A Note on Teacher Quality At Privates

[Anonymous]

In my experience ADHD was treated as more of a nuisance in public. There was definitely not a team passionate educators helping my child reach his potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my experience ADHD was treated as more of a nuisance in public. There was definitely not a team passionate educators helping my child reach his potential.

When it comes to ADHD, privates either specialize in it or they have 1 kid in a class of 10 where the other 9 are NT. The public school Tracher has 5 kids with ADHD in a class of 25-30 kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I will never understand private school above a certain level of public school. DC publics pay pretty well so you attract the best talent. I'm also confused because I have friends whose kids have special needs and they somehow think privates will be better for them when privates don't have people to support those needs and eventually counsel you out. If you have speech, motor, LDs, whatever, public schools come with teams of people passionate about supporting you. And my kids have never been held back in their learning by having those kids in their class. I mean, you do you, but my kids' teachers in DC have been phenomenal.

This doesn’t follow. They pay more because they have to, because it’s a less desirable job. It’s more like a night shift differential.

[Anonymous]

The quality of private schools differs vastly. Schools like Sidwell, GDS, and St. Albans are going to have their pick of teachers. It doesn't matter that they pay less than public schools - they care about the ability to design their own curriculum, having resources to teach, having resources to improve their own pedagogy, and having students and families that care a lot about education. A number of private school teachers move over from public schools because they're frustrated so much that they're willing to take a pay cut in order to do what they love.
OTOH, there are a lot of crappy private schools that have a hard time finding high quality teachers.

[Anonymous]

Nearly all of the teachers at my kid’s private have taught in public schools and hold graduate degrees and additional certifications. They’ve moved to public because they (like us) became frustrated with the public system. They WANT to treat children as individuals, and in a class with 15 children, they can do that.

In any case...

There’s very little empirical evidence that a degree in education = better teaching based upon standardized measures (at least in my field, early childhood).

There IS evidence that education majors typically have the lowest SAT scores of all other majors.

Make of those facts what you will, but for me, arguing that public is better bc of teacher certification isn’t a good argument. All that means is that those teachers jumped through hoops to become part of the bureaucracy. (And yes, I hold teacher certification. I don’t think it makes me better qualified to teach than someone with a degree in classics who is passionate about teaching and learning.)

[Anonymous]

Sidwell parent here. Back to school night always is a strong reminder of what we're paying for. Amazing teachers.

[Anonymous]

I have 12 years of experience as a parent in public and private schools, catholic and independent. Our experience:

- public school teachers - hit or miss. Some were spectacular, some were very mediocre. Most were unfortunately overwhelmed.
- private school teachers - we loved them all, the young and the more experienced. They all care, they give useful feedback, and they seem to be very happy with their jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have taught at independent schools for 25 years. I also taught for 5 years at a public high school, and I have both state and national certification. There are of course excellent teachers and poor teachers at all schools. Whether or not they are certified teachers seemed to have no correlation on their effectiveness. Personally, I learned very little in my education courses that was useful to me as a high school teacher. I have done a lot of professional development over the years that was paid for or provided by my independent school, and I learned a great deal about teaching through experience and from my colleagues. Your generalization that independent school teachers are more concerned with grading and sorting, rather than developing student potential is not something I have experienced. The many independent school teachers I have worked with over the years are generally attracted to their work because they can more effectively get to know their students, form relationships with them, and personalize and differentiate their teaching in the smaller class sizes with very little discipline issues, that are found in most private schools.

The above makes sense for HS teachers, but lower grades benefit from a teacher with real course work in child development and the proof that they have at least the baseline knowledge of all subjects they are teaching!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all of the teachers at my kid’s private have taught in public schools and hold graduate degrees and additional certifications. They’ve moved to public because they (like us) became frustrated with the public system. They WANT to treat children as individuals, and in a class with 15 children, they can do that.

In any case...

There’s very little empirical evidence that a degree in education = better teaching based upon standardized measures (at least in my field, early childhood).

There IS evidence that education majors typically have the lowest SAT scores of all other majors.

Make of those facts what you will, but for me, arguing that public is better bc of teacher certification isn’t a good argument. All that means is that those teachers jumped through hoops to become part of the bureaucracy. (And yes, I hold teacher certification. I don’t think it makes me better qualified to teach than someone with a degree in classics who is passionate about teaching and learning.)

+ 1

Plus, this whole "public schools pay more" argument is ridiculous. It's a much harder job to teach at a public school, and at many public schools being a teacher has become more like being a social worker than being in education.

