10 Ways to Pick The Right District
By Jay Mathews
We say we are buying a house. But for most of us parents, the house is not the whole story. It is the local public school we are investing in, and sometimes it can be a very daunting financial and personal decision.
In the early 1990s, when my journalist wife was making what seemed to me big bucks as a television producer, we could afford to live in Scarsdale, N.Y. That village's public schools cost us about as much in real estate taxes as the tuition at the private schools our kids had attended in Pasadena, Calif. Fortunately, we got what we paid for in Scarsdale. That is not always the case.
How do parents evaluate the schools their children may attend and escape the heartbreak of buying a great house that turns out to be in the attendance zone of a flawed school? Here are 10 ways to make the right choice, in descending importance. Feel free to re-prioritize them based on your personal tendencies:
1. Go with your gut. This sounds unscientific, but I don't care. After you have analyzed all the data and had the conversations outlined below, you still have to make a decision. Consider how you react emotionally to a school. Consult your viscera. If you're not feeling it, don't send your kids there. They will sense you have doubts at a time when they need to believe that this is the place for them.
2. Talk to parents. If strangers knocked on your door and asked what you thought of the local school, would you tell them? Of course you would. An unspoken code of honor exists among parents on such occasions. Ask the school for the names and numbers of a few PTA officers, or check with the neighbors and ring the bell of a house with kids that go to that school. Be polite. Listen carefully. They might even invite you in for coffee. You will learn much from those chats, even though the other parents may ask for deniability.
3. Visit the school and ask to speak to the principal. Picking up the vibes within the building is useful. Is it well-maintained? Do the walls have lots of recent schoolwork? But trying to see the principal is crucial. If he or she has no time to see you, beware. Even if an assistant principal agrees to answer your questions, an unreachable principal is a danger sign. The best principals I know are delighted to talk to new, and even potential, school parents. Act as if the principal were applying for a job at your office. Ask about philosophy. Discuss your child's interests and needs. Make sure you spend at least 30 minutes. The school leader makes or breaks the place.
4. Listen to your kids. We think we do this all the time, but we don't. We assume our children share our values, but sometimes they don't. Elementary school students won't have much to offer, but ask them anyway. Middle and high school students may have significant views. Be particularly careful to pick a school that offers extracurricular activities in which they are interested.
5. Look for a challenging high school in the neighborhood. Here is the link to The Washington Post's Challenge Index rankings of all Washington area public high schools: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/challengeindex/ranking/2008. Here is the Newsweek list of the top high schools nationally, ranked the same way: http://www.newsweek.com/id/201160. If you Google the Challenge Index, you will find pieces by me and others on this way of rating schools. I don't look at test scores, which I believe are just a measure of average parental income. I look at participation in college-level exams, such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate. No matter the neighborhood, if the high school rates highly on my list, it can be counted on to work hard to prepare your child for college.
Click here to read #s 6 - 10 and feel free to share your comments!
Source: Washington Post
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