NCRC - Worth the Hype?

Anonymous
Hi - I'm new to the DC area and was told that we "HAD" to apply to NCRC for preschool for our 3.5 year old. I'm just wondering from current parents what the big deal is with this school. It seemed OK, facility was decent, but classrooms were not as impressive as I would have hoped, and the playground was pretty small. The toys and classrooms all seemed equivalent to a good quality daycare center-type place, e.g., the same toys, games, supplies anyone could purchase at Target. I guess I'm wondering how this school is superior to your average NAEYC-certified Bright Horizons or Montessori School. Just trying to figure out whether all the hype is true to form - are the educators there so superior? Can any current NCRC parents speak to the program firsthand?
Anonymous
You are too late for next fall.

Unless you are one of the many IB people moving down here from NYC in droves, in which case they might be interested in holding a space for your donation, er, kid.

Your friends are telling you that you "have" to get onboard because historically NCRC has had good eximissions. It is believed to be a feeder to Beauvoir, which many parents want for the status alone (its program is fine, too). Also, you can Meet The Right People there through parent mixers and playdates.

But you are correct that it's not a stand-out when compared with the other top programs in DC. It's in a tier, but it doesn't stand alone by any means.
Anonymous
Yes, it's more about exmissions, snobbery and status than actual quality of schooling, although of course the teachers are good.

People always forget that life success is taught more at home than at school - being resilient, hard-working, ethical and striving to reach a good family-work balance are values best modeled by parents.

Anonymous
Good luck getting in this year, or ever, there are supposedly less than 10 spots available on average and over 100 kids apply
Anonymous
10 spots for over 100 applicants....? What grade are we talking about here? 2s? 3s? How can they choose?
Anonymous
Actually, NCRC also has a great inclusion program. As does St. Columba's, which is also NAEYC - certified. NCRC is a great option for kids that need extra help, regardless of parental SES or connections. However, there is a great deal of hype with ALL preschools in the area, IMHO. Good lord, they are just preschools..all of them!
Anonymous
Actually, NCRC also has a great inclusion program. As does St. Columba's, which is also NAEYC - certified


I'm re-reading the OP's post to try and locate the part where she indicates this is something she needs or wants ....

So does River School, and so does the McLean school.
Anonymous
Why do so many parents want to send "normal" (for lack of a better word" children to a program that seems to focus/prefer special needs or children with LDs? Again, just curious why hundreds of kids are applying when they favor special needs/inclusion?
Anonymous
Why do so many parents want to send "normal" (for lack of a better word" children to a program that seems to focus/prefer special needs or children with LDs? Again, just curious why hundreds of kids are applying when they favor special needs/inclusion?


They don't favor SN kids at NCRC. They do admit them, though, and work with them unlike many private pschools in NW DC (same for St. C's)
Anonymous
The hype is that historically NCRC has had good exmissions to the Top Tier Privates. If that is a route you are interested in, it is a good place to start.
Anonymous
OP here. Thank you to all for the candid albeit somewhat brutal replies! With respect to the inclusion aspects, does NCRC have an admission preference for those students with disabilities? And, how severe are the disabilities, e.g., are the special needs children at NCRC highly functioning or more disruptive? FWIW, DS's current preschool/daycare is a NAEYC-accredited program that is a national daycare chain. There is a child with Down Syndrome in his class, but she is absolutely delightful and actually better behaved than DS is most of the time! So that's not really a concern to us.
Anonymous
You should take the tour next fall. They explain all of this. About whether it is worth the hype or not, I will say this: A friend told me I HAD to send my kids to NCRC, much like your friends, OP. I am the kind of person who reflexively wants to do the opposite of what I am supposed to do, especially if it is for a stupid reason like prestige. I went on the tour prepared to hate it on site. Instead, I fell in love.

We moved our older child, who was having (at best) a fair to middling experience with another preschool to NCRC, and my younger child attended only NCRC. They are both in another school now (the little one is in K). They both love school, and I attribute a lot of it to NCRC. See how the tour feels to you.

On the special needs front, it is part of NCRC's mission, but they do not take children without being sure they can meet their needs. Sometimes children have their own therapist or other support in the classroom, because the class can't be about the teachers spending all of their time on that one child. Our kids were never in a class where a child was a chronic disruptive presence, and I have never heard of that happening. In fact, in some cases I didn't even know the children had special needs until the parents told me. There were children in other classes where that was very obvious because there were physical manifestations of the needs. The really great thing is that those children are as much a part of the class as anyone else, and the kids treated each other as one big group of friends. Over time, I went from being indifferent about the special needs part of the mission to believing it was a strength of the school.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Actually, NCRC also has a great inclusion program. As does St. Columba's, which is also NAEYC - certified


I'm re-reading the OP's post to try and locate the part where she indicates this is something she needs or wants ....

So does River School, and so does the McLean school.




I was explaining why it has some hype in certain circles.



As for the previous poster who questioned why someone would want to send their child to a school with SN children, I have no answer for you other than that you sound like a jerk. You might want to investigate the historical reason preschools began in the first place.
Anonymous
The "hype" about NCRC (i.e., exmissions, meet the "right people", etc.) actually made us extremely reluctant to look at the school in the first instance, but after we took the tour last year, we were hooked (especially having looked at a number of other preschools) and have not yet been disappointed. The teachers are loving and caring yet keenly focused upon the children's development. While I can't speak to the details of the educational programs of other schools having not enrolled at those schools, we just get the distinct impression that NCRC's program is exposing DS to so many things that we hadn't even begun to contemplate. As current parents, we can't say enough good things about the school.
Anonymous
I'm with you OP. We heard the hype, took the tour and were not really impressed with facility or classrooms (in one there were about 25 kids running all around with 4 teachers trying to keep control). We decided not to apply as we didn't think our child (who is not special needs) would thrive.

I'm sure its good. Just not for us...I didn't understand all the hype. I'm less worried about exmissions. More concerned with experience from ages 2-4.
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