If you could only afford private for grades 1-6 or grades 6-12, what would you choose?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have an academically advanced or gifted child I would without a doubt recommend private first and then public for highschool. A private will be able to offer a child much more in the early years than you would get at a public school. A lot of public schools now are moving away from ability grouping which does a disservice to advanced and highly motivated kids.

Public highschools, especially the magnets on the other hand offer a wide range of courses for advanced and highly motivated kids. If you don't do a magnet an advanced child can still thrive in their home school and the most highly motivated ones can learn a great deal about leadership. They will basically "run" a school so to speak through student government and activism. It can be a really enriching experience. Without a strong foundation though a child may not be in a position to take the bull by the horns.

Private - K - 6 (preferable 8 IMHO)
Public - 6 to 12

I guess this depends on where you live? For many places in Montgomery county, this makes sense. But in DC or other places?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have an academically advanced or gifted child I would without a doubt recommend private first and then public for highschool. A private will be able to offer a child much more in the early years than you would get at a public school. A lot of public schools now are moving away from ability grouping which does a disservice to advanced and highly motivated kids.

Public highschools, especially the magnets on the other hand offer a wide range of courses for advanced and highly motivated kids. If you don't do a magnet an advanced child can still thrive in their home school and the most highly motivated ones can learn a great deal about leadership. They will basically "run" a school so to speak through student government and activism. It can be a really enriching experience. Without a strong foundation though a child may not be in a position to take the bull by the horns.

Private - K - 6 (preferable 8 IMHO)
Public - 6 to 12

I guess this depends on where you live? For many places in Montgomery county, this makes sense. But in DC or other places?

I tend to agree with this approach/logic, although I'm in DC where the elementaries tend to be better than the middle/high schools. I'm near a good public elementary but still tempted to keep my child in private for a few more years so he can have small classes and more individual attention and then make a transition. My kid is ahead, although I suspect there are alot of them in dcps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1-6. Possibly to 8th. Reason, by the time kids get to HS, they should be getting accustomed to less touchy feely love at school and learn how to function in the real world.
If you live in MC, the public high schools are excellent.

I think I could go either way, but I'm inclined to agree that private is the way to start, and finish at public. I personally didn't start private school until high school. Even though I was at the top of my class in a highly regarded public school (the kid where virtually everyone goes to a 4 year colleage, everyone is in APs, in an affluent community), I was nevertheless behind on numerous fronts when I entered a well-known private school in 9th grade. One area where I had trouble was in study skills--as a top tier 7th and 8th grader in a good public school, I could get away with (without realizing I was getting away with anything) a fair amount of "phoning it in" on math and science. I'm guessing that even in an affluent school district, there was just more variation in student ability, and so less attention was paid to differentiated learning that really pushed at my particular strengths and weaknesses. I had a near photographic memory, and could ace exams with minimal cramming. The private school I entered had a lot less emphasis on feeding back learned information for a test. The focus there was writing and critical thinking--most of my classmates already had lots of experience with lengthy seminar type classroom discussions that pushed critical thinking, Socratic method, and developing and organizing extended writing and research pieces. In my transition from public to private, I went from big fish to working my butt off just to stay in the middle of the pack. I remember sitting in a lit class first semester of 9th grade and realizing that my 10 classmates had ALL read as carefully, or more carefully, than I had (in contrast to public school, where it was a near certainty that some of the class of 20+ hadn't bothered with the reading at all). The schools probably had equally talented and committed teachers, but at the private school, the floor on student quality was higher, and teachers spent less time dealing with disruptive kids or kids that didn't care about doing the work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1-6. Possibly to 8th. Reason, by the time kids get to HS, they should be getting accustomed to less touchy feely love at school and learn how to function in the real world.
If you live in MC, the public high schools are excellent.

