Families who have gone from public to private: what has been the biggest difference?

[Anonymous]

Is it the curriculum? Individual attention given to your kid? Extracurricular activities? Something else?

What has been the biggest thing making private school better than public? Particularly interested in lower school.

[Anonymous]

We went from APS to private in second grade. In APS, we generally got the sense that the school district didn't really care if the child was there or not -- and in fact, with overcrowding, they'd actually prefer them to not be there. In private, it was the opposite -- the school had a need to fill seats and keep parents happy.

In both situations, our interactions with the schools tended to flow from those two assumptions. In APS, we could never get the teachers to respond to emails, etc., while in private the school is falling all over themselves to make sure we're happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We went from APS to private in second grade. In APS, we generally got the sense that the school district didn't really care if the child was there or not -- and in fact, with overcrowding, they'd actually prefer them to not be there. In private, it was the opposite -- the school had a need to fill seats and keep parents happy.

In both situations, our interactions with the schools tended to flow from those two assumptions. In APS, we could never get the teachers to respond to emails, etc., while in private the school is falling all over themselves to make sure we're happy.

Does that mean your kids get a better education or are they just busy accommodating parents' wishes?

[Anonymous]

Well, I guess you'll have to figure that out for yourself, and people will certainly disagree. We suspect that the former.

[Anonymous]

My child learned actual content, not just reading strategies over and over and over again. He had social studies all year long as well as science. They didn't alternate like in public school. In science, they had to write up labs and then actually did them. He was taught actual grammar and received a grade for it. He was taught vocabulary and spelling finally counted in his writing. He was taught how to write and then his writing was critiqued and he was able to make changes to it before it was due. His teacher did this through writing conferences with each student and comments on Google classroom. He took a foreign language and it was a regular class. There was none of this ridiculous redoing of assignments and tests. A test or quiz was given and the date was known in advance. If you didn't study and did poorly, oh well. Do better next time. He teachers expected a lot more from him. He got straight As in public school and a year and a half later, still gets mostly Bs and Cs and I'm happy about it. Public school parents who think their child is doing well live in Fantasyland. Oh and he was in the highest group in math in public school (and got straight As) and he scored in the 70% percentile in basic math skills when he started private school. A tutor and myself are now catching him up on basic math since the Common Core crap math he learned is useless. Oh and the grading scale is harder.

[Anonymous]

It’s not the curriculum. For us, it’s the individual attention—night and day from public. My kid is not an academic superstar, but has lots of other great qualities. To me, it’s worth the $ to surround him with teachers who can appreciate those and not just view him as “not a great student”. Smaller class sizes also mean the teachers have more time to work with each student, and it has made a noticeable difference in his achievement level.

[Anonymous]

No more tests.

[Anonymous]

Individual attention. Better communication. Far fewer worksheets. Far less emphasis on rote memorization. No more spitting back the facts on mostly multiple choice and fill in the blank tests and quizzes. Better language arts instruction. Emphasis on classroom participation and self-advocacy. More art and PE. More recess. I could go on and on.

But these aren’t universal. It depends on your private school. There are plenty of private schools that would not have been better for my son than public school.

We are sadly heading back to public after this year. We just can’t afford a private education anymore.

[Anonymous]

The public school was a little chaotic...1st- 3rd graders ate lunch together with lunch-duty ladies yelling at everyone. 3rd grade boys threw cherry tomatoes at my 7 year old and her friends. Everything seemed unruly and teachers/staff were always yelling.

Our private school is smaller, calm, and lots of normal healthy play. I do think the private school is a little more helercoptry.

