Compare Private Schools in Princeton and nearby townships (Livingston, Pennington: appointed, 2010)

[qasearch]

We are investigating a possibility to move our child from public school to a private school in Princeton or nearby town. Heard Pennington Boarding School and Princeton Montessori both have good middle school program. Anyone has experience with those two schools or others like Princeton Day School? Would really want to justify the cost on private education vs public. Do they really deliver much higher education quality than the public schools? Or we will still looking at high $$ in tutoring services when attending private school. I don't seem to get a clear consensus on this matter. Need your input. Thx.

[luckyshoes]

Originally Posted by qasearch

We are investigating a possibility to move our child from public school to a private school in Princeton or nearby town. Heard Pennington Boarding School and Princeton Montessori both have good middle school program. Anyone has experience with those two schools or others like Princeton Day School? Would really want to justify the cost on private education vs public. Do they really deliver much higher education quality than the public schools? Or we will still looking at high $$ in tutoring services when attending private school. I don't seem to get a clear consensus on this matter. Need your input. Thx.

I haven't heard specifically about those, but what about Princeton Day School? I have heard good things about PDS.

To answer your question on education quality, I would say that some of the private schools deliver a higher quality education than some of the public schools, but you would have to be careful to compare specific schools and not just make a general assessment. I don't know what town you are in. It also depends on your child's temperament.

On tutoring. If your child requires tutoring now, chances are he/she will still require tutoring in private school. In other words, just going private will not necessarily eliminate that. And yes, many of the people who use the private schools in that area have boatloads of money and do spend it on tutors.

Have you tried wwptoday.com forums for these questions?

Good luck!

[AnesthesiaMD]

I am a Pennington graduate. Prior to Pennington, I went to school through the end of 9th grade in the Livingston school system, so that is my only comparison. Pennington's strength is in the personal attention they give to each and every student. Livingston seems to give the most attention to those at the top, and those at the bottom, leaving those in the middle to fend for themselves. I was always the type of student who did most of my learning by reading on my own. I was sort of an "educational loner," so I did not benefit much from Pennington's personal attention, and would probably have done about the same in public school. If your child would benefit from close personal attention by the teachers, then Pennington is definitely worth the money.

[qasearch]

Thanks luckyshoes for your comment and pointer to wwptoday.com. I have been looking for this bulletin board.

[qasearch]

Thanks AnesthesiaMD for your comment and sharing your personal experience. I just heard from a mom who has a child admitted to Pennington this Sep as a 6th grader. All families of new students were give a long summer homework package and the school specifically addressed that the parents should involve in this particular homework assignment(s) prior to start of school. Is it always the school's expectation that the parents have to involve in the homework and do research before they can 'teach' their child on the homework/project assignements. If so, I have a problem with it. I need to hear your comment again before I am going to call and make an appointment for tour and interview applying for 2010 school year. My goal to put my child to private school is to learn problem solving and be independent, very similar to the Montessori's philosophy.
Thanks again.

[luckyshoes]

You always have to help your kids with their homework, especially when they are young. That's why children from affluent, well-educated families outperform their lesser-advantaged peers. It's the parents and the family that make the difference, not the school or the teachers.

[AnesthesiaMD]

Originally Posted by qasearch

Thanks AnesthesiaMD for your comment and sharing your personal experience. I just heard from a mom who has a child admitted to Pennington this Sep as a 6th grader. All families of new students were give a long summer homework package and the school specifically addressed that the parents should involve in this particular homework assignment(s) prior to start of school. Is it always the school's expectation that the parents have to involve in the homework and do research before they can 'teach' their child on the homework/project assignements. If so, I have a problem with it. I need to hear your comment again before I am going to call and make an appointment for tour and interview applying for 2010 school year. My goal to put my child to private school is to learn problem solving and be independent, very similar to the Montessori's philosophy.
Thanks again.

They did not do this when I want to school there (about 20 years ago), but that could be because I was already high school aged when I attended Pennington. But I have to agree with luckyshoes. Parental interest in children's schooling translates into children's interest in their own schooling. A parent can help teach problem solving and independence and compliment the school's teaching of such qualities. I have never heard of parental involvement being a bad thing, unless the parents have no idea what they are doing. In that case, the child has bigger problems than which school they attend.

[qasearch]

Originally Posted by AnesthesiaMD

They did not do this when I want to school there (about 20 years ago), but that could be because I was already high school aged when I attended Pennington. But I have to agree with luckyshoes. Parental interest in children's schooling translates into children's interest in their own schooling. A parent can help teach problem solving and independence and compliment the school's teaching of such qualities. I have never heard of parental involvement being a bad thing, unless the parents have no idea what they are doing. In that case, the child has bigger problems than which school they attend.

Thanks for re-enforcing the difference between 'parent involvement' and 'parent expected to take over the job of teaching'. This is the fundamental difference between private and public school, I hope.

At this point, I was trying to find testimonial regarding private schools that I mentioned in my original question. Hopefully I will find a school that can, in fact, educate instead of giving out homework and expect the parents or guardians to take up full responsibility to research, gather data, translate the information in a way a child could understand the concepts and apply the knowledge. That's what a lot of parents have gone through last school year at the public school, literally on almost every single subject. I 'involved' no less than those who did home schooling. I am not trying to down play the public school systems. There are obviously a plethora of extraordinary teachers and school districts dedicated to the students. However, a high percentage of parents who have gone through a few years in our school district (also very familiar with the infrastructure) were very disappointed and 'mad' about the whole school year. (Hopefully this is not a growing trend.) It was never before they had such negative environment and no one at school was hold accountable for wrong doings, simply dropping the ball and be very unprofessional.

I could not agree more about the fact that caring and helpful parents will bring up responsible kids who hold themselves accountable and learn to be independent. I just want to avoid home schooling while paying big $$ to private schools. I am very supportive and can do what it takes to help my child. I simply do not see myself continuing to play a full time role in delivering the whole curriculum.

Thanks for your input.

[qasearch]

Originally Posted by luckyshoes

You always have to help your kids with their homework, especially when they are young. That's why children from affluent, well-educated families outperform their lesser-advantaged peers. It's the parents and the family that make the difference, not the school or the teachers.

Thanks for reminding me this importance. I completely agree with you. My expectation for my role to be 'supportive parent' who will do anything to ensure my child getting appropriate assistance during the course of learning. However, since we were not involved in home schooling, I really don't see myself continue to play a full time role of delivering the curriculum while the school should play a leading role. Now that I think of it, staying in the public school and hire full time private tutors might not be a bad choice if I cannot find positive testimonial regarding those private schools I am researching.

Again thanks for your input.

[luckyshoes]

Originally Posted by qasearch

At this point, I was trying to find testimonial regarding private schools that I mentioned in my original question. Hopefully I will find a school that can, in fact, educate instead of giving out homework and expect the parents or guardians to take up full responsibility to research, gather data, translate the information in a way a child could understand the concepts and apply the knowledge. That's what a lot of parents have gone through last school year at the public school, literally on almost every single subject. I 'involved' no less than those who did home schooling. I am not trying to down play the public school systems.

I totally agree. It's absolutely ridiculous and it's amazing that we parents put up with it. Parents are expected to basically teach at this point, and that's why school district performance is linked more to parental resources and willingness to intervene, than any teachers or school buildings. I would love to homeschool at this point because since I am teaching or re-teaching everything at home anyway, I don't see the point of wasting six hours in school anymore.

And of course, when a school district is "good" the unions and administrators take the credit. When a school district is underperforming, they blame the parents.

Good luck on your search!