I understand not everybody have that work arrangement.

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 kids at CMI. I know 2 1st grade families in 1st are moving away (1 out of the country) and a 3rd is house hunting. I know a 3rd grade family bought a house in Maryland.

I am laughing at the comments that CMI doesn't place a priority on academics. That's so not true. There are so many type A parents at the school (including me) who are obsessed with this issue. We would not be here if the academics were not up to par.

Many of us feel incredibly lucky to be at this school. OP if you decide to come, welcome and I look forward to meeting you!

Ps I take leave from my job to attend school performances, or make the time up later, like most parents in the US. I am extremely fortunate that I can do so, but PP your snarky comment about parents making time for their kids was unnecessary.

Such the typical rich CMI parent. No, most parents in the US can't take leave from their jobs to attend performances or make up the time later. Nice bubble you live in.

I have 2 kids at CMI. I know 2 1st grade families in 1st are moving away (1 out of the country) and a 3rd is house hunting. I know a 3rd grade family bought a house in Maryland.

I am laughing at the comments that CMI doesn't place a priority on academics. That's so not true. There are so many type A parents at the school (including me) who are obsessed with this issue. We would not be here if the academics were not up to par.

Many of us feel incredibly lucky to be at this school. OP if you decide to come, welcome and I look forward to meeting you!

Ps I take leave from my job to attend school performances, or make the time up later, like most parents in the US. I am extremely fortunate that I can do so, but PP your snarky comment about parents making time for their kids was unnecessary.