Why aren't there more Pre-K3 programs in DCPS?

[Anonymous]

First the birthday cutoff goes from 12/31 to 9/30, making a child born 10/1 or later wait til they're almost 5 to be eligible just for the 4 year old programs, & then there's only a few schools in Capitol Hill that have pre-k3 classes. Why don't the rest of DCPS have 3 year old programs? This whole system stinks.

[Anonymous]

Have you looked into the DC Parks and Rec co-op program? It's not free, but it's extremely cheap compared to private preschools. Since the hours are typically M-F, 9-12, the programs don't fully meet the needs of working parents, but perhaps it's something to consider if you are a SAHP or can afford an afternoon babysitter.

The date was moved to keep DC kids more in line with the rest of the country. As early elementary grades become more demanding and test-focused, many states are shifting to an earlier cutoff date, which ensures that kids are at least 5 when entering kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

FYI, there are a handful of charter pre-schools which offer Pre-K 3. The ones I know of are (in alpha order):

Appletree (3 campuses)
Bridges PCS
DC Bilingual
Potomac Lighthouse
WEDJ (2 campuses)

Bridges, DC Bilingual and maybe one or two (but not all 3) Appletrees are the only ones that are truly diverse. The others are pretty homogeneously AA (not that this is necessarily good or bad, much less something you would care about). You can look them up in the charter school section (begins around page 90, I think) of the 2009-2010 School Chooser:

http://fightforchildren.org/page05.html#chooser

There definitely aren't enough public Pre-K 3 programs to meet demand, but at least they exist. In MoCo you have to pay for private pre-school for 2s, 3s, and 4s!

[Anonymous]

FWIW, Bridges uses the old 12/31 birthday cutoff. So if your child is two years old, but will turn three by Dec. 31st, you can enroll him(her) in Pre-K 3.

http://bridgespcs.org/

[Anonymous]

None of the surrounding counties offer free preK, unless you count headstart...
DC is already doing more than is mandated

[Anonymous]

I don't live in DC and was surprised that they even offer pre-K for 3 yr olds (even if there aren't that many programs). That's a LOT more than other counties offer. Do you expect free childcare too? In our county, the only free pre-K programs are for 4 yr olds and they are only in high-risk, low income areas.

[Anonymous]

Yeah... it's really not part of the nationwide free public education promise. From an education standpoint, preschool is only considered so important the gov't. has to pay for it for children whose home environments are likely to be unstimulating. "At risk" kids need the "Head Start" for the benefit of future schooling attempts. That's probably why DC programs are funded at all, although, of course, not all DCPS children are "at risk". For three year-olds children stimulated adequately at home, a Pre-K 3 program would effectively be free childcare for a non-school-aged child.

Age cut-offs are another kettle of fish, entirely.

[Anonymous]

Yes, the OP is looking for free childcare from "the system."

and sure, it would be nice if we had universal gov't-funded nursery school like France. Great in fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah... it's really not part of the nationwide free public education promise. From an education standpoint, preschool is only considered so important the gov't. has to pay for it for children whose home environments are likely to be unstimulating. "At risk" kids need the "Head Start" for the benefit of future schooling attempts. That's probably why DC programs are funded at all, although, of course, not all DCPS children are "at risk". For three year-olds children stimulated adequately at home, a Pre-K 3 program would effectively be free childcare for a non-school-aged child.

Age cut-offs are another kettle of fish, entirely.

The DCPS offerings at that age are just Head Start, which is income-qualified for at-risk children. That's the reason all the available choices are from charter schools (with the exception of Peabody's Reggio program which is a school-within-a-school in the Capitol Hill Cluster and as close as it gets to being a charter without getting chartered by the charter authority) so they get to make their own rules.

Having said that, it's not necessarily true that "for three year-olds children stimulated adequately at home, a Pre-K 3 program would effectively be free childcare for a non-school-aged child." That's painting with a pretty broad brush and I'm willing to bet you haven't visited enough of these schools to even credibly make that accusation against one of them, much less all. There are legitimate academic, developmental, and social lessons going on these schools (admittedly some more than others) not all of which can be taught at home. They do have actual curricula as well as charters to uphold, and if they don't fulfill the requirements of their charters - against which they are measured and evaluated - they will get defunded and lose their charters. They're evaluated as schools and the expectations to which they are held is substantially higher than that of a licensed daycare center.

