How do private schools manage to get through everything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t believe longer school days means more gets done. I’d probably start by examining that assumption. Time can be wasted in a longer day, and we don’t know if/where time might be wasted at various schools.

Uh, okay? What do you think is the magic length of a school day that causes time to not be wasted? This is a weird take. Time can be “wasted” during a long day, short day, extended school year, or abbreviated school year. Given that we have zero data about this, comparing the actual number of hours in school is really the only thing that makes sense.

FWIW, our independent school has 172 8-hour days, so 1376 hours. The local public middle school has 180 6.75 hour days, so 1215 hours. Deduct 30m for an extra recess every day and the private school still has an extra 75h of instructional time. So OP’s question is easily answered: more school time. You could argue about the effect of a smaller class sizes, narrower ability band, etc, but it’s not even necessary to do so.

That’s not a good comparison. You’ve cherry picked so it’s not an honest comparison. I’m not arguing the fact, but you simply did not back that up with anything of value.

Huh? How exactly is that cherry picking? What’s not honest? Do you feel that our independent school is on a schedule much different than other independent schools, and therefore it’s not fair comparison? I assure you, it is not. Our school is in fact part of a consortium, and all the members’ schedules are more or less the same.

If that data is not helpful to you, what kind of data do you consider to be “of value”?

+1. That's exactly the original argument - that privates had less instructional time and therefore could not get through materials. How is someone showing the actual instructional time not a good comparison?

Because it’s not showing the actual instructional time of either option.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have mentioned private schools don’t get through everything. Do not believe anyone who tells you they do or that all privates result in better educational outcomes than public. Study after study has proven this untrue.

What private do: Private schools educate to a narrower band of abilities and a smaller class size making it potentially easier to move through material while limiting certain types of disruption or needs that arise for disability or mental health needs. Because they are not held to yearly state standards and standardization testing, they can choose to cover just the basics and then pick and choose which topics to apply greater depth. This can be good or bad. Since most view childhood as a time of exploration, if they go in depth on something your child is interested than it can be great. If not, it can be somewhat stifling and cause kids to miss opportunities to discover interest or challenge themselves in an area of interest. Also because the class sizes are smaller, it can limit the course selection each year, particularly electives, as students get to higher levels. To this end, their is a lot of tutoring and enrichment being funded by parents. Same is found in public by families of means. The difference being public school families are not paying tuition first.

Another difference is school day and where privates apply focus. Particular at the lower level the focus is less academic. Because of this kids have more fun, which makes parents feel good and feeds into the idea of youth being magical and all about play. This can however be quickly derailed as kids move through the levels and are forced to quickly catch up on academics and encounter academic intensity both in class and via homework.

Ultimately its a scale. You as a family decide which things are important/unimportant and if that balances in the end.

Nope. In our Catholic parochial, kids were working much harder than those in public. For one thing, my kid had homework in elementary school...homework that involved practicing multiplication tables, spelling, and grammar. None of that is happening in public schools. Public schools do not teach phonics, grammar, or spelling anymore. I think they expect parents to teach multiplication tables. I posted earlier that I had one go through W public schools and one through an inexpensive Catholic parochial. The difference was VAST. Worth every damn penny and I would pay more if they charged it.

There is no parochial school in this area that is superior to public. Parochial schools are low level privates and notoriously known for being low level.

Parochial have a reputation of being structured and rigorous and having a higher volume of work at the LS and MS school level than more progressive schools. They also take a much wider range of students, so the outcomes will be more varied than the more expensive independents.

There is no rigor at my son’s parochial. They also have a very limited range of students.

There are dozens of parochial schools in this area, it looks like you choose poorly

Choosing parochial is choosing poorly.

This poster is jealous that parochial schools are so affordable and he can't stomach sending his kid because they are Catholic/religious. We lucked out that we were also looking for a strong Catholic environment. It was certainly a win/win for us!!

Not jealous, wouldn’t even look at a parochial. You are jealous we hired an education consultant and selected an independent school. And I am Catholic. You lucked out that you got a low level school at a low level cost.

Yeah you're jealous AND insecure. You are bragging about wasting money on an educational consultant and overpaying tuition for elementary school. What a sucker.

You’re jealous you can’t pay for any of those things. You are bragging about your low level school you chose. Insecure people call others that, it would serve you well to stop projecting your insecurity.
Sorry for your financial struggles.

