What do we get for $30k per year?

[Anonymous]

Really?!?! I'm a PP who has had kids in private and at a "W" school in MoCo. It is just wrong, and funny, to suggest that there are "so few" of the very top students at the top public schools. Couldn't be farther from the truth. Some of these kids are knock-your-socks-off smart. Do you really think the doctors, lawyers, PhD's, lobbyists, journalists, etc. of Bethesda don't have equally smart, qualified kids in the public schools as the doctors, lawyers, etc. who send their kids to private? If you believe that, you are drinking some kind of kool-aid. Public or private, there are many very smart kids in this area.

Exactly. When you're talking about the schools in the wealthiest areas of Montgomery county and Northern Virginia, there is no shortage of high performing, incredibly intelligent kids. It is completely misguided to think that this is not the case, or that if you transfer your middle of the road kid from Sidwell or NCS/STA that they will immediately rise to the top.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not PP but I agree that in general public school is great for kids at the VERY top as since there are so few of them, the public school has resources that the privates don't for these kids. For a motivated kid, they will have to work harder in the public to get the resources that they need but maybe the extra effort will pay off later in life. For a kid like my very average in some areas to super smart in others DD who is also not particularly motivated, private is a godsend. Every year though I say we will look at the public school and we don't. My younger DS may be a candidate for magnet. If so, it will be hard to say no.

Really?!?! I'm a PP who has had kids in private and at a "W" school in MoCo. It is just wrong, and funny, to suggest that there are "so few" of the very top students at the top public schools. Couldn't be farther from the truth. Some of these kids are knock-your-socks-off smart. Do you really think the doctors, lawyers, PhD's, lobbyists, journalists, etc. of Bethesda don't have equally smart, qualified kids in the public schools as the doctors, lawyers, etc. who send their kids to private? If you believe that, you are drinking some kind of kool-aid. Public or private, there are many very smart kids in this area.

I think you misunderstand what the PP was saying. I think the original point was simply that private schools are too small and don't have the same resources to deal with super-bright kids as well as public schools do. I completely agree with this. If you have a kid who's very bright, a good public school is a fine place. However, I also agree that if you have the average student who's not very motivated, private schools can be a godsend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Really?!?! I'm a PP who has had kids in private and at a "W" school in MoCo. It is just wrong, and funny, to suggest that there are "so few" of the very top students at the top public schools. Couldn't be farther from the truth. Some of these kids are knock-your-socks-off smart. Do you really think the doctors, lawyers, PhD's, lobbyists, journalists, etc. of Bethesda don't have equally smart, qualified kids in the public schools as the doctors, lawyers, etc. who send their kids to private? If you believe that, you are drinking some kind of kool-aid. Public or private, there are many very smart kids in this area.

Exactly. When you're talking about the schools in the wealthiest areas of Montgomery county and Northern Virginia, there is no shortage of high performing, incredibly intelligent kids. It is completely misguided to think that this is not the case, or that if you transfer your middle of the road kid from Sidwell or NCS/STA that they will immediately rise to the top.

+10000

[Anonymous]

We sent our kids to a well-regarded DCPS elementary school and then switched to private for 6th grade. I think it was the right choice. In elementary school we can provide lots of supplementation and enrichment. In MS and US, small classes and good teaching become really important, and the average size of my kids' classes is around 12. The teachers seem to expect more of them, and we are kept apprised early of any issues that develop along the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the name of the Catholic school with 100% phonics based reading and Latin that a pp mentioned?

I'd like to know, too. Anyone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We sent our kids to a well-regarded DCPS elementary school and then switched to private for 6th grade. I think it was the right choice. In elementary school we can provide lots of supplementation and enrichment. In MS and US, small classes and good teaching become really important, and the average size of my kids' classes is around 12. The teachers seem to expect more of them, and we are kept apprised early of any issues that develop along the way.

Not questioning your personal decision, but as a "devil's advocate" question: why is it necessarily good for middle school and upper school aged kids to be in classrooms of only 12. Isn't there a greater advantage to being around larger, diverse groups of kids each contributing and exchanging ideas. I can understand why a young elementary aged kid could benefit greatly in a very small class like this, but I'm not sure that middle school and older kids need such a small cocoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Really?!?! I'm a PP who has had kids in private and at a "W" school in MoCo. It is just wrong, and funny, to suggest that there are "so few" of the very top students at the top public schools. Couldn't be farther from the truth. Some of these kids are knock-your-socks-off smart. Do you really think the doctors, lawyers, PhD's, lobbyists, journalists, etc. of Bethesda don't have equally smart, qualified kids in the public schools as the doctors, lawyers, etc. who send their kids to private? If you believe that, you are drinking some kind of kool-aid. Public or private, there are many very smart kids in this area.

Exactly. When you're talking about the schools in the wealthiest areas of Montgomery county and Northern Virginia, there is no shortage of high performing, incredibly intelligent kids. It is completely misguided to think that this is not the case, or that if you transfer your middle of the road kid from Sidwell or NCS/STA that they will immediately rise to the top.

