When to go private from DCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the kid. Depends on your resources. Depends how influenced you are by peers. Our kids started with DCPS and have stayed through to graduation (Jackson-Reed). Older kid is in college. Was accepted at 18 or the 19 schools he applied to (no hooks) most with merit aide. Well adjusted, diversity in his friendships. Other son at JR now.

So you are a DCPS lifer family who just likes to troll the private school board?

Exactly my thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had an overall positive experience at our inbound DCPS elementary through 5th grade. We moved to a private school at the natural middle school transition (6th). We loved our local elementary community and wouldn't have wanted to leave sooner.

The quality of the curriculum our child received at their public elementary school made them well-prepared for private school. However, we supplemented outside of school to help our academically inclined child grow at their pace especially in the later grades. Because of a strong foundation plus supplementing, our child started on par or if not above their classmates academically who were already enrolled at the private school.

As much as we loved our local elementary school, the quality of education in 4th and 5th grade was not as strong and there were an exuberant amount of standardized tests (iRready, Anet, DC PARCC/CAPE).

Know your school's upper grade teaching model/focus, child, and access to other resources. If for any reason staying through 5th grade is not a good fit, I would recommend applying in 4th grade (a DMV private school expansion year). Request financial aid if needed, you don't know what you'll receive if you don't ask.

--------

OP of the Post Quoted - Responding to types the question re; supplementation.

We mainly focused on math (weekly) and made sure our child was reading "higher-level", age-appropriate books. We also did a variety of summer enrichments throughout elementary, but not intensely. Our child enjoys learning and we wanted them to have exposure to other subjects. We also used a variety of online computer activities that were introduced during COVID that we/they liked such as IXL, Zearn and Generation Genius (many of these are fee-based - "know what resources you have"). I'd say overall, we just helped foster a joy learning and exposed our child to subject material above grade level which led to good grades (mostly 4s) and high DCPS test scores (remember that iReady, for what it is worth, goes on the DCPS report card and will state "below grade level," "on grade level" or "above grade level"). Also, iReady is adaptive so a student needs to be exposed to more advance content in order to maximize their score (it's a whole thing, talk to other parents at your local DCPS).

Again, "know your child." We knew our child was ready for content above grade level so we had to take control in offering it to them. Our DCPS teachers built the foundation, I won't deny them that credit, but in 4th and 5th it was on us to ensure they grew ("know your school"). Each child is different so I think there is a balance for students with various interests/abilities. Coming from DCPS I think the private school ("Big 3") did compare our child's perceived academic ability when reviewing applications -- again this was for 6th grade entry year.

Our child is overall well-rounded, kind, and has a few passion activities. To answer you question, we were fine waiting to apply/attend private school until 6th grade especially because staying in the neighborhood school was invaluable. But again, if for any reason 4th and 5th grades don't seem like a good fit for you child, then you many want to considering applying/entering at 4th grade.

I hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

We were in the exact same mindset when our son was 3.5 years old. We decided to start private at PreK 4. Financially, it didn’t seem as painful since we were used to paying for daycare and received financial aid from the school.

We also assumed that at some point we would make the switch to private, and it’s just easier to get in at PreK instead of waiting until more kids are trying to make the move in higher grades.

[Anonymous]

We decided in 6th grade (DCPS and then charter) that we wanted our DC to try for private for high school. We figured we'd just start having DC apply and see what happens. Applied younger sibling too. older child got in for 7th and younger child waitlisted and then got in for 6th. We are happy with the decision (although hadn't realized the cost increase of tuition each year) but their friends who stayed at the charter had the same college results, if not actually better.

[Anonymous]

If college results are a driving force for going to private school, then you're doing it wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had an overall positive experience at our inbound DCPS elementary through 5th grade. We moved to a private school at the natural middle school transition (6th). We loved our local elementary community and wouldn't have wanted to leave sooner.

The quality of the curriculum our child received at their public elementary school made them well-prepared for private school. However, we supplemented outside of school to help our academically inclined child grow at their pace especially in the later grades. Because of a strong foundation plus supplementing, our child started on par or if not above their classmates academically who were already enrolled at the private school.

As much as we loved our local elementary school, the quality of education in 4th and 5th grade was not as strong and there were an exuberant amount of standardized tests (iRready, Anet, DC PARCC/CAPE).

Know your school's upper grade teaching model/focus, child, and access to other resources. If for any reason staying through 5th grade is not a good fit, I would recommend applying in 4th grade (a DMV private school expansion year). Request financial aid if needed, you don't know what you'll receive if you don't ask.

--------

OP of the Post Quoted - Responding to types the question re; supplementation.

