Obama to reward colleges of education whose grads get students to raise test scores. More testing??

[deurbano]

31. Have to agree to disagree.. That hasn't been my kids' experience.

I did prefer the K-8 aspect of the private school (although there are also advantages--like band and orchestra-- of large, comprehensive middle schools)... and the smaller class size (that more money could buy). And, my son couldn't continue in Chinese immersion because it didn't yet exist in the public schools at his higher grade level. Fortunately, my daughter was able to continue in immersion, and she already knew her 3rd grade Chinese teacher from the private school. (The teacher had switched at the same time...) The teachers weren't better at the private school, but kids who had any challenging issues were "counseled out" by third grade, so the teachers had fewer "issues" to deal with. Of course, the school had a very selective screening process, so most kids weren't admitted in the first place.

My adult daughter is severely disabled, and she would never have been admitted to any "general ed" private school. We had to fight for her rights in public school (for inclusion, accessibility, adequate speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, etc.), but she had no right to attend private school at all. She eventually ended up at UC Berkeley, another public school.

Public schools aren't perfect. (The private school was far from perfect, too, and way too expensive-- even with the financial aid.) But, public schools have to take all kids. (Which is a good thing.) Some of those kids bring very big issues with them, and that is likely to be reflected in their test scores. (And blamed on their teachers and schools.) But (where I live, anyway), the public schools are very transparent about achievement test scores. The school and grade level scores are very easy to find. That is not true of local private school test results.