Inspired Teaching?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you can ask the school for the list of where kids are going for high school. I think the results this year are pretty impressive.

They were! Nine kids I think got into Walls, most of them going. A bunch going to Banneker. Some to Duke Ellington. Several to privates. (GDS, Maret, St. Johns and DeMatha that I know of) REALLY great outcomes. The 8th grade class was only 42-45 kids so super impressive.

Wow! that is really impressive.

With the path ending at 8th without feeding rights into a similar HS, ITDS puts a lot of effort, starting in 7th grade, into educating families about different HS options and preparing them for the process. We were impressed. It was definitely more help than some friends received from schools where there was a more expected HS destination.

[Anonymous]

My DC has been at Inspired Teaching since K and is heading to middle school next year. The Principal and Assistant Principals are all stellar. According to my DC, the new school principal has been telling kids to brace themselves for next year because it will be more challenging. He has been pushing for more rigor since he came to the school. We’re interested to see how that will look next year.

[Anonymous]

I know a few families who left in the upper grades and a few in the younger elementary (non-ECE) grades, based on bullying (in the older grade) and based on some pretty wild misconduct that happened that the school deemed not important enough to disclose to the family. This is second-hand, so I can't speak to it myself, but it was enough to cause us to turn down our spot. It sounds like others on this board have had different experiences, of course, but I guess I'd try to find some parents IRL if you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a few families who left in the upper grades and a few in the younger elementary (non-ECE) grades, based on bullying (in the older grade) and based on some pretty wild misconduct that happened that the school deemed not important enough to disclose to the family. This is second-hand, so I can't speak to it myself, but it was enough to cause us to turn down our spot. It sounds like others on this board have had different experiences, of course, but I guess I'd try to find some parents IRL if you can.

They definitely do try to keep behavior issues quiet, and in general struggle to reconcile their "Restorative Justice" philosophy with the need to minimize interpersonal violence. But I don't think it's any worse than other schools in the area for that stuff. sadly.

[Anonymous]

There were a lot of unresolved behavior issues with the old administration. This year has been a lot better. The teachers and principal contact families If there are issues. There have been no behavior issues that I have heard of in middle school since the beginning of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There were a lot of unresolved behavior issues with the old administration. This year has been a lot better. The teachers and principal contact families If there are issues. There have been no behavior issues that I have heard of in middle school since the beginning of school.

This 5th grade parent begs to differ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were a lot of unresolved behavior issues with the old administration. This year has been a lot better. The teachers and principal contact families If there are issues. There have been no behavior issues that I have heard of in middle school since the beginning of school.

This 5th grade parent begs to differ.

I'm sorry you've had a different experience. We had similar struggles at a school we attended before Inspired so I have a lot of empathy and I hope you all find healing soon. I hope it's helpful to a prospective family to know these experiences seem to be isolated, even if the affected families have had a difficult time.

[Anonymous]

We have two kids at Inspired and love it. One has been there from 1-7 (so far, continuing to 8th) and one from the beginning.

Turnover is much less of an issue at ITDS than at many other charter schools.

Also, if teachers leave a certain position in the school they often move into another position which seems like a good sign about the administration to me.

I can't say it's a perfect wonderland of a school. If people are honest, that's not true about any school.

But I can say, I've never regretted the choice to send our children to this school. We've experienced all grades but 8th and found them appropriately challenging without being pedantic.

[Anonymous]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I would not say it is an isolated incident. There are other grades that have also had issues. There are a lot of positives about the school and a lot of negatives:
Pros:
Great community
Mostly amazing teachers
My child has loved the lack of hw in middle school (by lack I mean 0 hw), although I don't necessarily see that as all positive
Amazing early childhood
Great access to field space
Lots of outdoor time
Increase in extracurricular options and clubs has been very positive
Great fieldtrips
Great school play started this year
Access to arts
Cons:
There is a reason why so many people leave and it is not all about the path to HS ( I would say the school loses about 50% of it's students at 5th grade and many leave at other grades due to reasons including dissatisfaction with administration, bullying not being handled adequately, issues with how the IEP program is handled, not being challenged enough).
With the student attrition, there are a lot of behavioral shifts that happen in MS.
My kid constantly complains about being bored. It seems the school teaches to the lowest performing students. I am not about having a super rigid environment, but it is almost too laid back.
Teacher attrition (I have heard through the grapevine that many have left and are leaving because they are not satisfied with the current administration, which says a lot)
School trying to get kids out of special services
I know many people stick it out because of the lack of better options.
However, the decision is strictly personal and you have to weigh what is most meaningful to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I would not say it is an isolated incident. There are other grades that have also had issues. There are a lot of positives about the school and a lot of negatives:
Pros:
Great community
Mostly amazing teachers
My child has loved the lack of hw in middle school (by lack I mean 0 hw), although I don't necessarily see that as all positive
Amazing early childhood
Great access to field space
Lots of outdoor time
Increase in extracurricular options and clubs has been very positive
Great fieldtrips
Great school play started this year
Access to arts
Cons:
There is a reason why so many people leave and it is not all about the path to HS ( I would say the school loses about 50% of it's students at 5th grade and many leave at other grades due to reasons including dissatisfaction with administration, bullying not being handled adequately, issues with how the IEP program is handled, not being challenged enough).
With the student attrition, there are a lot of behavioral shifts that happen in MS.
My kid constantly complains about being bored. It seems the school teaches to the lowest performing students. I am not about having a super rigid environment, but it is almost too laid back.
Teacher attrition (I have heard through the grapevine that many have left and are leaving because they are not satisfied with the current administration, which says a lot)
School trying to get kids out of special services
I know many people stick it out because of the lack of better options.
However, the decision is strictly personal and you have to weigh what is most meaningful to you.

