How to "pick" a school (weighing private and public options)

[Anonymous]

I apologize if this has been covered many times, but we are rushing to make some decisions on elementary school for our first. We are considering some private schools and the local public. I am looking for advice, resources, books or even links to early discussions on this here, about how to go about the decision. I am not in the DC area (former DC resident, still use DCUM)

We have visited and I have some information on stats but I feel like I'm totally lost on how to proceed on this very important decision.

Thanks so much!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I apologize if this has been covered many times, but we are rushing to make some decisions on elementary school for our first. We are considering some private schools and the local public. I am looking for advice, resources, books or even links to early discussions on this here, about how to go about the decision. I am not in the DC area (former DC resident, still use DCUM)

We have visited and I have some information on stats but I feel like I'm totally lost on how to proceed on this very important decision.

Thanks so much!

I think public should be the default. If an issue arises with the school or child, then I would address it from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I apologize if this has been covered many times, but we are rushing to make some decisions on elementary school for our first. We are considering some private schools and the local public. I am looking for advice, resources, books or even links to early discussions on this here, about how to go about the decision. I am not in the DC area (former DC resident, still use DCUM)

We have visited and I have some information on stats but I feel like I'm totally lost on how to proceed on this very important decision.

Thanks so much!

I think public should be the default. If an issue arises with the school or child, then I would address it from there.

I actually think public should be the default. If you have a good public school cluster and your child is self motivated and does not have any learning issues, I would not spend money on private school. You can provide outside enrichment, if necessary. Plenty of kids matriculate through public school and get into good colleges. My kids are in private because they had some mild special needs that I did not feel the public school could adequately address. I switched to private reluctantly because our public ES, MS and HS have excellent reputations. I would much prefer to save the money we are spending on private school but I did not want to look back and say I should have switched. I am hoping to switch back to public for HS.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you for the responses but I am looking more for resources for evaluating, not opinions.

Specifically, books, web resources et cetera.

[Anonymous]

OP just re=read my post and I did say advice, so I apologize. Advice is good (:, but I'm looking more in the lines of resources that are helpful in making this evaluation. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Read

The Good School: How Smart Parents Get Their Kids the Education They Deserve Hardcover – Bargain Price
by Peg Tyre (Author)

[Anonymous]

Op, I've had kids in both public and private, lots of schools, and I don't know what you are looking for. You can read up on philosophies of education but every school's implementation will be different. It's like any decision: decide what's important to you and which option best fits that.

[Anonymous]

I think you should look for a parent like me, at the private school you are considering-- I have kids in independent school as well as the local public school, I could tell you the differences. Ask to talk to a parent at the independent school--they might know which other parents have kids in both. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

OP seems to be looking for some thing more basic. Like a framework to evaluate things. Note she did not even provide the basic infos such as distance, class size, school size, etc.

OP, what are you looking for in terms of education? Academic rigor? Nurturing environment? A certain educational philosphy? economic and other types of diversity? A certain curriculum in math? Just some things to think about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am looking for advice, resources, books or even links to early discussions on this here, about how to go about the decision.

Different people make the decision differently. For some people, the decision is "go with the status quo until there's reason to do otherwise." A couple people up thread recommended that to you. For some people, it's to make a list of everything they want to find in a school, and then research which schools offers what. Some people would review their family budget and figure out if tuition costs make sense.

Which sort of person are you?

[Anonymous]

This was for preschool, but could apply to other schools. We made a list of things we wanted in a school and ranked the list according to importance with a 5 being very important and a 1 being not as important. Then we evaluated the different schools we saw and rated them against the criteria we chose. Then we multiplied it out and the schools that we felt were the best ended up having the most points. Then it was only down to about 2 schools and we were able to pick from there.

[Anonymous]

OP again, I think the poster who said I am looking for a framework is right. I feel like I'm not sure how to even evaluate these schools other than my sense that one provides a stronger education over another, or a certain community. I've asked about things like parent teacher ratio, but I honestly have no clue what I am doing. I could go into more detail but I'm really look for, yes, a framework for thinking about these things. I had in mind a book (and appreciate that someone suggested one). I'm not in DC, so I don't have the benefit of a resource like DCUM to get the 'dirt' on different schools.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read

The Good School: How Smart Parents Get Their Kids the Education They Deserve Hardcover – Bargain Price
by Peg Tyre (Author)

NP here. wow great book! thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again, I think the poster who said I am looking for a framework is right. I feel like I'm not sure how to even evaluate these schools other than my sense that one provides a stronger education over another, or a certain community. I've asked about things like parent teacher ratio, but I honestly have no clue what I am doing. I could go into more detail but I'm really look for, yes, a framework for thinking about these things. I had in mind a book (and appreciate that someone suggested one). I'm not in DC, so I don't have the benefit of a resource like DCUM to get the 'dirt' on different schools.

Thanks!

personally i am a big fan of frameworks and systems. but i think when it comes to school you really want your intuition to be the guide. you first have to do your homework: visit schools, talk to teachers, talk to parents. and then use your gut to make a dissension. different factors impact kids differently. for example some kids need teachers that are loud and charismatic. other kids do better with softer more attentive teachers... i think it will be hard to develop a framework that will account for these individual preferences. most of the framework elements that you will find in literature will be common sense type stuff that you probably already know about on your own. for example greatschools.org has something about evaluating schools, boring dry stuff that in the end will not be helpful.

[Anonymous]

Ask yourself:

a) will we be able to support an active membership in the school community? (i.e if private, distance, $$$$ tickets to school events; in either case - do we like the people who go here, and do they like us?)

b) what will it be like for my child if he turns out to be brilliant/average/needy/quirky...

c) if private, what do we give up to send our child here? (conveniences that $$ buys, ability to hire tutors if you need it, ability to support a serious hobby should your kid have one...)