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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Best private schools in the DMV for academics:

1) Sidwell: K-12 Coed 
2) Cathedral schools: (Beauvoir for elementary coed, NCS 4th-12th girls only, St Albans 4th-12th boys only)
3) GDS: K-12 Coed (most liberal/alternative with strong academics)

Probably in this order.

These 3 if you are looking for the strongest academics… otherwise there are many other good schools that are less intense.
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GDS starts PreK but does expand in K[/quote]

Intense?! Do not conflate an academic upper school perceived reputation with how that same place may run its lower school.

GdS and Beauvoir are quite play based in Pk-3. No graded word, no grades, no testing. GdS doesn’t even having reading groups in K, they wait until 1st, and even then nothing level appropriate comes home from class or library. It also has massively changed its student/teacher ratio with the new building change. It went from 2 teachers and 20-22 students to 1 teacher and 15-19 students per homeroom. They say specialists come in to help but that never happened unless you kid has a Dx and pullout. 
[/quote]

Ok, you are right. My kids are at BVR and it’s not super academic either. I guess I meant that those schools become very academic in middle school. So if OP Is planning to stay in DC, I would choose one of those schools for academics.[/quote]

Is it true that there are no grades and/or tests at BVR from K through 3?[/quote]

That is correct[/quote]

Interesting…how is the transition to STA and NCS for 4th grade. Everything I hear on here about those schools is that they are really focused on academics. Do the BVR kids start a bit behind others coming from schools with more traditional testing and grading systems or are there so many BVR kids in the 4th grade classes that it doesn’t matter much? Clearly BVR must do a good job getting kids ready for STA and NCS given the close connection but I’m surprised to hear how different the approaches are. [/quote]

Most independent schools don't grade in the lower schools. They write narratives and observe. They might give assessments and give the kids practice with tests, but in a less pressure way. [/quote]

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