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Old 01-10-2012, 11:28 AM
 
87 posts, read 166,520 times
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I have been stressing out for months about sending my son to public school for kindergarten. I have considered private school (too expensive once all 3 kids are in it), charter schools (small percent chance of getting in) and homeschooling (still a possibility, but not sure I can handle it mentally or financially).


Are public schools really that bad? We will be going to a highly rated public school in AISD, but they are just so big! Not to mention all the standardized testing nonsense. To those of you with kids in public school - what are your thoughts?
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Old 01-10-2012, 12:01 PM
 
Location: central Austin
7,228 posts, read 16,061,770 times
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No, no! They are not that bad! And I say this a private school parent. For a good chunk of kids (at least one third of all kids) public schools are great. Especially highly ranked public schools in suburban areas without a lot of poverty and with involved parents. Yes, there is crazy-testing (but that has peaked and may decline over your kids school career) but the better schools spend little time on test prep. Yes, the classes and number of sections (6 sections of 22 kids in kindergarten) can be overwhelming but many kids thrive.

The issue only hits if your kid is in the other 2/3s!

So are you being paranoid OR is your gut telling you that your particular kid with a unique cluster of strengths and weakness won't do well in such a setting? That is what you have to figure out.

Give your public school a try. You don't have to have the whole K-12 thing figured out, just take it grade by grade and kid by kid. Keep a close eye (and heart) on your kid and get involved in the school. If it doesn't feel right, then trust your gut, and learn about other options that might fit that particular child better.
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Old 01-10-2012, 12:02 PM
 
Location: Central Texas
13,715 posts, read 31,086,515 times
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Some context please. What are you accustomed to for public schools?

Do you disagree with all standardized testing? What exactly do you think your child needs to learn well?

My kids didn't go to an AISD school, but they did go to highly rated public elementary schools in this area with between 500-600 kids. Classroom size was small. They did very well. I wasn't worried in the least and I sure didn't stress out about it.
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Old 01-10-2012, 12:03 PM
 
Location: Central Texas
13,715 posts, read 31,086,515 times
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2/3 are not suited to public schools????

Maybe 2/3 of parents are unsuited to send their kids to public schools because they are borderline crazy and have a need for something special that has nothing to do with real life.
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Old 01-10-2012, 12:22 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX!!!!
3,757 posts, read 9,043,170 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hoffdano View Post
2/3 are not suited to public schools????

Maybe 2/3 of parents are unsuited to send their kids to public schools because they are borderline crazy and have a need for something special that has nothing to do with real life.
Usually I have a lot of respect for your posts, but this one is way off. We sent our son to public school for two and half years and he was miserable. The way most public schools are organized has nothing to do with real life either. When was the last time your work group consisted of nothing but other employees your age that lived in your immediate neighborhood wherein you were all expected to have exactly the same contribution?

I think public schools work for a lot of people and the OP should give her local kindergarten a try. However, those of us who provide an alternative education experience for our kids are not necessarily crazy. We are responding to their needs. My fourth grade son just finished his first trimester at newer alternative school and was able to complete two grade levels of math, write and videotape a speech that was used by public interest law firm on their facebook page, learn some economics and statistics that were then applied to a real world problems, and is now learning some science and engineering as part of their project based curriculum.

He is doing much better emotionally and mentally in this "hands on" environment, as part of a multiage classroom, than he ever was in our local, exemplary rated public school. Some kids are just different. That doesn't make their parents crazy.

I don't know if the 2/3 number is accurate, but there are a big chunk of kids not well served by our current system for whatever reason.
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Old 01-10-2012, 12:33 PM
 
Location: central Austin
7,228 posts, read 16,061,770 times
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Hoff, I think that the better way to say it is that at least 1/3 of learners are well-suited to the type of instruction that public schools offer. Maybe 1/3 are not well-suited, and another 1/3 are in the middle. I'm drawing that from a Gates Study on education (I didn't bookmark it at the time and I have tried to find it but there are million Gates Foundation studies on education and a million more commentaries on them.

So, I probably should have said something like up to 2/3 of students are suited to the offerings of public school. The OP's kid is probably in that 2/3 and will do fine. Ill-defined worry about a kids education however can be the first inkling that a child doesn't learn like others or is falling short of the standard in some ways -- so I wouldn't dismiss people's misgivings out of hand, their kid might be dyslexic, ADHD, or not neuro-typical in someway and they are just beginning to realize it.
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Old 01-10-2012, 12:35 PM
 
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It really depends on the school. Our AISD elementary school is OK but not great. We moved our son to private this year (5th grade) and hope to do the same with our daughter next year (3rd grade).

When he started kinder, I felt like we should give our neighborhood school a chance, but I wish we had either moved or started off in private school. But this is related specifically to that school.

