visiting private school, what to ask?

[musicianmom]

I am visiting our local classical school next week with an eye towards enrolling my girls for the fall. I have some questions in mind, but I'd like to get input from current afterschool parents. We have always homeschooled, btw.

[EKS]

If you're planning to afterschool, you might want to try to get a good idea of the homework load. Lots of homework from school is the surest way to kill an afterschooling plan.

[musicianmom]

I won't be after schooling if we go this route, so that's not an issue, but asking about homework is a good idea.

[jennynd]

Curriculum , teacher qualification, how they do assessment, how they teach kids with different ability, class size

[Uff Da!]

nm

I'm not an afterschooler, but I think the proof is in the pudding, as it were. I'd see if I could talk to existing students and their families outside of the earshot of the school, and get the real scoop. Ask them questions like: what's the best thing they like about the school, if they could improve one thing, what would it be, etc.

[Kathleen.]

Remember that a school is a business. Whatever they tell you might not be what actually happens. They will promise you the moon to get your money :) I learned that twice. We left private for parochial because all the politics and drama in a small setting was too toxic for us. Asking parents won't help because they say it's great even if it's not. You won't know until you're there for a while.

Every school is different. I would want to see what books they use and maybe samples of student work. Ask to sit in for a morning or hour with a teacher.

[mathnerd]

In my area, they let you do what is called "shadowing" for a day in all the top private schools. I could get a good idea on what happened on a daily basis by sitting through an hour or two of classes in the classroom. I could see the student-teacher ratios (very important to me), number of aides, approach to math, spelling, science, recess environment, lunch rooms etc. I also always set up a meeting with the admissions co-ordinator who can walk you through a few grades of classes, show you all the curriculum, tools, labs etc, talk about field trips, pick up drop off logistics, afterschool enrichment etc. Then they usually have a meeting for all interested parents with the sports director who answers questions on sports programs and what options are available to your child.

 

I was made aware of a sad fact during my research of these schools (I was only looking at non-religious top private schools) - they are so competitive that they do not want to consider kids who they need to spend extra time on to bring up to speed - the competition to get into these schools is so intense that these schools eliminate kids with special needs, kids with IQs that are below their cutoff (which is actually in the profoundly gifted range!), kids with learning disabilities etc.

 

For me, the most important things to find out are: student-teacher ratio, curriculum followed, homework load, student diversity (if I am going to shell out 20-40 K for an education every year, I would expect that the education happened in the classroom and all my child's educational needs were addressed and afterschooling was not a mainstay).

 

A private school is a well run business - though you can get all this information from them, it is advisable to approach a few parents in your neighborhood or workplace whose kids have been at that school for a long time and get an informed opinion from them before making a decision. I have found that online school reviews never work for me - they say that the school in question is either too good (probably posted by someone affiliated to it) or too bad (probably posted by a disgruntled student/employee). In my area, the top schools have a reputation already and there is no need to do much research as most of the information is well known - there is only the need to cough up the $$$$$ to attend them (and qualify to get admitted there, ofcourse)!

[Ellie]

Curriculum , teacher qualification, how they do assessment, how they teach kids with different ability, class size

 

If you ask about "curriculum," they'll give you a course outline, because that's what "curriculum" really means. You might want to know which publishers or other instructional materials they are using, so you would ask about that rather than "curriculum."

[kiwikate]

Try to be there over a break time- recess or lunch- and watch the kids in the playground, how they interact with each other, what sort of things they are doing, whether they look happy and relaxed or stressed out! Also, I like to know about the extras being offered- private music lessons, lunchtime sports etc and the extra costs of those if applicable. Look carefully at the classroom environments, do they look friendly and is the work displayed up to date? Ask about extra expected form you as a parent, fundraising, volunteer time etc. Observe the interactions between staff and students, staff and parents, and between staff members. Class sizes are important to me to, so be sure to ask about maximums etc.

[jennynd]

Remember that a school is a business. Whatever they tell you might not be what actually happens. They will promise you the moon to get your money :) I learned that twice.

 

 

Did my kids attend the same school as yours?

 

[Heathermomster]

I would ask about staff development. How much money does the school pay yearly for their staff's continuing education.

[Kathleen.]

Did my kids attend the same school as yours?

 

:lol: I hope not, for your kids' sake.

[Rebecca VA]

I'd ask about how welcome parents are at the school. Are they allowed to visit their child's classroom (to quietly observe) if they ask in advance? Do parents know each other and get along well? Is there a parent association? What kinds of activities do parents tend to get involved in?

 

I had a sad experience when my son was in a local gifted school for fifth grade. The class was putting on a play of "Romeo and Juliet." I'd spent a lot of time and money renting a costume (I had to drive an hour and a half to find it), and I'd rehearsed lines with my son over and over. The day of the play arrived, but the school did not let parents attend. In the interests of "safety and security," they did not let parents in the building during the school day (unless it was for a clearly well-defined reason, and apparently the play was not a good enough reason).

 

Years later, when my daughter attended a different private school, the school was wonderful and welcoming to parents. Parents were honored guests at all times. Moms volunteered every day to help out with parties, fund-raising, teacher luncheons, etc. That school was an extremely happy place to be, and students were always heartbroken to leave it after 8th grade.

 

The administration sets the tone for the students and parents. You'll want to gauge the tone of the classical school before you sign the contract.

[Dmmetler]

How many of the great activities actually happen during the school day, and how many are part of the (extra cost) extended day program. I looked at a great sounding all-girls' school for DD, which had wonderful fine arts programs. But except for a once a week music class, all the fine arts stuff was after school, in an extended day program that very literally cost as much as the year's tuition for the school. So, yeah, the girls could take violin lessons and ballet and ceramics-but it pushed the school day from 8:00-3:00 to 7:00-6:00, and pushed an already expensive school past what I could have made teaching in the local PS system once you figured in tuition, extended day, fees, and uniforms/books (and that's not counting all the other costs of having a child in school.

[nd293]

I was glad I asked about the way they dealt with bullying, as it led to an interesting discussion.

 

I'd ask about retention rates - our school loses a lot of children along the way from pre primary to high school graduate.

 

In the end, even asking the right questions won't always help to identify a problem. Our school would probably say they have a high level of parent involvement (as we can book an observation as often as we want), good communications (they have a monthly newsletter) and a close knit community. In reality, there is no in-class parent involvement, no opportunity for casually chatting to teachers and no real effort to welcome new families.

[musicianmom]

Well, between my talk with a current parent and my visit to the school, I got all my questions answered and decided to give homeschooling one more year. The school is in a transition phase right now with a new headmaster, who is a super nice guy, but I would like to see how things go under his direction before making an expensive commitment. The school is so small that they have a combined 2nd-3rd grade class, which would not work at all for my 3rd grader.

[stoverdavid30]

If it's a Christian school, ask what their understanding of "grace" is.