Nice. Except we have $8M net worth...so we're good. Thanks for your concern.

I wouldn’t brag about having $8M and sending to a low level school.
But it’s okay because similar to you pretending your school is good, you pretend you have $8M.

No pretending at all. Will add our annual income of 900K. We like the Catholic education and the price tag. We also got a great education for our kid. Sorry you overspent.

PS we also donated to the school and church generously. Still spent less than you. LOL

I don’t need to donate, my child does well without having to be bought.
Keeping bragging about your low budget school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The private school student population does not have the behavioral issues that exist in public school because they don't have to accept everyone. The parents are also.motivated enough about education to research different educational possibilities, which in turn correlates with parent involvement and desire for children to be held accountable for their work. Private school parents tend to be wealthier, which means they are able to pay for tutoring or extra supports if the student is struggling. All these factors make it possible to cover the same topics in a shorter amount of time. If the student cannot keep up, they get counseled out of the school.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have mentioned private schools don’t get through everything. Do not believe anyone who tells you they do or that all privates result in better educational outcomes than public. Study after study has proven this untrue.

What private do: Private schools educate to a narrower band of abilities and a smaller class size making it potentially easier to move through material while limiting certain types of disruption or needs that arise for disability or mental health needs. Because they are not held to yearly state standards and standardization testing, they can choose to cover just the basics and then pick and choose which topics to apply greater depth. This can be good or bad. Since most view childhood as a time of exploration, if they go in depth on something your child is interested than it can be great. If not, it can be somewhat stifling and cause kids to miss opportunities to discover interest or challenge themselves in an area of interest. Also because the class sizes are smaller, it can limit the course selection each year, particularly electives, as students get to higher levels. To this end, their is a lot of tutoring and enrichment being funded by parents. Same is found in public by families of means. The difference being public school families are not paying tuition first.

Another difference is school day and where privates apply focus. Particular at the lower level the focus is less academic. Because of this kids have more fun, which makes parents feel good and feeds into the idea of youth being magical and all about play. This can however be quickly derailed as kids move through the levels and are forced to quickly catch up on academics and encounter academic intensity both in class and via homework.

Ultimately its a scale. You as a family decide which things are important/unimportant and if that balances in the end.

Nope. In our Catholic parochial, kids were working much harder than those in public. For one thing, my kid had homework in elementary school...homework that involved practicing multiplication tables, spelling, and grammar. None of that is happening in public schools. Public schools do not teach phonics, grammar, or spelling anymore. I think they expect parents to teach multiplication tables. I posted earlier that I had one go through W public schools and one through an inexpensive Catholic parochial. The difference was VAST. Worth every damn penny and I would pay more if they charged it.

There is no parochial school in this area that is superior to public. Parochial schools are low level privates and notoriously known for being low level.

Parochial have a reputation of being structured and rigorous and having a higher volume of work at the LS and MS school level than more progressive schools. They also take a much wider range of students, so the outcomes will be more varied than the more expensive independents.

There is no rigor at my son’s parochial. They also have a very limited range of students.

There are dozens of parochial schools in this area, it looks like you choose poorly

Choosing parochial is choosing poorly.

This poster is jealous that parochial schools are so affordable and he can't stomach sending his kid because they are Catholic/religious. We lucked out that we were also looking for a strong Catholic environment. It was certainly a win/win for us!!

Not jealous, wouldn’t even look at a parochial. You are jealous we hired an education consultant and selected an independent school. And I am Catholic. You lucked out that you got a low level school at a low level cost.

Yeah you're jealous AND insecure. You are bragging about wasting money on an educational consultant and overpaying tuition for elementary school. What a sucker.

You’re jealous you can’t pay for any of those things. You are bragging about your low level school you chose. Insecure people call others that, it would serve you well to stop projecting your insecurity.
Sorry for your financial struggles.

Nice. Except we have $8M net worth...so we're good. Thanks for your concern.

I wouldn’t brag about having $8M and sending to a low level school.
But it’s okay because similar to you pretending your school is good, you pretend you have $8M.

No pretending at all. Will add our annual income of 900K. We like the Catholic education and the price tag. We also got a great education for our kid. Sorry you overspent.

