It would be a tough decision because there really are pluses and minuses. One question I would ask myself is how would the pros and cons play out for your child specifically? Just because a school offered more sports and plays at an elite level wouldn't mean that I would take advantage of it. Even with the diversity factor, just because people are all in school together doesn't mean they would hang out together.

I went to both public school and private school. For me the benefits of private school included being more responsible (there were no bells, you had to be at class on time, study hall which I used to get homework done, and lunch cleanup duty). I also felt my guidance counselor knew me better and really on the strength of her suggestions, I applied to the college that I did. When I transferred to public school, my counselor there was of little help in the process. The smaller classes in private school helped because I couldn't hide and I had to answer. I was also able to play sports that I probably would not have been good enough to play on a more competitive public school team but for a bookish kid it was a good experience that I treasure.

I think some of the cons you can balance out like being in a bubble by being involved in activities outside of school, swim team, religious youth group, drama etc I think about the introverted part and believe it probably is important first to feel confident in his/her current environment and then to learn how to be more confident in new environments and with new people and situations.

OP: thanks for the replies. Please note that I am not generalizing that privates (or publics) are better/worse. I'm considering one specific private and one specific public. The pros and cons are specific to these 2 schools. My concerns are the ones I express in the original post (i.e., not concerned about the teachers, or the curriculum, or the way they deal with bullying and social issues. Not because these aren't concerns but because the school allayed them completely).

We chose private for the reasons you mentioned in your pros. All we had to do was tour our Chevy Chase elementary and see that there are 28 kids with one teacher, one short recess a day and art/music/PE once a week and our minds were made up. Our child is so happy at our small private and we say all the time how fortunate we feel that he is able to attend it.

If money were truly not issue, I'd always choose a progressive private because of my preferences for alternative education. Arts, music, small classrooms, ethics, interactive teaching methods, emphasis on personal responsibility, history of the institution, chosen community, time outdoors, and richness of cultural heritages are all appealing aspects for me. Of course not every private school would provide those, but if money were no object I'd work to find the few that I really loved.

If you're looking for a more mainstream approach to education (and there's nothing wrong with that, DH wants more testing and more research papers out of DC's education than I do) you might find the public experience more comparable.

Money isn't an issue. We do public.

I could have written 8:34's post. It's even possible our DCs attended the same private elementary school. In any case though, it was one of the several small private elementaries in the area where families were friendly and everyone was excited about the specials.

I think whether this is what your kid needs will depend on your kid. We too found the private school teachers to be a mixed lot, just as we found with the other kid in public school. Two of the private school teachers were actually terrible, which surprised me, but we learned firsthand that going private is no guarantee of good instruction. On the other hand, if your DC makes more progress in small classes, then maybe private will be the better choice.

Sorry-one more point. You mention teacher's. most privates you cannot request teacher's either.

It is a crapshoot with private teacher's as well. Some are good, some are not so good. If there is only 1 or 2 classes per grade, not much opportunity to switch to a better teacher.

Anonymous wrote:Applied and got in to our top choice private, but having serious concerns about the financial commitment. However, a grandparent has very generously offered to help with a portion of tuition (around 40%). We're very grateful, but want to find the best fit for dc, which I'm not 100% convinced is the private route. DC is bright (not over the top, but above average), quiet/introverted, and overwhelmed in an environment that's too big/too rowdy (likes more structure). My concerns with MoCo public are:
- class sizes are big (mid to high 20s at our school)
- 2.0 in itself, and implementation issues
- teachers seem to be a crapshoot (some parents we talked to loved their teacher, others really disliked, and they said you can't request a specific teacher for your child).
- lack of play/recess and extras, like PE, arts, etc.
- "social curriculum" not as strong
My concern with private are:
- smaller pool of friends
- less diversity (albeit not significantly so)
- "bubble factor" - the private is lovely, and I loved everything about it, and I think the fit would be great for dc. But I worry about raising a sheltered child, who gets used to everyone being kind to them, everything being just so... only to have their bubble burst when they hit "the real world", whenever that may be (and not being able to deal with it).
Advice?

it really depends on the school. we did private for ES and I can say that DC was not prepared academically when we switched to MoCo public especially with math and writing. we did not attend a Big 3 but one of those lovely schools where everyone gets so excited about the specials but the reality is that my child was not learnign what he needed to. The PP's poster's are right that many of the private school teachers are just not that great. Our public school teacher's are much better in getting the kids motivated and teachingthem what they need to know to be successful.

As far as everyone being kind, private school kids and teachers can be just as mean as private school. With a private school setting, any issues with bullying can be so much harder because there is a much smaller pool of kids to befriend. mean girl stuff happens early. Yes the school may intervene but if that kid is the rich kid in the class, the school may not push it as hard.

You should tour your local ES before you make any judgement about the what they are learning. Look at what is on walls, check out the art room, see what the after school and night events are taking place.

You just might find that it could be a good fit. If we had it to do over again, I would have waited to do private till MS.

If money wasn't a factor, I would definitely go private. 2.0 is an untested, crappy curriculum. At least the private schools use vetted and proven curriculum. My child is in 3rd grade and completely bored. The extensions are crap. He could have done this stuff in Kindergarten. If I had the money, I would definitely put him in a private school vs. our neighborhood school in Potomac.

