How do private schools manage to get through everything?

[Anonymous]

If they had their own aides assigned, did that mean there was no disruption to the overall class. I would assume so, just truly curious about it not having had that experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My experience (with one in private and one in public) is that private covers less number of topics but the topics it covers are deeper and better developed.

Public school moves "faster" with more topics covered so way more exposure, but less advanced on the topics.

Just as an example less writing assignements in private but the writing assignments that are assigned go through several drafts, lots of re-writing, peer review, teacher review etc, so it seems like less work but it results in a way better product.

But there are pros and cons - felt like my public school kid got exposed to more and had more opportunities for better variety of classes.

My private school kid has an interest that he developed too late to get more classes because he didn't know he liked it and now there are no more classes.

We have the same rub. We want to use the adolescent years to exposure students to many things so they can find their passions, strengths and weaknesses, as well as make educated citizens on a variety of subjects, then pick and choose for electives in high school and majors in college. Instead k-8 teachers are doing significant picking and choosing what to teach within each foundational subject.

What? My kids transferred to private in middle school (6th grade). They are getting a much wider variety of classes now vs if they had stayed in public. In addition to the basic academic classes (language arts, math, sconce, social studies, etc) they are REQUIRED to take

Foreign language
Drama
Art
Music (basic, choir or instrumental)
Dance
Technology
Study skills
Regular PE and required participation on sports teams

And because standardized testing is bad, you will never know how much they are actually learning. Two PEs (assuming dance is separate since it's listed separately), Drama, Art and Music plus technology (whatever that actually is), and study hall would either have to eat an enormous portion of the academic day if each was actually beign taught in the same semester. You listed 8 classes, add in history, English, science, math and you have a 12 class schedule which seems dubious

Yeah they don’t take all these classes every day.

Technology is computer science. Have you heard of computers?

Not worried about wasting weeks of instruction on standardized testing
They take the Erbs and most kids go to ivys or top 20 schools after graduation so I guess they must learn something!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One factor no one has mentioned - public school teachers also often have at least one (and often several) students who are still learning English in their classes, which also slows down the pace of instruction. This is rare in private schools.

No one has mentioned it because it’s silly. Never has my child been in a class in public with a student who is learning English. I’m sure it happens but you are dramatic. However, there is a Polynesian family at our private.

Your DMV kid has never had an english language learner? Wow. Ours has had lots from all over the place.

Ours hasn't. If you care about school districts, there is a good chance you bought in an ES district with negligible ELL numbers

There are several DCPS with tons of ESL students that are from diplomat and other international families. They are often among the smartest of the kids, and the international component makes for an unparalleled learning community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One factor no one has mentioned - public school teachers also often have at least one (and often several) students who are still learning English in their classes, which also slows down the pace of instruction. This is rare in private schools.

No one has mentioned it because it’s silly. Never has my child been in a class in public with a student who is learning English. I’m sure it happens but you are dramatic. However, there is a Polynesian family at our private.

Your DMV kid has never had an english language learner? Wow. Ours has had lots from all over the place.

Ours hasn't. If you care about school districts, there is a good chance you bought in an ES district with negligible ELL numbers

There are several DCPS with tons of ESL students that are from diplomat and other international families. They are often among the smartest of the kids, and the international component makes for an unparalleled learning community.

Yeah, I don’t think this is the ELL population to which the poster was referring. I suspect they were thinking of first and second generation immigrant students from lower-resource background. These students can add a great richness of experience to the class, but realistically do require additional teacher support especially when they can’t get it at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My experience (with one in private and one in public) is that private covers less number of topics but the topics it covers are deeper and better developed.

Public school moves "faster" with more topics covered so way more exposure, but less advanced on the topics.

Just as an example less writing assignements in private but the writing assignments that are assigned go through several drafts, lots of re-writing, peer review, teacher review etc, so it seems like less work but it results in a way better product.

But there are pros and cons - felt like my public school kid got exposed to more and had more opportunities for better variety of classes.

My private school kid has an interest that he developed too late to get more classes because he didn't know he liked it and now there are no more classes.

We have the same rub. We want to use the adolescent years to exposure students to many things so they can find their passions, strengths and weaknesses, as well as make educated citizens on a variety of subjects, then pick and choose for electives in high school and majors in college. Instead k-8 teachers are doing significant picking and choosing what to teach within each foundational subject.

What? My kids transferred to private in middle school (6th grade). They are getting a much wider variety of classes now vs if they had stayed in public. In addition to the basic academic classes (language arts, math, sconce, social studies, etc) they are REQUIRED to take

Foreign language
Drama
Art
Music (basic, choir or instrumental)
Dance
Technology
Study skills
Regular PE and required participation on sports teams

And because standardized testing is bad, you will never know how much they are actually learning. Two PEs (assuming dance is separate since it's listed separately), Drama, Art and Music plus technology (whatever that actually is), and study hall would either have to eat an enormous portion of the academic day if each was actually beign taught in the same semester. You listed 8 classes, add in history, English, science, math and you have a 12 class schedule which seems dubious

Yeah they don’t take all these classes every day.