It's interesting that you have no homework. My 4th grader at ITS had homework weekly all year (not very much, but consistently).

I agree the administration's handling of behavior/bullying is a consistent theme of dissatisfied parents, and I believe the parents, but I wish I had a more specific understanding of what the problem is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were a lot of unresolved behavior issues with the old administration. This year has been a lot better. The teachers and principal contact families If there are issues. There have been no behavior issues that I have heard of in middle school since the beginning of school.

This 5th grade parent begs to differ.

I'm sorry you've had a different experience. We had similar struggles at a school we attended before Inspired so I have a lot of empathy and I hope you all find healing soon. I hope it's helpful to a prospective family to know these experiences seem to be isolated, even if the affected families have had a difficult time.

I think it's really just the luck of the draw whether your kid's class happens to have a child who struggles with behavior. If you do, the school doesn't deal with it very well. But some people don't think it's a problem because they haven't personally experienced it. A lot of the parents at ITS want to believe it's a really great school because they don't have a better option other than moving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were a lot of unresolved behavior issues with the old administration. This year has been a lot better. The teachers and principal contact families If there are issues. There have been no behavior issues that I have heard of in middle school since the beginning of school.

This 5th grade parent begs to differ.

I'm sorry you've had a different experience. We had similar struggles at a school we attended before Inspired so I have a lot of empathy and I hope you all find healing soon. I hope it's helpful to a prospective family to know these experiences seem to be isolated, even if the affected families have had a difficult time.

I think it's really just the luck of the draw whether your kid's class happens to have a child who struggles with behavior. If you do, the school doesn't deal with it very well. But some people don't think it's a problem because they haven't personally experienced it. A lot of the parents at ITS want to believe it's a really great school because they don't have a better option other than moving.

I'm a PP who shared my kids haven't experienced these issues (we've now been there for all grades, and multiple times). I believe that you've had the experiences you describe, and I also know from talking with many families over many years, that they don't seem to be the norm. Through no special interventions from us, our kids have both been academically accelerated, and meaningfully challenged and engaged throughout their time. They've had positive social experiences including into and through MS with a lot of new students matriculating. I'm not sure why it's been better for some than for others, but I do know that both can be true. While that's lousy if your kid is not having a good experience, it doesn't mean that the good isn't happening too, and not just because we didn't have other options. If you stay on, I hope your child's experience improves.

[Anonymous]

Is there a school in DC - either DCPS or DCPCS that handles bullying and behavioral issues well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were a lot of unresolved behavior issues with the old administration. This year has been a lot better. The teachers and principal contact families If there are issues. There have been no behavior issues that I have heard of in middle school since the beginning of school.

This 5th grade parent begs to differ.

I'm sorry you've had a different experience. We had similar struggles at a school we attended before Inspired so I have a lot of empathy and I hope you all find healing soon. I hope it's helpful to a prospective family to know these experiences seem to be isolated, even if the affected families have had a difficult time.

I think it's really just the luck of the draw whether your kid's class happens to have a child who struggles with behavior. If you do, the school doesn't deal with it very well. But some people don't think it's a problem because they haven't personally experienced it. A lot of the parents at ITS want to believe it's a really great school because they don't have a better option other than moving.

I'm a PP who shared my kids haven't experienced these issues (we've now been there for all grades, and multiple times). I believe that you've had the experiences you describe, and I also know from talking with many families over many years, that they don't seem to be the norm. Through no special interventions from us, our kids have both been academically accelerated, and meaningfully challenged and engaged throughout their time. They've had positive social experiences including into and through MS with a lot of new students matriculating. I'm not sure why it's been better for some than for others, but I do know that both can be true. While that's lousy if your kid is not having a good experience, it doesn't mean that the good isn't happening too, and not just because we didn't have other options. If you stay on, I hope your child's experience improves.

The cohort that just finished 5th grade is the one that has a lot of trouble with behavior. Also the cohort that just finished 3rd. It's not really a mystery why some people have these experiences and others don't. Probably it has been better for your kids because you just haven't happened to get a classmate with those issues, or your child isn't the one who has been personally targeted. Or your child just doesn't report as much of what happened at home. Though it doesn't happen often, when it does happen, the school handles it poorly. The incidents may be isolated (they aren't really, they're all the same few kids and the same types of incidents) but the pattern of the administration handling it poorly is a running theme. With so many kids leaving and entering for middle school, it's hard to predict how next year will go. But this may be your year to have a difficult classmate and see a very different side of ITS. I hope it is not, I wish you all the best, but the administration handling these incidents and problems poorly absolutely *is* the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a school in DC - either DCPS or DCPCS that handles bullying and behavioral issues well?

It depends what you mean by "well". If you mean a school that pushes kids out or expels them, you could probably find that.