How is Stone Ridge doing these days?

[Anonymous]

Hi!
I'm starting to look again for another school for my daughter (she'll be trying our local GT program for 4th next year after leaving a small private) and I was wondering if some of the SR parents could comment on the elementary school, specifically 5th grade and up...even if we remain for 5th, I think we want to make a move back to private school at some point for many reasons. I know that a few years back there was an issue with the head of the school (she was an SR alum) who has since been replaced. How are things now? Do they still have the same faculty or has there been turn over? We spend our summers there and love the people that run the camp, but really don't have a sense of the academic rigor and where the graduates end up matriculating at.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

[Anonymous]

no one?

[Anonymous]

DD goes there. Its Eh. If you have money, you can't really be "wrong". There have been many discrepancies that the upper school admins have not let get out. They are doing this "reverse teaching" thing now. I actually came here to start a thread about that. DD doesn't like it. She has learning differences and often must "teach herself" at home.

[Anonymous]

Flipped classroom? What are they using for the home teaching pieces?

OP, for what it is worth, my DD is the same age as yours and also TAG identified. She shadowed at SR last year and really liked the girls and the teachers but she said the academics in the lower school seemed no different than what she was working on in her previous school where she was pretty bored and coasting. That's one day though, but since no one seems to be giving you much else I thought I'd offer it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flipped classroom? What are they using for the home teaching pieces?

OP, for what it is worth, my DD is the same age as yours and also TAG identified. She shadowed at SR last year and really liked the girls and the teachers but she said the academics in the lower school seemed no different than what she was working on in her previous school where she was pretty bored and coasting. That's one day though, but since no one seems to be giving you much else I thought I'd offer it.

I'm the poster that said it's "eh". My DD comes home with hw to do however the lesson has not been taught in class. So, she takes the notes on logarithms in her notebook from the book, and then does the assigned hw. This is okay to an extent. But in class the teacher only goes over homework, and does not necessarily "explain" and teach. I have met with the math teacher and she really only sits at her desk during class. My DD was angry earlier in the year but now she uses Khan Academy and other Youtube videos to teach her the material for math. It is this way in her Spanish, and History classes.

[Anonymous]

Yikes, that's terrible. That's not a flipped classroom model, that's just bad teaching.

[Anonymous]

Wow. That's pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. That's pathetic.

I agree, I think that for 29K my DD should be being taught.

[Anonymous]

Also, the material is quite challenging, so you can see how this model of teaching may not be beneficial for an ADHD 17 year old. So as a result DD ends up with about 7 hrs of hw per night. If you send your kid there, don't expect for the "deans" to do much but provide lip service and condescension.

[Anonymous]

Have you talked to the Head about this? I can imagine a school gets a bad teacher every now and then, but 3 subjects like this? That either seems like terrible judgment with hiring or a systemic problem in terms of teaching expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, the material is quite challenging, so you can see how this model of teaching may not be beneficial for an ADHD 17 year old. So as a result DD ends up with about 7 hrs of hw per night. If you send your kid there, don't expect for the "deans" to do much but provide lip service and condescension.

That's miserable I feel sorry for your DD. Was it like this throughout upper school or has just this year been bad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you talked to the Head about this? I can imagine a school gets a bad teacher every now and then, but 3 subjects like this? That either seems like terrible judgment with hiring or a systemic problem in terms of teaching expectations.

It isn't the teacher. Its this new "reverse" teaching thing. And no DD has been there since 9th, this BS just started like 5 months ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flipped classroom? What are they using for the home teaching pieces?

OP, for what it is worth, my DD is the same age as yours and also TAG identified. She shadowed at SR last year and really liked the girls and the teachers but she said the academics in the lower school seemed no different than what she was working on in her previous school where she was pretty bored and coasting. That's one day though, but since no one seems to be giving you much else I thought I'd offer it.

I'm the poster that said it's "eh". My DD comes home with hw to do however the lesson has not been taught in class. So, she takes the notes on logarithms in her notebook from the book, and then does the assigned hw. This is okay to an extent. But in class the teacher only goes over homework, and does not necessarily "explain" and teach. I have met with the math teacher and she really only sits at her desk during class. My DD was angry earlier in the year but now she uses Khan Academy and other Youtube videos to teach her the material for math. It is this way in her Spanish, and History classes.

So why are you paying all that money for DD to teach herself? Homeschooling is much cheaper.

[Anonymous]

I could be wrong here but it sounds like the PP daughter may not be cut out for the school. It is known to be academically rigorous; if your child has 7 hours of homework a night I think there is a bigger disconnect than teaching method.

[Anonymous]

OP,

I looked there 2yrs ago (getting my daughter out of public, GT program too far) and it was in the running with Holton and Holy Cross. My main complaint was SR is that 5th grade is middle school. I did not like that at all. My daughter is smart but is a young tomboy type girl. Did not want to rush the adolescent middle school crap. We ended up at Holton and have been very happy there. Their lower school goes to 6th grade and is nurturing, inclusive, and challenging. The lower and middle school heads are fantastic and 6th grade is considered a transition year for middle school.