Is private school that much better?

[Anonymous]

"If you look at the scores even the best DC Charter schools are sub standard compared to FCPS, MOCO and Arlington, sorry for raining on your parade."

No, actually, if you look at the test scores of the top DCPS elementaries, they rank as high or higher than just about any public in the country. In fact, caucasion kids in DCPS has the highest test scores in the country in math this year.

[Anonymous]

had, not has

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:had, not has

You stupid also

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just one other perspective OP. I chose to put my kids in public school because it is in keeping with my personal philosophy that that public schools should be the default choice. I strongly believe in the value of public schools and feel that it is my duty as a citizen to support the institution, if you will, because strong public schools are the foundation for the kind of society I want to live in. I want to raise my kids with very democratic, non-elitist values and worry that if I send my kids to private school, they will get the message that they are somehow superior to others, and that there are different "classes" of people. So that is sort of my political/moral philosophy. Having said that, I know this is more idealism than reality, because some public schools are so much better than others, and we do not live in a class-free society. I also recognize that as a parent, you cannot sacrifice your child's happiness for the public good, so if I were not happy with my public schools, I would not hesitate to go private. I know I can't always live my beliefs and will behave in ways that are hypocritical for the sake of my family's well-being, but I still try.

so this becomes some personal political agenda to gamble with your child's education and future? So you are sacrificing your innocent child who has no say to appease your liberal guilt?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS are horrible, anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put there kids in private school if they had the money. Obama won't send his kids to DCPS, says something about the most in touch with the middle class president.

Obama: D.C. schools don't measure up to his daughters' private school

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/27/AR2010092701766.html

Of course DC schools don't all measure up to Sidwell. But that doesn't mean that all DC schools are horrible, or that anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put THEIR kids in private school if they had the money. I know many people - including myself - with the funds to put their kids in private school who choose DCPS or charters. They would not send their kids to just any DCPS or charter, but there are very good ones that they do choose, even over Sidwell and other Big Three schools.

And, you are kidding yourself if you think that the President - even this one - has the same educational considerations as the rest of us. He needs his kids in a school that is both great and a fortress. If the OP had asked whether public or private would be better for the President's children, I am sure that most of us would agree that private can probably protect his children and provide them with a more focussed education than private. The Secretary of Education, on the other hand, chose public for his kids.

Duncan is married to Karen Duncan, and they have two children who attend public elementary school in Arlington, Va.

BIG difference arlington public schools vs DC public schools. If you look at the scores even the best DC Charter schools are sub standard compared to FCPS, MOCO and Arlington, sorry for raining on your parade.

Where is your data? Some of the DC schools do measure up to FCPS and MOCO. I admit, there are not many. I am very happy with my son's charter school and we moved from Chevy Chase, MD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS are horrible, anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put there kids in private school if they had the money. Obama won't send his kids to DCPS, says something about the most in touch with the middle class president.

Obama: D.C. schools don't measure up to his daughters' private school

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/27/AR2010092701766.html

Of course DC schools don't all measure up to Sidwell. But that doesn't mean that all DC schools are horrible, or that anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put THEIR kids in private school if they had the money. I know many people - including myself - with the funds to put their kids in private school who choose DCPS or charters. They would not send their kids to just any DCPS or charter, but there are very good ones that they do choose, even over Sidwell and other Big Three schools.

And, you are kidding yourself if you think that the President - even this one - has the same educational considerations as the rest of us. He needs his kids in a school that is both great and a fortress. If the OP had asked whether public or private would be better for the President's children, I am sure that most of us would agree that private can probably protect his children and provide them with a more focussed education than private. The Secretary of Education, on the other hand, chose public for his kids.

Duncan is married to Karen Duncan, and they have two children who attend public elementary school in Arlington, Va.

BIG difference arlington public schools vs DC public schools. If you look at the scores even the best DC Charter schools are sub standard compared to FCPS, MOCO and Arlington, sorry for raining on your parade.

Where is your data? Some of the DC schools do measure up to FCPS and MOCO. I admit, there are not many. I am very happy with my son's charter school and we moved from Chevy Chase, MD.

NAIL in the DCPS charter coffin

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/14443/gra...he-wasnt-prepared-for-college/

[Anonymous]

Go to a few open houses and you will see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS are horrible, anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put there kids in private school if they had the money. Obama won't send his kids to DCPS, says something about the most in touch with the middle class president.

Obama: D.C. schools don't measure up to his daughters' private school

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/27/AR2010092701766.html

Of course DC schools don't all measure up to Sidwell. But that doesn't mean that all DC schools are horrible, or that anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put THEIR kids in private school if they had the money. I know many people - including myself - with the funds to put their kids in private school who choose DCPS or charters. They would not send their kids to just any DCPS or charter, but there are very good ones that they do choose, even over Sidwell and other Big Three schools.

And, you are kidding yourself if you think that the President - even this one - has the same educational considerations as the rest of us. He needs his kids in a school that is both great and a fortress. If the OP had asked whether public or private would be better for the President's children, I am sure that most of us would agree that private can probably protect his children and provide them with a more focussed education than private. The Secretary of Education, on the other hand, chose public for his kids.

Duncan is married to Karen Duncan, and they have two children who attend public elementary school in Arlington, Va.

BIG difference arlington public schools vs DC public schools. If you look at the scores even the best DC Charter schools are sub standard compared to FCPS, MOCO and Arlington, sorry for raining on your parade.

