I'm a special ed lawyer in DC and I've read a lot of dcps evaluations. They are generally pretty superficial (IQ test, woodchuck Johnson achievement test, some sort of behavior symptom checklist), but if your only goal is to qualify for an IEP based on something straight forward, they can be good enough. If you actually want to learn something about your child's profile and can afford a private evaluation, that will be higher quality.

What are pros and cons of both.
We are eligible for Dcps testing but I am wondering at MS level, almost age 11, if private evaluation is more beneficial to understand our child profile.