When to go private from DCPS
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Anonymous
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Relief from daycare costs and lack of a tuition payment is great. Full stop. But if you accept the notion that DCPS, at some point in a kid's academic career, becomes a less-than-ideal learning environment for bright kids, when do you make the change? We can't afford the Beauvoirs of the world for grade school, which is fine because STA/NCS and that ilk are probably not feasible for us financially anyway.
I won't say what age my kids are other than to say that they cannot yet read or write and still bring nap mats to school. In other words, I know that it's probably way too early to be worrying about this stuff. But, we are already seeing peer families start to jockey for spots at "better" schools in the DCPS system, talking about feeder schools, and starting to lay out a plan for their kids' academic futures. I worry about getting too comfortable in public school because it's free and it's "fine for now" and then next thing we know, they're not academically ready for a more challenging academic environment in a private middle/high school. I'm looking for actual input on what grade to be targeting for a move to a private school from DCPS that would maximize relief from education costs while preparing my kids to be successful when the quality of the school matters more. Also if you read this and are inclined to call me poor or a shitty parent for enjoying free school, feel free to move along. |
Anonymous
| It depends. |
Anonymous
| We did PK3 in DCPS and it was fine, then we visited a nice private school in the suburbs and realized how quickly the gap would grow between our kids getting fine and those kids getting something much better. Although it was a financial hit we moved them the following year. During Covid with our kids in person every day the difference was immense but even now there are just so many advantages I feel guilty I can do this for my kids. |
Anonymous
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So to understand correctly, you think that at some point all DCPS, and the public charters (BASIS, Latin), and the special admissions schools (Walls), will not be good enough/your kids will be too bright for them? But they’re still in pre-k? Or you want a backup?
I’m not trying to be snarky. I just don’t understand. |
Anonymous
OP here. I don't really know. Very overwhelmed by the whole education ecosystem. How do those charters and special admission schools compare to private schools? Admission at those is by chance, right? At the risk of revealing too much, my kids are twins and the DCPS lottery does not give any advantage to multiples when it comes to keeping them together. I would consider splitting them up for high school but they need each other right now and we've already had to decline an offer to a preferred public school because one got in and the other did not. I don't think my kids are/will be better than anyone else, it's just that both parents are reasonably smart and we had the privilege of going to private school where we grew up and want to make that available to them if it makes sense for our family and they're cut out for it academically and socially. I am worried that they'll get to a certain grade and certain paths will be closed to them because we stayed in DCPS too long. |
Anonymous
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I depends on the child/ family.
We’ve been at both a public charter and after that DCPS. Elementary at DCPS was fine. Middle school was not. We chose to go private for HS and in hindsight probably would have benefited from getting out of DCPS in middle school. So for us the answer is 6th grade. |
Anonymous
| We went private at 4th grade. We had planned to stay at DCPS and go private for middle school. A combination of covid closures and really bad 3rd grade teachers pushed into private sooner. No regrets about leaving DCPS despite the fact that things at our private have been a little bumpy. |
Anonymous
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Do you want private school, or just a school system that you believe is stronger than DCPS? Because you can always move to VA or MD.
There is an endless debate whether private school is more important for early years or for HS. You will know your kids and finances best, so only you can decide that question for your kids. If your ES option in DCPS is decent/good, I'd stick with that target MS or HS. It's a trade-off - save money versus a much more competitive application process. Our kid switched to private for MS, and their experience was fantastic, so that was a right time for them. |
Anonymous
You know about sibling preference right? You do get an advantage in the lottery with twins. Your twin with the better number will pull your other twin up as a sibling. |
Anonymous
I understand. We’re currently in DCPS. A typical path for those before us has been DCPS elementary to a strong charter middle school (via lottery, increasingly difficult to get into). Or some stick with DCPS until high school and then attempt to do an application high school (extremely competitive). Private school or straight up moving are then the backups. FWIW. I went to private school in dc. I don’t ascribe a ton of weight to the private school concept in general (particularly that it’s always superior- so many different types of private school!) But I do think many kids could probably benefit from one. The issue here is whether you’d be better off just moving out of dc (because you’re not happy in general with the schools) or a different part of dc over going private. |
Anonymous
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OP sounds like the kind of parent who's aiming for the highly selective schools, in which case the answer is whenever your twins can be admitted. Some grades (usually the earlier ones) are easier than others. Many of us had to try more than once.
If I'm wrong and any private school will do, then feel free to wait until public no longer meets your needs. |
Anonymous
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I have a bright kid. He is in class with even brighter kids in DCPS. The ones who needed help, peeled off to privates for 5th or even before.
Mine will stay in public. I cannot get myself to spend any money on k-12. It will be millions by the time they are 30 if it stays in the market. |
Anonymous
True, I forgot about the sibling preference thing. With that said, we did have a situation last year when one kid got into one school and even with the sibling preference, her brother was not able to get off the waitlist in enough time to secure after care, which we need. |
Anonymous
Not necessarily aiming for the highly selective schools but would find a way to make it work financially if they develop into the type of kids who would fit in. I went to a top ranked prep school statewide and was miserable most of the time. Not interested in forcing the issue if we don’t think they’ll be happy and successful. I do fantasize about having my kids at STA/NCS but pretty sure we’d feel out of place with the other parents. |
Anonymous
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We made the move for K. We did 3 years of DCPS ECE & K - our son was a September birthday and the DCPS cutoff was Sep 30 while the private cutoff in the area for most schools is Sep 1.
The tradeoff is that it's harder to get in every year you wait, but you save money. If you are trying for the top schools, your best chance is early, unless you have a truly exceptional kid that would standout in grade 9 admissions...which we weren't banking on (so far our kids are normal smart). Our kids ended up at a "Big 3" but we plan on reassessing fit and maybe will apply out for 9th anyway...however we've been told that it's easier to get in to private from private. FWIW, our experience has been incredible compared to friends at even well regraded publics. You get what you pay for and for our family it's been worth it. If you're balancing other things like retirement or college savings, I would hold off until 6th. If you can afford private and not sacrifice those things, then do it as early as possible. |