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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Hey all -

As a parent in the same boat (though we live in DC proper), I did want to share something I read ages ago about the middle class achievement gap. It was in Essence (I don't think it's online) and basically, the premise was that controlling for SES still wasn't enough because of educational *attitudes.* This isn't the way we normally discuss these issues by focusing on being invested in learning, but about the expectations black parents have that schools will provide for most of their child's educational training from 9 - 3 and that we should just trust that the teacher and principal are doing the best thing for our children.  The piece argued that due to changes in educational trends (high stakes testing, lower budgets, shifts in who becomes a teacher), that isn't the case any more.  [b]It's not that all schools are bad, it's that parents should have a plan for what they want their children to learn and match that against the day to day work. Also, black parents (again, even at highest income levels) are more likely to trust what is happening during the day and less likely to form our own plans for supplementing the in-class education. Black parents were also less likely to utilize things like tutors.[/b]

I read this article before I had kids, so I just found it interesting. And a little strange - why shouldn't we trust the places we send our kids? I don't want to micromanage the class room. But now that I have a child (and have talked to older parents who did things like pool money to return arts and language education to their elementary school) I think that instead of plowing all my money to a private, maybe we should find a set of like minded parents in a public or charter and just commit to pooling the costs for tutors or extra camps or musical instruments. Co-op style.

Anyway, thanks for starting this thread![/quote]

I considered that before I sent my child to private school.  However, realistically working full-time, plus commuting any distance, plus making sure homework is done, plus trying to teach my kids outside of school or bring them consistently to tutors, plus having them involved in activities is a lot.  I realized to have the time to do all this, I would need to work part-time so my day started at 3pm with the kids, not at 6pm or slightly later.  Being able to trust the place that I send my kids isn't naive faith, it's a necessity unless I change my work situation and can deal with the related economic impact.

Some of the positive differences in changing schools besides my children doing better in school is that it is easier to meet other parents including AA parents because the school is smaller.  When my kids were in an elementary school of 700 kids, I didn't really get to meet other parents and rarely were we approached for play dates.  The other positive change was that I was able to focus more on my job because I wasn't dealing with school issues and in turn I had one of my best years at work.[/quote]

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