No clear cut answer. Right now we are in public and it is working for our child. If it stops being a good fit we would change things. It would not surprise me if we did public all the way or did public for some but perhaps middle school private - or high school private. There is no one size fits all academic experience. We are lucky that our neighborhood schools are excellent but they might not be the right fit all the way through. I hope public remains a good fit but life is complicated.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

"B-CC" isn't synonymous with "Chevy chase Elementary School," which is where PPs kids are going to go to school next. Where there are no low income kids and just a handful of AAs and Latin Americans.

So it's very rich that she is choosing her public school because it's diverse.


Don't bother arguing; I live here too, you'll not convince me that this SFH neighborhood / school is anything but homogenous.

Reposted with typos corrected, so you can't pretend you don't understand:

CCES has 9% FARMS. Look it up yourself, it's right on the CCES website for all to see. The FARMS kids have HHI less than 1.85 times the poverty line - these are the kids who would need 100% FA to attend a private school. You can't tell me any private school in the area gives 100% FA to a whopping 9% of the student body.

Oh, and CCES is 8.9% AA and 7.7% Hispanic, plus others who identify as "multiple races," Asian and more. You call this "just a handful"? Maybe you should set foot in the place....

Not that poster, but it is pretty low number of minority students. Whites make up over 70% in CCES. In the public I'm zoned for (in a W cluster), there are 33% white kids. The other kids are 45% Asian, 12% black, and 5% hispanic. And still, it feels pretty homogenous, because everyone has similar incomes.

My friend's kid goes to Stedwick in Montgomery Village. 56% FARMS rate, 18% white, 31% hispanic, 37% black, and 9% Asian. "That" is diverse. The kids come from all different backgrounds, including HHI, parental education, etc.

Right, that is indeed diverse. But until the Tea Partier can prove to us that 9% of Sidwell's students get 100% FA, it's clear that CCES' 9% FARMS trumps Sidwell in terms of SES diversity. That 23% Sidwell stat is apples to oranges, because it includes lots of families with HHI from $75-100K (way over FARMS eligibility) who are getting a few thousand.

Anonymous wrote:

You can't tell me any private school in the area gives 100% FA to a whopping 9% of the student body.

Are you kidding?! Sidwell, GDS and Maret come immediately to mind. I'd bet Beauvoir does, too, but I don't know that one for sure. These three I know from tours.

In keeping with Quaker tenets, Sidwell Friends School seeks a student body that represents varied economic backgrounds. In 2012-2013, 23 percent of our students will receive approximately $6,100,000 of financial aid support http://www.sidwell.edu/admissions/financial-aid/index.aspx

If you could prove that almost 1/2 of Sidwell's FA was 100% packages, then I might have some respect for your powers if analysis. However, having had kids in private schools myself, I'm well aware that most of this is partial, even just a few thousand for some kids.

And we haven't begun to discuss the families who don't qualify for FA (generally, HHI > $120K). There may be a few of these at Sidwell, getting help from grandparents or living in 1-BR apartments, but that's a definite barbell. You know it's true, you just don't want to see it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

"B-CC" isn't synonymous with "Chevy chase Elementary School," which is where PPs kids are going to go to school next. Where there are no low income kids and just a handful of AAs and Latin Americans.

So it's very rich that she is choosing her public school because it's diverse.


Don't bother arguing; I live here too, you'll not convince me that this SFH neighborhood / school is anything but homogenous.

Reposted with typos corrected, so you can't pretend you don't understand:

CCES has 9% FARMS. Look it up yourself, it's right on the CCES website for all to see. The FARMS kids have HHI less than 1.85 times the poverty line - these are the kids who would need 100% FA to attend a private school. You can't tell me any private school in the area gives 100% FA to a whopping 9% of the student body.

Oh, and CCES is 8.9% AA and 7.7% Hispanic, plus others who identify as "multiple races," Asian and more. You call this "just a handful"? Maybe you should set foot in the place....

Not that poster, but it is pretty low number of minority students. Whites make up over 70% in CCES. In the public I'm zoned for (in a W cluster), there are 33% white kids. The other kids are 45% Asian, 12% black, and 5% hispanic. And still, it feels pretty homogenous, because everyone has similar incomes.

My friend's kid goes to Stedwick in Montgomery Village. 56% FARMS rate, 18% white, 31% hispanic, 37% black, and 9% Asian. "That" is diverse. The kids come from all different backgrounds, including HHI, parental education, etc.

If you could prove that almost 1/2 of Sidwell's FA was 100% packages, then I might have some respect for your powers if analysis. However, having had kids in private schools myself, I'm well aware that most of this is partial, even just a few thousand for some kids.

If money were not object, I'd seriously consider private. I have a second grader in public at a highly rated school, but the current principal has let in all sorts of transfers that disrupt the classes and put so many kids in the school that some classes are in portables. We have been lucky enough to have superb teachers every year, but we know there are less than qualified teachers in some classes.

As for 2.0, I don't have a problem with it, but I am blissfully ignorant. I am more concerned that my child has worksheets come home from the teacher that she didn't do in class because the teacher spent more time helping other kids whose parents won't take the time to work with them after school.

We have a baby too, so we currently have a nanny, who works with the second grader on homework. I don't know what we'll do when DD ends up in after care when the baby heads to preschool. I am highly disappointed in the after care's ability to focus the kids on getting their homework done.

And yes, I put aside money for the nanny, but when our stint with her is over, I'll be saving the extra cash for college.