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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
School question for Bostonestie teachers and parents
How do you go about determining what is a "good" school system?
All I can really find is MCAS test scores, which, IMO, shouldn't necessarily be how we decide what is the best school system for DS.
Advice? Recommendations? Please? I'm confused.
Re: School question for Bostonestie teachers and parents
I'd be tempted to say you should also look at class size, teacher:student ratio, and graduation rates
ETA: And I could swear one of the local stations just released a school system rating. I don't know what their criteria were, but maybe you could poke around and see if it has info
Our little Irish rose came to us on March 5, 2010
Don't drink the water.
Disclaimer: I am not an MD. Please don't PM me with pregnancy-related questions. Ask your doctor.
class size, student teacher ratio, grad rates, school spending, MCAS scores, and post-grad plans were things I looked at when we were moving
The Mass DOE website (I believe) is where I could find all this info by town/school district
Thanks, ladies! MrsT, the DOE website is awesome. I don't know how I haven't been on it before.
5kC, that link is really interesting. In fact, one of the towns we've been looking at is on there are few times (but anything there is at the top of our price range).
I know the general feeling on TB (and perhaps by most of you here) is that you should live in the best school district you can afford. I just don't know if I buy in to that school of thought (no pun intended).
I am just confused and I don't know how to figure out what's best. (For us, not necessarily for everyone).
Ugh.
As a teacher and a mom ... some thoughts.
1- MCAS scores are only a small piece of the pie. Of course you don't want the district with the lowest scores but having the highest scores doesn't make it the "best".
2 - Choosing a district when your child is one will leave you with a district that could be very different in 4-5 years when your child goes to kindergarten. Things can change quickly ... both for the good and for the bad. Teacher ratio is very important (smaller class size is better) but in today's economy that can change drastically from one year to the next and even from school to school in the district.
3 - A big part of a good school and district is the parents. What you can put in will make a huge difference. I have seen parents that have done amazing things (fundraising and bringing in amazing programs that the district/school just can't afford). I have also seen parents who have a negative impact.
4 - Your child will make a big difference. There are kids from the best schools that drop out. There are also kids from what many claim to be "bad" schools that get into A list universities. Help your child to make smart choices in their behavior, acadmics, and how they choose friends and any school will be a great fit for them.
Thanks, Kiwi! That's a good point about how much things will change in 4-5 years. In this economy, we won't expect to re-sell once we buy for a very long time so we need to make our decision now, but that's certainly something to keep in mind.
Kiwi brings up some great points. While knowing stats about the school system (teacher ratio, etc) is important, you also want to take into consideration the community as a whole and the people who live there. You'll have to deal with the other parents, so I think picking a community that fits your lifestyle is very important.
The town I grew up in was ranked in the 90's on the list 5kc gave. Sure it wasn't the greatest school system (certainly not terrible) and some teachers could have stepped it up, but I still went to a great college and did well. Now I work at a highly renowned university. So it really isn't about the best, it's about the fit.
You definitely won't be hurting DH if you pick a town that might not have quite as good a school system as another town you're considering. It has a lot more to do with the effort the student (and parents) put into it. If he wants to do well he will.
Kiwi, thanks for sharing your excellent and even-keeled insights. It's so easy to get wrapped up in wanting to be in the best school districts, but your comments are like a virtual deep breath. Very, very helpful and wise.
I'll say in regards to #4 that personal experience tells me you're totally right. I went to a tiny Catholic school in one of the cities near the bottom of 5KC's list. Yes, it was "private school" but it had few resources, only 3 AP classes, and was solidly mediocre at best in quality of education. Yet I got into two Ivy League colleges.
I think that your kid's personal drive will play a big role in his/her success and agree that a parent's motivation, support, and expectations help set the tone.
Ladies, you have officially talked me off a ledge.
That's house we fell in love with right before ours sold was in a town that is consistently ranked in the top 5 in the state. We aren't actively looking in that town (in fact, I've talked DH in to a town that's a half hour away from his family haha), everyone is saying "But... you were looking in good-school-town? Now you're looking there?"
We also plan on fostering/adoption in our future. We are putting a lot weight in to finding an area that is larger and at least a little more diverse than most of the "top schools" towns. We don't want our foster kids going to school and having the whole class automatically saying "Oh, you must live with the Extravaganza family :::pity face:::"
To add to Kiwi's post, since so many people rag on the schools here and some people are so snotty about only sending their kids to the most elite $$,$$$ private schools-
you can be in a top notch school, or pay $40k a year in tuition all you want. If YOU don't take a part in your child's education, stay in touch with the teachers, work with your kid at home, read to your kid, be active in his education, no amount of "great schooling" and money is going to help him.
HTH!