A little quick research suggests that the very top "W" school students likely are just as talented as the private school students at top schools, and vice versa that the average students at top private schools are likely just as talented as the very top "W" students. Holton's mean R+M SAT score is 1346 (with middle 50% of class at 1240-1450). Walter Johnson's 55 "APEX Scholars" (which represent about 10% of the class) have a very similar mean score of 1379. So assuming normal distributions, it's reasonable to guess that if Holton's entire senior class transferred to WJ, they're be scattered across the top 20% of WJ's class.

[Anonymous]

17:07 again. I focused on Holton only because its school profile is readily available. I'd be willing to bet the scores of Sidwell/NCS/STA students are at least as strong as Holton's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We sent our kids to a well-regarded DCPS elementary school and then switched to private for 6th grade. I think it was the right choice. In elementary school we can provide lots of supplementation and enrichment. In MS and US, small classes and good teaching become really important, and the average size of my kids' classes is around 12. The teachers seem to expect more of them, and we are kept apprised early of any issues that develop along the way.

Not questioning your personal decision, but as a "devil's advocate" question: why is it necessarily good for middle school and upper school aged kids to be in classrooms of only 12. Isn't there a greater advantage to being around larger, diverse groups of kids each contributing and exchanging ideas. I can understand why a young elementary aged kid could benefit greatly in a very small class like this, but I'm not sure that middle school and older kids need such a small cocoon.

Because you can't have a class of 45 kids sharing ideas or the classroom becomes chaos . Those big classes are lecture only. That also happens to be what most college classes are so maybe getting used to it isn't a bad thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For us, it was the small class sizes, student led learning, not teaching to a test, and personal attention that led us to pursue and stick with private school for both of our DC. Having said that, we are in the fortunate position that we can pay both school tuitions (and handle donations/auctions,etc.) without hurting our ability to save enough to pay for college and otherwise live comfortably. If it was going to have a large financial impact on our family, I would have been comfortable doing publics too as I agree with the Toyota/Audi poster. I do not think that the "connections" argument holds any water from what I have seen. I also don't think it makes sense to go private solely because you think that it will move your kid up in prestige in college admissions. I know Big 3 kids and Wilson kids who are going to Ivies and kids from all of those schools who are not. My view is that the same kid will most likely end up at around the same level of college whether they go to Big 3 or public (or non-big 3 private for that matter).

I'm the pp who went to a big 3 and am not sending my kids there. I disagree with this. Of course there are kids who are going to Ivies from publics and kids from big 3 who are not. But in my day (graduated in 90s) going to a big 3 would ABSOLUTELY help you get into a better college than you would have gotten into otherwise. I went to an Ivy and was probably about top 15-20% in my big 3 class. In that percentage range at a top public I don't think I would have. Would I have gotten just as quality of a college education, had just as good job prospects etc had a gone to a different college? I think probably, but that's a different argument.

Bottom line is I do think a big 3 helps kids get into a better college than they would have otherwise. Especially kids who are middling students. I don't think these schools are worth the cost (especially as I'm in the net worth range that a pp mentioned as the 'private school danger zone') but I do think the "better college" argument holds water.

I went to a big three in the 90s and I disagree. I had tons of friends at Wilson and they seemed to have an advantage when it came to college admissions. My class at a big three had maybe 20 people apply to yale, whereas maybe 3 applied in my class at Wilson. I think the fact that they came from an urban public school made them stand out. Many of them struggled academically freshman year in college, however. I remember hearing the wilson valedictorian got bad grades his first couple semesters at his top five university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Calm down... The responder was right...the director was over generalizing. Lots of kids start kindergarten way ahead as far as abilities...you really think the public schools have no idea what all those kids are capable of? That those parents just sit back?

I know, right? It's not like they don't have a gifted program at JKLMM. Oh...wait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:17:07 again. I focused on Holton only because its school profile is readily available. I'd be willing to bet the scores of Sidwell/NCS/STA students are at least as strong as Holton's.

You meant to say that the scores of Holton are at least as strong as Sidwell/NCS/STA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:17:07 again. I focused on Holton only because its school profile is readily available. I'd be willing to bet the scores of Sidwell/NCS/STA students are at least as strong as Holton's.

You meant to say that the scores of Holton are at least as strong as Sidwell/NCS/STA.

Cute. But I meant it the way I wrote it. Please don't derail the thread with Holton boosterism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:17:07 again. I focused on Holton only because its school profile is readily available. I'd be willing to bet the scores of Sidwell/NCS/STA students are at least as strong as Holton's.

You meant to say that the scores of Holton are at least as strong as Sidwell/NCS/STA.

Cute. But I meant it the way I wrote it. Please don't derail the thread with Holton boosterism.

Actually, I wasn't boosting Holton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Because you can't have a class of 45 kids sharing ideas or the classroom becomes chaos . Those big classes are lecture only. That also happens to be what most college classes are so maybe getting used to it isn't a bad thing.

Which public high schools have classes with 45 kids in them?