Are private schools really that special or just overpriced?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop dodging the question.

Agree, but tell me your source that is better than niche. I am so curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have two kids in elementary -- one in public, one in private. Public school child will eventually go with sibling, but they are happy so we aren't having them apply yet. Will revisit next year.

Today the kid in public came home and told me that one of her classmates bit a kid and then body slammed him to the floor. Last week, our PT conference consisted of sitting down with their teacher for 6 (6!) minutes of the teacher presenting child's I-ready and other scores. I basically had to beg for personal information about how my kid is doing in the class. In DCPS at least, if your kid is performing fine on standardized tests, they are generally ignored.

Contrast that with kid in private who reports zero behavioral issues (typical social issues sure but no disruptive behavior) and whose PT conference is 30 minutes long with detailed observations about my kid specifically. Robust security with essentially a gates campus. Significant classroom involvement and a list of on-campus extracurriculars a mile long.

At the end of the day, both kids are happy and doing well and if we couldn't afford it, our local DCPS would be just fine at least through elementary. But there is a reason that the majority of families who live in DC that can afford private choose that route...

I wouldn’t say that at all. The majority of DCPS parents I know can afford private (some do break off for private in middle or high school)… however, everyone loves the neighborhood school dynamic and are very happy with the elementary and middle schools. I’ve noticed with all my kids that the youngest had the most kids from their elementary go to the public middle school than the previous years before.

Maybe from the two Fed parent types at Lafayette or Janey but very very few of the truly wealthy parts of DC (Kent, Palisades, Cleveland Park, Spring Valley, Kalorama, Georgetown) that can afford private chooses public. Sure a lot of kids go K-3 or 4 at their neighborhood school but most are in private by middle.

I live in one of the neighborhoods you mentioned and a large cohort are in public middle school now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop dodging the question.

Agree, but tell me your source that is better than niche. I am so curious.

My position is that there are no credible rankings anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop dodging the question.

Agree, but tell me your source that is better than niche. I am so curious.

My position is that there are no credible rankings anywhere.

Interesting, so parents are clueless to decide which schools are better? Are you sure ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop dodging the question.

Agree, but tell me your source that is better than niche. I am so curious.

My position is that there are no credible rankings anywhere.

Interesting, so parents are clueless to decide which schools are better? Are you sure ?

Use your own brain if you have one. School has failed you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop dodging the question.

Agree, but tell me your source that is better than niche. I am so curious.

My position is that there are no credible rankings anywhere.

Interesting, so parents are clueless to decide which schools are better? Are you sure ?

Use your own brain if you have one. School has failed you.

Judging by your response, it seems that you are using your brain, but is not helping that much.

[Anonymous]

Over half the class from our elementary school went to public middle school.These are not parents without means.
I know that they didn't try too hard to go private. One applied to one school, others applied to none.
There's a kid who had gone private, but now joined friends in public for middle school. The parents have money.
There's 10+ things to consider, besides money, if private is for our family. We don't need that product, but other might.
Older kid went through DCPS and is doing very well in life. Yet another reason for the younger one to stay in school he loves.
Before someone says why I'm private school forum, I read through everything already - finance and public first usually. I need DCUM be twice the size.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop dodging the question.

Agree, but tell me your source that is better than niche. I am so curious.

My position is that there are no credible rankings anywhere.

Interesting, so parents are clueless to decide which schools are better? Are you sure ?

Why do you think parents are clueless without rankings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop dodging the question.

Agree, but tell me your source that is better than niche. I am so curious.

My position is that there are no credible rankings anywhere.

Interesting, so parents are clueless to decide which schools are better? Are you sure ?

Why do you think parents are clueless without rankings?

I didn’t ask about rankings but about data sources and so far I didn’t get any response. This in the context of claims by parents that are no good public schools an all private schools are better than public.

[Anonymous]

Why do you need any kind of rankings to determine whether a particular public or private school is "better" than the other?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you need any kind of rankings to determine whether a particular public or private school is "better" than the other?

As I said, when people make informed decisions usually it’s based on some data. But maybe it could be the case that some people make uniformed school decisions. That’s typically the way fraud takes place, when people people buy services, goods, or financial assets without any information.

[Anonymous]

This may come as a shock to you, but people make informed school decisions all the time without relying on rankings!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This may come as a shock to you, but people make informed school decisions all the time without relying on rankings!

It might also be a shock for you that informed parents use other data besides rankings for making informed decisions. You could also learn from them.

[Anonymous]

We were happy with DCPS elementary, live our DCPS middle and first DC chose public HS over private and loves it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Anonymous]

^^ love, not live