Just so you know.

[Anonymous]

OP, where in DC do you live? There are Pre-K 3 charter programs in all 4 quadrants of the District.

All of these schools are now accepting applications for 2009-2010 (they tend to have either March/April deadlines or rolling admissions). Most (but not all) require your child to be potty-trained before school starts in September, and most (but not all) have 9/30 birthday cut-offs.

[Anonymous]

I don't live in DC and was surprised that they even offer pre-K for 3 yr olds (even if there aren't that many programs). That's a LOT more than other counties offer. Do you expect free childcare too? In our county, the only free pre-K programs are for 4 yr olds and they are only in high-risk, low income areas.

Which is a shame, because the very academic three-year-old program that my daughter attended last year engaged her in early math, early science, and pre-reading skills that have given her skills that she is now using in her Pre-K class. The notion that we in DC are getting more than we deserve, and accusing the OP of wanting free child care is just sour grapes, in my opinion. It would be great if all children were offered highly stimulating preschool programs at the age of three.

The DCPS offerings at that age are just Head Start, which is income-qualified for at-risk children. That's the reason all the available choices are from charter schools (with the exception of Peabody's Reggio program which is a school-within-a-school in the Capitol Hill Cluster and as close as it gets to being a charter without getting chartered by the charter authority) so they get to make their own rules.

This is not completely true, there are schools in DC (Brent and Tyler to name a couple) that offer non-Head Start programs to children who are three years old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not completely true, there are schools in DC (Brent and Tyler to name a couple) that offer non-Head Start programs to children who are three years old.

Good to know, PP. I was under the impression Head Start and Charter schools were the only options, thank you for correcting me. If you don't mind explaining further, were you able to choose between Brent and Tyler or did you have go inbounds? Or could you apply OOB? How does the application process work for Pre-K 3? If you could choose between them, what decided you towards one over the other?

I know that for the charters, you apply at the individual school, and the same goes for the Capitol Hill Cluster (though inbound students get preference so their waitlist is supposedly about 100 names long).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, where in DC do you live? There are Pre-K 3 charter programs in all 4 quadrants of the District.

All of these schools are now accepting applications for 2009-2010 (they tend to have either March/April deadlines or rolling admissions). Most (but not all) require your child to be potty-trained before school starts in September, and most (but not all) have 9/30 birthday cut-offs.

What schools are these? I'm very interested in the rolling admissions option.

[Anonymous]

PK-3 is essentially day care for poor kids... to make sure that under privledged kids have a "head start" and are on track for K. A fairly new thing. Also, if you look in the suburbs (fairfax comes into mind) not many of them have public preK for 4 year olds, and may even have 1/2 day K. DC is doing pretty well with launching universal preK as it is expensive and logistically challenging. Find a private school, or one of the rec center programs, school is not supposed to replace day care

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I don't live in DC and was surprised that they even offer pre-K for 3 yr olds (even if there aren't that many programs). That's a LOT more than other counties offer. Do you expect free childcare too? In our county, the only free pre-K programs are for 4 yr olds and they are only in high-risk, low income areas.

Which is a shame, because the very academic three-year-old program that my daughter attended last year engaged her in early math, early science, and pre-reading skills that have given her skills that she is now using in her Pre-K class. The notion that we in DC are getting more than we deserve, and accusing the OP of wanting free child care is just sour grapes, in my opinion. It would be great if all children were offered highly stimulating preschool programs at the age of three.

The DCPS offerings at that age are just Head Start, which is income-qualified for at-risk children. That's the reason all the available choices are from charter schools (with the exception of Peabody's Reggio program which is a school-within-a-school in the Capitol Hill Cluster and as close as it gets to being a charter without getting chartered by the charter authority) so they get to make their own rules.

This is not completely true, there are schools in DC (Brent and Tyler to name a couple) that offer non-Head Start programs to children who are three years old.

I don't agree that it is sour grapes. But once people get used to free pre-K, they start expecting more. It's human nature. But what's next? Free preschool for 2 yrs old? Toddlers? Cmon. You child really doesn't need preschool at age 3 if you cannot afford it. Your 4 yr old will be just fine walking into pre-K w/o having attended school the previous year. Preschool is meant to develop social skills, to get children accustomed to other adults, etc. Not to develop "academic skills." I would steer clear of a program for 3 and 4 yr olds that is academic in nature.