We mainly focused on math (weekly) and made sure our child was reading "higher-level", age-appropriate books. We also did a variety of summer enrichments throughout elementary, but not intensely. Our child enjoys learning and we wanted them to have exposure to other subjects. We also used a variety of online computer activities that were introduced during COVID that we/they liked such as IXL, Zearn and Generation Genius (many of these are fee-based - "know what resources you have"). I'd say overall, we just helped foster a joy learning and exposed our child to subject material above grade level which led to good grades (mostly 4s) and high DCPS test scores (remember that iReady, for what it is worth, goes on the DCPS report card and will state "below grade level," "on grade level" or "above grade level"). Also, iReady is adaptive so a student needs to be exposed to more advance content in order to maximize their score (it's a whole thing, talk to other parents at your local DCPS).

Again, "know your child." We knew our child was ready for content above grade level so we had to take control in offering it to them. Our DCPS teachers built the foundation, I won't deny them that credit, but in 4th and 5th it was on us to ensure they grew ("know your school"). Each child is different so I think there is a balance for students with various interests/abilities. Coming from DCPS I think the private school ("Big 3") did compare our child's perceived academic ability when reviewing applications -- again this was for 6th grade entry year.

Our child is overall well-rounded, kind, and has a few passion activities. To answer you question, we were fine waiting to apply/attend private school until 6th grade especially because staying in the neighborhood school was invaluable. But again, if for any reason 4th and 5th grades don't seem like a good fit for you child, then you many want to considering applying/entering at 4th grade.

I hope this helps.

Do you just have one child? If not, did you do the above with all of them? Seems so time intensive to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did PK3 in DCPS and it was fine, then we visited a nice private school in the suburbs and realized how quickly the gap would grow between our kids getting fine and those kids getting something much better. Although it was a financial hit we moved them the following year. During Covid with our kids in person every day the difference was immense but even now there are just so many advantages I feel guilty I can do this for my kids.

What are the main advantages at such a young age?

Smaller class sizes, very few disruptive kids if any, more outdoor play time, significantly better facilities, individualized learning with very specific plans and opportunity for advancement for each child, more arts education, lots of experiential learning opportunities and field trips, a smaller community where everyone knows my child… this is just off the top of my head, I know there is more.

[Anonymous]

My approach in DC has been to play it year by year, and know that looking a year ahead was the best approach. We've done a bit of everything. Charter early ed, DCPS, and private, and both east and west of the park.

You'll see people who have the means making decisions each year to stay or go, and at least in our experience this started to ramp up in 2nd grade. (We stayed through 5th and then transferred to private for middle school.)

Part of it also depends on your public. Size of classes, whether there are classroom supports, whether the arts are offered or have been cut. A lot of this boils down to how active the PTA is (and how much money they raise and are able to subsidize certain areas. It makes me angry, but we saw clear differences in what a school could offer in NW DC.) And part of it depends on your kid--how outgoing or easy going, how well they can navigate larger schools . And lastly, part of it is parenting. Communication from the public schools gets worse the higher up in grades you go, and it grew frustrating when even the teachers didn't seem to know what was going on.
But we have friends whose kids have gone straight through DCPS--happy, well-adjusted, thrived in college, and now doing well. And friends who've had kids in private who are messes on the other side.
All that to say, you have time and don't have to decide now. You're smart to start thinking and watching, while also keeping in mind that public might work for you for longer than you think. In short, when it was time to change, we knew.

[Anonymous]

Another thing to factor in is the emotional toll of the application process on a child that is old enough to understand what's happening. With applying to PreK and Kinder, they're happily oblivious. You can more easily paint the process to the child as "seeing where mom and dad think would be a good place for you to go to school" and not "seeing which schools think you're smart enough to go there." You don't have to tell them where they didn't get in because they don't ask. They have no idea what the differences between the schools are. DS came home from one playdate desperate to go to the school that had "a fuzzy brown rabbit in the room" (there was, in fact, no rabbit lol) and liked another that had "a cool water fountain" (a water bottle filler). He was thrilled that he got to go to the "water fountain school."

Your 9 year olds will have friends with big brothers and sisters who tell them (and they WILL then tell your kids) that "The smartest kids go to . . ." They're not going to buy "We picked [third tier school] because we thought it was a better place for you" after you've already sent them off to an entire Saturday morning of testing at the school their friends say the smart kids go to. It doesn't matter how often you tell your kids that it's luck of the draw.