I think I could go either way, but I'm inclined to agree that private is the way to start, and finish at public. I personally didn't start private school until high school. Even though I was at the top of my class in a highly regarded public school (the kid where virtually everyone goes to a 4 year colleage, everyone is in APs, in an affluent community), I was nevertheless behind on numerous fronts when I entered a well-known private school in 9th grade. One area where I had trouble was in study skills--as a top tier 7th and 8th grader in a good public school, I could get away with (without realizing I was getting away with anything) a fair amount of "phoning it in" on math and science. I'm guessing that even in an affluent school district, there was just more variation in student ability, and so less attention was paid to differentiated learning that really pushed at my particular strengths and weaknesses. I had a near photographic memory, and could ace exams with minimal cramming. The private school I entered had a lot less emphasis on feeding back learned information for a test. The focus there was writing and critical thinking--most of my classmates already had lots of experience with lengthy seminar type classroom discussions that pushed critical thinking, Socratic method, and developing and organizing extended writing and research pieces. In my transition from public to private, I went from big fish to working my butt off just to stay in the middle of the pack. I remember sitting in a lit class first semester of 9th grade and realizing that my 10 classmates had ALL read as carefully, or more carefully, than I had (in contrast to public school, where it was a near certainty that some of the class of 20+ hadn't bothered with the reading at all). The schools probably had equally talented and committed teachers, but at the private school, the floor on student quality was higher, and teachers spent less time dealing with disruptive kids or kids that didn't care about doing the work.

Your private sounds like it was a very good school. Which was it?

[Anonymous]

For those advocating private for K-6 for "gifted" students, you should be aware that very few privates offer much differentiation at that level. That's a perrennial complaint among private school parents on this board and is well-taken. Students entering my kids' DC private at MS and US levels from DC, MoCo and NoVa public elementaries are quite well-prepared, especially in math. They're also often the most motivated kids and do very well academically and w/re to college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1-6. Possibly to 8th. Reason, by the time kids get to HS, they should be getting accustomed to less touchy feely love at school and learn how to function in the real world.
If you live in MC, the public high schools are excellent.

I think I could go either way, but I'm inclined to agree that private is the way to start, and finish at public. I personally didn't start private school until high school. Even though I was at the top of my class in a highly regarded public school (the kid where virtually everyone goes to a 4 year colleage, everyone is in APs, in an affluent community), I was nevertheless behind on numerous fronts when I entered a well-known private school in 9th grade. One area where I had trouble was in study skills--as a top tier 7th and 8th grader in a good public school, I could get away with (without realizing I was getting away with anything) a fair amount of "phoning it in" on math and science. I'm guessing that even in an affluent school district, there was just more variation in student ability, and so less attention was paid to differentiated learning that really pushed at my particular strengths and weaknesses. I had a near photographic memory, and could ace exams with minimal cramming. The private school I entered had a lot less emphasis on feeding back learned information for a test. The focus there was writing and critical thinking--most of my classmates already had lots of experience with lengthy seminar type classroom discussions that pushed critical thinking, Socratic method, and developing and organizing extended writing and research pieces. In my transition from public to private, I went from big fish to working my butt off just to stay in the middle of the pack. I remember sitting in a lit class first semester of 9th grade and realizing that my 10 classmates had ALL read as carefully, or more carefully, than I had (in contrast to public school, where it was a near certainty that some of the class of 20+ hadn't bothered with the reading at all). The schools probably had equally talented and committed teachers, but at the private school, the floor on student quality was higher, and teachers spent less time dealing with disruptive kids or kids that didn't care about doing the work.

Yep, really advanced kids don't learn study and organizational skills in elementary because they simply aren't challenged enough to need them most of the time in public schools. Once they get to high school or college many of them aren't prepared to handle real challenge and can struggle quite a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those advocating private for K-6 for "gifted" students, you should be aware that very few privates offer much differentiation at that level. That's a perrennial complaint among private school parents on this board and is well-taken. Students entering my kids' DC private at MS and US levels from DC, MoCo and NoVa public elementaries are quite well-prepared, especially in math. They're also often the most motivated kids and do very well academically and w/re to college admissions.

i'm actually considering a montessori for elementary because it is the one kind of school that does differentiate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids went to MCPS for K-6, then DC independent school for 7-12. If we had it to do over again, my vote would be to send them to private for 9-12. MCPS ES curriculum is solid and teachers are very good for the most part; plus, your kids get to know other kids in your neighborhood, so you're not schlepping them all over for playdates. For MCPS and K-12 privates, middle schools tend to be the weak link, so save your money unless you're willing to do a K-8 private and then apply again for high school.

