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Evaluating Catholic schools K-8 in MoCo
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Anonymous
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I am parent of a child a few years out from ES. My spouse (DS, I guess) only wants to send the kids to Catholic schools. We live in northern MoCo which means that the schools are good (especially the language immersion ES) but not great if you go to the local area school. I do not mind a Catholic K-8 and prefer the discipline, but want them to be as rigorous in their academics as the best MoCo ES. I know that is asking a lot but I would expect to get the best.
Are there any good resources or info to evaluate Catholic schools, other than looking at where they send their 8th grade students for HS or just asking for parent feedback. They don't have test scores to look at. It seems that the curriculum at a few of the schools I have researched on-line (especially in math and science) lags behind the MoCo public ES. This cursory comparison has me a bit worried about the academics of the Catholic schools in the competitive MoCo area. |
Anonymous
| There's no way to find this info -- you have to reach out to parents and principals to get the info. I went to a bunch of local open houses (they tend to be held during Catholic schools week sometime in January) -- they typically have the textbooks out so you can thumb through them. It's tough to compare Catholic schools to public schools -- they are so different. There are tradeoffs. In some ways the Catholic schools are much better, but in some ways the public schools are much better. It all depends on what you are looking for. If you want your kids to be pushed academically in terms of math and reading, then you can't beat MCPS. But the downside there is the over-emphasis on math and reading (b/c those are the areas that are tested). My sister is a teacher in MCPS and she reports that weeks can go by without doing other subjects like social studies, etc. b/c they have to get everyone through the math and reading (since they teach for testing). So the Catholic schools offer a much more traditional curriculum with all the subjects offered in equal fashion. One downside to Catholic schools: the teachers do not necessarily have a background in education (whereas public school teachers have to pursue advanced certifications on an ongoing basis AND they've rec'd their undergrad (and sometimes master) degree in education); and Catholic schools tend to do well with the average/slightly above average kids --- but they aren't equipped to cater to the gifted or the slightly behind. |
Anonymous
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I have taught in both types of schools (here and in other states) and I have to agree with the point about Catholic schools offering more by way of a rounded traditional curriculum because they don't have to "teach to the almighty test." That said, I believe all Archsiocesan schools have the students take the Terranova test each year from Gr. 2 on.
All follow a set curriulum from the Archdiocese (which is in line with state standards) but some schools have a more advanced curriculum just by virtue of the demographics of students that come to them. Public schools have better resources - which some use well and others don't. I can't speak for the immersion programs. A lot depends on what environment you want for your family. Public schools offer more programs but more chain of command. Catholic schools are generally smaller (a lot smaller in the case of many MoCo public elementaries) but that may or may not be a good thing for your child. |
Anonymous
| Are you choosing Catholic because of religious reasons? If not, have you looked at the Episcopal schools? There are several good ones in mid-county and Olney than I know of. |
Anonymous
| Episcopal schools tend to be quite a bit more expensive than Catholic schools and they don't prepare kids for the Catholic sacraments, which are deal breakers for a lot of people. They weren't for me, but my Catholic kids who attend Episcopal school have gotten their fair share of weird looks in our parish CCD, and at least one CCD teacher asked my kid in front of the whole class, "why wasn't the parish school good enough for you?" |
Anonymous
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Asking about the terra nova scores is a good one. There is no comprehensive score comparison in the archidiocese that i have run across although principals can tell you something I'm sure. Another evaulation criteria is class size. Many classes are approaching 30 kids per class in some schools. Also the number of classes per grade. Do they teach languages and starting when? Art? Music? PE? Field trips? Teach pre-K?
We are in the catholic school for our parish. I would think that is the first place to start. Its very nice to have everyone so close. Most families are within 2 miles and we walk to school. Its the community that is really a nice benefit too. There are large families and the kids get to know everyone. And lots of volunteering so being close to the school/church is very nice. We have around 3 classes per grade which i think is nice in case you have a problem with a teacher or kid in the class. Good luck! |
Anonymous
Do you mind saying which school? |
Anonymous
| I don't think it will help you - its in DC. |
Anonymous
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If it's a Blue Ribbon school they include their test results in their application. There are a few in the Archdiocese. Here's a link to the 2008 page, all years back to 2003 can be accessed by just changing the year in the URL.
http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/2008/applications/index.html |
Anonymous
| Does anyone have feedback about Blessed Sacrament in D.C.? |
Anonymous
| Prayer, access to the sacraments, and faith formation are reasons DH and will chose Catholic schools when our children are older. We are in VA, so am not so familiar with Montgomery County. I do know that Msgr. Filardi is an excellent and orthodox priest who has just moved from St Stephen Martyr in Foggy Bottom to be pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes in Bethesda which has a school. (he is also funny and gives a great homily) I would be thrilled to have him providing leadership in my child's formation. Well, I suppose this does not speak to your concern about finding out how math scores match up, but I would check out Our Lady of Lourdes. |
Anonymous
| 18:11 Did you search on Blessed Sacrament? lots of posts already. We have 2 kids there and its been great. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| The school performs very well on all tests however it isn't known for its academics. I believe the new principal is quietly making changes to support a more academically focused environment. The Kindergarten had some changes this year and next year some more (the start date is more or less coinciding with the other kids start dates for example vs a delayed start for interviews). The field is suffering thru the DC permit process. I know they formed a new committee to tackle this head on. Also they will be installing an artificial surface right away so this is good news as any soccer parent knows. |
Anonymous
| Kojo Nnambe (sp)? did a show on Catholic schools yesterday. You might want to check it out on th WAMU archives. |