Inspired Teaching - upper grade 4-8th

[Anonymous]

I have read a lot of different posts about ITS upper grades on this forum (good & bad), but wanted to see if current families could speak about the current situation (or last year for what it’s worth). Has the school sorted out their middle school challenges? Do most elementary students stick with the school through the eighth grade? Are there any major issues in the fourth and fifth grades? Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Not sure what you mean by "challenges", can you be more specific. This coming year is the first year of the middle school being at its full size. No major issues in 4th and 5th that I am aware of. The school has not said much about what happens this fall, i imagine that they are, like me, watching the local caseload increases with dismay.

[Anonymous]

I know in the past folks had issues with behavior management, the schedule for classes, etc. My kid was in 5th grade this year after coming up through the lower school and had a great experience. One or two that I know of didn't, but I don't know if it was the school, the age, the fact that about 1/4 of their class moved to Basis or Latin, or what. My kid made some terrific friends with incoming classmates, and the new school management structure seems to be working. now the principals are more evenly spaced across the grades: prek - 2nd, 3rd - 6th, and 7th/8th. For the most part, the families that I know who left did so because they wanted a larger setting for middle school and/or couldn't pass up a feeder pattern through 12th grade.

[Anonymous]

PP here: I don't want my answer to be dismissed as overly cheerleader-y of the school. I know my kid's experience obviously won't be the same as others, but this is genuinely what we've experienced and heard from other families. And, being at the school for a long time, I do think the principal structure is markedly better. DL was hard, though. my kid was fine with content, but there was very little synchronous learning (due to equity concerns I think, which is understandable) but also very different depending on your teacher. I know they are working on elevating the very best practices from the spring to spread them across grades.

[Anonymous]

I've got a rising 5th grader, planning to stay through 8th. We have been and continue to be happy with the school, including how they've managed this crazy time. There are a few kids leaving for Basis or Latin this year - from what I've heard, it seems like folks have really mixed emotions about leaving but feel like the high school feed (for Latin, in particular) is too good to pass up. I think there are also some families who have declined Basis slots to stay at Inspired.

Not sure what you mean about middle school "issues." The school will have a full-sized middle school cohort this year for the first time, so there will definitely be increased stability as it shifts from "growing" to continued refinement of the model, curriculum, etc.

[Anonymous]

I have an elementary kid at ITDS. I looked through the 19-20 yearbook a couple days ago - the 8th grade profiles showed that kids planned to attend: Capital City, School Without Walls, Washington Leadership Academy, Duke Ellington, Wilson, St. John's, St. Anselm's Abbey, Ron Brown, and Phelps, among other schools. (I'm sure I'm missing some, and not all kids shared their plans in the yearbook profiles.)

[Anonymous]

I have young kids and am planning to stay through 8th. I do see how not having a high school path is unappealing, and some families have sibling status at Latin or other schools, or live IB for Deal. And not every child wants a small middle school experience. For us, it is the best middle we can get to without a long commute, and we like that it is small. Middle school academic performance needs to improve, but I think it will, at least somewhat.

I thought the DL was good enough, and I was not looking for a lot of synchronous content because that is hard for me to implement. I thought we had the right amount.

[Anonymous]

Rising 7th. We have had a great experience. I’d say by 8th grade about half of the cohort will be gone (so 25). Probably 10 that leave for Latin, Basis, or DCI, 5 to IB to Deal or Hardy, and 5-10 that move out of state. Like others have said, it’s hard to pass on a high school path. I know of a few that are IB for Deal that haven’t left yet, but they have Wilson as a back up for high school. School is pretty solid. I’d give it a solid B+. It doesn’t work for everyone. If your kid wants or will thrive in large environment or want sports outside of soccer, they’d be missing out. They do teach the whole child but sometimes have had issues with discipline. I doubt any more than any other middle school but it’s more close to you since there is only ~50 kids in a cohort.

[Anonymous]

Basically, ITS does well with academics through elementary. But tere is more attrition starting in 5th for the reasons already noted, so they let more kids in through the lottery. And some of those kids are not as well prepared academically, and may have issues of behavior that were not addressed at their prior school. And of course, the homegrown ITS kids are not perfect either and middle school is a trial for everyone already. So the middle school doesn't do as well academically or behaviorally, and that makes people want to leave. It is a cycle, in some ways baked into the model. It can be improved but never totally fixed. Recently, now that people are sticking with area elementaries longer, I have noticed more inflow from Seaton, Ludlow-Taylor, and Lee in upper elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have read a lot of different posts about ITS upper grades on this forum (good & bad), but wanted to see if current families could speak about the current situation (or last year for what it’s worth). Has the school sorted out their middle school challenges? Do most elementary students stick with the school through the eighth grade? Are there any major issues in the fourth and fifth grades? Thanks in advance.

Hmm. “Most”? Sure, half or more of the middle schoolers came at some point before 5th grade.

Have they sorted out all of the challenges of running a middle school? No. It’s a pretty good school with room for improvement.

Distance learning has been OK. Hopefully it will be even better in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Basically, ITS does well with academics through elementary. But tere is more attrition starting in 5th for the reasons already noted, so they let more kids in through the lottery. And some of those kids are not as well prepared academically, and may have issues of behavior that were not addressed at their prior school. And of course, the homegrown ITS kids are not perfect either and middle school is a trial for everyone already. So the middle school doesn't do as well academically or behaviorally, and that makes people want to leave. It is a cycle, in some ways baked into the model. It can be improved but never totally fixed. Recently, now that people are sticking with area elementaries longer, I have noticed more inflow from Seaton, Ludlow-Taylor, and Lee in upper elementary.

Report card shows the lower and middle school do about same.