Switched from Private to Public and Am Wondering If I Made the Right Choice

[Anonymous]

We switched to public from private for early elementary. We were looking for more experienced teachers than what our private school offered, as well as slightly larger class sizes so my DD would have more friend options. However, some of the things I have noticed have caused me to wonder whether we made the right decision, namely:

1) Very little feedback from the teacher - sometimes my DD will send home corrected work with low scores - one or two assignments even resulted in 0's. But there is no feedback from the teacher during the week or expression of concern about her score. I get all of her corrected work back once a week, usually on a Friday and then will follow up with the teacher the next week. I just feel like if my kid tanked an assignment or clearly doesn't understand something that happened on Monday, I would love to know then instead of waiting 5 days until the week is over and she is even more lost.

2) Kids grading each other's work and the teachers never see it. Every day the kids switch papers and grade each other's homework. One day my DD did her homework but had done a couple of problems incorrectly and at home, we were't sure where she had gone wrong. I told her to just let the teacher know once she turned in her homework so she could get help. She said the teacher never sees the homework and never provides the correct answers. The kids just review each other's work and put a checkmark next to each other's work and it comes right back home. The kids correcting each others' work has led to kids being bullied because their peers see and correct their work.

3) There are quite a few kids who clearly have behavioral problems coupled with serious learning disabilities and that are quite disruptive. Initially, my DD had lots of difficulty concentrating. We would ask that she be moved away from particularly distracting kids, however, there are enough of these kids that it's hard to avoid. I am not talking about a kid being chatty - it is beyond that - i.e., randomly and constantly yelling at the top of their lungs; urinating randomly in inappropriate places; not honoring personal space, etc.

4) Constant worksheets! Every week, I swear there are no fewer than 25 worksheets stuffed inside of her folder. She constantly complains that she's bored and I believe it's because of the monotony and rigidity of the curriculum.

My DD was excited about the new school for about a month, stopped being excited thereafter and now for the past month, just asks not to go to school or makes up random illnesses or injuries so that I will keep her home. She's made one good friend but I think feels swallowed up in the overall environment and has lost some of her confidence.

In this situation, would you stick it out and hope it gets better or look into going back to private school?

[Anonymous]

Now you know what public school elementary is like! Everything you said sounds accurate.

[Anonymous]

The only thing that surprises me is that there is any homework at all.

[Anonymous]

I mean… those things aren’t going to change anytime soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that surprises me is that there is any homework at all.

I’m also surprised any grading is happening, even with kids grading each other. The most my kid did was writers workshop in 2nd grade. Yes, 8 year olds marking up each others written work. Stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that surprises me is that there is any homework at all.

It's amazing what you learn when you have an actual child in school.

[Anonymous]

One thing is the difference once the public schools split the kids more. For our FCPS elementary school, they keep all levels together through 2nd grade, except they will pull kids out for a bit of differentiated instruction at the subject level, mainly for math.

In 3rd grade, there is fulltime AAP. The kids in the AAP classes are not that smart, but this weeds out the kids with bad-behavior and learning disabilities. It also shifts the gender dynamic to be more female - our 6th grader currently has 18 girls and 8 boys in his class, including him. While the curriculum doesn't get that much harder, the teachers will grade everything from that point, in our experience.

So #2 and #3 in your post change immediately at 3rd grade, at least in FCPS.

#1 and #4 depend on the class / teacher, but our experience mostly matches what you describe, all the way to high school.

Even the AP Calculus courses have a lot of worksheets! I think this is because the district has tried to shift teachers away from textbooks, but many teachers believe that tactile learning is better for students than always doing everything on your laptop. So they make a lot of copies of worksheets.

[Anonymous]

Some teachers in our private school also ask students to correct each other’s homework… unbelievable

[Anonymous]

Ultimately, your kid is going to be fine staying in a public school. Kids make it through and are very successful in life.

There are plenty of good points on the side of public schools -- for instance, they are bigger, and therefore have more opportunities for kids, both socially and academically.

If you can provide another option, you now see the good that was coming from your private.

[Anonymous]

You’re lucky you even get to see hw, tests, etc. be glad they’re doing worksheets, better than just screens. (Former public where we never got to see work, now private) What grade is your child?

In private was your child very socially unhappy or just a little? I wrestle with this for not my son but daughter. She generally loves school now and has friends, mostly in other grades bc her grade is v small. (Like under 10 kids) right now the social dynamic is fine but I wonder about the future. Still, the academic part of their school is awesome and they enjoy learning. Also the private calendar is 100000x better than FCPS.

[Anonymous]

We have a DC in private school and 2 DCs in public. All the things you name are par for the course in public. You actually should be glad about the worksheets. Nearly everything my 3rd grade DC does in school this year is on the laptop. Virtually no work comes home. Math tests are sent home as a computerized printout showing only how many questions were missed and the percentage score. I am not joking. It's insane. They type almost all their writing, even though they haven't been taught typing skills, they do powerpoints instead of posters or dioramas. For all the gaps this leaves, we give DC several pages nightly from a math workbook, same in a grammar/writing workbook, as well as being quizzed nightly on a spelling list and multiplication facts. On teacher workdays, I've done geography/map projects with DC, or DC has completed some writing for local or online writing contests. DC is an eager learner and likes the personal time with me, and we keep it all positive, so thus far DC doesn't resist the supplementation. On the upside, DC's class and school have positive peer culture, lots of school spirit, etc., so DC likes going to school ok even though the academics aren't engaging. DC also likes some of the specials like art and music and library, which the teachers make fun.

The DC that was in private didn't like all the school spirit stuff and was bored to tears, leading to overall disengagement with school. Thus we decided it was important to make the switch.

My other public school DC is in HS and takes almost all AP classes, and those are well taught and rigorous with no need for enrichment. So, if you can stick it out and fill the gaps at home, HS can be good.

[Anonymous]

What was your reasoning to switch in the first place? Does that reasoning still hold, or do these negatives outweigh the benefits you expected from the switch?

Unfortunately, you’ve just missed the application period for private schools, so if you do want to return you may have more limited options out-of-cycle. You could stay in public for the next year to see if it improves but also start applying to privates next fall so that you have options of things are still bad.

[Anonymous]

Who changes schools for larger class sizes? You went from what sounds like a private preschool to real school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that surprises me is that there is any homework at all.

+1

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I think you’re being a bit nit picky, and my kids are in private. If you want feedback from the teacher, reach out; kids see each other’s work everywhere; the behavior problems are tough, but the public school serves the general public and has to try to help everyone, and it’s good for kids to understand that people have developmental issues; and, finally, what is the problem with worksheets? Our kids have workbooks that are essentially just worksheets bound together. What would you rather have?

We switched from public to private during the pandemic, and it was a good change for many reasons. But, there are things I like about our public school that make me wonder about going back, and then people at that public that want to go private. I think a lot of people think the grass is always greener, but nowhere is perfect and a lot of schools are what you make of them. I think your child would be harmed a lot more if they go on to elementary school #3.