Quality of education at Washington International School (primary school)

[Anonymous]

My wife and I are looking into the Washington International School as an option for our pre-k children, and we would love to hear from parents who send or have sent their children to the lower school in the recent 6 or so years. Based on a tour of the school and conversations with WIS faculty we had earlier this year, we are really excited about the potential of sending our children there; however, we have a few concerns about the primary school because we've read rumors on a few blogs of high teacher turnover in the last two or three years. A few online reviews also expressed concerns about the lower school's leadership and some frustrations parents are having with the primary school principal in particular. Any assistance in helping us gather a richer picture of the school would be very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Hello,
I'm a WIS parent at the primary school and I've not heard of this "turnover" problem. We've only been there a couple of years but we really love it- very warm, nurturing, and very skilled teachers. The physical design of the school is beautiful and I'm continually impressed at the resources they have (music, computer lab, etc )
I can't speak to your specific concerns as I have not experienced the issues you mentioned. I find it a wonderful place for my child and have also met a lot of great parents too. Best wishes to you for your school search

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for your response!

One additional question: are you satisfied with the math and science curriculum at the primary school? One parent complained on another blog that the school's math program in particular was not as rigorous as some of the other top private schools in D.C. Of course, I"m not sure how one could weigh the various math programs without conducting a study or having access to comparative test scores; that said, I would appreciate your thoughts on the school's math and science programs.

[Anonymous]

I think the turnover concerns dealt with the MS and US (relative to both administrators and teachers), but the PS is more stable.

[Anonymous]

I am a longtime WIS parent - my kids are now on the Tregaron campus so I haven't been at the primary school for a 2 years, but we were very happy with the time we were at the primary school. Truthfully, the math and science programs were a bit weak when my older DC was there, but improved for my younger and I understand now are quite strong. The administration took the concerns about the programs seriously and have done a great job in improving them. I understand that the current head math teacher is doing a great job! They do not have a separate science lab at the primary school (which I'm sure you saw on your tour), but the science is brought into the classrooms. Again, my understanding is that they have worked hard to improve this program also. By contrast both the math and science programs at Tregaron are quite strong (which contributed to the problem in years past so it's good that they improved the program in the lower years).

In terms of the quality of the education overall at the primary school you will be quite satisfied. Even when there were concerns about the math program with my older child I was still very satisfied with the program overall. I have friends with kids at many different schools in the area and I found that my kids were doing the same schoolwork (and homework) as in the area schools, except my kids were doing it in 2 languages.

As for the teacher turnover in the primary school I haven't heard anything like this….in fact, the school does not have a large teacher turnover at all throughout all divisions. I'm wondering if you are referring to them moving teachers to different grade levels which is done at times (i.e. the K teacher moves to 1st, etc.). That is done at times, but the teacher does not actually leave the school. As for the principal she is a very nice woman who really does know what is needed to educate children. Many of the wonderful hires and positive changes to the curriculum and support programs have been under her leadership. I never had any issues with her and was able to speak candidly with her and ask her for advice or lodge my concerns (if I had one). She was pretty open and honest with me. However, I do know some others who had trouble "connecting" with her and didn't always agree with her decisions. I cannot speak to those issues, though.

Good luck with the whole process!

[Anonymous]

Very strong. Our child, now in late elementary school, was admitted at preK to Beauvoir and GDS in addition to WIS; we chose WIS and have been happy since day one.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the PPs about having a great experience at the primary school. My child was there from PreK through 5th and is now at the middle school. One reason I think people have the impression that math and science are weak is because of the way the IB Primary Years Program works. There are interdisciplinary units of inquiry instead of separate periods or times for math or science. Everything is integrated into one unit. For example, one of the units I recall from Kindergarten was a unit on water. The children studied all aspects of water, and everything was related to that unit - social studies (geography of lakes, rivers, oceans), science (all forms of water - freezing water, etc), math concepts about water, they read stories about water, even the music and art are related to the unit. This is how IB works. As a pp said earlier - no science labs in the primary school and I did hear some parents complain about that, although it didn't bother me. They're getting plenty of lab time now in the middle school.

Students in the primary school start working with a separate math specialist in 4th grade and it continues through 5th grade. The specialist has been there now about 3 or 4 years and she is the third since we joined the school 9 years ago. She is excellent and the students all love her. My child had her in both 4th and 5th and loved working with her. The first math teacher that was at the school when we first started had a pretty weak reputation, so nobody was sad to see that teacher go.

I always had a good experience with the primary principal, but I know others who didn't. She usually supports teachers over parents when there are conflicts, but as a former teacher myself, I think that's typically the norm in a private school unless there is something egregious on the part of the teacher. She knew my child well and when we had discussions about my child, I felt she was spot on about personality and how to positively channel my child's sometimes alpha behavior.

Regarding teacher turnover, I disagree that there is a high turnover of classroom teachers. We are in the Spanish program and while there have been a few that leave every year, it is really no more than any other school (again I speak as a former teacher who has worked at many different schools). Especially as an international school, the turnover is much lower than other international schools around the world.

One thing I will point out that I was pleasantly surprised about, is the incredible quality of the English teachers. We chose WIS because of the immersion and IB programs. Starting in 1st grade, each child has two classroom teachers and they switch between them - one English and one either Spanish or French. My child's English teachers have all been outstanding. They really instill a love of literature from a very young age and teach kids how to write, very very well. My child has extremely strong reading and writing skills. In addition, everything they do fosters analytical and critical thinking skills. It is inherent in the IB program. The 5th grade culminating project was incredible - a group interdisciplinary exhibition outlining a world issue. They brought in math, science, social studies, art, music, community service, etc. As parents we got to watch most of the groups in the entire 5th grade present their projects in front of an audience and it was extremely impressive.

As you can see we've been very happy with WIS and our child is speaking Spanish like a native speaker (according to all of child's middle school teachers - we don't speak Spanish at home!) and extremely happy in middle school.

Good luck on your admissions process and let me know if you have any other specific questions - I'm happy to answer them.

[Anonymous]

Love WIS! We are an American family who was looking for more than what other privates had to offer. It's a great place. We love the teachers and the community. Our kids are happy and their brains are on fire -- with IB and language

[Anonymous]

Thank you! This response reinforces my "gut" feeling about WIS.

[Anonymous]

We deeply appreciate the thoughtful and detailed responses to our inquiry. We are more excited than ever about the potential of joining the WIS community.

All the best to each of you and your children!

[Anonymous]

I am a current WIS primary school parent and I wanted to address the issue of math. I think there was, in the past, a real concern about the math curriculum. Because they do full immersion through K, they do not start teaching reading in English until 1st grade. Then, they really focus on English reading, and I think there are some parents who worry that math gets lost in the shuffle. There was also a concern that they were excellent at teaching math theory, but did not stress practice enough so that kids actually did not know their basic math facts as well as they should. In the past year, I have seen a real focus and improvement in the attention paid to math - both in teaching actual math facts and in teaching more challenging conceptual math. Bottom line, I think they are very focused on improving and listening to concerns and that it keeps getting better.

[Anonymous]

Another WIS parent here. DS has been at WIS since 1st grade and is now in 8th grade and DD has been there since K and is now in 6th grade. We are very happy with the school. Our kids are engaged, inquisitive, poised, well-rounded and most importantly, very, very happy there. We think a lot of this has to do with the school, the community and quality of education. Strongly recommend it.

[Anonymous]

PPs, which tracks are your kids on?

[Anonymous]

PP from above with kids in Middle and Upper - both of my kids are in the Spanish program.

[Anonymous]

Do kids ever switch languages in upper school after "mastering" another?