Experiences with Stevens Early Learning Center

[Anonymous]

We sent our child to Stevens for PK3 and loved the experience. We got a slot at our IB for PK4 and went with that for convenience reasons, but ended up regretting that decision as the quality of PK4 at our IB was terrible. We heard very good things from our child’s classmates who stayed at Stevens.

When we were at Stevens, we learned that there is apparently one - but only one - teacher there that is not that great. That teacher was in PK4 at the time but may have moved to PK3.

[Anonymous]

We absolutely LOVE it and will be returning to pre-k4 our pre-k 3 teacher is amazing and i've mostly heard good things from other parents in other classes. A lot of students are not returning but when speaking with other parents it's due to siblings being elsewhere and in boundary schools being closer making the commute easier.

[Anonymous]

I can’t help but feel that the people who claim to love Stevens probably work there. It’s hard to genuinely love a public school—especially if your child is in the afterschool program. Stevens is deeply flawed for one main reason: the teachers don’t seem to care about students’ academic success, classroom performance, or even basic parent and child satisfaction. Since the school isn't ranked and around 55% of students only stay for a year, there seems to be little incentive for improvement. Plus, there are always families desperate for free childcare, so no matter how bad Stevens gets, there will always be children enrolled.

[Anonymous]

Stevens ELC is the worst school ever probably and we regret having our child in PK3 here. Would avoid this school at all costs.

[Anonymous]

I’m a parent at Stevens Elementary, and I’m extremely concerned about what’s going on at the school. There are safety, communication, and health issues that just can’t be ignored anymore.

A student this year nearly went missing. Another fell down the stairs—and the parents didn’t even get a phone call till late. That’s unacceptable. My own child’s teacher has been out more than half the year, and there have been six assistant teacher changes in just a few months. There’s zero consistency, and it’s affecting my child so much that they don’t want to go to school anymore.

We’ve been asking for the curriculum all year and still haven’t gotten anything. The teacher isn’t open to questions or feedback and often just shuts down the conversation. Instruction is spotty at best, yet the kids are being marked “not meeting expectations”—how is that fair when they’re barely being taught?

There are also health concerns. The teacher had norovirus and kids in class, almost all got sick and we were never told. Kids weren’t kept home, classrooms weren’t cleaned properly. That’s a health risk to everyone.

Aftercare is another issue. I’ve seen a teacher put on cartoons for the kids during class instead of engaging them. And my child has come home hungry multiple times because breakfast / lunch wasn’t provided on some days.

This isn’t just about minor complaints—it’s about basic safety, health, and respect for our kids and families. We deserve better. Stay out of this school.

[Anonymous]

Do you have other points of comparison? Some of this is weird but most of it seems common for Pre-K (curriculum delays, less communication, not as anxious about common viruses...)

Anonymous wrote:I’m a parent at Stevens Elementary, and I’m extremely concerned about what’s going on at the school. There are safety, communication, and health issues that just can’t be ignored anymore.

A student this year nearly went missing. Another fell down the stairs—and the parents didn’t even get a phone call till late. That’s unacceptable. My own child’s teacher has been out more than half the year, and there have been six assistant teacher changes in just a few months. There’s zero consistency, and it’s affecting my child so much that they don’t want to go to school anymore.

We’ve been asking for the curriculum all year and still haven’t gotten anything. The teacher isn’t open to questions or feedback and often just shuts down the conversation. Instruction is spotty at best, yet the kids are being marked “not meeting expectations”—how is that fair when they’re barely being taught?

There are also health concerns. The teacher had norovirus and kids in class, almost all got sick and we were never told. Kids weren’t kept home, classrooms weren’t cleaned properly. That’s a health risk to everyone.

Aftercare is another issue. I’ve seen a teacher put on cartoons for the kids during class instead of engaging them. And my child has come home hungry multiple times because breakfast / lunch wasn’t provided on some days.

This isn’t just about minor complaints—it’s about basic safety, health, and respect for our kids and families. We deserve better. Stay out of this school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t help but feel that the people who claim to love Stevens probably work there. It’s hard to genuinely love a public school—especially if your child is in the afterschool program. Stevens is deeply flawed for one main reason: the teachers don’t seem to care about students’ academic success, classroom performance, or even basic parent and child satisfaction. Since the school isn't ranked and around 55% of students only stay for a year, there seems to be little incentive for improvement. Plus, there are always families desperate for free childcare, so no matter how bad Stevens gets, there will always be children enrolled.

