Vetting Elementary Schools

[ides]

O is currently in an awesome preschool that's mostly Montessori method, which he is thriving in. We will keep him there this year and next and then it will be time for elementary school - probably Kindergarten since he's two weeks past the cut off date for first grade. The advice I've gotten is to start applying and visiting schools a year before you hope to attend. That gives me 10 months to investigate and choose schools we would like to send him to. I would prefer public but I'm open to private as well. How do you go about vetting schools? So far I'm looking at school websites (only some private schools have these), school digger.com, great schools.com and word of mouth. There appears to be only about three to four public schools in our city proper that are decent and we are not zoned for any of these. I've heard it's not too hard to transfer into them but it's not certain. There is a Montessori private school that sounds pretty awesome too. What do you look for in a school? Certain programs, class size, diversity, etc? How large of a class do you tolerate? We do want certain things for O so we are willing to supplement outside of school for language and music but it would be nice if they were part of his education. How can you tell if it will be a good fit? What are your methods of investigation?

Thanks!

[diggitydot]

I check out schooldigger.com and the state's website that lists student demographics and test scores. The demographics info usually includes the percentage of the students' receiving free/reduced meals, which correlates to the surrounding socio-economic stats of that area and community that can affect school support and funding.

Our kids have always attended public schools: some fabulous, some awful. No matter which ones, they've all received excellent educations and are all doing very well.

[Deebs]

I would start with the Internet to narrow it down, and then start talking. Call and see if you can talk to principals, schedule a site visit, ask people in the grocery store.

[alison]

Cold call! Many private schools here are holding parent tours right now. There are also open houses that are held in November. We have a parent magazine here called ParentMap and another called Seattle's Child that has the basic info for the schools listed AND the open houses for applicants.

[GrayMatterWife]

I wouldn't put much stock in the comments on GreatSchools, FWIW.

TOUR. Observe a class. Go to the parent's open house. Talk with friends/acquaintances who are there and happy, AND who have left prematurely. Talk with parents in the class your kid would be in. Are they friendly? Pretentious? Off-putting? Laid-back? At a private school, it tends to be a tight-knit community. Don't get "knitted" to people you want to punch in the face!

DON'T select a school because: (1) it is a "feeder" school into a certain high school (yes, there are a lot of people who do this, despite having no idea who their child will be in ten years), (2) because the Chairman's kids go/went there, or (3) it "looks" good (looks can be deceiving).

Know your priorities. My son needs: (1) accelerated curriculum for ALL students, not just a "gifted" pull-out; (2) an environment that knows how to teach to BOYS and doesn't just encourage boys to act like girls for behavior control purposes; (3) as low student-teacher ratio as possible; and (4) a strong science and math curriculum. Are other things great? Yes. But these are the most important.

Many of these private schools have so many offerings that you couldn't even use them all. We would choose a school with a great science program over one with an Olympic-sized pool. We'd pick a 12:1 student-teacher ratio over a world-class arts program. Know your child and his needs. Otherwise, you could get distracted by the frills quickly.

FWIW: if your child thrived in a Montessori environment, I would definitely look for a similar elementary school situation. Progressive, in one form or another. Not all students do well in that environment, but if your child is, I'd stay with it. Moving from a Montessori to a non-progressive environment could be extremely jarring. My son went from a more progressive environment for Pre-K to a traditional setting for kindergarten (although, granted, it was SUPER rigid), and it was a total disaster. We withdrew him and it took the whole family about a year to recover.

Also, ask about grading standards. A/B/C scale and quarterly reports? Semester assessments with no grades? This is important because it is how you get feedback on your child.

[SoonerTexan]

Check the city-data boards for OKC and see what sort of assessment system Oklahoma uses.

I'm not as familiar with OKC public schools as I am with DISD, but I know like any inner-city district, they have their problems. From what I know, people move to Norman or Edmond for the "good" schools.

I do know the Catholic school system gets a lot of use by inner city kids there (and lots of non-Catholics) if you are willing to go that route.

