Reply to Has anyone accepted a spot at a highly coveted DC Charter and then later been disappointed?

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Reply to "Has anyone accepted a spot at a highly coveted DC Charter and then later been disappointed?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think you, and the schools, are off base if we are talking about very young children at the preschool level.  Trying to diagnose things like ADHD, sensory issues, G&T or anything else at this age is nearly impossible, often wildly inaccurate, and IMO ultimately very damaging for many kids and their parents.  These schools expect a room of 25 kids to act like automatons who always follow instructions, participate in every activity, etc etc, which I believe is utterly unrealistic for 3 and 4 year old children.  This is why we are taking our child out of the system for PK4, and probably forever.  I think we are kidding ourselves as parents and at a policy level when we insist that all-day PK is the right thing for every child.  Instead of providing high-quality early childhood care (small class sizes, individual attention, play-based programs), we are forcing kids into factories that, by nature of the large size of the programs, have to insist on a level of structure and behavioral adherence that is beyond the capability of many preschool-aged children.  Instead of acknowledging that fact, we are labeling kids with "syndromes" at ever earlier ages.  I also firmly believe that many of these schools are insisting that kids get lockstep with the program early so that they will be conditioned to deal with the testing culture of the later grades.  NCLB is ruining public education in this country, and since charters have to perform well on the DC-CAS too, it is my belief that no matter how "different" their programs and curricula may be, they are still incentivized to perform on tests, which defeats the purpose of those specialized programs entirely.  It's basic cognitive dissonance, and I don't think anyone can objectively argue that this insane system we've developed is truly working well.  [/quote]

I totally agree with you, PP though there are only 18 kids in our Pk class. That's not the point. The point is that it is a lot of structure for a 4 yo, especially an active boy who might do better with more free play and running around time and less time with manipulatively and circle time. But if we stay in DC we don't have much choice because we are not giving up our spot at a highly coveted charter. I'm hoping and thinking that the older grades are better.[/quote]

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