Preschool with food teacher:child ratios in NW DC or lower MoCo

[Anonymous]

Can anyone recommend a preschool in NW DC or lower Montgomery County with great teacher:child ratios for 3 and 4 year olds? My child will be starting prek-3 in fall 2025.

My child's personality is such that things go much better when the teacher:child rationis very low. It seems like most programs go up to 1:8 in prek-3 and 1:10 in prek-4, and knowing my kid, I think that's likely to too much for my kid. I'd ideally like something closer to 1:4 or 1:5 (tops, 1:6) for prek-3, and as close to that as possible in prek-4.

We currently live in lower Montgomery County but are considering moving to NW DC for other reasons so we could do either MoCo or DC. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Can you tell us more about why you think your child needs such low ratios? If you want low ratios because your child likes more 1:1 attention, I’d suggest different schools than if its because they get overwhelmed in large groups

[Anonymous]

Your kid is going to change enormously between now and the fall. I can remember looking at 3 year old programs when my kid was 2, and thinking "there's no way my kid could do this" and then by fall he was ready. So, unless there are significant special needs, you'll probably find that he does well with a slightly larger group size.

Do you want full time or part time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you tell us more about why you think your child needs such low ratios? If you want low ratios because your child likes more 1:1 attention, I’d suggest different schools than if its because they get overwhelmed in large groups

Thanks! It's mostly that my child thrives having a close relationship with adults in addition to kids, so looking for a situation that could foster that type of personal adult-child relationship, in addition to my kid having relationships with other kids. (To the other poster, I know kids change quickly at this age. I still think my child will do better with more favorable ratios.)

[Anonymous]

OP again.

It can be either full or part-time. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think this exists in DC publics. All the DCPS schools are 1:8 for PK3, and I think all the charters basically do the same. It’d be cost prohibitive otherwise.

I will say, with a PK3 kid and a PK4 kid right now - they bonded closely and quickly with their teacher, both of them.

One other factor - in some DC schools (including ours) the PK teachers “follow” them from PK3 to PK4. You might look for a school that does that, so your kid really gets some stability.

[Anonymous]

They don’t have the ratios you want but I think class sizes may work out smaller and so more to your liking at CCPC and CCBC in Chevy Chase. You can ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think this exists in DC publics. All the DCPS schools are 1:8 for PK3, and I think all the charters basically do the same. It’d be cost prohibitive otherwise.

I will say, with a PK3 kid and a PK4 kid right now - they bonded closely and quickly with their teacher, both of them.

One other factor - in some DC schools (including ours) the PK teachers “follow” them from PK3 to PK4. You might look for a school that does that, so your kid really gets some stability.

Interesting! Can I ask which school you attend or which school(s) you're aware of that do this? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think this exists in DC publics. All the DCPS schools are 1:8 for PK3, and I think all the charters basically do the same. It’d be cost prohibitive otherwise.

I will say, with a PK3 kid and a PK4 kid right now - they bonded closely and quickly with their teacher, both of them.

One other factor - in some DC schools (including ours) the PK teachers “follow” them from PK3 to PK4. You might look for a school that does that, so your kid really gets some stability.

Interesting! Can I ask which school you attend or which school(s) you're aware of that do this? Thanks!

PP here. We’re at Tubman Elementary in Columbia Heights. The PK teachers are all fabulous.

I think this is pretty common though in DC. Worth asking about at other schools you’re interested in.