You bring up another point in terms of public schools being subject to standardized testing and privates are not. I wonder how the author's school would fare if they had to take standardized tests.
We do take standardized tests (ERBs) but not the state ones. We do them once a year and it's not the big to do the way they are in public schools (it also doesn't "count" for anything, so less pressure for everyone).
Our kids fare very well compared to national and suburban public schools, much less well as compared to our peer independent schools. But we don't bill ourselves as an academic powerhouse - the school has created its niche in being a place to develop well-rounded, service minded kids from a diverse environment. Academics are strong, but not the sole focus, I'd say.
So, people who have the desire to make change and also the money to send their kids elsewhere are just sending their kids elsewhere. And the elsewhere: schools with lots of money, high parental support, and selected students are high achieving.
Well, nothing new to see here!
But, uh, how do I ask this without sounding pretentious? I know not everyone loves their job and thinks about it outside their work day, but it seems like teachers often do. Don't you wish if he was one of your teachers that he would have walked into a faculty meeting and said, "Hey, I observed some classes at school XYZ, while they have these different resources and super involved parents, I think we can learn something from them and try to at least implement [insert ideals that could work]."? Doesn't this happen with teachers/admin during training or continuing ed classes? Am I expecting too much of career teachers?
You are expecting too much of the administration, not the teachers.
We do take standardized tests (ERBs) but not the state ones. We do them once a year and it's not the big to do the way they are in public schools (it also doesn't "count" for anything, so less pressure for everyone).
Our kids fare very well compared to national and suburban public schools, much less well as compared to our peer independent schools. But we don't bill ourselves as an academic powerhouse - the school has created its niche in being a place to develop well-rounded, service minded kids from a diverse environment. Academics are strong, but not the sole focus, I'd say.
Are the scores published?
What do you mean?
I'm sure they are reported to the state but they are not available to the community/prospective families. Like I said, we don't count them for anything except to inform our program (ie. kids are doing terribly in reading comprehension, so I'm making sure to pay attention to that in my regular curriculum). Parents now receive a copy of the kids' scores (this is new in the past 2-3 years).
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
I'm sure they are reported to the state but they are not available to the community/prospective families. Like I said, we don't count them for anything except to inform our program (ie. kids are doing terribly in reading comprehension, so I'm making sure to pay attention to that in my regular curriculum). Parents now receive a copy of the kids' scores (this is new in the past 2-3 years).
Yes, I was just wondering in your area if they made it public to those considering attending the school. In the open houses I went in my area, they didn't publish any information regarding test results. Also I only remember two that specifically stated they did any standardized testing. Instead they mostly provided matriculation info as evidence of the quality of education provided.
Post by marshmallowhands on Mar 6, 2015 10:45:12 GMT -5
This is where we live and, with a DD about to turn 5, we're having the debate about where she'll go to school. My husband wants to send them to the private school this guy hates on and I want to send them to the public school. I'd love to know who this guy is- wonder which school he teaches at. Most of the public schools here are really good. There's only 1 that I've heard is iffy and even that is probably still pretty good.
SLOCA isn't even on our radar because it's 2 days a week at school and 3 homeschool days. Not an option for 2 working parents. That also explains why it's "thousands less than other private schools."
This is where we live and, with a DD about to turn 5, we're having the debate about where she'll go to school. My husband wants to send them to the private school this guy hates on and I want to send them to the public school. I'd love to know who this guy is- wonder which school he teaches at. Most of the public schools here are really good. There's only 1 that I've heard is iffy and even that is probably still pretty good.
SLOCA isn't even on our radar because it's 2 days a week at school and 3 homeschool days. Not an option for 2 working parents. That also explains why it's "thousands less than other private schools."
Oh, that does explain a lot. Wow. So his wife must stay home with the daughter and really be involved. Hmmm...
Since I'm not completely against the Silicon Valley/Microsoft/techie world unschooling philosophy, it still doesn't make me hate this school, but it does change a little more about the realities of modeling a traditional school solution after the principles of a homeschool/classical school hybrid.
I found myself fascinated with this article... mostly because I was swinging between agreeing totally with what he was saying, then being pissed at the wrongness of him, over and over again.
The biggest part I agree with: that creating a culture where kids love learning, where the love of learning is 'cool', is an absolutely ideal school environment.
The biggest part I disagree with: that it's this magic school that's creating the environment. Not the privilege level of the families who send their kids there.
I don't know if it's possible to foster that kind of love of learning in a public school environment, with the economic, testing, and numbers challenges they (generally) have. I know that my DD's (urban, very diverse, 40-ish-% FRL) school is much much better at it than my (suburban, very very white, minimal FRL) elementary school was.
Post by expatpumpkin on Mar 6, 2015 17:57:24 GMT -5
Lol at the following:
"No matter how much she voluntarily recites Shakespeare, the student I envision my daughter becoming would never be able to single-handedly transform a public school into an environment that is cool to learning... My girl deserves to be in a place where she won’t face diatribes from judgmental students who call her names just because she chooses to buy into her own educational aspirations. She should have the opportunity to read Whitman with sober, like-minded friends knowing that they, too, are getting what they bought in for."
Um, she's 4. 4! Four-years-old! He doesn't know whether her like-minded friends will be Whitman-reciters or keg-standers just yet, hahaha.
This is where we live and, with a DD about to turn 5, we're having the debate about where she'll go to school. My husband wants to send them to the private school this guy hates on and I want to send them to the public school. I'd love to know who this guy is- wonder which school he teaches at. Most of the public schools here are really good. There's only 1 that I've heard is iffy and even that is probably still pretty good.
SLOCA isn't even on our radar because it's 2 days a week at school and 3 homeschool days. Not an option for 2 working parents. That also explains why it's "thousands less than other private schools."
This seems like a major point not to mention in the article.
I'm only half way through the article but this private school sounds like the Stepford School. I've seen plenty of private and public schools and none came close to 100% engagement, no distractions, everyone loves learning, etc etc. it's almost not believable to me.
Now off to finish it in case the 2nd half sounds more realistic.
This whole thing read like a commercial for this particular private school, rather than something that could be generalized to all (or most) private schools and all (or most) public schools.