Latin American Montessori Bilingual Public Charter School facts for kids

The Latin American Montessori Bilingual Public Charter School, often called LAMB, is a special kind of public school in Washington, D.C.. It's called a charter school, which means it gets public money but operates a bit more independently than regular public schools.

LAMB has two main locations in Washington, D.C. One is on 14th Street in the Northwest part of the city, and the other is on Perry Street and South Dakota Avenue in the Northeast part.

The school is watched over by the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board. As a charter school, LAMB is a nonprofit organization. This means it uses all its money to help the school, not to make a profit for owners. It gets its funding from local taxes. While it's different from traditional public schools, it still has to meet many of the same important standards.

To get into LAMB, students are chosen through a lottery system. This is like a random drawing. However, some students get a special preference, like brothers or sisters of current students, or children of people who work at the school.

What Do Students Learn at LAMB?

LAMB uses a special way of teaching called the Montessori approach. This method was created by an Italian educator named Maria Montessori way back in 1897. It focuses on hands-on learning and letting students explore and learn at their own pace.

Another big part of LAMB's teaching is bilingualism. This means students learn in two languages: Spanish and English. This helps them become fluent in both languages.

Students can attend LAMB from preschool, starting at age 3, all the way up to fifth grade.

The History of LAMB School

LAMB was started by the Latin American Youth Center. This group is a non-governmental organization in Washington, D.C., that helps young Latinos.

The school first got approval to open as a charter school in 2001. This was after a law was passed in 1995 that allowed charter schools to start in D.C. LAMB began teaching its first classes in 2003. At that time, it had 57 students and was located in a church in Northeast Washington while it looked for a permanent home.

In 2006, LAMB found its first long-term home at the Military Road School. The school renovated this building between 2008 and 2009. They added new offices and classrooms while making sure to keep the historic look of the old schoolhouse.

LAMB grew and opened a second location in 2013. This new spot was on South Dakota Avenue in Northeast Washington. It shared a building with another charter school called Perry Street Prep. Before that, the building was a public school called Taft Junior Elementary, but it closed in 1997.

In 2017, LAMB opened a third location. This one was on the old campus of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Northwest Washington. LAMB shared a building there with the District of Columbia International School.

By 2020, LAMB moved to a newly updated building at 5000 14th St. NW. This building used to be a school for students with learning differences. As of 2020, the school was not holding classes in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, when in-person learning returns, only the new 14th Street location and the South Dakota Avenue location are planned to be used.

The plan to move to 14th Street had been in the works since 2017, but it was delayed because some neighbors had concerns.

How Well Does LAMB School Do?

LAMB is a very popular school in Washington, D.C. In 2020, it was the most requested charter school in the city's lottery system. It had a waiting list of 1,630 students, even though it only offered 138 new spots.

For the 2018–2019 school year, LAMB earned a Tier 1 rating. This is the highest rating given by the DC Public Charter School Board. This rating is based on things like how well students learn and how much they improve. LAMB scored 79.1% in the board's School Quality Report.

In the District's Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) tests, which are standardized tests, 55.4% of LAMB students scored at Level 4 or higher in English Language Arts in 2019. This was the seventh highest score among all charter schools.