Private & Catholic School Rankings

[Anonymous]

Hello, does anyone have any recommendations for resources that rank independent and catholic private schools? I'm a parent of a preschooler and am trying to gather as much objective data to weigh the school decision.

Thanks! Jessica

[Anonymous]

This one lists best by state: http://www.thebestschools.org/blog/2013/04/30/50-private-day-schools-united-states/?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

And another local article: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2011/11/04/top-10-private-day-schools-in.html

[Anonymous]

I'm the parent of a middle school kid and a high school kid and I can promise you there is nothing about those objective rankings that will help you make a school decision. Decide based on what works for your family and your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the parent of a middle school kid and a high school kid and I can promise you there is nothing about those objective rankings that will help you make a school decision. Decide based on what works for your family and your kid.

I agree.

Lot's of "objective" data is a recipe for ending up at the wrong school.

These school's all have personalities. They serve different groups of people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the parent of a middle school kid and a high school kid and I can promise you there is nothing about those objective rankings that will help you make a school decision. Decide based on what works for your family and your kid.

I agree.

Lot's of "objective" data is a recipe for ending up at the wrong school.

These school's all have personalities. They serve different groups of people.

Exactly. Much too ambiguous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This one lists best by state: http://www.thebestschools.org/blog/2013/04/30/50-private-day-schools-united-states/?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

And another local article: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2011/11/04/top-10-private-day-schools-in.html

Those are a little dated.

In any case, as others have suggested, trying to apply objective criteria to something that is so much more about fit is a fool's errand. First, start by trying to narrow your choices by a few criteria - location (it doesn't matter if School X is the absolute best of all the others if it is going to take you 2 hours each way to commute there every day); educational philosophy (do you want more traditional versus progressive - and yes, there's lots of room in between those); price; K-12 vs K-8; religious vs. non-religious (and there's a spectrum here too).

Once you've got a list of schools, go visit, talk with families who go to those schools, etc, etc.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

So O'Connell is better than Sidwell, GDS, Holton, Potomac, NCS, St. Albans, Maret, etc? I will have what the author of the article is smoking.

[Anonymous]

So O'Connell is better than Sidwell, GDS, Holton, Potomac, NCS, St. Albans, Maret, etc? I will have what the author of the article is smoking.

[Anonymous]

No one seems to notice one of the rankings was by the size of the student body.