Regardless, the vast majority of teachers at my kids' private school have spouses who earn enough that they don't really care that they make a bit less at private. They choose to teach at a private school because it's actually a pretty comfortable job with good hours that are compatible with raising a family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 12 years of experience as a parent in public and private schools, catholic and independent. Our experience:

- public school teachers - hit or miss. Some were spectacular, some were very mediocre. Most were unfortunately overwhelmed.
- private school teachers - we loved them all, the young and the more experienced. They all care, they give useful feedback, and they seem to be very happy with their jobs.

So, interesting, and so dependent on the schools/ teachers you experience. Our public school HS student is really enjoying the teachers they have, and feels like they are finally learning a lot, whereas they did not have all great teachers in their private k8 (I'd estimate about 40 percent were just okay, 30 percent good, 20 percent great, with only 10 percent being fantastic).
Totally school dependent!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have 12 years of experience as a parent in public and private schools, catholic and independent. Our experience:

- public school teachers - hit or miss. Some were spectacular, some were very mediocre. Most were unfortunately overwhelmed.
- private school teachers - we loved them all, the young and the more experienced. They all care, they give useful feedback, and they seem to be very happy with their jobs.

So, interesting, and so dependent on the schools/ teachers you experience. Our public school HS student is really enjoying the teachers they have, and feels like they are finally learning a lot, whereas they did not have all great teachers in their private k8 (I'd estimate about 40 percent were just okay, 30 percent good, 20 percent great, with only 10 percent being fantastic).
Totally school dependent!

Yes, I wrote the previous post and I agree 100% with your comment. This is the beauty of having choices and being happy with them. But, of course, someone will come here and say it should be A or B.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The quality of private schools differs vastly. Schools like Sidwell, GDS, and St. Albans are going to have their pick of teachers. It doesn't matter that they pay less than public schools - they care about the ability to design their own curriculum, having resources to teach, having resources to improve their own pedagogy, and having students and families that care a lot about education. A number of private school teachers move over from public schools because they're frustrated so much that they're willing to take a pay cut in order to do what they love.
OTOH, there are a lot of crappy private schools that have a hard time finding high quality teachers.

Do you have experience in all of these schools? Seems like a major generalization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I will never understand private school above a certain level of public school. DC publics pay pretty well so you attract the best talent. I'm also confused because I have friends whose kids have special needs and they somehow think privates will be better for them when privates don't have people to support those needs and eventually counsel you out. If you have speech, motor, LDs, whatever, public schools come with teams of people passionate about supporting you. And my kids have never been held back in their learning by having those kids in their class. I mean, you do you, but my kids' teachers in DC have been phenomenal.

There is such limited resources per child in public school that if you need more than 10 minutes of OT/PT/tutorials a week from a qualified staff member, you are better getting it on the outside using your own medical insurance. We continue to send our child with learning differences to private school because the help is meaningful and not just checking a legal box.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The quality of private schools differs vastly. Schools like Sidwell, GDS, and St. Albans are going to have their pick of teachers. It doesn't matter that they pay less than public schools - they care about the ability to design their own curriculum, having resources to teach, having resources to improve their own pedagogy, and having students and families that care a lot about education. A number of private school teachers move over from public schools because they're frustrated so much that they're willing to take a pay cut in order to do what they love.
OTOH, there are a lot of crappy private schools that have a hard time finding high quality teachers.

Do you have experience in all of these schools? Seems like a major generalization.

Three kids: elementary in three different public or charter, middle in two different k-8, high school in two different independent schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM loves to post about how private school teachers aren't qualified. We have had kids in independent schools in the area for 12 years and we have never had an unqualified teacher for our kids. Most have Master's degrees and certification.

I was very happy last year their independent schools were back to school in person and keeping kids safe while other schools were still virtual. The quality of the education was so much better.

It’s fine and understandable if you were happy that your kids were in person last year, but your post makes it sound like you were extra happy that other children were having what you consider an inferior educational experience. Their experience had no bearing on your child’s — why be so gleeful that your experience was “so much better” than that if other children, none of whom had a choice in the matter?

Not PP but I didn't read the comment this way. As a private school parent, I was happy my children were in private and on campus last year. There is no way our public school was able to open with the squabbling and multiple layers of red tape. I am not reveling in the poor education of other children. I am genuinely happy we chose to send our children to private because it made our investment even more worth it knowing we would be floundering otherwise.