How do you compare academics when there’s no real data?

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,
We’re looking at private school options for our child in the McLean/Falls Church area and I’m finding it surprisingly hard to compare schools academically. Public data is readily accessible for comparison and oversight. But private schools aren’t required to do standardized testing or publish results, so it feels like we’re flying blind.
How do you all measure or compare the academic quality private schools, specifically K-8? Do you rely mostly on word of mouth from other parents and alumni?

It seems like beyond touring, talking to current families, and hoping for the best, there isn’t a great objective way to compare them.

[Anonymous]

I think people rely heavily on perceived or real selectivity — how hard it is to get in. Plus where kids get into college (or high school for K-8). Plus the programs offered, what they emphasize in the curriculum, and the feel of the school. No real data otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Word of mouth and thinking about what "good" academics mean to you. Most schools will be open about their curricular choices -- playbased or academic in the early years? Homework philosophy? Homogeneous or heterogeneous classes? Role of technology? Examples of capstone projects in each grade? And then it's up to you to decide what is best for your family. I find that more meaningful than test scores.

[Anonymous]

No, there is no real way to compare. It works for the schools. They really don’t want that.

[Anonymous]

It is difficult. If you’re purely looking for test score-based data, the National Blue Ribbon program generally requires that a school be among the top 15% of schools in its state based on state assessments in reading/English language arts and mathematics. Only some schools pursue these, but they are a good indication that they have high academic standards and outcomes.

[Anonymous]

People look at college admission, but that data is misleading because of legacy admissions. Data in private schools is an issue.

[Anonymous]

For high school, you could look at number of NMSF or college outcomes (and people will argue ad nauseam on DCUM about that), but that’s really highly dependent on the kid, not necessarily the curriculum.

To be honest if you’re in McLean/Falls church area your kid is going to get one of the best academic experiences in public school (with option to apply to TJ). Families choosing private school are looking for something else about the experience (smaller class sizes and individualized attention, less behavior issues, less tech, elite families, religious component, educational philosophy, nicer facilities, etc etc)

[Anonymous]

The thing is, if you’re talking about mainstream schools in the DC area, the baseline is that the academics are good across the board. After that, it’s about the strength of the student. And a student is going to do best in an environment that works for them and their learning style and their personality and their preferences — so now you’re looking for fit.

[Anonymous]

Word of mouth.

Looking at admissions outcomes (eg if you're looking at elementary, which middle schools do the grads go to?). For us we applied to K-8 and were able to poke around FB and other social media to see high school admissions for the past few senior classes.

See if there is some kind of Annual Update, Board docs, or other published info floating around.

Participation in extracurriculars. We noticed a pattern with the school kids who were in certain extracurriculars. Small example is that a ton of the local RSM spots were taken up by a certain school. Same with the local club football team, or with youth orchestra. This is not directly academic, but at least gives you a sense of shared values and student strengths.

Published curricular/academic philosophies. Sometimes, school will even list the specific materials they use. eg for Catholic schools, many said they use XYZ readers system, or Loyola University Press for grammar work, XYZ curriculum for math or science. Many of the publics also list specific curricular resources.

[Anonymous]

It takes time and effort. When we toured for elementary, we often took discreet snapshots of the textbooks in use or the whiteboard.

Doing this caused us to drop more than one school from consideration -- because the literacy curriculum was Lucy Calkins, balanced literacy, whole language, 3-cueing crap. Note each of those schools was or is well regarded by many on DCUM.

Similarly, we looked for the math textbooks (We consider lack of printed math textbook to be a negative). We dug in online about the several curricula we saw. Most of those curricula were OK, but one had numerous reviews saying it was watered down / delayed. That dropped a school off our list.

Same approach also can be used with other aspects of the curricula.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It takes time and effort. When we toured for elementary, we often took discreet snapshots of the textbooks in use or the whiteboard.

Doing this caused us to drop more than one school from consideration -- because the literacy curriculum was Lucy Calkins, balanced literacy, whole language, 3-cueing crap. Note each of those schools was or is well regarded by many on DCUM.

Similarly, we looked for the math textbooks (We consider lack of printed math textbook to be a negative). We dug in online about the several curricula we saw. Most of those curricula were OK, but one had numerous reviews saying it was watered down / delayed. That dropped a school off our list.

Same approach also can be used with other aspects of the curricula.

+1. An additional way to highlight some of the differences in curricula is to look at the reading list or summer book recommendations. A school that assigns "That Hate U Give" as 11th grade reading vs. one that requires "Les Miserables"; Al-Baladhuri's "Book of the Conquest of Lands" vs Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Word of mouth.

Looking at admissions outcomes (eg if you're looking at elementary, which middle schools do the grads go to?). For us we applied to K-8 and were able to poke around FB and other social media to see high school admissions for the past few senior classes.

See if there is some kind of Annual Update, Board docs, or other published info floating around.

Participation in extracurriculars. We noticed a pattern with the school kids who were in certain extracurriculars. Small example is that a ton of the local RSM spots were taken up by a certain school. Same with the local club football team, or with youth orchestra. This is not directly academic, but at least gives you a sense of shared values and student strengths.

Published curricular/academic philosophies. Sometimes, school will even list the specific materials they use. eg for Catholic schools, many said they use XYZ readers system, or Loyola University Press for grammar work, XYZ curriculum for math or science. Many of the publics also list specific curricular resources.

Ha, is lots of RSM from a particular sign a good sign or bad sign? Could be either.

For us, curriculum and trying to get a sense of the types of expectations and assignments expected at different grades. Our school had detailed sheets covering the books, subjects, content areas, etc. grade by grade.

[Anonymous]

Transparency - are you able to access the curriculum guide and see book titles, math sequencing, and class names

Differentiation - how many levels of classes are there. What percentage take advanced/honors level

Coherence - are admin & admissions knowledgeable about what is actually taught?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Transparency - are you able to access the curriculum guide and see book titles, math sequencing, and class names

Differentiation - how many levels of classes are there. What percentage take advanced/honors level

Coherence - are admin & admissions knowledgeable about what is actually taught?

Is not transparent for a reason. The quality is inferior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Transparency - are you able to access the curriculum guide and see book titles, math sequencing, and class names

Differentiation - how many levels of classes are there. What percentage take advanced/honors level

Coherence - are admin & admissions knowledgeable about what is actually taught?

What percentage take advanced/honors doesn't tell you much without knowing what advanced/honors actually *means* at the school. See the kids at UCSD who got As in AP Calculus and placed into the remediation course UCSD provides for kids whose math skills are below middle school level.