Reply to DC Bilingual VS Inspired Teaching?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am the OP of this thread.  I wanted to let people who provided feedback and ideas know how our story resolved, with the caveat that we made the decision that was best for our family and other families have different kids with different needs/locations/etc.  Also, other OPs of threads asking for feedback rarely report back on decisions made, and I'd like to make a plea that they do so.  Those of us who reply to these threads put in time trying to help you make a decision.  We'd like to know how it turned out!

First of all, our son wasn't quite accepted to Inspired Teaching when I started this thread, but I could tell that he would be soon based on wait list movement.  He ended up being accepted a week or so into the school year, so we've had the opportunity to try out both schools.  I'll give pros and cons for each school as I saw it and unexpected takeaways in the hopes that other parents making a decision about the schools in question will have more information.  The hardest part about choosing a school for our family is that we are making very quick decisions after we are offered a space and we have limited information.  Even though we had toured both schools and done our homework, it is hard to know what the school will be like.

Ultimately, we chose Inspired Teaching and so far are very happy with our choice as is our son.  Our son was having a very hard time adjusting to DC Bilingual with tantrums before and after school which are not typical for him at this age.  It became clear that he was miserable and even so the choice was hard because DC Bililngual really is a good school and we had wanted him to learn Spanish.

DC Bilingual

Pros:
Dedicated Staff who are doing a great job of educating an often underserved community
Excellent specials (dance, music, full library, community garden)
Beautiful facilities that will only get better with renovations which are likely to happen in the next couple of years (light filled classrooms, adjacent playground, cafeteria separate from auditorium, library)
Location - just off the metro so it's easy to get kid to school on the way to work.

Cons for our family:
Very long school day (8 to 4:00)
Rigid discipline approach (just a general feeling that trying to keep kids "in line" for that long is hard for the kids).
Boys don't do nearly as well on PARCC as girls
We prefer a progressive educational approach.  While DC Bilingual has a very effective, research based approach, it just didn't work as well for our son/mesh with our values as well.
Location - turning to the school off of Riggs Road is very challenging.  The traffic there is confusing, with lots of pedestrian traffic.  It's farther from the metro than you would think by looking at a map, walking along Riggs is stressful.  All around the location didn't work nearly as well for our family as we thought.

Another family might really prefer a longer day, a structured approach, and a more "locked down" atmosphere.

Inspired Teaching -

Pros:
Shorter day - 8:40 to 3:15 
Very well organized drop-off line and pick up procedures
Empathetic and caring staff
Emphasis on emotional intelligence in curriculum and daily interactions
Progressive approach to education
Lots of same sex parent led families

Cons:
Some Spanish instruction, but not a lot.
We don't know enough right now to say what the major cons of Inspired Teaching are.  Give us a year and I'm sure I will, as all schools have negatives.

[/quote]

it is very clear to me your heart lies with ITS[/quote]

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