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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm interested in hearing from parents who has kids in 1st grade and up. How do you like the school and teachers? I know the program is not as structured as other schools, but do you feel the school is strong academically? Do you see this as a long term solution or taking it year by year? Thank you in advance. [/quote]

We are in our second year and second grade at ITS, and are not going anywhere else.  The school was impressive on the first day, and it has continually strengthened ever since.  The rigorous child-centered educational model demands far more engaged thinking of both teachers and students than a conventional approach, but it ends up producing a broad, deep, and powerful base of learning.  It turns out that giving students more power to shape what they learn and how they learn it actually gives them a much stronger academic environment.

Here is one example:  The master teacher noticed that, after the donation of some wonderful books about Egypt, kids were showing a strong interest in pyramids and mummies.  Although these were not part of the curriculum, the teacher found a way to use these to advance core educational requirements such as reading comprehension, writing, evidentiary investigation, and historical inquiry.  The inspiration came from the kids, in using materials that particularly resonated with them.  So a Playmobile set was used to jump-start the inquiry process, with each child being given "artifacts" from the set from which to begin to advance historical suppositions.  These were then discussed in a class forum with the teacher that felt, with its Socratic approach, openness to insight from all, and challenging exploration of ideas and inferences, far more like a college seminar than a second grade class.  Now, after intensive study of the pharaohs  and the culture that led to the pyramids, the students are adding hands-on inquiry to their history lesson by attempting to mummify Cornish game hens and prepare sarcophagi for them.  Sounds gross, right?  As strange as it sounds, the kids have been thrilled by this entire unit, and it has brought the class into a whole new level of focused learning together that they will probably never forget.

Our child is bright and creative, but felt very restricted and ostracized in his previous public school, to the point that his whole appreciation for education was jeopardized.  After losing the lottery, we thought we were going to have to leave DC.  Now at ITS, with full support for his diverse interests, our son is absolutely thriving, gobbling up learning, reading, creating, and growing in all kinds of ways.  He is being encouraged to become an expert in everything he cares about--  from the rain forest to world geography, from dinosaurs to ancient Egypt, from Harry Potter to the Wizard of Oz, from writing a book to co-developing a play, and so much more.  ITS is helping to turn his entire world into a classroom, so the park becomes a place to learn about community, history, and the environment; books become a gateway to the world; and art (ITS has a phenomenal embedded partnership with the Phillips Collection) becomes a powerful way to integrate cultural understanding, historical learning, and creative expression.

ITS is far from perfect.  But the amazing thing about the school is how, like what it does with each individual student, it turns its greatest needs into its biggest opportunities for growth.  So the school's lack of much green space has provided the impetus for reaching out to all kinds of innovative new programs and partnerships with community parks, gardens, and environmental groups.  We are very excited about growing with the school for at least the next six years.

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