advice needed regarding private vs public school

[Anonymous]

We are also in the Whitman school district and are considering private school for our 3rd grader. We feel that he excels in his class is performing "above grade level" in reading and math. He is in a math class that teaches 4th grade math with 5th grade accelerators - much harder stuff that I learned in 3rd grade.

3 years ago, when he was in kindergarten, I had no idea how that he would be performing at such a high level in 3rd grade.

We toured a few private schools, and the biggest difference that we saw was class size. There are more "extras", like PE/Art/Music more times a week. And they offered science, history much more in-depth than the MCPS curriculum.

When I asked about challenging the kids in math, I pretty much got a standard answer of "All kids learn the same material and we may give an extra worksheet to challenge them". When I looked at their math, I knew that my son would be bored because he has already learned this material. Because of the smaller classes, the private schools cannot justify an "advanced" class for just 3 or 4 kids. However, in public school, there are plenty of kids to have an advanced class. We decided that given our generally positive experience w/ our public school, the private school tuition at the elem. school level cannot be justified.

My son's teacher recommended applying to the Gifted and Talented program at Chevy Chase elementary. She says that their curriculum offers a lot more breadth. We have applied and will see if he gets in. There are a LOT of smart kids around here.

As for college placement, you cannot do much better than Whitman. I do think that private schools offer better college counseling.

My recommendation would be to look at the private schools and compare what they offer to what you are getting in public. It's a little easier to compare apples to apples in the older grades b/c it's more academic.

[Anonymous]

OP, we are in MC and using private for smaller classes. We will return to public in 3rd grade.
My gifted son is going to Montessori (cheaper), my dd is at a regular (expensive) private.

[Anonymous]

in response to a PP that asked question regarding my DS. He was ahead of his current class when he started. To clarify his math and reading skills were at KG level in preschool here. Since they do not want to academically challenge him right now (focus is on social development) he has not advanced from his previous level. He had the potential to. Once he is in KG next year, that will probably be easy for him since he already knows most of the curriculum. Because of his B-day he did not qualify for the gifted children test for KG at Woodacres.
I guess I should just let him be and keep reading with him. I don't know what the outcome studies are for children who MAY be gifted. Should I be spending more time with him, and pushing him to his potential more, or should I just let him be a five year old child who is enjoying all the play activities in preschool?
I have heard great things about Woodacres.
The only reason I asked about private school was because it seems that private schools tend to teach at one level higher grade, and I think DS is at that higher level and has stayed there and not advanced at all in the last 3 months.
Again, I am not even sure if I should worry about this. Maybe letting him be and then he'll declare his level on his own in the public school system.

What is the advantage of putting a gifted child in a gifted program? I mean is it better for a gifted child to be in a special program as opposed to a regular curriculum?

[Anonymous]

Both my kids are gifted. Both went to elementary school in MCPS, in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. For various reasons, we switched each one to private school for middle school - one highly competitive, one a bit less so. Both kids were noticeably better prepared than their peers who had been through elementary in the private schools.

Don't assume that a private school elementary education will be more accelerated than public, at least in MCPS. A more typical private school approach seems to be warm and nurturing in elementary, then ramp up sharply during middle school.

[Anonymous]

In our MoCo school there was some math differentiation in 1st and 2nd grades. But differentiation began for real in third grade, when some kids were bumped up to fourth grade math. At our school a number of fifth graders (including my kid) are now taking 7th grade Algebra (and I'm not actually sure this is a great thing, but DC loves it).

If your kid shows that they do well in math, MoCo is generally happy to oblige, although the criteria are not always totally transparent (as with everything else in MoCo) and you may need to whip out standardized test scores to demonstrate that the advanced class is appropriate for your kid

Reading at our school is generally differentiated by dividing the kids into three different tables.

[Anonymous]

Dear OP,
Do both you and your husband work full time? I have chosen the private school route b/c of 1 stop shopping. Instead of driving my kid to Artworks or TaeKwonDo in Bethesda, he can get art and PE regularly during school hours. At many of the private schools, there are also after-school enrichment classes that range from art, music to chess.
Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

PP we do work full time, and yes a one stop place would be a big advantage. For now I think unfortunately finances are topping every other decision. After reading all the posts though I feel a lot more confident and happy at the prospect of DS going to the MoCo Public school system.