It is in a gentrifying neighborhood, and the school has about half of the kids from families who have more education, money and time, and the other half from lower-income families with fewer resources. The economic and ethnic diversity is great. The fact that teachers have to spend so much time bringing the lower SES kids up to pass the TAKS (now STAAR) test is not. There is very little for the higher-achieving kids at this school, who are likely to do well on the test without so much prep.

I didn't understand what "teaching to the test" meant at first, but I think I get it now. It means a lot of multiple choice worksheets where the kids bubble in answers, mirroring the kinds of questions on the test. I don't think you learn how to do math or write well by answering multiple choice worksheets. My sense is that at other schools, where the majority of kids are on grade-level or above, there is not such an emphasis on test prep. In 4th grade, they were tested 5 times that year. I think having a few diagnostic tests are great, but prepping for 5 tests in a year is not.

To me, the most important factor in the school is the principal. The principal sets the tone and the expectations for the school and the teachers. I would encourage you to try to meet with the principal and get a tour, if possible. I would also go to PTA meetings and talk to parents there. Try to find out how much the school does with differentiation, especially if your child is advanced.

Life isn't perfect, and there's no perfect education for any child. If your child is doing well with reading and numbers already, then kinder won't be as important as the later grades. Kinder is mainly about learning to be friends, pay attention, follow instructions, etc. I, personally, wouldn't home school because I think the kids get a great benefit from being exposed to so many kids and learning how to negotiate friendships. And I need my daily breaks!

Hope this helps.
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Old 01-10-2012, 12:50 PM
 
Location: Round Rock, Texas
13,441 posts, read 15,406,444 times
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I attended public schools in New York City, so I am used to mixing with people of different socio-economic classes. That's just how it was in the city -- you hobnobed with people of all walks of life. Nowadays we parents are trying to put our kids in this sort of bubble where all of the kids are performing at the same level, have parents who are middle to upper middle classed (and therefore are perceived as being more involved), etc. in the hopes that when our kid is finished with the school train, he/she will be the best that they can be. No harm in that per se, but I can say from my personal experience that I went to school with poorer students and I turned out just fine. My high school overall was gang infested, poor graduation rate, poverty stricken, and totally underachieved, yet I was accepted at the same university as kids who graduated from private schools and had a scholarship to boot.

Also, just because your kid is going to a blue ribbon school doesn't mean that your individual child is going to be a high achiever or inherently fare better on tests than the kid who isn't going to such a school. Don't mean this the wrong way but we all would like to think that our kid(s) is/are high-achieving genuises and are gifted/talented. To the OP - Kindergarten is definitely not the time to be stressing out about a school. Gosh, remember the days when kindergarten was fun and abcs and 123s were enjoyed vs. obsessing over so many things? I'm not telling you to move to the ghetto. I'm just saying that with three children, why not give public school a chance..or maybe take a shot at a charter school. I, too, had reservations about class sizes and was fortunate enough to get my daughter into a charter school where she is doing wonderfully. However her public school is pretty good as well and wouldn't have hesitated to send her there in a heartbeat.
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Old 01-10-2012, 01:05 PM
 
3,058 posts, read 3,240,641 times
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The generic answer is no, public schools aren't necessarily all that bad. The "goodness" or "badness" of ANY school (public, private, charter, etc) depends on many factors, two of which many folks don't consider. That is yourself and your kid(s). I've said this many times before, but I know folks who:

- HATE public schools and would never, ever, ever send their kids to one regardless of how highly rated the school is.
- HATE private schools, consider them a complete waste of money and are perfectly happy at their public school
- HATE a specific school (public or private) that I know folks who LOVE.
- etc, etc

So, what does it all mean? Basically that different people have different expectations for what they consider a "good" school. On top of that, each kid is different, a great school for one kid might be terrible for another. On top of that, the teacher can make or break one's experience regardless of how highly or lowly rated a school is (e.g. a great teacher at an average school can yield a better experience than a lousy teacher at a "great" school).

One really needs to ask themselves "what do I want in a school for my child" first and foremost and that will help lead the way to deciding which schools are better or worse.
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Old 01-10-2012, 01:09 PM
 
7,997 posts, read 10,374,660 times
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My kids are in public school. However, we moved out of AISD specifically because of the schools. Not all schools in AISD are bad, but the district is full of red-tape,and politically correct BS. All schools are like that to an extent, but AISD seems to be the worst offender. There was also a bit of uncertainty with AISD schools. It seems that they are always closing schools and redrawing the boundaries, so you never know who is going to be zoned to your school in 5 years.

I used to think people who home schooled were a little "out there." But now that I have kids in school, I totally understand it. Class sizes are big, and teachers are basically powerless. It is impossible for any child to get individualized attention or help. I think this is true for all schools, but it seems to be magnified in AISD. My neighbors are sending their kids to Veritas, which is like a home school / private school hybrid, which I think is a great alternative.
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