The Purple School in Takoma Park. Love the nurturing feeling there, focus on arts.

Country Day School McLean -beautiful setting, great playgrounds, well trained caring and educated staff
Beverly Hills Church Preschool Alexandria teachers very nurturing and so well versed with positive discipline, true reggio program
Discovery Woods Great Falls neat nature immersion, enthusiastic teachers

Of course it depends on where you are, but all things being equal, I'd keep DD at Christ Episcopal Preschool. The teachers made the difference for us. They are experts both on paper and in practice. The director is loving and extremely well educated. There are never any lulls in the day and the afternoon activities are a perfect way to build confidence, inspire inquiry and have fun with budding friends.

I'm sure the same can be said for many in the DMV, but I would never see us leaving.

We have loved st Columba's in tenleytown dc....fabulous teachers and staff, down to earth engaged community...play based with an amazing playground with a real focus on developing social emotional and the importance of becoming a friend....kids have great private and public options and a great no pressure mix of both ..we just finished there and are glad we have another to send its a great place

We visited a ton of schools in the area and St. John's was the only one that blew us away. It just seems like a really special place. St. Columba's was our second choice.

Bump -- keep 'em coming...

Seneca Academy in Darnestown
Christ Episcopal in Rockville
Epworth in Gaithersburg

Any of these because they are very patient and loving.

We LOVED the Center for Young Children (CYC) at U.Md. too. My daughter just finished 2 years there (and 2 summers of camp), and we are so sorry to leave. They accept lots of non-affiliated families, so you don't have to be staff or a student at U.Md. -- you just have to get on the waitlist a year or two in advance (I signed up when my daughter was 1.) Nearly all the teachers have Masters degrees in child development, and their program is outstanding. The teachers are truly able to focus on the teaching since they use university students (studying child development) to do the "dirty work", cleaning up, etc. They base their program on what the research currently shows regarding how children learn best. (In contrast to programs based strictly on 19th century methodologies.) They have a fantastic playground outside, and they give the kids lots of time outside. There's music class twice a week, etc. Field trips, etc. With the university students helping out in the classrooms, the ratio is often about 1 adult to 3 or 4 kids. A very rich environment with lots of books, and stories read to the kids. Each classroom has pets too. Being on the campus provided such a wonderful environment too. Depending what they were studying, there were usually resources right on campus to visit or to provide classroom visitors. The kids even got to use the U.Md. big buses for field trips. Loved the other families too. I really can't think of anything negative about it! (And I'm usually a critical person!)

NCRC. love its play based program; wonderful community and teachers; diversity; beautiful physical plant. It has been an amazing experience for our child. Just had the parent teacher conferences and they are remarkable.

The Center for Young Children at UMD.

3rd for St John's, although we were lucky enough to get in during a light sibling year a while back. Wouln't change a thing, and although I wish it had longer hours, I also suspect that would change the fundamental character of the place, which I wouldn't want to do.

And FWIW, there is an opening for the 4/5 year old (pre-k) class next year due to a last-minute departure.

I loved St johns too.

Lowell

St. John's in Georgetown. We visited and just loved the philosophy, it's small size, caring vibe of it, the circle time in the morning where each child takes a turn talking, etc. It's a reggio emilia school, and I liked that it had some montessori elements without feeling doctrinal. I particularly liked the emphasis on recording important thoughts, projects, etc., and I also liked their approach to the curriculum and how each class had a different ongoing project centered around that year's theme (community was the theme).

Unfortunately we were WL'd, so DC is unlikely to attend.

E.g preschool name in reston because of reputation, preschool name in Bethesda because of immersion program etc.