In private school, my kids spent more classroom time actively learning and doing work. In public, they had lots of games and everything was oriented toward doing things to get rewards (for good behavior, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child learned actual content, not just reading strategies over and over and over again. He had social studies all year long as well as science. They didn't alternate like in public school. In science, they had to write up labs and then actually did them. He was taught actual grammar and received a grade for it. He was taught vocabulary and spelling finally counted in his writing. He was taught how to write and then his writing was critiqued and he was able to make changes to it before it was due. His teacher did this through writing conferences with each student and comments on Google classroom. He took a foreign language and it was a regular class. There was none of this ridiculous redoing of assignments and tests. A test or quiz was given and the date was known in advance. If you didn't study and did poorly, oh well. Do better next time. He teachers expected a lot more from him. He got straight As in public school and a year and a half later, still gets mostly Bs and Cs and I'm happy about it. Public school parents who think their child is doing well live in Fantasyland. Oh and he was in the highest group in math in public school (and got straight As) and he scored in the 70% percentile in basic math skills when he started private school. A tutor and myself are now catching him up on basic math since the Common Core crap math he learned is useless. Oh and the grading scale is harder.

This highlights how different one public school can be from another as well. This could be a description of you moving to my kids' public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child learned actual content, not just reading strategies over and over and over again. He had social studies all year long as well as science. They didn't alternate like in public school. In science, they had to write up labs and then actually did them. He was taught actual grammar and received a grade for it. He was taught vocabulary and spelling finally counted in his writing. He was taught how to write and then his writing was critiqued and he was able to make changes to it before it was due. His teacher did this through writing conferences with each student and comments on Google classroom. He took a foreign language and it was a regular class. There was none of this ridiculous redoing of assignments and tests. A test or quiz was given and the date was known in advance. If you didn't study and did poorly, oh well. Do better next time. He teachers expected a lot more from him. He got straight As in public school and a year and a half later, still gets mostly Bs and Cs and I'm happy about it. Public school parents who think their child is doing well live in Fantasyland. Oh and he was in the highest group in math in public school (and got straight As) and he scored in the 70% percentile in basic math skills when he started private school. A tutor and myself are now catching him up on basic math since the Common Core crap math he learned is useless. Oh and the grading scale is harder.

My kids attend public school and they have social studies and science all year long. I'm shocked that there are any schools that actually alternate these. What state are you in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No more tests.

Really? Private schools don't give tests?

[Anonymous]

We went from private to public. Biggest difference were the amount of homework and the expectation that parents would help in the homework - more and more parental involvement required in private; quiet lunches; daily spanish, social studies, science and art; no use of computers at school but expected them to be used for research at home. As far as individual attention, I guess there was more in private, but that didn't make a big impression on me.

I found that extracurriculars and opportunities for activities was far greater in public. Field trips were better in public. And, nurturing was better in public - my daughter had difficulty with separation in the mornings and the private had no empathy for that while in public, they really nurtured her and helped her get comfortable in the mornings. Also, for special needs, public was far better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not the curriculum. For us, it’s the individual attention—night and day from public. My kid is not an academic superstar, but has lots of other great qualities. To me, it’s worth the $ to surround him with teachers who can appreciate those and not just view him as “not a great student”. Smaller class sizes also mean the teachers have more time to work with each student, and it has made a noticeable difference in his achievement level.

This was our experience shifting from Yorktown HS to private. DC is a good student but wasn’t given any support at Yorktown, and school basically ignored us as parents. Our middle schooler is going through similar experience now, to trying to move him to private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child learned actual content, not just reading strategies over and over and over again. He had social studies all year long as well as science. They didn't alternate like in public school. In science, they had to write up labs and then actually did them. He was taught actual grammar and received a grade for it. He was taught vocabulary and spelling finally counted in his writing. He was taught how to write and then his writing was critiqued and he was able to make changes to it before it was due. His teacher did this through writing conferences with each student and comments on Google classroom. He took a foreign language and it was a regular class. There was none of this ridiculous redoing of assignments and tests. A test or quiz was given and the date was known in advance. If you didn't study and did poorly, oh well. Do better next time. He teachers expected a lot more from him. He got straight As in public school and a year and a half later, still gets mostly Bs and Cs and I'm happy about it. Public school parents who think their child is doing well live in Fantasyland. Oh and he was in the highest group in math in public school (and got straight As) and he scored in the 70% percentile in basic math skills when he started private school. A tutor and myself are now catching him up on basic math since the Common Core crap math he learned is useless. Oh and the grading scale is harder.

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