I'm all for a little healthy failing in a kid's life for developing resilience, but this is nothing like not getting a spot on the travel soccer team. It feels much more personal. I'm sure some kids shrug it off just fine, but it really does feel like an evaluation of how smart they are. When my oldest was in 2nd grade at DCPS, I drove my 3rd-grade nephew's morning carpool to their K-6 school one day. My nephew was moving out of the DMV for the next school year, had visited his new house and school playground in the new town over the weekend, and was talking about it. This got one of the other kids in the car unintentionally bragging (I really think they were just excited) about going to the T3 school they were going to, and the two other ones were pretty quiet. As we got to school and this kid kept chattering about how cool the climbing wall was or something, one of the children who had been quiet yelled "Just stop TALKING about it, okay!?!?" and slammed the car door shut. He was in tears. It broke my heart. They were 8/9, but that kid at least clearly knew what was going on. We were pretty sure my oldest would be a strong enough student to attend DCPS until applying to boarding school or an independent day school, but my youngest isn't as academic, and overhearing this conversation was the straw that broke the camel's back. I didn't want to entertain the idea of him thinking he wasn't smart enough to get in somewhere his friends were going when he was 8 or 9 years old. The next application cycle, we applied for a spot in PreK for him at schools we would be comfortable with him staying at until grade 12. I'm glad we did. We had such a great experience that we moved DD as well.

[Anonymous]

I will say that it's very difficult to get into a Big 3 in 4th grade or 6th grade unless you have a child that scores abnormally well on standardized tests, is a member of an underrepresented minority group, or has parents/siblings that attended/work at at the school. A white, bright-but-normal kid from suburban public schools who is well-liked by their teachers- their chances are very slim by the time 4th grade rolls around. As in, if there are 12 spots available in an expansion year, maybe 1-2 kids like that will be admitted at a Big 3. Other schools will be easier. Holy Child and Bullis come to mind- I know wonderful-but-no-academic-weapon white kids who have gotten in from DCPS at 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. If you're dead set on a Big 3, and you're not completely confident that your twins will both be bright enough to swing the strong admissions testing scores they'd need to get in past 2nd grade, then earlier is probably better.

[Anonymous]

To echo the PP, the challenge with applying to the very top local private schools from a public school for 6th is that it is very hard for child to distinguish themselves as a 5th grader in a public school system other than by exceptional test scores or by being so exceptional that their teachers are willing to say on a recommendation form that they are one of the strongest/best students they have taught. Dozens of other applicants, with no hooks (including coming from a private), will have straight A's, good recommendations, the usual range of extracurricular activities, parents with solid educational backgrounds who can afford the tuition, well-written applications (because the parents are well-educated), etc., etc.

MS at a K-8, if it's the right one, is a good option. You have the application process for HS to deal with after two years, but at least the school is guiding the process because it is invested in the outcome.

[Anonymous]

I would want to make the change no later than third or fourth grade.

That said, I would seriously consider starting in K at one of the excellent but lower cost (not cheap, but not 50k per child) K-8 schools. I think you'll get significant benefit from being at ones of these excellent schools starting earlier. In fact I'd argue that the marginal difference between public v. a good K-8 private is significantly greater than the difference between a good K-8 and a "big x" K-12 school. Then, with school support, you can evaluate your options for high school when the time comes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were in the exact same mindset when our son was 3.5 years old. We decided to start private at PreK 4. Financially, it didn’t seem as painful since we were used to paying for daycare and received financial aid from the school.

We also assumed that at some point we would make the switch to private, and it’s just easier to get in at PreK instead of waiting until more kids are trying to make the move in higher grades.

This is where we’re at. Currently paying daycare and hoping to get enough aid to retain the price we pay now.

[Anonymous]

I’m with you, OP. We have one in DCPS ECE and one in 1st, and love the strong community at our neighborhood school. But we are already seeing that it is not where we want it to be academically and that it only looks to get worse in the higher grades.

At the same time, we are unsure about “fitting in” with the crowd in the private system. We can afford it, but don’t feel like we travel in the same circles as some of the people I know at those schools. Our kids were in some summer camps at the big name privates and we felt so disconnected and a little different from the other parents.

Add to that the challenge of different entry points, the fact that there are some possible solutions to the MS/HS quandry in DCPS, and the general uncertainty of the process, and it’s overwhelming. But maybe we will start by attending some open houses and will just go from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a bright kid. He is in class with even brighter kids in DCPS. The ones who needed help, peeled off to privates for 5th or even before.
Mine will stay in public. I cannot get myself to spend any money on k-12. It will be millions by the time they are 30 if it stays in the market.

Spoken as someone who hasn’t met kids in private

Nah sounds like someone defensive who needs to defend her choice and put down private school kids while she's at it.