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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]They talk about it a lot because they need to justify spending that much money. But look, if you live in an area with a high low-income/non-English speaking population, then just know that public school resources will focus on getting those kids up to speed and a below average English speaker will be ignored or there may not be enough resources to focus on your kid who has an IEP or 504 for ADHD or dyslexia. If you live in a high SES area, then all the resources will be spread across all the students, and all the children will thrive. I know this from personal experience having moved and switched public schools within the same school district.

I would never send my child to private though, there are all sorts of social issues that come with that, plus the math instruction is pretty terrible.[/quote]

Uh…considering in 2022 only 22% of 8th graders nationally met grade level proficiency in math, it looks like most schools are terrible at teaching math or kids are terrible at learning or both [/quote]

PISA data and NAEP data all say that the US is terrible at teaching math, nationwide, and also that there is no meaningful difference in outcomes between public and private.  I work in an Applied Physics Lab and I am sad to see these outcomes.

This is why there are so many math afterschool centers (AoPS, Kumon, Mathnasium, RSM) in this area and also why local bookstores have ready stock of the associated DIY math workbooks (Beast Academy, Kumon, et alia) for parents to use at home.  The common thread among students who are high achievers in math at our W public or at the nearby privates is that most of those kids had supplemental math outside whichever (public or private) school they attend.

Before someone says regular public HSs offer more range of math offerings, I will note that at least the better privates (e.g., StA/NCS, GDS, Potomac) offer equally advanced math as a W high school or as McLean/Langley HSs - even if the private school’s class size for the most advanced math topic sometimes is tiny.  StA/NCS will combine girls/boys together for such classes, although ordinarily each is a single-gender school.  The exception here (i.e., having the most math offerings of all) would be TJ, for those in VA, and only because it is a selective magnet school.

Bottom line is that if one wants one’s DC to end up in a STEM career, rather than business/law/finance/medicine/dentistry/other, then one probably ought to actively supplement math instruction, regardless of which school one’s DC attends.[/quote]

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