Does anyone regret enrolling their kid in PK at a DCPS school or similar program?

[Anonymous]

Zero regrets. Out prek3 is amazing. Does not seem any more rigid that daycare. Our kid has so much fun every day. And loved aftercare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve had a great experience in DCPS PK. Maybe we just lucked out but our teachers have been phenomenal. Our child was at a Montessori-based daycare before DCPS and we liked it but in retrospect it was MORE rigid than our DCPS PK.

And ours is definitely at least partially play based. Yes they have specials but the kids just think it’s fun— they play games in gym, make art, sing songs in Spanish, sing songs and play instruments in music. I have not found the math and literacy stuff to be too much— they spend 20-30 minutes a day in small groups where they work on stuff like letter writing or basic math skills. But I think our Montessori does something similar with their 4 yr olds too, so that they will be on a similar level with other kids in K.

The rest of the day is play, either structured or free play. They go outside 2-3x a day depending on weather (very similar to daycare). They do neighborhood walks, hang out in the school garden, do free play in the playground, which is nicer and bigger than our daycare playground.

I guess it depends on your daycare experience, but DCPS has been a step up for us. And we liked out daycare. But I’ve been very impressed with the caliber of the teachers and aids and the curriculum is largely play-based. And perhaps most importantly, my DD prefers it. She liked her Montessori well enough, but she’s really flourished in PK.

Zero regrets.

Can i ask what school this is? Well I can ask, you do not have to tell me obviously, haha. I am curious bc we just submitted our Pre-K3 application and I am wondering if it was one of our schools

I don't want to say the school for the sake of anonymity but I will say we are on Capitol Hill and while I only have direct experience with our school, we have friends with same age kids at four different DCPS schools on the Hill and nearby and they all have a similar experience. I don't know anyone who feels their DCPS PK is too rigid or too fixated on academic goals. And Cap Hill is pretty crunchy by DC standards so I would assume we are a bit more interested in this type of PK experience than average in the city. Lots of commitment to neighborhood schools and positive environments for kids. And lots of fantastic ECE teachers and staff in this part of the city as well.

If you aren't on Cap Hill, you could always post your lottery list and ask for feedback from people with kids at those schools.