Reply to HB Woodlawn and ATS

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I wonder what “private school experience” means to PP other than the fact that her kids weren’t able to get in. Private schools range from progressive (Sidwell, Potomac, Georgetown Day etc.) to traditional (e.g. catholic schools) and many many schools in between. Some are speciality schools such as Montessori schools, bilingual/immersion schools teaching a specific language. There is no one “private school experience.” There are three things that most private schools have in common though: (1) you have to apply to get in (2) most students pay tuition and (3) the school tends to have low student-teacher ratios and small class sizes. (2) and (3) don’t apply to ATS. ATS has large classroom sizes, a high student teacher ratio and very large grade level cohorts. This begs the question what is ATS doing right that enables it to achieve such high results with such large classroom sizes? It is motivated parents, a specific teaching methodology or both? ATS is an example of public education gone right. Low student teacher ratios are just not workable for public schools so we need to figure out how to teach effectively with larger classroom sizes. It is obviously still worth aiming for the lowest student ratio possible. For what it’s worth my kids go to Jamestown, which has a more “private school” vibe than ATS since it is much smaller.[/quote]

"Private" today also means "acdemic rigor" that is lacking more and more each year in public.

To that end, many parents seek ATS to escape their neighborhood schools that have high needs populations and many other parents seek ATS because it has high performance and reputation.  What does ATS do that other schools don't?  It sets higher expectations from its students and its parents and holds them all accountable. People have joked about ATS' stricter policies (ie, shirts must be tucked in); but the bottom line is that structure and high expectations work.  ATS has also been faulted/accused of not tolerating higher needs kids and either holding them back or pushing them out by way of not wanting to remain.  Nevertheless, ATS does now have a significant % FRL students and seems to be serving them well.

A better question would be what our other neighborhood schools are doing that is not as successful as ATS.  Answer would include things such as abandoning things like phonics while ATS continued with instructional methods that have proven to be effective.  And, yes, discipline has a positive impact on performance, too.  Summer reading challenges/expectations at our south Arlington elementary school many years ago was 10 books; whereas ATS' was 50 (per classmates who transferred to ATS in late elementary years).

And, a lot of it is self-selection.  Families more pro-active or demanding about their kids' school environment and seeking these things are going to apply. [/quote]

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