Where is your data? Some of the DC schools do measure up to FCPS and MOCO. I admit, there are not many. I am very happy with my son's charter school and we moved from Chevy Chase, MD.

NAIL in the DCPS charter coffin

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/14443/gra...he-wasnt-prepared-for-college/

I would never send my kid to Cesar Chavez and don't consider it to be good. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS are horrible, anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put there kids in private school if they had the money. Obama won't send his kids to DCPS, says something about the most in touch with the middle class president.

Obama: D.C. schools don't measure up to his daughters' private school

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/27/AR2010092701766.html

Of course DC schools don't all measure up to Sidwell. But that doesn't mean that all DC schools are horrible, or that anyone living in DC with kids would immediately put THEIR kids in private school if they had the money. I know many people - including myself - with the funds to put their kids in private school who choose DCPS or charters. They would not send their kids to just any DCPS or charter, but there are very good ones that they do choose, even over Sidwell and other Big Three schools.

And, you are kidding yourself if you think that the President - even this one - has the same educational considerations as the rest of us. He needs his kids in a school that is both great and a fortress. If the OP had asked whether public or private would be better for the President's children, I am sure that most of us would agree that private can probably protect his children and provide them with a more focussed education than private. The Secretary of Education, on the other hand, chose public for his kids.

Duncan is married to Karen Duncan, and they have two children who attend public elementary school in Arlington, Va.

BIG difference arlington public schools vs DC public schools. If you look at the scores even the best DC Charter schools are sub standard compared to FCPS, MOCO and Arlington, sorry for raining on your parade.

Where is your data? Some of the DC schools do measure up to FCPS and MOCO. I admit, there are not many. I am very happy with my son's charter school and we moved from Chevy Chase, MD.

NAIL in the DCPS charter coffin

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/14443/gra...he-wasnt-prepared-for-college/

I would never send my kid to Cesar Chavez and don't consider it to be good. Sorry.

Exactly. I doubt that anyone who reads this website would send their children there. It is not a good school. Moreover, one kid's experience doesn't mean anything.

[Anonymous]

In general, the major determinants of children's performance in school are their parents' income and educational levels. Once you control for those things, the benefits of private school, on average, look pretty small, according to the studies I've read.

Many of the public school districts in this area are among the best in the nation. Most kids will be fine there. Even in DC, kids at Wilson, Banneker, and SWW get 5's on AP tests and head off to Ivy League schools. (Many of those kids are, like the kids from Sidwell, come from double graduate degree families).

If your kid is a math/science superstar, I would say definitely go public. Kids at the privates are lawyer's kids (that's who can afford 30k per kids per year) and they don't tend to push math and science as much. i've interviewed kids at the Big 3, and I am always shocked that their parents are paying for them to have fewer research opportunities than the average public school kid in MoCo.

If you have a kids who need a smaller class size or who is an average student, the individual attention at a private may be the way to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In general, the major determinants of children's performance in school are their parents' income and educational levels. Once you control for those things, the benefits of private school, on average, look pretty small, according to the studies I've read.

So would it also be your view that there are few meaningful differences between different public schools for most kids, because the primary determinants of their success will be parents' SES and educational levels?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
So would it also be your view that there are few meaningful differences between different public schools for most kids, because the primary determinants of their success will be parents' SES and educational levels?

NP here. ^ The answer is yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In general, the major determinants of children's performance in school are their parents' income and educational levels. Once you control for those things, the benefits of private school, on average, look pretty small, according to the studies I've read.

So would it also be your view that there are few meaningful differences between different public schools for most kids, because the primary determinants of their success will be parents' SES and educational levels?

If we measure performance by test scores, I think you can plot those against income pretty well. Test scores, however, don't predict things like college performance very well, so they are probably a very imperfect metric of life success.

It's certainly possible for schools to do things that enable kids to be more successful than parents' income would predict (or to teach them so badly that they would do worse than predicted on a test). However, the things that work (KIPP, AVID program) usually include longer school days and explicit teaching of study skills. Since these interventions are labor intensive and therefore expensive, most schools don't do them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
So would it also be your view that there are few meaningful differences between different public schools for most kids, because the primary determinants of their success will be parents' SES and educational levels?

NP here. ^ The answer is yes.

NP here. If you're choosing a school based on what it can do for your child's future, then the answer to your question is yes. If your choosing a school based on the experiences it can give your child now, then there are differences among schools, although whether public or private is better depends on the particular kid, the particular school, and your family's values.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
So would it also be your view that there are few meaningful differences between different public schools for most kids, because the primary determinants of their success will be parents' SES and educational levels?

NP here. ^ The answer is yes.

NP here. If you're choosing a school based on what it can do for your child's future, then the answer to your question is yes. If your choosing a school based on the experiences it can give your child now, then there are differences among schools, although whether public or private is better depends on the particular kid, the particular school, and your family's values.

Can you please elaborate? When you say "what it can do for your child's future" it sounds a bit ominous and final. It's like you are saying, no matter what makes your kid flourish now, it's just an immediate success, but the long term success is determined whether you kid goes to the "right place" in the end. Well, doesn't this go without saying that we all care about our kids long term future just as much as the immediate experiences? Just the way you say it it sound like no matter the choice, what matters at the end is your kid's experience of rubbing shoulders with the wealthier more powerful demographics, e.g. the upper classes who can effortlessly afford the most expensive private schools and who tend to be overrepresented in such institutions.