[Anonymous]

As the parent of a high school senior I have a little balloon to burst for all of you planning to send your children to "top" schools from Whitman. Every student at Whitman wants to attend those same schools and the colleges are only going to take so many kids from the same school! Unless there is something special going on with your kid, going to Whitman will put them in the midst of a huge crowd of upper middle class or wealthy overachievers (see the book by same name) from which it is difficult to stand out. Last year, according to Bethesda magazine, 20 kids from Whitman applied to Harvard and 3 were accepted. 19 from Churchill, one accepted. As for Yale, 18 applied and one was accepted from Whitman. Princeton, 13 applied and 3 were accepted. Cornell was somewhat better with 16 of 31 applicants. To get into an Ivy these days, you either have to be a legacy, have a "hook" that has to do with some exclusive skill, or be an underrepresented minority. Even a perfect 2400 on the SAT won't do it. If you don't believe me, start looking through the college chat boards and you will find many disappointed students and parents. I will say it is better for the schools a tier under the Ivies. Amherst for example took 4 of 14 applicants from Whitman.

[Anonymous]

I think that planning to send a child to any "top" school in particular is misguided. There are lots of great schools out there--10 in the top 10 alone! and then 10 more in the top 10 liberal arts colleges!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As the parent of a high school senior I have a little balloon to burst for all of you planning to send your children to "top" schools from Whitman. Every student at Whitman wants to attend those same schools and the colleges are only going to take so many kids from the same school! Unless there is something special going on with your kid, going to Whitman will put them in the midst of a huge crowd of upper middle class or wealthy overachievers (see the book by same name) from which it is difficult to stand out. Last year, according to Bethesda magazine, 20 kids from Whitman applied to Harvard and 3 were accepted. 19 from Churchill, one accepted. As for Yale, 18 applied and one was accepted from Whitman. Princeton, 13 applied and 3 were accepted. Cornell was somewhat better with 16 of 31 applicants. To get into an Ivy these days, you either have to be a legacy, have a "hook" that has to do with some exclusive skill, or be an underrepresented minority. Even a perfect 2400 on the SAT won't do it. If you don't believe me, start looking through the college chat boards and you will find many disappointed students and parents. I will say it is better for the schools a tier under the Ivies. Amherst for example took 4 of 14 applicants from Whitman.

are the admission rates for private school high school graduates similar?

[Anonymous]

Interesting question. It would be interesting to know the number of Ivy applicants in an "elite" high school class -- is it half the class, or what? Then we could have a different number, i.e. the ratio of acceptances to applicants, that PP has provided for the publics. Do the privates publish this?

[Anonymous]

The privates will publish where their graduates are going, but will not disclose how many applied and how many were accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As the parent of a high school senior I have a little balloon to burst for all of you planning to send your children to "top" schools from Whitman. Every student at Whitman wants to attend those same schools and the colleges are only going to take so many kids from the same school! Unless there is something special going on with your kid, going to Whitman will put them in the midst of a huge crowd of upper middle class or wealthy overachievers (see the book by same name) from which it is difficult to stand out. Last year, according to Bethesda magazine, 20 kids from Whitman applied to Harvard and 3 were accepted. 19 from Churchill, one accepted. As for Yale, 18 applied and one was accepted from Whitman. Princeton, 13 applied and 3 were accepted. Cornell was somewhat better with 16 of 31 applicants. To get into an Ivy these days, you either have to be a legacy, have a "hook" that has to do with some exclusive skill, or be an underrepresented minority. Even a perfect 2400 on the SAT won't do it. If you don't believe me, start looking through the college chat boards and you will find many disappointed students and parents. I will say it is better for the schools a tier under the Ivies. Amherst for example took 4 of 14 applicants from Whitman.

Move to Wyoming or South Dakota for high school to avoid this.

[Anonymous]

Would any private school parents be willing to post the # of applicants to individual Ivies in a recent graduating class? Others have already posted here the results. This would give us another, different, measure of exmissions success.

(Of course it would help to know how many were legacies, or of people so important in our own little DC world that it was impossible to turn this down. But I'm sure that info is impossible to come by. I'm doubtful anyone can address the first question, anyway.)

Anyway, it's a bit hard that the publics make this info available, but the privates don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both my kids are gifted. Both went to elementary school in MCPS, in the Bethesda/Chevy Chase area. For various reasons, we switched each one to private school for middle school - one highly competitive, one a bit less so. Both kids were noticeably better prepared than their peers who had been through elementary in the private schools.

Don't assume that a private school elementary education will be more accelerated than public, at least in MCPS. A more typical private school approach seems to be warm and nurturing in elementary, then ramp up sharply during middle school.

Did your children attend the program at Chevy Chase Elem? If so, could you let me know how they liked it?

I agree w/ your assessment regarding private schools being more more warm/nurturing in elementary (compared to MCPS public) and ramping up in middle school. For this reason, we are thinking about holding off on the private school application until middle school. However, I wonder if it will be much harder to apply in middle school (more competitive, harder to obtain a good teacher recommendation, etc). You seemed to have managed it just fine. Could you share where your children now attend private school?

Thanks!