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I knew kids from Dwight-Englewood growing up who were and still are complete wastes. My cousin had a friend who went to Spring-Valley High School (Rockland County) and is a general surgery resident. The school talk on this forum is ridiculous. Raise your children properly and they will be fine.
Uber competitive parents
Uber enrichment opportunities outside of school
Motivated kids
Phenomenal teachers
A curriculum that is a year ahead of private schools
Smart boards, iPad carts and laptops
Tremendous PTOs with myriads of programs in, during and after schools
Large funds from PTO and ed foundation
Fab special education program
Bottom line? Truly as good as public school gets.....but very high pressure.
A second for Millburn. I will add this: it's definitely public school so it's not perfect and every year I think this may be the year I look at private school alternatives----so that i can turn down the intensity, which is an odd thing to say. However, year after year, our kids stay in Millburn.
Why it works: The teachers really are top notch professional, they do use technology quite a bit, in the classroom but even with homework. Elementary aged kids use google docs to work together, they use online tools for homework in spelling and music and now they are using rosetta stone in the classroom for spanish. I have heard from kids coming back from college how better prepared they are than other kids, and that they got great writing skills in Millburn. The music program is renowned.
What I worry about: The pressure!! I hear it time and time again, this it's a pressure cooker and I worry about the joy being sucked out of learning when the heat eventually turns up in high school. It's still too based on standardized tests, multiple choice etc. The facilities are old. Otherwise, we like it.
Having gone through the Elizabeth Public School system I have to also agree its parents/family/student THEN teachers/programs.
I always had some of the best grades, some of the best test scores and was always involved in cub scouts/boy scouts, after school programs, orchestra, taking fun science and math courses on weekends, etc. There were a plethora of opportunities and options within the schools to take advantage of so there was definitely no lack of funding or technology (were talking 80s tech). But NONE of my friends and kids I grew up around were interested in any of it. They were never interested in learning, their parents were mostly never around and they just wanted to run the streets. Dont get me wrong, I did my fair share as well, getting in trouble a lot, but school always came first.
By the end of my Sophomore year in HS, having taken almost all AP Classes, I had enough credits to graduate. Junior year I finished all of my course requirements (4 english, 4 math, 3 science, 3 history, 2 language, 3 electives) and was able to take even more advanced classes senior year. It was tough competition as only the best students got accepted into those classes. On top of all that I was involved in 4-5 different clubs, played football, and had a job.
NONE of that would have been possible without my parents supporting and encouraging and helping me the way they did. The only other kids I knew that received the same/similar support were the ones in my classes.
So, simply living in a poor district with horrible ratings surrounded by ghetto kids does not mean you will get a poor education. As with everything, you can only get out of something what you put into it.
Better parents are the answer. Kids can get off track, especially in high school. They think that they will always be in high school. I found that by restricting TV and incoming phone calls until homework was done and checked by me, school performance increased. After the homework was checked she was free to do as she pleased regarding the TV and phone. Parents have to be firm but reasonable. She got into the second best school in NJ after Princeton and graduated with honors. While in college she thanked me for keeping her on track. That's the difference between a high school girl and a young woman.
Why it works: The teachers really are top notch professional, they do use technology quite a bit, in the classroom but even with homework. Elementary aged kids use google docs to work together, they use online tools for homework in spelling and music and now they are using rosetta stone in the classroom for spanish. I have heard from kids coming back from college how better prepared they are than other kids, and that they got great writing skills in Millburn. The music program is renowned.
So if Millburn Teachers were sent to Camden High all of that schools testing metrics would improve? Is that what you're saying?
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!! Hold on can I say that again....LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! That really made me chuckle!
What's so funny?
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