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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I would trust your gut. My DC is in Dwight (another school that is being frowned upon by the former Urban Baby crowd) and I am very happy with the level of academics in K-4 (I am aware things may change in middle and high school). Small groups for reading and math, hard core phonics (no "balanced literacy" nonsense), Singapore math with additional challenges for more advanced students, bi-annual standardized testing to monitor progress in math and literacy (NWEA), entirely normal parents (with plenty of international families including mine). I am glad I discounted second hand feedback and ignored the "dumb white idiots getting high together" label. DC consistently scores in 97-99 percentiles in NWEA (with zero supplementation or coaching) so the school must be doing something right.[/quote]

To be honest, while your description of Dwight sounds perfectly fine, it also sounds more-or-less identical to what my youngest kid is currently experiencing at a public elementary school, though admittedly the class sizes are a lot larger (but that'll no longer be a problem in 2 years) - small groups, no 'balanced literacy,' Singapore math with advanced challenges (including Math Olympiad), thrice-yearly MAP tests, normal parents...[/quote]

... which shows that different schools will work for different children and it makes sense to trust intuition and prioritize first hand experience over hearsay.

I have got multiple friends with kids in local public schools and while they all seem happy with their choices, they also all supplement school with extra academics (either RSM or, more recently, AoPS). I am not in favor of this for my DC. School already takes plenty of time and adding 2 extra hours of classes (especially over weekends) and overloading kids with extra homework at elementary age seems too much. All DC's math knowledge comes from school and I am quite pleased with the result. It is entirely possible that some public schools offer the same (or better?) quality of academics but I went with my gut and I am now happy I did.[/quote]

You travel in very different circles than I do. I'm an uptown public school parent. I know numerous kids (including one of my own) who went to top Manhattan gen ed schools (elementary and middle) who did not not supplement at all - normal kids who did sports, music, art, etc. and went to regular camp, visiting family or whatever in the summer. They then went on to do great on SHSAT and/or ISEE (they might have done some tutoring for this), get into top SHSAT schools and/or very good private schools, and did very well in these schools. Not sure where you are hearing about all these kids supplementing.

Ironically, the main kids I know who supplement are the self-proclaimed geniuses at Anderson. The parents there will claim that it is because their kids are so smart that they need to be further challenged, but I find this questionable as those kids do no better at the top high schools than the kids I'm referencing above. The school is just a bit of a conformist cult.[/quote]

Also an uptown public school parent. My kids went to one of the nice general ed schools mentioned above, then Booker T for middle. One left for Hunter in 7th, the other finished 8th at Booker then onto Bronx Science. I couldn't have asked for better experiences. And it was all completely free.[/quote]

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