DC Prep (edgewood) - any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

My PS3 student receives homework it's normally a fun activity and she loves doing it. So far it has been draw a picture of your favorite book, what does your family do on weekends, from taking pictures at the grocery store. Don't see anything wrong with this type of "homework" its given on and Monday and expected back on Friday.

[Anonymous]

The Case Against Homework, Sarah Bennett
The Homework Myth, Alfie Kohn
The Battle Over Homework, Harris Cooper

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally speaking, homework in kindergarten is absurd. I am not aware of any study that has found this to be productive in the long term.

Well don't apply to YY. My kid received homework in PK. It was not a lot, but it was HW.

And more to the point of your statement, what studies have you found that have said it was counter-productive?

Really, which year was that? I had a child in YY PK last year, the only "homework" I recall was bringing home a silkworm and feeding it mulberry leaves.

He is thriving in K this year too, though a little disappointed that older sibling has homework and he's only had a couple of packets. BTW, those homework packets were drawing chinese characters and counting steps in the house. I'm generally anti-homework for children this age, but I'll make exceptions for enforcing concepts (e.g. drawing Mandarin characters) that aren't part of our world at home.

That said, if you're the kind of parent that isn't planning to invest personal time in your child's education, then a school which expects that kind of commitment, is not going to be a good fit for your child or your family.

When Amy Laoshi was the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a former employee of DC Prep. Don't let the sleek website and PR team fool you, this school is not a good place to send students. It promotes a drill and kill education, so sure, the students have great test scores, but they have no critical thinking skills at all. What really goes on when parents and families aren't around is a hostile environment that deals punishment similar to a military school. Expectations are outrageous and developmentally inappropriate for elementary age students. Kids should not be forced to sit quietly, walk in silent lines with their hands behind their backs, and be subject to an absurd discipline system that allows children as young as three to be suspended. They are not in the business of helping families. Instead of working with children who display challenging behaviors, they suspend them and force families to pick up their students each time there is a discipline issue (sometimes minor, sometimes major). This often inconveniences the parents so much that they are forced to withdraw their students from the school. This works well for DC Prep because they don't have to expel the students, which would reflect poorly on their network.

Its funny to me that just in another thread a parent made an observation with regard to how undisciplined some students were on a field trip .

[Anonymous]

I have a DCPS teacher can tell you that at times I wish we had the structure and discipline of a place like DC prep. It would weed out the true troublemakers and allow for teachers to focus their energies on the students who are able to learn. Not saying the trouble makers should be ignored, but they need a special educational setting where they are not able to take away from the rest of the class.
As a teacher and parent I would choose a DC Prep over many public schools, just for the discipline reasons alone.

[Anonymous]

I talked to the rep at the W5COE fair and he said that yes, the pre-schoolers get homework, like a sheet a night. He said that in the early years it was mainly to foster parent engagement and that it was not meant for the kids to do it alone.

I was totally anti-homework for the littlest kids before, but I suppose I do see that it could be beneficial if parents weren't otherwise inclined to do enriching things like read with their kids.