Technology is computer science. Have you heard of computers?

Not worried about wasting weeks of instruction on standardized testing
They take the Erbs and most kids go to ivys or top 20 schools after graduation so I guess they must learn something!

It’s obvious you weren’t one of those students. Maybe one day you will get your GED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One factor no one has mentioned - public school teachers also often have at least one (and often several) students who are still learning English in their classes, which also slows down the pace of instruction. This is rare in private schools.

No one has mentioned it because it’s silly. Never has my child been in a class in public with a student who is learning English. I’m sure it happens but you are dramatic. However, there is a Polynesian family at our private.

My child had at least three students in her class each year at public school who required an aide, typically for behavioral reasons. Did not have esl kids.

Your story is not indicative of most public classes. My child has never had an aide in his class when he attended public.

[Anonymous]

No testing.
Minimal disruptions.
The last couple weeks of school are always a waste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One factor no one has mentioned - public school teachers also often have at least one (and often several) students who are still learning English in their classes, which also slows down the pace of instruction. This is rare in private schools.

No one has mentioned it because it’s silly. Never has my child been in a class in public with a student who is learning English. I’m sure it happens but you are dramatic. However, there is a Polynesian family at our private.

My child had at least three students in her class each year at public school who required an aide, typically for behavioral reasons. Did not have esl kids.

Your story is not indicative of most public classes. My child has never had an aide in his class when he attended public.

You may have and not known it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One factor no one has mentioned - public school teachers also often have at least one (and often several) students who are still learning English in their classes, which also slows down the pace of instruction. This is rare in private schools.

No one has mentioned it because it’s silly. Never has my child been in a class in public with a student who is learning English. I’m sure it happens but you are dramatic. However, there is a Polynesian family at our private.

My child had at least three students in her class each year at public school who required an aide, typically for behavioral reasons. Did not have esl kids.

Your story is not indicative of most public classes. My child has never had an aide in his class when he attended public.

You may have and not known it.

I worked there so yes, I know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be an idea here among some parents (from both private and public schools) that there is one way of doing things in private schools. That is far from reality; there is far more diversity about what and how things get done in private school than in public schools. Number and length of school days varies greatly, in come cases amounting to more instruction and in others less. Some administer standardized tests, others don't. Some cover fewer topics in more depth, some cover a wider range of topics. Some include students with a wide range of abilities and needs in a single class, while others admit a much more narrow ability range and/or ability group students.

There are also a lot of private school parents who never planned to leave their publics but did because of Covid; many of these families had fewer private choices available because it was a matter of going where the slots were, so it's not a surprise that some group ended up in lower quality privates and are unhappy, especially if they were satisfied with their public pre-Covid.

It is entirely reasonable to feel like what you're paying for private school compared to what you would get in public isn't worth it and to make a change. That doesn't really have any bearing on whether it would be worth it at a different private, nor on whether other parents would share your evaluation.

Absolutely true, and somewhat true for publics as well, espeically when you factor in charter schools.

Univerals about public school: Heavy admin burden on teachers, larger class sizes, must educate everyone
Univerals about private school: They cost money and do not have to educate everyone

Add in Universal about public school : Testing and amount of administration greatly influenced by public society and politics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be an idea here among some parents (from both private and public schools) that there is one way of doing things in private schools. That is far from reality; there is far more diversity about what and how things get done in private school than in public schools. Number and length of school days varies greatly, in come cases amounting to more instruction and in others less. Some administer standardized tests, others don't. Some cover fewer topics in more depth, some cover a wider range of topics. Some include students with a wide range of abilities and needs in a single class, while others admit a much more narrow ability range and/or ability group students.

There are also a lot of private school parents who never planned to leave their publics but did because of Covid; many of these families had fewer private choices available because it was a matter of going where the slots were, so it's not a surprise that some group ended up in lower quality privates and are unhappy, especially if they were satisfied with their public pre-Covid.

It is entirely reasonable to feel like what you're paying for private school compared to what you would get in public isn't worth it and to make a change. That doesn't really have any bearing on whether it would be worth it at a different private, nor on whether other parents would share your evaluation.

Absolutely true, and somewhat true for publics as well, espeically when you factor in charter schools.

Univerals about public school: Heavy admin burden on teachers, larger class sizes, must educate everyone
Univerals about private school: They cost money and do not have to educate everyone

Add in Universal about public school : Testing and amount of administration greatly influenced by public society and politics.