I know nothing about Stevens but this is genuinely bizarre. We love our DCPS school. It's an incredible community. The aftercare is what it is but my big concern about school is not aftercare.

[Anonymous]

We’ve had an extremely unfortunate experience with the teacher at Stevens. In our view, she exhibits behaviors and attitudes that make her unsuitable for working with young children. She often positions herself as a moral authority, yet frequently behaves in a way that is condescending and dismissive of both students and parents. Rather than engaging collaboratively, she tends to shame parents for expressing concerns about their children’s safety or academic progress.

She has made unfounded accusations against students, shows little regard for validating their emotions, and seems more focused on advancing her own rigid agenda than supporting the individual needs of the children. Although she outwardly promotes values like kindness, her actions often reflect pettiness, dishonesty, and a lack of empathy—qualities that are deeply troubling in an educator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ve had an extremely unfortunate experience with the teacher at Stevens. In our view, she exhibits behaviors and attitudes that make her unsuitable for working with young children. She often positions herself as a moral authority, yet frequently behaves in a way that is condescending and dismissive of both students and parents. Rather than engaging collaboratively, she tends to shame parents for expressing concerns about their children’s safety or academic progress.

She has made unfounded accusations against students, shows little regard for validating their emotions, and seems more focused on advancing her own rigid agenda than supporting the individual needs of the children. Although she outwardly promotes values like kindness, her actions often reflect pettiness, dishonesty, and a lack of empathy—qualities that are deeply troubling in an educator.

How has the administration responded to your concerns?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve had an extremely unfortunate experience with the teacher at Stevens. In our view, she exhibits behaviors and attitudes that make her unsuitable for working with young children. She often positions herself as a moral authority, yet frequently behaves in a way that is condescending and dismissive of both students and parents. Rather than engaging collaboratively, she tends to shame parents for expressing concerns about their children’s safety or academic progress.

She has made unfounded accusations against students, shows little regard for validating their emotions, and seems more focused on advancing her own rigid agenda than supporting the individual needs of the children. Although she outwardly promotes values like kindness, her actions often reflect pettiness, dishonesty, and a lack of empathy—qualities that are deeply troubling in an educator.

How has the administration responded to your concerns?

The administration either does not care or lacks a good solution. When forced to choose between maintaining good relationships with parents and students or siding with the teacher, the administration chooses the teacher. Staffing teachers is more challenging than enrolling students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t help but feel that the people who claim to love Stevens probably work there. It’s hard to genuinely love a public school—especially if your child is in the afterschool program. Stevens is deeply flawed for one main reason: the teachers don’t seem to care about students’ academic success, classroom performance, or even basic parent and child satisfaction. Since the school isn't ranked and around 55% of students only stay for a year, there seems to be little incentive for improvement. Plus, there are always families desperate for free childcare, so no matter how bad Stevens gets, there will always be children enrolled.

What academic success do you expect in pre-k? You should probably do the research, the more academics in early years (birth-5) the worse the results later. Play based learning is the best, your child's ‘academic performance’ should be prioritized in older grades.

It’s weird you have such a disdain for public schooling. Private and homeschooling is available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t help but feel that the people who claim to love Stevens probably work there. It’s hard to genuinely love a public school—especially if your child is in the afterschool program. Stevens is deeply flawed for one main reason: the teachers don’t seem to care about students’ academic success, classroom performance, or even basic parent and child satisfaction. Since the school isn't ranked and around 55% of students only stay for a year, there seems to be little incentive for improvement. Plus, there are always families desperate for free childcare, so no matter how bad Stevens gets, there will always be children enrolled.

What academic success do you expect in pre-k? You should probably do the research, the more academics in early years (birth-5) the worse the results later. Play based learning is the best, your child's ‘academic performance’ should be prioritized in older grades.

It’s weird you have such a disdain for public schooling. Private and homeschooling is available.

I’m talking about the basic developmental milestones that children need to reach at ages 3 and 4 in order to be able to read, write, and do math in kindergarten and beyond. While there are some strong elementary schools in the DCPS system, Stevens is not one of them. It functions more like a free daycare than a school, with no clear standards for learning—or even for meaningful play. In some ways, it’s understandable—because the poor preparation for kindergarten isn’t Stevens’ immediate problem. It becomes the problem of the next school that their graduates end up attending.