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Given only the following info, what school would you pick for your child:
Option 1: Public School
20% same ethnic group as your child (approx. 3 other kids in your kid's class)
14% student body = White
Slightly lower test scores
Larger class size
Close to home
Option 2: Charter School
13% same ethnic group as your child (approx. 1 other kid in your kid's class)
54% (Majority of) student body = White
Slightly higher test scores
Smaller class size
Not too far from home (10 extra minutes)
Teaching philosophy you believe in
Please cast your vote for either Option 1 or 2
**While I realize these are not the only important factors, these are the ones I am choosing to include in the info**
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I am not at all a fan of charter schools, and I am a big believer in public schools, so unless the public schools were dismal (which it sounds like they are not) I would always choose the public school. Interestingly, one of the major proponents of charter schools (can't remember her name off hand) has recently come out against.
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Option 1, public school. For the diversity (religious, class and cultural diversity as well as ethnic diversity) and because I personally think it is good to expose my kids to different learning philosophies. What has been amazing to me is my kids often respond to teachers and methods I personally would have disagreed with, yet they like.
The problem with charters and magnets in my area is they tend to have very narrow identities and attract all like-minded people...not a lot of true diversity, at least as far as healthy differences of opinion. I want my kids in school with kids from the far right to the far left. And as they get older, you might be surprised at the difference having friends close by makes for their life. My two cents anyhow.
I would have to pick option 2.
I would hope that smaller class sizes and higher test scores would suit an environment with less school violence, less bullying, high SAT Scores, and a wider spectrum of pathways for my kid's Post High School goals.
In all reality, I am strongly looking into homeschooling above either of these options. Not 100% set on it, but considering it seriously.
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HR1000
I would hope that smaller class sizes and higher test scores would suit an environment with less school violence, less bullying, high SAT Scores, and a wider spectrum of pathways for my kid's Post High School goals.
Excellent links. Thank you.I will say though, that when I witnessed bullying in schools and when I was picked on by bullys myself...it seemed there was one consistent factor...Poor Supervision. In many classes the teacher would leave the room for as much as 20 minutes per class leaving the students unsupervised. All the schools I went to had no hall monitors (after 6th grade), so there were bully events in the hallways as well.....still leaning toward homeschooling...
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I would lean towards option 1 because school friends are major in a kid's life. If they live close by, the kiddies can see each other. This happened to the son of a good friend. They live in an urban area; she wanted better schooling so the kids (boy and girl) went to private school. The son recently spent a weekend with me and said his friends dont' live near enough to want to visit all the time and where he lives, he doesn't have many friends as he didn't know anyone there. Test scores, while somewhat of an indicator, really tell who tests well and how teachers teach.
I would lean towards school 1. The diversity and closeness to the house are what leans me in that direction. I would check how diverse each class is. Our neighborhood school is very diverse but the classes after kindy are divided by ability/scores. So there are 3 first grade classes. The low level on has most of the minorities because they don't test wekk because they don't speak english. The high level first grade class has no minorities. Not that the school would admit they divide by ability and that it results in division by race but its pretty clear they do.
Option 2.
My son does go to a charter school. It appears to be as diverse as the local public school. However, the teaching philosophy is incredibly important. I don't think the public schools here have a philosophy - they simply teach to the state tests. The charter school doesn't, yet it gets higher marks on the state tests than the public schools. Admission is by lottery, and there are kids from all backgrounds at this school.
Smaller class sizes are also important to me. The research may not back them up, but it just makes sense to me that the fewer students who are in a class, the more time each student gets with the teacher.
Anyway, I had similar options and chose Option 2 for my son. That's all.
:hippie:
I agree with this, and personal experience also found this to be true. Private, public, large or small sized, bullying can occur. Also some people seem to equate a larger amount of minorities with bullying episodes.. that is also wrong.
ruth74
While I would hope this as well, it's not actually so. The US Department of Justice says that "bullying rates are unrelated to school or class size" (if you want the full report, it's at [URL="http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/e12011405.pdf"]http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/e12011405.pdf[/URL]School violence is correlated more with school size than with class size, but overcrowded classrooms do seem to be a factor, as well as poverty and being in an urban area (Shafii & Shaffi: School violence: assessment, management, prevention [URL="http://books.google.com/books?id=T8Z7hPwdddkC&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&dq=violence+and+class+size&source=bl&ots=uC7VM1HaOv&sig=YqK_hr0yi4Dsm2BrWUmdlQQJRUE&hl=en&ei=e-lxTqrAEMbe0QG6xpziCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&sqi=2&ved=0CG4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=violence%20and%20class%20size&f=false"]School violence: assessment ... - Google Books[/URL]The department of justice keeps statistics on violence (and, I think separately, bullying), and you can ask the school to see their report. Talking with teachers and other parents, asking about the school's policies about and incidents of violence, bullying, and sexual harassment, and reading through the student and parent handbooks to see if they have good response and prevention plans are better ways to figure out what might be going on in the school.
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