Best Private School in Pittsburgh (best neighborhood, high crime, neighborhoods)

[Paul2421]

I would think that someone who values the diversity and inclusion of city life would be hesitant to send their child to a school that excludes all but the most well-off patrons.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by lettert

I would think that someone who values the diversity and inclusion of city life would be hesitant to send their child to a school that excludes all but the most well-off patrons.

I value city life but wouldn't find any value in sending my kid to a subpar school district when better performing ones were easily available

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by UKyank

I value city life but wouldn't find any value in sending my kid to a subpar school district when better performing ones were easily available

This essay I read this morning seems apropos to the discussion.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by eschaton

This essay I read this morning seems apropos to the discussion.

I don't believe it takes into account however the value of being surrounded by other students who are striving for academic success that better performing schools offer

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by UKyank

I don't believe it takes into account however the value of being surrounded by other students who are striving for academic success that better performing schools offer

Peer effects are a real thing, but quantifying them is a difficult thing to do. One study estimated that each point of test score improvement among peers resulted in a 0.10 to 0.55 improvement for an individual student. When you first read it you might think it sounds dramatic (10% to 55% boost in scores!) but it's really not, because the Texas standardized test score looked at had scores which scaled from 400 to 2400. In addition, unless there's a huge gap between the student in question and the district average to begin with.

Here's a more detailed summary of the findings. One interesting thing the study found is a large proportion of black students in the classroom lowers the scores of black students more than white students - suggesting that the hypotheses about peer effects dragging down black performance "the Acting White" hypothesis) is true.

Black, Hispanic, and white 3rd graders all tend to perform worse in reading and math when they are in classes that have a larger share of black students. For every 10 percentage point rise in the share of their class that is black, black students’ reading scores fall by 0.250 points, Hispanic students’ reading scores fall by 0.098 points, and white students’ reading scores fall by 0.062 points. For the same 10 percentage point change in the share of their class that is black, black students’ math scores fall by 0.186 points, Hispanic students’ math scores fall by 0.086 points, and white students’ reading scores fall by 0.043 points. What’s particularly interesting is that having more black peers appears to be most damaging to other black students. Recalling that black students have the lowest scores on both the reading and math tests, one can see that these results can be interpreted as the effects of peer achievement. A translation of the results shows that being surrounded by peers who score 1 point lower on average has the following effects: it lowers a black student’s own score by 0.676 points in reading and 0.402 points in math; it lowers a Hispanic student’s own score by 0.266 points in reading and 0.185 points in math; and it lowers a white student’s own score by 0.168 points in reading and 0.092 points in math. The translation suggests that the effect of average peer achievement varies from small (0.092) to substantial (0.676) and that average peer achievement has its most substantial effects within racial groups.

Again, recall the test had a 2000-point scale, so declines of a fraction of a point (or even a single point) are not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Still, IIRC the OP is black, and his children are biracial, thus one would presume, based upon the data, that peer effects would be stronger upon them to be in a school with a substantial black population, such as Colfax, over one with a small black population, such as the private schools listed.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by lettert

I would think that someone who values the diversity and inclusion of city life would be hesitant to send their child to a school that excludes all but the most well-off patrons.

Your top private schools have always offered discounted tuition and financial aid to a limited number of motivated students whose parents can't afford the whole bill.


of course, all private schools do what they can to exclude troublemakers and nogoodniks, even if their folks can pay the bill.

[Pitt Chick]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

of course, all private schools do what they can to exclude troublemakers and nogoodniks, even if their folks can pay the bill.

Not all.
My school would take those kicked out of their public school... for full tuition.

I guess I don't get it. Tuition NOW is atrocious.... over $250,000 K through 12. And then you have college...

[DaisyDaisy]

Originally Posted by lettert

I would think that someone who values the diversity and inclusion of city life would be hesitant to send their child to a school that excludes all but the most well-off patrons.

Anecdotally, I am aware of three instances, at three different local privates, where there are children who are diverse -socioeconomically and/or racially- and they have scholarships to attend the schools. And I know several middle class families who send their kids to privates. Sure, there are wealthy kids there but the school populations aren't all affluent.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Peer effects are a real thing, but quantifying them is a difficult thing to do. One study estimated that each point of test score improvement among peers resulted in a 0.10 to 0.55 improvement for an individual student. When you first read it you might think it sounds dramatic (10% to 55% boost in scores!) but it's really not, because the Texas standardized test score looked at had scores which scaled from 400 to 2400. In addition, unless there's a huge gap between the student in question and the district average to begin with.

I guess I'm more influenced by my personal experience. I went to a pretty bad school & yes I ended up fine but I was most certainly underprepared for college compared to most of my peers despite "excelling" at said high school & I witnessed too many friends succumb to the peer pressure of studying & doing well not being cool & whom now live pretty mediocre lives as a result of poor choices back then.
If I have a kid & can avoid some of those negative things I will do what I can to do so.

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by lettert

I would think that someone who values the diversity and inclusion of city life would be hesitant to send their child to a school that excludes all but the most well-off patrons.

We're probably going to do Falk, Environmental Charter or Colfax, and pray for Obama or CAPA, but we had to do our due-diligence. Of the three schools in the poll, Shadyside Academy is the only one that really impressed us.