Many MCPS high schools are quite good, but they're big and the curriculum tends toward more multiple choice tests and sless writing unless your kid is in a magnet or IB. Our kids' experience at a top independent has been great -- a very rich and deep curriculum stressing writing and critical thinking skills. But -- don't delude yourself into thinking that a private high school will always guarantee admission to a marquee name college. The competition for these schools is so tough and it may be more difficult to get in from a private where there are many kids with a good shot at the most prestigious schools. Private schools offer the biggest college admissions bang for the buck for students in the middle of the pack, where the assistance of a college counselor with a small enough caseload can make a difference in the admissions process.

which parts of the curicullum or expectations did you find the MCPS middle schools to be the weak link? our kids are in grade 1 private so we're interested in the answer to this question - I thought that from grade 6 on wards, at mcps has the "extras" like languages and music and science taught by specials teachers - so like the private offerings in elementary - but if the mcps middles schools are a waste, it would be good know why and how so we can plan - thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those advocating private for K-6 for "gifted" students, you should be aware that very few privates offer much differentiation at that level. That's a perrennial complaint among private school parents on this board and is well-taken. Students entering my kids' DC private at MS and US levels from DC, MoCo and NoVa public elementaries are quite well-prepared, especially in math. They're also often the most motivated kids and do very well academically and w/re to college admissions.

Yep, it's a problem at both public and private schools in this area. If you have a really advanced kid there are relatively few options for true differentiation in the early years.

Montgomery County is moving further and further away from ability grouping. The new superintendent doesn't have a very good track record for meeting the needs of high ability kids either so I don't think the change in leadership will help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those advocating private for K-6 for "gifted" students, you should be aware that very few privates offer much differentiation at that level. That's a perrennial complaint among private school parents on this board and is well-taken. Students entering my kids' DC private at MS and US levels from DC, MoCo and NoVa public elementaries are quite well-prepared, especially in math. They're also often the most motivated kids and do very well academically and w/re to college admissions.

Yep, it's a problem at both public and private schools in this area. If you have a really advanced kid there are relatively few options for true differentiation in the early years.

Montgomery County is moving further and further away from ability grouping. The new superintendent doesn't have a very good track record for meeting the needs of high ability kids either so I don't think the change in leadership will help.

To add to this here is a link to the GTAMC website that summarizes some of the issues today in MoCo publics:

http://www.gtamc.org/Home/programs/advocacy/top-10-issues

Here's an article in the Gazette:

http://gazette.net/stories/03092011/montnew184800_32540.php

[Anonymous]

I don't think folks can give a blanket answer to this question. It depends on your kids, where you live, what can you afford, where you dream about your kids going to college.
We sent ours to a fancy private from 7-12. We live in DC so we didn't think we had a choice. One of our neighbors was admitted ED to UPenn from School w/o Walls and he's white.
I know kids who got into great colleges from Wilson. We weren't willing to chance it.

[Anonymous]

Choose a big public (any one of them) for high school ONLY if your child is independent, self-motivated, and extremely bright. If he/she is at all insecure, unmotivated, or less-than-brilliant, I'd pick a private high school.

[Anonymous]

For all this talk about how a "foundation" is built via private, I totally disagree, and go along with the initial slew of posters who state private is best for 6-12. For one thing, the poster who goes on about how behind they were trying to be in the middle when entering private HS, guess what? It's because in public school you'll always be balancing your success against huge diversity, economically and socially. Once you're in private, baby, they've eliminated 70% of the kids you out-did all those years as an advanced student. Going back to the argument of private later: Your child will have learned valuable lessons before clique-thinking is natural --the poor kid who doesn't look like your child isn't any different, boundarie are eliminated among the youngsters because they are all in a class where the playing field begins even-steven. The best case scenario is that your child, having seen a bit of the world via public school and playing with kids from families who live in cars, public housing, to mansions all in one breath, they will appreciate and eat up all that comes with a focused, high-achieving private or even better -- make their way confidently in a local public HS that offers top teachers and quality but also serves less than "desirable" students. I'm on the fence -- DCPS all the way, now private MS, but seriously thinking DCPS for 9th and beyond.

[Anonymous]

6-12

I'm a teacher at a private school in DC and this is what we are going to do for our children.

[Anonymous]

We did private pk-8 and MCPS 9-12. It was not a financial decision, it was the right choice for the kid. If I were doing it again I might move to MCPS in 6th.