Do they read whole books at your private?
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Anonymous
| Our DC read whole books in their private K-8 and has been assigned multiple whole books so far in 9th at a different private school. |
Anonymous
| You know what best teaches kids to read whole books? Seeing their parents reading a book! |
Anonymous
| Absolutely |
Anonymous
Doesn’t change the fact that it is a reasonable expectation that kids will read whole books for school. |
Anonymous
| I read with my child a lot when they were young and around them now that they are older. I am still glad that school has taught them how to annotate, analyze, and write essays about themes in books. |
Anonymous
I haven’t seen the article OP referred to, but not reading whole books doesn’t seem to be an issue at DMV private schools based on these responses. I don’t think OP needs to worry. |
Anonymous
OP mentioned public. Some DMV publics will read whole books (though usually more recent as opposed to spanning different eras) and others won't. Very few teachers at very few schools around here will provide a comprehensive literature curriculum in public, though you can find unicorns who do. |
Anonymous
This is OP - asking because I'm considering switching from public to private (which would be a bit of a financial stretch). It is reassuring that the local privates do apparently still have solid English programs with full books and not just reading passages. Apparently DCPS Deal middle school recently stopped teaching whole books, which makes private more attractive. Here's the article I mentioned. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/us/high-school-english-teachers-assigning-books.html |
Anonymous
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Private school teacher here,
In our HS, kids read whole books (novels, plays), and poems, myths, memoirs, and short stories that can be found in books, and historical texts (Letter from the Birmingham Jail etc . . . ) and articles, and sometimes excerpts that are used to illustrate certain concepts (e.g. a short passage that shows how to use a specific grammatical construct). People on DCUM can become overly focused on novels, which should be one piece of a balanced curriculum. |
Anonymous
| Our school's HOS invites students to read a selected book with her every week during an early morning drop-in before any doors open. My DD loves it! |
Anonymous
| Yes- Catholic HS and the read multiple novels each semester and I think they read 3 or 4 over the summer. |
Anonymous
| Catholic middle schooler is currently reading Huck Finn. They read several books per semester, and lots of shorter works. They also memorize poetry (currently a Shelley poem). |
Anonymous
| You are smart to be concerned about this issue, OP. |
Anonymous
Of course - we all read in front of our kids - but that’s not the question: yes all the privates my kid attended read multiple whole books per year across subjects (even biology, history, foreign language). |
Anonymous
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For publics, it’s very school dependent. Everyone should be asking the Principal, English department chair and English teachers if/when they tour high schools. Put the pressure on!
The public school my children attend has students reading 5-7 full books per year - similar to what I was assigned in high school. |