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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]‘Just skip the NCRC routes. Go to a neighborhood public schools for grades for K-4 or K-6 or k-8 and try independent schools that fits your child for middle or even high school. You can hire a consultant or two then.  This saves 200K or so and let your child know the kids in neighborhood.’

This times infinity. [/quote]

Yes!!! I wish we had gone this route with out first, and majorly regret not. Our oldest got into an awesome private school for kindergarten that ended up being a terrible fit- she is very bright and social but was masking some learning challenges (dyslexia/ input processing) that were totally unknowable when she 5 but that the school was really uncooperative with by the time she was in 2nd/3rd grade. We had to do a ton of advocating for her and pay for a lot of tutoring /private evaluations, and scrambling to find a better fit for her for 4th grade. It was a really frustrating and disheartening 4 years, and in retrospect we should have left at the end of 1st. But by then she had friends, and we did really like the teachers and thought they were trying their best.

Meanwhile, our neighbors were in a DC charter school school and had a kid with a very similar profile who got a ton of support and interventions in school.

I guess this is a niche situation, but I just think how little I knew my kid as a student when they were five and we were making a very high-cost school choice. and I also get that not every public school parent has a positive experience on this one either (but at least they aren’t paying a fortune for a bad experience!). [/quote]

But the other families at your private don’t want your high-resource kid. You are the people all your private school “friends” want to avoid. 
[/quote]

PP here: My point wasn’t about the people and I’m not actually upset that the school wasn’t able to meet my kid’s needs- they are a private school, they are very clear about what they can / can’t support. My point was that I didn’t know what my kids needs WERE when they were in kindergarten - and I think that’s true for a lot of kids! So why not start in public school and see what type of student your kid is and then you can enter private school in 3rd grade or later and find the right school to meet your kid where they’re at? [/quote]

NP: because the gap widens over time. My 3 year old in private preschool understood the concepts that a kindergarten student in public school was learning. [/quote]

Uhhhh…no. I have one kid in DCPS and one in private. We always planned for our kids to both go to private for middle / high school but our oldest wanted to stay at Deale and then JR due to friend group / sports. There’s a lot to love about private, but the smart kids at JR are as smart as (some definitely smarter) than the kids at private. Also scrappier, better at self advocating, and less entitled.

So hate to break it to you, - your incredibly brilliant 3 year old at a private preschool would probably be just as brilliant in DCPS. [/quote]

Yes - smart, conscientious kids can do well at a solid publics in ways that truly narrow — if not eliminate — any delta with private schools, at least in terms of academics. Of course, not all have by-right/easy access to solid public schools![/quote]

Private schools have the advantage that they can counsel kids out that aren't doing well. [b]So yeah, the kids that they keep do better, but there is really no way to tell if it is because the teaching and environment is truly more effective for learning or if they are just choosing the students that are easiest to teach[/b].[/quote]

The teaching and learning environment can be more “effective” if the student make-up is a generally easy lot, with more “difficult” students counseled out or, more likely, never admitted in the first place. [/quote]

Yes, private school parents often choose private because they want to keep their kids away from the "bad" kids. And certainly there are public school environments that can be really bad for kids. But IME learning to be around kids with different needs and experiences is also really valuable. [/quote]

We were at a Title 1 school until middle and I generally think it was a fine experience with lasting friendships, and warm, supportive environment. Some real behavior problems, yes, but not what I’d casually label as “bad” kids, certainly challenged, but not mean or cruel.

But I appreciate the more refined, cultivated learning environment of our current school. It’s really night and day. [/quote]

The problem is that our private school is not really free from “bad” kids. So what is the advantage of private schools? [/quote]

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