Why did you/do you want to go private?

[Anonymous]

I’m being encourage by family to consider private for my kid who is exceptionally bright and not very challenged at his public school. But I’m not sure privates will serve him any better, particularly as it will be a stretch to do private and we’d have to reduce how much extra stuff he gets to do outside of school. In any case it got me wondering why folks on this forum have chosen to do private and whether that reason has actually come to fruition as your kids have been in those schools…

[Anonymous]

I would suggest only applying to the top privates in the city where you live. Those actually do make a difference in terms of academic ability of peer group, credentials and teaching ability of teachers, high expectations set in the school, facilities and resources, less disruptive learning environment because underperforming children can be kicked out, small class sizes so more attention and care given to each child, etc.

[Anonymous]

Private schools are different, not all offer the same academics. Some are able to do special classes for very bright kids even if the rest of the class isn't there. Some have a high achieving student body generally. And some can't really do advanced academics.

What I've found most valuable are the specials (music, art, theater) that have been largely gutted at public, and the writing instruction. Meaningful science, history, and language classes also start at younger grades than at public.

[Anonymous]

What grade/age is your child, OP? In our experience true academic acceleration at private school didn’t happen until middle school, but the overall experience was just so much better because the teachers really knew and challenged DS. There were so many opportunities for growth beyond just math and reading and so we didn’t feel like we needed to do a lot of activities outside of school. We felt this was worth the financial stretch.

[Anonymous]

Does your public have magnet gifted programs available at some point? They were amazing (and still free) for my kids.

[Anonymous]

Look at each school individually in terms of what they do or don't do for differentiation and acceleration.

[Anonymous]

We moved from public to private this year (3rd grade), and my DC is absolutely more challenged than in public. Comes home with multiple stories per day about what they're learning in different classes-- just a very different level of interest and engagement than we saw before. Loves reading now- that alone was worth the price of admission.

[Anonymous]

Because ACPS is terrible and fewer than half of middle schoolers and high schoolers report feeling safe at school.

[Anonymous]

Better curriculum from k to 12


With the possible exception of certain highest, highest level niche math courses in a couple of districts (MOCO, ARL, FFX). But that wasn’t compelling enough to throw away the first 11 years k-10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just a very different level of interest and engagement than we saw before. Loves reading now- that alone was worth the price of admission.

This sums it up well.

My kids have done both public and private, and I was old enough to remember switching between the two as an older kid. My main memory is how much more interesting the day-to-day felt at the private school.

In my public school, there was so much focus on routines, crowd control, repetition. It wasn't the teachers' fault – there were just too many kids, too many weird requirements from the district (just guessing on that one), etc. While I came out as a good test-taker, the daily experience felt monotonous (but also chaotic?), and this was in a pretty well-resourced area.

My not-that-fancy private school had all this room for variety and creativity. We got to be outside, go on trips, make things, and the curriculum was actually interesting. Not in the sense of being insanely accelerated; but like PP said, it make me curious again. And we weren't constantly getting yelled at for being loud, not staying in line, etc. (Which has been a stressor for my own kids, who tend to be rule followers.) Private wasn't perfect behaviorally either, but it was notably less stressful on a daily basis.

[Anonymous]

DC was in the magnet program for middle school, and got accepted to a high school magnet as well. But we decided to go private for high school. Math and science may have been better at the magnet, but for history, English, and foreign languages, private was better hands down. Most importantly, the discipline and values- based education was what we had missed greatly in public school. The school looks at holistically, not just AP and SAT scores.

[Anonymous]

Oldest 2 went to private. Third child in public. Kind of on the fence. Depends on specific public (good areas tend to have less behavioral issues and better academics/pers) and specific privates (some privates not that great).

[Anonymous]

We were in a top public and switched to private in elementary because the classes were large and our child was not being challenged. The smaller class sizes helped and the art and music instruction were substantially better, plus there was more accountability, personalized attention, increased focus on social-emotional growth and increased time spent outdoors in the younger years. I am a less stressed parent because on the rare occasions I see or hear something I have questions about, the faculty or admin engages in a professional, timely, and balanced fashion. We also don't feel the need to run around and do tons of extracurriculars because the curriculum is good and afterschool options largely sufficient. The aftercare was also better than what we experienced in public school.

Now in middle school, the confidence and continued focus on social-emotional growth seems to be paying off as my child is focused on
learning, enjoys being challenged and is not stressed by the workload or grades, even though she is a top student. She has self-discipline and willingly stays at school on days she does not have practices to do her homework and has several friends who do so as well.

I am certain she would have been fine in public school but I believe our family all would have been more stressed, had to advocate more often to get what DD needs, and would be supplementing more than we have to make it work. fwiw, that is largely our friends' experience who have remained in public school.

[Anonymous]

Get a copy of the latest edition of the Bethesda Magazine. It reports on the current status of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) - a school system that was top 10 in U.S. It is just horrendous since even before the pandemic, and so much worse now. It will answer your questions on why private schools have astronomical applications each year since the pandemic. Private schools can expel disruptive and/or violent students , public cannot. I have less concerns about school violence and bullying at my DC’s private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private schools are different, not all offer the same academics. Some are able to do special classes for very bright kids even if the rest of the class isn't there. Some have a high achieving student body generally. And some can't really do advanced academics.

What I've found most valuable are the specials (music, art, theater) that have been largely gutted at public, and the writing instruction. Meaningful science, history, and language classes also start at younger grades than at public.

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