Has anyone switched from private to public? Frustrated with child’s progress

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
That said, the average kid in MCPS and NoVA public schools are some of the smartest in the country. They will blow away private school kids in NYC, many of whom are there merely because they are rich. Your daughter would probably be "middle of the road" if she was attending upper-income suburban public schools in NJ, Westchester, Long Island, or Massachusetts.

Dude that’s just bullshit. I’ve lived in Greater Boston area, Seattle and Dallas, and there are smart kids everywhere. DC isn’t that special. Seattle suburban public schools were crazy competitive given concentration of tech workers there.

There's a similar concentration of advanced degrees here. Arlington, Fairfax, Montgomery County, Loudoun etc all rank highly on the percentage of people with advanced degrees. Highly educated parents push education for their children. You can check out the schools whose students get the most NMSF awards, and they tend to be the suburbs with the most highly educated parents.

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/education/student-resources/most-educated-cities/

You have lived in cities with highly educated populations, not low income areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD went to elementary school at a highly regarded private school in NYC. We moved to MD right before she entered middle school and decided to try public since the schools where we moved are considered very good, much better than our public option in NYC.

In her private elementary school we were consistently told she was very smart, advanced and at the top of the class academically. However, since she entered middle school (started in 6th and currently in 7th) all we are hearing from teachers is that she is on grade level and middle of the road, but they don’t consider her to be advanced. That is totally fine, but DD keeps telling us she is bored and doesn’t feel like the work is hard for her. She gets 100% on most tests (or above 90% at the worst). She breezes through homework very quickly and when I check her work it’s all correct.

We have had a few conversations with her teachers and counselor and all they tell us is that she is right where she should be and they don’t think she needs more of a challenge, or that she would benefit from more accelerated classes.

Has anyone else experienced this? Not sure if it’s just a matter of resources and we need to find other ways to push DD, but overall it feels like she is getting disinterested in school whereas she used to be much more into it, and we really don’t want her to lose a passion for learning.

When my kids were in private school, there were two or three really bright kids per class. There was no differentiation in math. When they moved to public school, there were classrooms full of bright students in advanced classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD went to elementary school at a highly regarded private school in NYC. We moved to MD right before she entered middle school and decided to try public since the schools where we moved are considered very good, much better than our public option in NYC.

In her private elementary school we were consistently told she was very smart, advanced and at the top of the class academically. However, since she entered middle school (started in 6th and currently in 7th) all we are hearing from teachers is that she is on grade level and middle of the road, but they don’t consider her to be advanced. That is totally fine, but DD keeps telling us she is bored and doesn’t feel like the work is hard for her. She gets 100% on most tests (or above 90% at the worst). She breezes through homework very quickly and when I check her work it’s all correct.

We have had a few conversations with her teachers and counselor and all they tell us is that she is right where she should be and they don’t think she needs more of a challenge, or that she would benefit from more accelerated classes.

Has anyone else experienced this? Not sure if it’s just a matter of resources and we need to find other ways to push DD, but overall it feels like she is getting disinterested in school whereas she used to be much more into it, and we really don’t want her to lose a passion for learning.

When my kids were in private school, there were two or three really bright kids per class. There was no differentiation in math. When they moved to public school, there were classrooms full of bright students in advanced classes.

It depends on the private school. Some are aimed more for the gifted and actually have high score and IQ cutoffs. But I agree, a general ed progressive private school often is less rigorous in math than a magnet or large public high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD went to elementary school at a highly regarded private school in NYC. We moved to MD right before she entered middle school and decided to try public since the schools where we moved are considered very good, much better than our public option in NYC.

In her private elementary school we were consistently told she was very smart, advanced and at the top of the class academically. However, since she entered middle school (started in 6th and currently in 7th) all we are hearing from teachers is that she is on grade level and middle of the road, but they don’t consider her to be advanced. That is totally fine, but DD keeps telling us she is bored and doesn’t feel like the work is hard for her. She gets 100% on most tests (or above 90% at the worst). She breezes through homework very quickly and when I check her work it’s all correct.

We have had a few conversations with her teachers and counselor and all they tell us is that she is right where she should be and they don’t think she needs more of a challenge, or that she would benefit from more accelerated classes.

Has anyone else experienced this? Not sure if it’s just a matter of resources and we need to find other ways to push DD, but overall it feels like she is getting disinterested in school whereas she used to be much more into it, and we really don’t want her to lose a passion for learning.

When my kids were in private school, there were two or three really bright kids per class. There was no differentiation in math. When they moved to public school, there were classrooms full of bright students in advanced classes.

It depends on the private school. Some are aimed more for the gifted and actually have high score and IQ cutoffs. But I agree, a general ed progressive private school often is less rigorous in math than a magnet or large public high school.

But given the same strong work ethic and high intelligence, I still think you're probably better off at the private high school, just because you have better counseling and the chances of derailing (or being absolutely screwed say by scheduling in an anonoymous public hs) are a little bit lower. The competition coming out from public magnets are fierce too. The private ones also tend to have more social skills to get them further once in college and beyond.

[Anonymous]

Setting aside how bright your kid is compared to every other kid in the area, some private schools, sometimes, have more engaging work in middle school. If your real concern is keeping her engaged, it may be worth making a switch. If she’s not happy, you might be able to make the switch now through Eighth grade. Then reconsider all options for HS.

HS will be a whole different thing depending on who your kid is, and which private or public school they go to. There’s not one answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD went to elementary school at a highly regarded private school in NYC. We moved to MD right before she entered middle school and decided to try public since the schools where we moved are considered very good, much better than our public option in NYC.

In her private elementary school we were consistently told she was very smart, advanced and at the top of the class academically. However, since she entered middle school (started in 6th and currently in 7th) all we are hearing from teachers is that she is on grade level and middle of the road, but they don’t consider her to be advanced. That is totally fine, but DD keeps telling us she is bored and doesn’t feel like the work is hard for her. She gets 100% on most tests (or above 90% at the worst). She breezes through homework very quickly and when I check her work it’s all correct.

We have had a few conversations with her teachers and counselor and all they tell us is that she is right where she should be and they don’t think she needs more of a challenge, or that she would benefit from more accelerated classes.

Has anyone else experienced this? Not sure if it’s just a matter of resources and we need to find other ways to push DD, but overall it feels like she is getting disinterested in school whereas she used to be much more into it, and we really don’t want her to lose a passion for learning.

When teachers don’t really know your kid, this is what they say. Average! This way they can look like your kid has made gains by the end of the year from their amazing teaching OR they are playing defense just in case they do poorly or have a learning issue.