My child’s private had a teacher who went into a rant last week about masks and ended it by saying that he expects emails from parents and laughed. He would’ve been fired or suspended from a public school.
You are dead wrong to think that private is immune to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be an idea here among some parents (from both private and public schools) that there is one way of doing things in private schools. That is far from reality; there is far more diversity about what and how things get done in private school than in public schools. Number and length of school days varies greatly, in come cases amounting to more instruction and in others less. Some administer standardized tests, others don't. Some cover fewer topics in more depth, some cover a wider range of topics. Some include students with a wide range of abilities and needs in a single class, while others admit a much more narrow ability range and/or ability group students.

There are also a lot of private school parents who never planned to leave their publics but did because of Covid; many of these families had fewer private choices available because it was a matter of going where the slots were, so it's not a surprise that some group ended up in lower quality privates and are unhappy, especially if they were satisfied with their public pre-Covid.

It is entirely reasonable to feel like what you're paying for private school compared to what you would get in public isn't worth it and to make a change. That doesn't really have any bearing on whether it would be worth it at a different private, nor on whether other parents would share your evaluation.

Absolutely true, and somewhat true for publics as well, espeically when you factor in charter schools.

Univerals about public school: Heavy admin burden on teachers, larger class sizes, must educate everyone
Univerals about private school: They cost money and do not have to educate everyone

Add in Universal about public school : Testing and amount of administration greatly influenced by public society and politics.

My child’s private had a teacher who went into a rant last week about masks and ended it by saying that he expects emails from parents and laughed. He would’ve been fired or suspended from a public school.
You are dead wrong to think that private is immune to that.

Masks aren't political.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be an idea here among some parents (from both private and public schools) that there is one way of doing things in private schools. That is far from reality; there is far more diversity about what and how things get done in private school than in public schools. Number and length of school days varies greatly, in come cases amounting to more instruction and in others less. Some administer standardized tests, others don't. Some cover fewer topics in more depth, some cover a wider range of topics. Some include students with a wide range of abilities and needs in a single class, while others admit a much more narrow ability range and/or ability group students.

There are also a lot of private school parents who never planned to leave their publics but did because of Covid; many of these families had fewer private choices available because it was a matter of going where the slots were, so it's not a surprise that some group ended up in lower quality privates and are unhappy, especially if they were satisfied with their public pre-Covid.

It is entirely reasonable to feel like what you're paying for private school compared to what you would get in public isn't worth it and to make a change. That doesn't really have any bearing on whether it would be worth it at a different private, nor on whether other parents would share your evaluation.

Absolutely true, and somewhat true for publics as well, espeically when you factor in charter schools.

Univerals about public school: Heavy admin burden on teachers, larger class sizes, must educate everyone
Univerals about private school: They cost money and do not have to educate everyone

Add in Universal about public school : Testing and amount of administration greatly influenced by public society and politics.

My child’s private had a teacher who went into a rant last week about masks and ended it by saying that he expects emails from parents and laughed. He would’ve been fired or suspended from a public school.
You are dead wrong to think that private is immune to that.

Masks aren't political.

Tell that to my child’s teacher when he made it political.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There seems to be an idea here among some parents (from both private and public schools) that there is one way of doing things in private schools. That is far from reality; there is far more diversity about what and how things get done in private school than in public schools. Number and length of school days varies greatly, in come cases amounting to more instruction and in others less. Some administer standardized tests, others don't. Some cover fewer topics in more depth, some cover a wider range of topics. Some include students with a wide range of abilities and needs in a single class, while others admit a much more narrow ability range and/or ability group students.

There are also a lot of private school parents who never planned to leave their publics but did because of Covid; many of these families had fewer private choices available because it was a matter of going where the slots were, so it's not a surprise that some group ended up in lower quality privates and are unhappy, especially if they were satisfied with their public pre-Covid.

It is entirely reasonable to feel like what you're paying for private school compared to what you would get in public isn't worth it and to make a change. That doesn't really have any bearing on whether it would be worth it at a different private, nor on whether other parents would share your evaluation.

Absolutely true, and somewhat true for publics as well, espeically when you factor in charter schools.

Univerals about public school: Heavy admin burden on teachers, larger class sizes, must educate everyone
Univerals about private school: They cost money and do not have to educate everyone

Add in Universal about public school : Testing and amount of administration greatly influenced by public society and politics.

My child’s private had a teacher who went into a rant last week about masks and ended it by saying that he expects emails from parents and laughed. He would’ve been fired or suspended from a public school.
You are dead wrong to think that private is immune to that.

Masks aren't political.

NP. The pp never said it was political. You said it and now you’ve made it political.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One factor no one has mentioned - public school teachers also often have at least one (and often several) students who are still learning English in their classes, which also slows down the pace of instruction. This is rare in private schools.

No one has mentioned it because it’s silly. Never has my child been in a class in public with a student who is learning English. I’m sure it happens but you are dramatic. However, there is a Polynesian family at our private.

My child had at least three students in her class each year at public school who required an aide, typically for behavioral reasons. Did not have esl kids.

Your story is not indicative of most public classes. My child has never had an aide in his class when he attended public.

Prob a title 1 school in silver spring