[DCJenn]

We moved to a neighborhood that we liked and then started looking at schools. Well, we didn't really look too hard, the public elementary school is two blocks away from the house. We had no compelling reason to consider private school, esp for kinder. We've had friends in the neighborhood go different ways- some started at the public school and transferred to private, some have gone to private and then public. It's really easy to get caught up in the "what ifs" of schools. Trust your gut and know your priorities- for your family and your child. We are committed to the public school and are there weekly in some capacity or another. Inner city public schools are scary if you just look at the numbers but THIS inner city public school is thriving. (the new principal is totally wigged out about the level and intensity of the volunteer network at the school- she's never been in a SAISD school like this and she's not quite sure what to make of it)

Visiting the school is a good idea (although I never did) and asking about parental involvement. We raise a ridiculous amount of money to supplement the education at the school. Art isn't covered by the school system so 10 years ago they started a program and funds art for the kids. We have Slow Food Texas coming in e/o week to teach the kids about outdoors/farming/planting, etc. We have a Ballet Folklorico program that's supplemented by the parents. This year we're attempting to have a classroom library for each grade with 1000 books per class. ALL of this is parent driven.

J.

[Thirteen]

We chose our location, based on the school district reputation (as well as the private options/state-respected homeschooling curriculum choices).
The public elem. close to our house is within walking distance, is a blue-ribbon school, and offers bilingual immersion instruction (starting at Kindergarten-5th).

We have yet to determine which route we will take, but having options is so nice. I think there was a website (??) the state government runs that allows all citizens to search by county, then city, then district for school ratings in multiple areas of subject matter.

[ides]

We want to stay close to the hospital so we won't be moving to any of the burbs. Personally neither of us can stand burb life either. Of the four public schools that rank well, two of the neighborhoods are out of our price range (million dollar homes), one is really far out and one would be okay location wise. I'm not positive I want to buy in a neighborhood just for the school in case the school doesn't work out/isn't a good fit. I might apply via transfer to the three and see what shakes out if they appear to possibly be a good fit after vetting. O is really thriving at the Montessori school but I'm thinking it's not just the materials but also the teachers. They are lively, dynamic, have a strong and kind presence and the 1/2 day is well scheduled and very orderly. His class has 26 kids but there are three teachers & the kids are divided up into smaller groups of 8 with a lead teacher. I think the materials work well with his learning style but It could also be how it's presented too. As well, the kids are well behaved (no bullies) and the teachers watch closely.

Thanks for all the advice. It's helping me think about what O's learning style is and what environment works best for him. He just does not do well if bored, which could be a problem in the public school system here. Everyone says -go private if you can afford it -. Sigh. I'm glad I have a while to investigate, think and talk about this. Most private schools here are religious. Some just a little while others have mass every day. I don't mind a little religion, but full on religion is something I don't want for him.

[oceanchild]

Y'know, we live in a lousy school district, and our neighborhood school doesn't look that great on paper (demographics, presumably), but I've heard nothing but good things about it. The principal is beloved in the district, and teachers at other schools all think very highly of it. So I think it's definitely worth visiting and talking to people, rather than just relying on rankings.

[HouseofWool]

I will say that if you look at the school that C attends it skews wildly from what it really is. The building houses 2 separate schools, a standard K-2, which is the poorest in our district, it has the highest rate of free and reduced lunches, by a long shot. The second floor of the building houses the charter school that C attends. There is a focus on smaller class sizes (K-3 have just 16 kiddos in a room), the rooms are multigrade and there is an emphasis on student leadership and progressive learning. The demographics fairly accurately mirror the economics of the city. I see kids in the classroom that haven't eaten breakfast because there was nothing to be had at home. I also see a slew of upper middle class families.

It is HARD to get into this school, it took us 3 years before he was accepted, and it strictly a first come first served. However, I LOVE it for him. I love the sense of community that this school has.

[ides]

I like the idea of charter schools. I haven't heard of any here, but there has to be, right?

[HouseofWool]

Hard to say. Ours is part of the public school district and there is no real way to know that it is a charter school. Nothing on the website jumps out at you. I think there is one other charter school in the district and at least one of the elementary schools has a Spanish immersion program. And this is in podunk Wisconsin, so if you are in a larger community, I would think something would be available. But, none of this information is really out there for the public to find easily. You have to really dig to find out.

[DCJenn]

We are just like Kris- crappy inner city school district with several amazing in-district charters ranging from just elementary schools, K-8 academies (the one dude attends), middle schools and high schools. Each high school has a separate school within the school for specifics and we also have the Young Women's Leadership Academy- an all girls public high school. Sadly, not one for the boys (yet)

J.

[HouseofWool]

I would suggest calling the registrar's office of the school district too see what is available.