Is this the same person who bragged earlier. This is embarrassing and no Catholic school would want to be affiliated with her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The private school student population does not have the behavioral issues that exist in public school because they don't have to accept everyone. The parents are also.motivated enough about education to research different educational possibilities, which in turn correlates with parent involvement and desire for children to be held accountable for their work. Private school parents tend to be wealthier, which means they are able to pay for tutoring or extra supports if the student is struggling. All these factors make it possible to cover the same topics in a shorter amount of time. If the student cannot keep up, they get counseled out of the school.

+1

Please head up to my child’s private right now and tell them this. Parents who donate have a free pass from their disruptive kids having any consequence.
You think only children of wealthy parents attend? Every private enrolls financial aid recipients with many not paying at all. You are in dream world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have mentioned private schools don’t get through everything. Do not believe anyone who tells you they do or that all privates result in better educational outcomes than public. Study after study has proven this untrue.

What private do: Private schools educate to a narrower band of abilities and a smaller class size making it potentially easier to move through material while limiting certain types of disruption or needs that arise for disability or mental health needs. Because they are not held to yearly state standards and standardization testing, they can choose to cover just the basics and then pick and choose which topics to apply greater depth. This can be good or bad. Since most view childhood as a time of exploration, if they go in depth on something your child is interested than it can be great. If not, it can be somewhat stifling and cause kids to miss opportunities to discover interest or challenge themselves in an area of interest. Also because the class sizes are smaller, it can limit the course selection each year, particularly electives, as students get to higher levels. To this end, their is a lot of tutoring and enrichment being funded by parents. Same is found in public by families of means. The difference being public school families are not paying tuition first.

Another difference is school day and where privates apply focus. Particular at the lower level the focus is less academic. Because of this kids have more fun, which makes parents feel good and feeds into the idea of youth being magical and all about play. This can however be quickly derailed as kids move through the levels and are forced to quickly catch up on academics and encounter academic intensity both in class and via homework.

Ultimately its a scale. You as a family decide which things are important/unimportant and if that balances in the end.

Nope. In our Catholic parochial, kids were working much harder than those in public. For one thing, my kid had homework in elementary school...homework that involved practicing multiplication tables, spelling, and grammar. None of that is happening in public schools. Public schools do not teach phonics, grammar, or spelling anymore. I think they expect parents to teach multiplication tables. I posted earlier that I had one go through W public schools and one through an inexpensive Catholic parochial. The difference was VAST. Worth every damn penny and I would pay more if they charged it.

There is no parochial school in this area that is superior to public. Parochial schools are low level privates and notoriously known for being low level.

Parochial have a reputation of being structured and rigorous and having a higher volume of work at the LS and MS school level than more progressive schools. They also take a much wider range of students, so the outcomes will be more varied than the more expensive independents.

There is no rigor at my son’s parochial. They also have a very limited range of students.

There are dozens of parochial schools in this area, it looks like you choose poorly

Choosing parochial is choosing poorly.

This poster is jealous that parochial schools are so affordable and he can't stomach sending his kid because they are Catholic/religious. We lucked out that we were also looking for a strong Catholic environment. It was certainly a win/win for us!!

Not jealous, wouldn’t even look at a parochial. You are jealous we hired an education consultant and selected an independent school. And I am Catholic. You lucked out that you got a low level school at a low level cost.

Yeah you're jealous AND insecure. You are bragging about wasting money on an educational consultant and overpaying tuition for elementary school. What a sucker.

You’re jealous you can’t pay for any of those things. You are bragging about your low level school you chose. Insecure people call others that, it would serve you well to stop projecting your insecurity.
Sorry for your financial struggles.

Nice. Except we have $8M net worth...so we're good. Thanks for your concern.

I wouldn’t brag about having $8M and sending to a low level school.
But it’s okay because similar to you pretending your school is good, you pretend you have $8M.

No pretending at all. Will add our annual income of 900K. We like the Catholic education and the price tag. We also got a great education for our kid. Sorry you overspent.

Insecure much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t believe longer school days means more gets done. I’d probably start by examining that assumption. Time can be wasted in a longer day, and we don’t know if/where time might be wasted at various schools.

Uh, okay? What do you think is the magic length of a school day that causes time to not be wasted? This is a weird take. Time can be “wasted” during a long day, short day, extended school year, or abbreviated school year. Given that we have zero data about this, comparing the actual number of hours in school is really the only thing that makes sense.

