Independent schools operate from a completely different financial base than public schools. Due to the fact that independent schools fail or succeed based on the number of families who are paying tuition, much of the laws of marketing and retailing apply. That is why you might even see commercials on tv for a private school which you would never see for their counterparts in the public school arena.
So the private school method to education and the value they hope you will see in them consists not only in how they are superior to the general public school system but how they transcend to every other private school in the neighborhood. So if you are looking carefully at specific private schools, you might suspect that a few of the huge guarantees and grand “vision” that they present to make their school look terrific to you may be as much buzz as it is truth.
Hype is that kind of salesmanship that appeals to the grand and the worthy in all of us. If a personal school presentation develops on your love for your children, on how kids are the future of our society and on the poetic beauty and splendor of all that is youth, somewhere in there is some amount of hype.
We need to add a measure of good sense and down to earth thinking to all the buzz before we decide to really put our own kids into an independent school as an option to having them in public school. A concern needs to be asked and answered prior to we sign papers to register in the school and that concern is, “Can the school measure up to all those grand pledges and to all that buzz?’
To get to the bottom of how to evaluate a private school, you should utilize the same approach you did when assessing public schools in your location. If you decide yes or no about whether a specific school is all that they state they are just based on their commercials, their well prepared presentation when you go for an interview and the tour of the grounds, you are not getting to the heart of what makes a school terrific.
To do that, you need to end up being a detective. Start with the moms and dads of students currently in the school. You might understand some from your church or some other social circle you are in. Purchase one of these moms and dads lunch and discover what really goes on at that school. Moms and dads who are paying the tuition to have their kids in the school are often quite honest about whether the school measures up to its buzz.
Schools that take kids from Kindergarten to High School graduation are certainly doing something. Schools who see a lot of departures after a year or 2 have some kind of problem that is driving individuals away, whether they admit it or not. Here is a private school in Pennsylvania that is wonderful:
Give yourself time to dig deep into the existing population of the school and to talk to alumni families. By being extensive, you can find out if the school has the ability to perform in keeping with the guarantees they make and whether the school is a legitimate alternative to public school. Which is the kind of real life info you need prior to putting your kid in that school to even more her scholastic profession.
By being comprehensive, you can discover out if the school is able to perform in keeping with the guarantees they make and whether the school is a legitimate option to public school.