FWIW, our independent school has 172 8-hour days, so 1376 hours. The local public middle school has 180 6.75 hour days, so 1215 hours. Deduct 30m for an extra recess every day and the private school still has an extra 75h of instructional time. So OP’s question is easily answered: more school time. You could argue about the effect of a smaller class sizes, narrower ability band, etc, but it’s not even necessary to do so.

That’s amazing all those full days for 172 total days. We have four day weekends all the time, every federal holiday Monday off is extended to a 4-5 day long weekend off, 14+ days off for winter break and spring break, start with a couple half days after Labor Day, and end with a bunch of trips and field days the first or second week of June. Def not that many man hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t believe longer school days means more gets done. I’d probably start by examining that assumption. Time can be wasted in a longer day, and we don’t know if/where time might be wasted at various schools.

Uh, okay? What do you think is the magic length of a school day that causes time to not be wasted? This is a weird take. Time can be “wasted” during a long day, short day, extended school year, or abbreviated school year. Given that we have zero data about this, comparing the actual number of hours in school is really the only thing that makes sense.

FWIW, our independent school has 172 8-hour days, so 1376 hours. The local public middle school has 180 6.75 hour days, so 1215 hours. Deduct 30m for an extra recess every day and the private school still has an extra 75h of instructional time. So OP’s question is easily answered: more school time. You could argue about the effect of a smaller class sizes, narrower ability band, etc, but it’s not even necessary to do so.

That’s not a good comparison. You’ve cherry picked so it’s not an honest comparison. I’m not arguing the fact, but you simply did not back that up with anything of value.

Huh? How exactly is that cherry picking? What’s not honest? Do you feel that our independent school is on a schedule much different than other independent schools, and therefore it’s not fair comparison? I assure you, it is not. Our school is in fact part of a consortium, and all the members’ schedules are more or less the same.

If that data is not helpful to you, what kind of data do you consider to be “of value”?

+1. That's exactly the original argument - that privates had less instructional time and therefore could not get through materials. How is someone showing the actual instructional time not a good comparison?

Because it’s not showing the actual instructional time of either option.

Uh, okay. How would you suggest that be measured?

[Anonymous]

I tutor middle and high school from both public and private in the DMV area. Apart from Sidwell and Albans/NCS, and maybe 2 or 3 others, privates are not providing better quality of academics than public. The parochial’s are the bottom of the barrel and the single sex schools generally are the better privates.
MCPS is by far the best education in terms of higher mathematics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t believe longer school days means more gets done. I’d probably start by examining that assumption. Time can be wasted in a longer day, and we don’t know if/where time might be wasted at various schools.

Uh, okay? What do you think is the magic length of a school day that causes time to not be wasted? This is a weird take. Time can be “wasted” during a long day, short day, extended school year, or abbreviated school year. Given that we have zero data about this, comparing the actual number of hours in school is really the only thing that makes sense.

FWIW, our independent school has 172 8-hour days, so 1376 hours. The local public middle school has 180 6.75 hour days, so 1215 hours. Deduct 30m for an extra recess every day and the private school still has an extra 75h of instructional time. So OP’s question is easily answered: more school time. You could argue about the effect of a smaller class sizes, narrower ability band, etc, but it’s not even necessary to do so.

That’s not a good comparison. You’ve cherry picked so it’s not an honest comparison. I’m not arguing the fact, but you simply did not back that up with anything of value.

Huh? How exactly is that cherry picking? What’s not honest? Do you feel that our independent school is on a schedule much different than other independent schools, and therefore it’s not fair comparison? I assure you, it is not. Our school is in fact part of a consortium, and all the members’ schedules are more or less the same.

If that data is not helpful to you, what kind of data do you consider to be “of value”?

+1. That's exactly the original argument - that privates had less instructional time and therefore could not get through materials. How is someone showing the actual instructional time not a good comparison?

Because it’s not showing the actual instructional time of either option.

Uh, okay. How would you suggest that be measured?

Taking hours and subtracting recess is hardly accurate and a full assessment. Surely, you already know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t believe longer school days means more gets done. I’d probably start by examining that assumption. Time can be wasted in a longer day, and we don’t know if/where time might be wasted at various schools.

Uh, okay? What do you think is the magic length of a school day that causes time to not be wasted? This is a weird take. Time can be “wasted” during a long day, short day, extended school year, or abbreviated school year. Given that we have zero data about this, comparing the actual number of hours in school is really the only thing that makes sense.

FWIW, our independent school has 172 8-hour days, so 1376 hours. The local public middle school has 180 6.75 hour days, so 1215 hours. Deduct 30m for an extra recess every day and the private school still has an extra 75h of instructional time. So OP’s question is easily answered: more school time. You could argue about the effect of a smaller class sizes, narrower ability band, etc, but it’s not even necessary to do so.

That’s amazing all those full days for 172 total days. We have four day weekends all the time, every federal holiday Monday off is extended to a 4-5 day long weekend off, 14+ days off for winter break and spring break, start with a couple half days after Labor Day, and end with a bunch of trips and field days the first or second week of June. Def not that many man hours.

So you think that your school administration is actually lying to you about the number of school days? Seems like a weird place to lie, since it’s easy for anyone with a calendar and calculator to check.

[Anonymous]

We’ve counted the half days, full days, and know the days off; our DC-based Big 3 is much less than 172*7 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t believe longer school days means more gets done. I’d probably start by examining that assumption. Time can be wasted in a longer day, and we don’t know if/where time might be wasted at various schools.

Uh, okay? What do you think is the magic length of a school day that causes time to not be wasted? This is a weird take. Time can be “wasted” during a long day, short day, extended school year, or abbreviated school year. Given that we have zero data about this, comparing the actual number of hours in school is really the only thing that makes sense.

FWIW, our independent school has 172 8-hour days, so 1376 hours. The local public middle school has 180 6.75 hour days, so 1215 hours. Deduct 30m for an extra recess every day and the private school still has an extra 75h of instructional time. So OP’s question is easily answered: more school time. You could argue about the effect of a smaller class sizes, narrower ability band, etc, but it’s not even necessary to do so.

That’s not a good comparison. You’ve cherry picked so it’s not an honest comparison. I’m not arguing the fact, but you simply did not back that up with anything of value.

Huh? How exactly is that cherry picking? What’s not honest? Do you feel that our independent school is on a schedule much different than other independent schools, and therefore it’s not fair comparison? I assure you, it is not. Our school is in fact part of a consortium, and all the members’ schedules are more or less the same.

If that data is not helpful to you, what kind of data do you consider to be “of value”?

+1. That's exactly the original argument - that privates had less instructional time and therefore could not get through materials. How is someone showing the actual instructional time not a good comparison?

Because it’s not showing the actual instructional time of either option.

Uh, okay. How would you suggest that be measured?

Taking hours and subtracting recess is hardly accurate and a full assessment. Surely, you already know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t believe longer school days means more gets done. I’d probably start by examining that assumption. Time can be wasted in a longer day, and we don’t know if/where time might be wasted at various schools.

Uh, okay? What do you think is the magic length of a school day that causes time to not be wasted? This is a weird take. Time can be “wasted” during a long day, short day, extended school year, or abbreviated school year. Given that we have zero data about this, comparing the actual number of hours in school is really the only thing that makes sense.

FWIW, our independent school has 172 8-hour days, so 1376 hours. The local public middle school has 180 6.75 hour days, so 1215 hours. Deduct 30m for an extra recess every day and the private school still has an extra 75h of instructional time. So OP’s question is easily answered: more school time. You could argue about the effect of a smaller class sizes, narrower ability band, etc, but it’s not even necessary to do so.

That’s not a good comparison. You’ve cherry picked so it’s not an honest comparison. I’m not arguing the fact, but you simply did not back that up with anything of value.

Huh? How exactly is that cherry picking? What’s not honest? Do you feel that our independent school is on a schedule much different than other independent schools, and therefore it’s not fair comparison? I assure you, it is not. Our school is in fact part of a consortium, and all the members’ schedules are more or less the same.

If that data is not helpful to you, what kind of data do you consider to be “of value”?

+1. That's exactly the original argument - that privates had less instructional time and therefore could not get through materials. How is someone showing the actual instructional time not a good comparison?

Because it’s not showing the actual instructional time of either option.

Uh, okay. How would you suggest that be measured?

Taking hours and subtracting recess is hardly accurate and a full assessment. Surely, you already know that.

Okay, what would you consider an “accurate and full assessment”? Because this is exactly the way instructional hours are calculated across-the-board for most schools, and per state laws. If you have a more accurate way to calculate them, I’m dying to hear what it is.

[Anonymous]

Do upper schools now have Wednesdays off as study days? Is that going to continue for next year? Or go back to early dismissal or regular dismissal?

The kids are so behind just stop these early dismissal things for under grade 9.